13 Halloween Gadgets You Can Order Online This Year To Make Your House Haunted!

When I was a kid I went to Niagara Falls a couple times with my family for vacations.

Once there we would go to seafood restaurants and play mini-golf after, but also, at some point, we’d visit the haunted house, the wax museum, the torture museum and even the “Ripley’s Believe it or Not” museum.

If I remember correctly I think there was even a Houdini museum.

Yeah, we saw the falls, too, and went on that boat wearing hooded orange ponchos like everybody else, but all those weird, haunted, elaborate attractions definitely left an impression on me.

Nowadays, if I wanted to, I could take a page from Niagara Falls’ book and make my own house into a haunted one and you can, too, because some of the same gimmicks I saw at the Falls as a child are now for sale on Amazon!

Here are 13 examples you can go check out for yourself to decorate your home this Hallow’s Eve.

The Haunted Mirror

Check out this Motion Activated Haunted Mirror on Amazon.

1. Motion Activated Haunted Mirror with Creepy Sound/Luminous Portrait Halloween Prop Decoration

Nothing could freak you out more than staring into a haunted mirror waiting for an animated image to scare you pants off! Stuff like this frightened me as a kid and made me question what’s real and what isn’t!?

$18.99 on Amazon!

Bringer of Death

The Grim Reaper is the bringer of death.

2. Prextex 5 Ft. Animated Hanging Grim Reaper Skull with Shackles Chains Best Halloween Decoration Prop

The porch to your house will just be barren without a Grim Reaper there. It has a skull with blinking red eyes to freak out trick or treaters. It’s 5 foot tall, makes, scary sounds and the hands shake.

$25.99 on Amazon!

Lights

You are going to need lots of lit up attractions in order to make your house look really cool.

3. 2017 Night Creatures Halloween Red Blinking Eyes Scary Decorations Outside Lights Props Animatronics

Buy these blinking eyes to light up your walls, the front porch or your garage. They look like a bunch of creepy creatures in the woods just waiting to pounce!

$24.99 on Amazon!

4. 7 Pack – 9ft Neon Glow Light El / Electroluminescent Wire Variety Color (Blue/Red/Green/White/Yellow/Orange/Purple) – 3 Mode Battery Controller – Party Decoration Wedding Halloween Music Festival

Everyone needs some glowing light strings. Click here to see examples of how people outline their Halloween masks with this stuff for a cool effect!

$28.99 on Amazon!

Projections

Digital effects and projections are all the rage and here are a few you should check out to scare or “annoy” your neighbors. Take your pick!

5. AtmosFearFx Witching Hour Halloween DVD Projector Kit with 1900 Lumen LED Video Projector, Reaper Brothers High Resolution Window Rear Projection Screen and AtmosFearFX Witching Hour DVD

If you don’t own a projector or screen you can order this full package deal to really go over the top this Halloween!

$249.99 on Amazon!

6. AtmosFEARfx Phantasms Digital Decoration

You can play these scary DVDs on your flat screen TV continuously if you don’t have a projector.

$39.99 on Amazon!

7. AtmosFEARfx Ghostly Apparitions Digital Decorations

You could have the projection screen hanging from two trees in your yard or just hang it right in front of a window, like in your attic, pointing out onto the street to make it look like it’s haunted up there with a real live ghost!

$39.99 on Amazon!

3D, baby! Yeah!

Get creepy in 3D this year and really wow the kiddies who come to check out your haunted house for tricks or treats.

8. AtmosFX 3DFX Form

You aim the projector onto a “human-shaped inflatable vinyl form,” standing over 5 ft tall, to make this attraction creepy as hell!

There’s also sound so you can really present something unique that everyone in your neighborhood will be talking about for days.

$59.99 on Amazon!

A Window Wonderland for Hallow’s Eve, Thanksgiving and X-mas!

If you want to be ready for Christmas after your Halloween fun is over, then check out these projection devices.

