Trick or Treats and Ghost Stories

Friday was Halloween. It seems like Halloween gets a little more popular every year. There are even special Halloween stores now and many, many decorated yards. I'm not much of a decorator. I have put pumpkins out on my porch when we raised them in the garden a time or two and I might have even carved a face in one once. Only once, because I don't like the smell of pumpkins' innards. Then one time I bought one of those orange garbage bags with a pumpkin face on it and filled it up with leaves. That is the extent of my Halloween decorating. No spiders with legs all across the yard. No ghosts floating down from the trees. I leave all that up to everybody else.

My son-in-law enjoys Halloween. If he had more time he'd have spiders and witches and ghosts and who knows what else decorating his lawn. They live in a nice old neighborhood in SC and have a pile of trick or treaters every year. They lay in the candy (about 500 pieces) and get ready to enjoy all the kids in costume. But this year they had a little problem. They joke about their house being haunted. It's seen a lot of living in the years since it's been built and occasionally something strange happens. A wet spot stain where there are no water pipes. A door shutting when there's no wind. A creaking floor board. You know, old house noises, etc.

I used to live in an old house - so old part of it was log under the wood siding. Every noise, we just said it was the house settling or the old boards creaking. We sometimes blamed ghosts but always in jest. We didn't really think there were ghosts. But some people like the idea of ghosts as long as they aren't the kind that do anything more than creak a board now and again.

Well, on Halloween in the midst of the candy passing out frenzy, my daughter's front door shut and locked. Nobody knows how. They have a German Shepherd who might have decided he'd seen all the little monsters he wanted to see for one night and perhaps he nosed the door shut. Or perhaps it was a mischievous ghost. At any rate my daughter and son-in-law were out on the porch with no unlocked doors or windows on the first floor. So they had to go borrow a ladder and my daughter climbed up to the top of the porch and scrambled in a second floor window that luckily wasn't locked or painted shut. Meanwhile, they ran out of candy outside and had to turn away a lot of trick or treaters. They couldn't get inside to get the next bowl of candy or to turn off their front porch light to let the kids know there were no treats. Guess they all got tricked. My daughter just hoped she wasn't going to be tricked by a bunch of angry little ninjas and princesses and supermen.

Did you ever go trick or treating? I went once when I was about ten. A friend invited me and I thought it was going to be fun having all that candy. I love candy. But I didn't like trick or treating. I guess I was too old already, but I remember being very glad when I could go home. My friend enjoyed it though. And so do my grandkids. Actually I have fun now seeing all the kids show up. I don't have but three or four ever come to my door out here in the country, but I like visiting my kids' houses and helping them give out candy. The little kids are all so cute in their costumes. This year there were a bunch of pretty butterflies. My littlest grandkid was the cutest dog ever. Some churches make the Halloween an outreach night and have trunk and treat where the members pass out candy from the trunks of their cars. That way the kids don't have to be out on the streets. Then other churches have parties where their young people dress up as Bible characters or something sweeter and kinder than ghosts and monsters. I like the Bible character idea. It's a great chance for the kids to not only hear a Bible story but to be part of the story.

So Halloween is over and Thanksgiving is on the way with Christmas chasing right along behind it. Sometimes the days pass so quickly that I don't really appreciate the gift of each day's hours the way I should. I fill up my days with too many "to dos" and not enough "enjoys." And now even with all the chores the holidays bring, I'm anxious to be writing again. The last story is wrapped up and sent in and the itch is growing in me. Something doesn't feel right and I know it's because I'm not putting words together to tell a new story. And yet I have to let that new story gather in my mind - at least a bit of it. I need the "What if" beginning and the characters. Who is going to spring into life in my head? Will she be pretty? Will he be brave? Will he need to be brave? Or maybe she will be the one who has to be brave? At this point all the questions are out there and none of the answers. Right now I don't want all the answers. I want the answers to show up while I'm writing. But I am ready