9. New 2017 Star Shower Window Wonderland by BulbHead Includes 12 Original Movies for Christmas (6) and Halloween (6) (1 Pack)

You just plaster the screen against the window of your choice, aim the projector at it and now you got movies for people to see from the street for both Halloween and Christmas!

$59.99 on Amazon!

10. New 2017 Slide Show by BulbHead – Includes 12 Full Color Slides for Christmas (6), Halloween (2), Other Holiday/Celebrations (4)

$39.99 on Amazon!

Props and Decorations

If you need something simple and not complicated try these wall, window and yard decorations.

11. Amscan Halloween Trick or Treat Asylum Party Scene Setters Mega Value Wall Decorating Kit (Pack of 32), Multicolor, 65″ x 32 1/2″

People can see them from your windows or inside on your walls. They won’t be like CGI. More like how they used to do it in the olden days for those 50 and 60s movies. Think a big painted backdrop for the background. You know what I mean, scary bean!

$9.45 on Amazon!

12. Smartcoco Broken Finger Hand Foot Scary Bloody Broken Body Parts Halloween Prank Props Decorations

Nothing is creepier than having body parts lying around your living room or “panic” room this season.

$3.49 on Amazon!

13. Prextex Pack of 4 Halloween Décor 22” RIP Graveyard Lightweight Foam Tombstone Halloween Decorations RIP

Rest in peace this year with your very own graveyard in your yard! It’s a simple, cheap, yet effective way to decorate.

$24.99 on Amazon!

Celebrate Halloween in style!

Whatever you do this Halloween makes sure it freaks you out, but be safe. Halloween is fun for the whole family and with some of these gadgets and props your “homemade” haunted house will look amazing!

Are you a Writer? Then the Sony ICD-PX440 Stereo IC Digital Voice Recorder with Direct USB is a great new Gadget to add to your tool belt!

I once read a book called Million Dollar Productivity by Kevin J. Anderson. He writes lots of fiction books every single year and one of the reasons why he is so productive is because he goes hiking in the woods with a recording device that he talks his fiction chapters into.

It’s an interesting concept and was really a foreign one to me until I actually tried it out for myself.

I had to get used to talking into the recorder, but now that I have I can see just how valuable it is to have this device on me when ideas for my fiction are running through my head and I need to get them down immediately before I forget them!

I’ve used the Sony recorder to interview people for articles I’ve written for magazines, but more importantly I like it for capturing ideas for stories when I’m out and about and in the car.

Also, when you have the window down and the wind is blowing it doesn’t affect it and captures your voice clearly!

There is a USB drive so you can stick the recorder easily into your laptop to transcribe, upload, or email the audio to somebody.

It has an easy stop/start/pause record button where you don’t have to think about it much, which I think is important for something like this.

PLUS! I’ve dropped it multiple times and it never breaks and just keeps on recording!

It works in loud places, too, which I would say is the best thing because I’ve found myself in many different spaces that might not be conducive for interviews. If I didn’t have a device like the Sony ICD recorder in those spots I’d be screwed!

You might have to spend some time getting used to talking into it, but once you do it works great for capturing new story ideas or even long pieces you speak into it.

It’s totally worth the investment and a great addition to your arsenal for creating new works of writing.

It uses AAA batteries, but has like 40+ hours of life, which is more than enough to record stuff.

On Amazon it’s around $67 bucks.

A really cool gadget, honestly, and a great addition to your arsenal of tools for enhancing your writing career!

I will probably buy a second one in the future just so I’ll have a backup.

You can buy one at the affiliate link below.

Buy one.

You won’t regret it!

George R.R. Martin wrote TV Shows before HBO’s Games of Thrones. Who Knew?

Game of Thrones season finale, The Dragon and the Wolf, is on tonight!
George R.R. Martin is famous for writing the books that are HBO’s “Game of Thrones” and the season finale, The Dragon and the Wolf, is on tonight, but did you know that he also wrote for several TV shows way back in the 80s?

He did and I unknowingly grew up watching them with my family all during my childhood.

Beauty and the Beast

One series was called Beauty and the Beast with Linda Hamilton from The Terminator and Ron Perlman from Hellboy. Ron played “the beast” of course.

It went for three seasons and the setting took place in New York City. I know my family and I watched the first season faithfully from our apartment in Brooklyn when I was a kid. You just can’t beat a New York story!

The Twilight Zone, etc.

George also wrote five episodes of The Twilight Zone back in 1986. I imagine I saw them all growing up because I watched that show loyally along with Doctor Who.

Then his novellas and short stories were adapted into movies for the screen and TV. These were called Nightflyers (1987), Doorways (1993), and Deadly Nightmares (1984).

And one of his novellas, Sandkings, was turned into an Outer Limits episode. Who else can say they wrote for both The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits? It’d be interesting to find out.

Did you know Game of Thrones is also a video game?

I am going to have to get those in the future I think. I remember how much I enjoyed playing Lord of the Rings games on the PlayStation 2. George has tipped his hat before to John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, best known for the high-fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. I guess, when it comes to writing, that means you should imitate the best to be the best!

Long live King George!

Now you know more about the famous George R.R. Martin, who has put a spell on our imagination with his wonderful series on HBO.

Take the time to click the links in this blog post so you can discover more of his creative works on Amazon.

You could also order a TV Fire Stick from Amazon and then order HBO Now to watch every episode of Game of Thrones at your own leisure!

There’s Legal Weed in Colorado. Aren’t you Jealous?

If you don’t live in Colorado like I do you’re probably wondering what this “legal weed thing” is all about. Maybe you’re even jealous of me because I can go buy a gram of weed for $15 bucks in the time it takes somebody to fill up their car with gasoline — Oh wait! Have you heard of Native Roots in Colorado Springs? You can get your gas and grass at the same time there!

Basically I can just walk into a Rec (recreational) dispensary and just buy weed and then go on with my day. You have to be 21+ though and you don’t need a medical card, but if you have one there is a separate entrance for you usually and there you get a bigger and badder selection than a Rec customer gets. For example, would you like cannabis in your peanut butter? That’s available.

I will describe the experience of walking into a Rec dispensary to you :

Dispensaries buzz you in. The likelihood you are on camera is 100%. The taxes are high. If you buy a gram for $13 then there is at least $2–4 worth of taxes added on.

When you walk into a dispensary they check your ID and then tell you to sit down and wait. Then they let you into another room like it’s a doctor’s office. Inside there is usually a glass case and a friendly, knowledgeable budtender to serve you.

They will let you smell different weed strains they have on site. They will open the jar lid and let you sniff it. They could be “out” of your favorite weed strain. Sometimes the weed they order from farms in Colorado changes on a weekly basis.

It’s okay to ask the budtenders (like bartenders) their opinions on the products. They freely give them to help you choose. Most budtenders are a pleasure to talk to. Most of them have to talk to a lot of weirdos all day long, so be nice and tip your budtender!

Grams and eighths of “flower” come in plastic bottles that look similar to prescription pill bottles with childproof caps. They can be the color black, blue, or green. They have a warning label on them similar to a surgeon general warning on cigarettes. The labels also list the percentage of THC and CBD. Once you buy your weed you’re not supposed to open the lid inside the dispensary. I saw an uptight budtender freak out on my friend once when she did that.

You can also buy extracts and concentrates like hash, oil, butter, wax just to name a few.

There are lots of strains to choose from as you can imagine. Indica to Sativa. Indica for that mellow mood and Sativa for motivation and “cleaning your house” so to speak. And then their are “hybrids.”

Edibles

They also have edibles for sale like cookies, sodas, even lotions for body pain or massage oils (for sexy time!). Basically it just gets more and more detailed as you research this legal weed rabbit hole.

If you decided to buy an edible try 10 mg, the lowest dose, to see how that makes you feel and go from there. You don’t want to end up at the emergency room, which is where lots of pot tourists end up because they don’t know their limits and they will buy a 100 mg edible. Bad idea if you’ve never done that before.

The rules

There are lots of rules and regulations that dispensaries and weed businesses have to follow and I’ve heard it said before that Colorado is at the forefront of government weed regulation giving other states cues on how to proceed.

The amount of weed a tourist can have on them versus the amount an in-stater can have are totally different. Your budtender can inform you on this kind of stuff.

How much weed are we talking about here?

Colorado grows lots of lots of weed in the southern part of the state. I interviewed someone once and he said he drives two and 1/2 hours into Denver to deliver 500 pounds of weed to dispensaries in his van!

A cool ‘mill’

If you walked down Broadway in Denver you could literally see three or more weed dispensaries on one block. There’s lots of options for weed shopping here.

Colorado just recently put a cap on how many dispensaries are allowed to open and that means lots of dispensaries are being sold for millions of dollars. I even heard an estimate that a dispensary makes $30,000 a day.

What’s that smell?

I’ve literally walked down the main city streets of Denver and have smelled cannabis in the air. It’s not from people smoking, either (you could get a $100 fine for smoking in public). It’s from the grow rooms and dispensaries and it’s kind of a skunky smell, not always so pleasant like you would think.

Weed on sale

Newspapers and print magazines are still in business in Colorado because the advertising is all weed ads. Could you imagine getting your paper in the morning and the first thing you see is a weed ad?

Paying the price

Weed is one reason why people are moving here in droves. The estimate is 14,000 people a month move to Colorado. I’ve seen the property value go up 100–150 percent and maybe more in some instances. It’s sad when you hear so many people complain that they can’t afford their rent here anymore!

Driving

When you drive with your weed on you you have to buy a special childproof bag at a dispensary to put it in and keep it out of arms reach, like in your trunk, to be legal. Some of the special bags come with a key for you unlock it. You could also lock it away in a toolbox, too. Again there are laws on how much weed you can have on you so you have to be aware of that.

Stashlogix ProStash Locking Stash Bag with Odor Control (Black)

Weed or pot, man?

Also you should know the term “pot” isn’t hip anymore. It’s now referred to as “weed” all across the board it seems. Dig?

CBD vs. THC

If you don’t want to get high you can avoid the THC all together and get CBD smokeables and edibles. In the news you may have seen CBD has helped professional football players with their pain. It’s been said many times by prominent people that the human body has receptors for CBD and THC. The THC receptor is in the brain and the CBD receptor is in the body.

If this idea is true then how did our ancestors get these receptors? Maybe we were apes and ate the plant by accident?

There’s not a lot of facts to back up THC and CBD research because it has been demonized for so long. If there were actually legit clinical trials your doctor would start to recognize the benefits of CBD and THC to prescribe it to you, but instead there is just a bunch of data floating around and there’s nothing to back any claims.

Enjoy the view

Things could change though and maybe Colorado could be the place to pave those roads.

But until then we’ll just enjoy the mountain view, thanks!

Now that you’ve read my blog post would you like to buy my e-book for 99 cents? Click here to read my short story collection on Amazon!

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Face your Facebook and Tweek Your Tweets or When You Don’t Want to Spend Money on Social Media Advertising

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I’ve spent a lot of time studying internet marketing and most of it is a way to flush money down the toilet.

I bought a viral ad for $1500 dollars once and it did absolutely nothing for me.

I bought some Google Ads ten years ago and then watched Google stock rise.

How come? Because people like me were funneling money into their newfangled “pay per click” advertising campaigns on our credit cards.

At the time of this writing Facebook Ads are hot. Way hot.

I would suggest putting that money into Facebook stock instead, long term, because in all likelihood that’s a better return on your investment than buying a Facbook ad no matter how cheap they are.

If you have to do Facebook ads then here’s my only suggestion

A year ago I was following a Facebook Business Page about Facebook ads for self-published authors.

One man on the comment section wrote how he sold some books by putting a pair of “eyes” in his Facebook Ad as a picture or image.

The pair of eyes were a painting in the clouds and it was well done.

For some reason, this “pair of eyes” got the attention of people online. The Facebook Ad worked and they went and bought the book.

The man even asked if there was anything else he could do to get more sales on the comments section of this Facebook page.

The answer was obvious to me. The ad worked. Repeat it!

So if you have to buy Facebook ads put a pair of eyes on it.

Free advertising on Facebook

The best way to advertise for free on Facebook is to schedule your posts in advance.

You can schedule posts in advance if you have a “business” Facebook page, but not on your personal one, which I think is a shame.

But now you can work maybe one hour a week instead of logging into Facebook everyday to post. That’s such a great thing.

The Facebook posts will post in your sleep.

Again you will have to sign up for a business Facebook page that is free in order to take advantage of this wonderful tool.

#hashtags

If you don’t know where to start just “Google” hashtags that are specifically for your niche or business.

For example, you could put “hashtags for pizza parlors” in a Google search and see what comes up. You should definitely find some good hashtags relating to your subject by doing this.

Just be sure to save them in a file on your computer so you can reference them whenever you go tweet.

Now you can use these #hashtags every time you post on Facebook and Twitter.

Share other people’s tweets

It’s kind of a no-brainer.

You can also like or “heart,” reply and re-tweet.

It’s actionable and it pays in dividends when other “twits” out there return the favor for ya.

Make your bio pop with emojis

Put emojis in your biography section. You can literally “copy and paste” an emoji into your bio or even your tweet.

Also in the bio be sure to put something like “Check out my YouTube video” or “Visit my website” and put your URL right after this sentence. Make sure to test your link to see if it works;)

The cool thing about putting your URL in the bio is that when you “follow” someone on Twitter your bio shows up in the instant email they get in their inbox telling them how you just followed them on Twitter.

Think about it… An email letting some stranger know about you? It’s a perfect opportunity to promote yourself by “following” and having a knock out bio to read.

Your biography section is nothing short of free advertising for whatever you want to promote, so use it wisely, but most importantly just use it!

Repeat and tweet

You will find some people tweet all day long.

They’re just always sharing things they “browse” upon. This works, but if you are like me you don’t want to tweet all the time because it’ll just make you cra-cra!

Honestly, ten tweets a day would be ideal for my own Twitter pages. Maybe one day I will be able act like a corporation and hire a personal assistant to help me with this.

Oh wait… I could do just that!

If you don’t object to paying someone in exchange for Tweeting for you then check out Elance, Fiver or another site like it.

And then their are virtual online companies that will post in every social media account you have for a monthly or yearly fee. These are easy to find when you search for them on Google.

Finally

Try some of these ideas, but don’t be in a hurry.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, but over time it was built so well that the “foundations” (a better word than ruins) are still there for you to go see right now. Compare this analogy to your own online business and you will succeed in the end.

For real!

By the way… another great way to advertise is to form an email list on MailChimp.

Would you like to join my email list? I’ll give you a free e-book.

Now that you’ve read my blog post would you like to buy my e-book for 99 cents? Click here to read my short story collection on Amazon!

Listen to DJ Mixes.

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F*** Blog Posts

That’s f***ing crazy!

Why the f*** would you do that?

This kind of shock value never works down at the local open mike poetry reading, so why the f*** would you think it would work in a headline on a blog post?

What possible f***ing point is everyone trying to make by using the word f*** in their headlines anyway?

I want lots of people to read my f***ing blog posts too, but I don’t want the kind of f***ing attention using the word f*** in my writing draws.

It makes you looked f***ed up!

It makes you look f***ing stupid!

It’s worse than reading motivational blog posts written by some of the most un-motivating f*** all bloggers.

In the end I guess no one f***ing cares.

Well . . . at least I f***ing said something about how f***ed up this kind of f***ing s*** is.

No one should use the word f*** in their headline unless the blog post is about f***ing.

They say writing about f***ing is something lots of f***ing people want to f***ing read about.

It f***ing sells for f***s sake!

I for one will never put the word f*** in my headline just to get some f***ing attention.

No f***ing way.

I’m not f***ing around.

This is f***ed up s***.

Leave the f*** alone!

Now that you’ve read my blog post would you like to buy my e-book for 99 cents? Click here to read my short story collection on Amazon!

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Buy a Wallet!

7 Ways to Make Yourself Happier

The first thing I do is make an appointment with my therapist, but there are other things I do, too.

Walking around the block or going on a walk until I stop thinking works since the act of “thinking” itself is the reason I’m unhappy in the first place.

Listening to Abraham-Hicks on YouTube or in the car on a CD is pretty cool.

Buying a cheeseburger to eat helps.

Reading a book is one of the best things to do for sure, but not always easy for me to do even though I own a Kindle Fire Tablet and have the OverDrive library app installed.

Ten jumping jacks works like gangbusters if I can just get up and do it.

I sometimes play video games, but not that often because those are addictive and it waste lots of time. Movies and TV shows are a great way to zone out, but again can waste lots of time.

What I’d really like to know is why I find it so difficult to stop and take a deep breath? Meditation is hard for me to practice.

I’ve found my favorite thing to do when I’m unhappy or thinking negatively is free write about whatever’s on my m

I see how some people online like to make jokes about writing “not” being a therapeutic activity, but these people really don’t know what they’re talking about and honestly I go out of my way to avoid reading blog posts slanted in this way.

I talk more about the subject of thinking too much in my YouTube Video, “Thinking too much is stupid — Duh!”

Now that you’ve read my blog post would you like to buy my e-book for 99 cents? Click here to read my short story collection on Amazon!

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Kindergarten

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I played Disney songs on a plastic record player with yellow, red, orange and blue neon colors on it. It was manufactured by Fisher Price. I even played records in Kindergarten. That was what we did. We took scratched Disney records and played them. During nap time the teacher played them. My favorite was Peter and the Wolf. Hands down a masterpiece. That narrator talking funny like a woman? What was his name? Oh well. I’m too lazy to google it. During nap time the teachers or college kids or teacher aids or whatever you called people who worked in elementary school, they used to scratch our backs. It was great when that one lady did it. I was in love with her, but I was five so I never told her. Then there were other teacher aids who used their nails or were too gentle. Scratching elementary school kids backs during nap time! I’m not making this up. Then there was the time I tried fried chicken. My best friend and my brother were eating fried chicken. I didn’t. They thought I was crazy. Then I finally ate it at home one night and I never looked back. That kid that ate dirt. You just looked at him and thought, “What’s wrong with that kid? He’s eating dirt!” They’d pull you out of class for a hearing test. That hearing test was cool. It was like you were on a BBC set for that old 60s show The Prisoner.

I would fail that test if they gave it to me now. The best part about being that age was leaving kindergarten for the day and going home to watch afternoon cartoons on stations like fox or wpix 11. That was the best; GI Joe, Transformers, Voltron. Then my brother and I would play “Crossbows and Catapults,” the game where you build a castle/fort only to knock it down with plastic crossbows and catapults. Hands down the best board game ever invented.

Now that you’ve read my blog post would you like to buy my e-book for 99 cents? Click here to read my short story collection on Amazon!

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Writers Are Smart ‘Mutha Flokkas’

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It’s just my opinion.

I’m a writer and that’s what I’m into, so my opinion of other writers are high. Especially when I read their books.

For example, I like “The Great Gatsby,” “Moby Dick,” “Fight Club,” and almost anything by Dennis Lehane, right now.

All smart writers. No doubt.

Get smart

A friend of mine from grad school and I sit in a cafe early in the morning on our days off and work on our fiction with our laptops a blazin’.

I’ve never partnered up with someone like this to write, but it’s powerful.

I don’t think many people I know could ever understand the power of a “buddy” system or a “mastermind” group.

Master your mind

The definition of a mastermind group is just two people and God. I once talked to an Atheist who said a mastermind group was just two people and he didn’t make mention of the God part.

In my opinion, without including God, you’re just missing out on the best part; the mysterious process it takes to becoming a better and fuller you.

Forming a mastermind group with one other person will help you focus on the things you want to do and help you forget about all the crapola that distracts you from it.

The entrepreneurs I’ve known

In the past I’ve partnered up with other people and their zany business ideas.

Basically I subjected myself to the torture of being an entrepreneur with them.

It’s lonely and depressing when you realize you have no idea how to attract the money, the customers or whatever it is you need to make your business successful.

In fact you could read blog posts all day long and learn very little about business. I’ve done it and scoured the web for “secrets” only to burn out after hours of reading BS.

Plus, don’t forget how much money you can waste on signing up for those attractive webinars you see advertised all over the internets. Yippee!

1001 things to do

I’ve done things like sales, marketing, and even waiting tables.

I’ve done all sorts of things because I couldn’t possibly “make it” doing what I wanted to do, which was being a writer or this other word I like being… an “artist.”

How wrong was I not to pursue what I wanted to do for so long?

During those times of “helping” people with their business ideas I made great friends and learned stuff, which I would not trade for anything, but nowadays, anyone who doesn’t understand that I’m an “artist” first can basically take a muther flokkin’ leap off a cliff with a giant fire waiting for them at the bottom.

I’m kidding, but you get it.

Alien Nation

Not too long ago I had a ginormous realization I’m an alien from another planet.

It took me a long time to realize this, but I finally did.

Honestly, I really wanted to fit in here, really bad, on the planet earth, but alas, there’s just no way in heck that’s ever going to happen, now.

I find it helpful sometimes to think of myself as an alien.

I want to do something with my life and I know no one will really ever understand what is I want to do except me.

It’s all on me.

Are you writing?

Over fifteen years ago I graduated from grad school and got my MFA in Creative Writing at Naropa.

Since then I’ve done 1001 things not even closely related to my field.

And during that time only one friend ever asked me, over all those wasted years:

How come you’re not writing?

What now? Meet more writers of course!

Some writer types can be a little grumpy because they’re not used to being around people, but most of them I meet are way nice and more normal than I ever could’ve imagined.

I went to many, and I mean many, writers groups locally before I found one worthwhile and worth going to every week.

It seems like once you find people who you can hang and get into it with, when it comes to writing, you rarely look back.

The obstacles in the road to finding your own “peer group” are worth overcoming in the end.

The writers life for me!

There’s always a chance this planet could distract me with something not as important as writing, but I plan to be around other writers as much as possible now, so I don’t think this will happen (Fingers crossed!).

What do you think about the writers life?

What excuses do you need to let go of to get on with your own writing?

Write about it in the comments box below if you want.

Now that you’ve read my blog post would you like to buy my e-book for 99 cents? Click here to read my short story collection on Amazon!

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Brunch with Cyndi Lauper

When I was a child my parents took my brother and I to a swanky hotel in Brooklyn for brunch on a Sunday. My mom said “She looks like Cyndi Lauper.” I turned and looked and said out loud “It is Cyndi Lauper!” as she walked down the buffet line. Meanwhile people had brought Cyndi Lauper records into the hotel restaurant with them to get them signed. My brother was brave enough to get her autograph for himself and for me on hotel brochures. I was scared out of my mind and sat at the table and didn’t budge. The brochure said “XXO Fun 2 U 2.” My dad had it framed later and sent it to me for my birthday once when I was in my 30s living in Boulder Town. May dad is cool like that. I’m almost certain the front cover of the album “True Colors” was taken at this old hotel we were having brunch at. The timing was right for it at least.

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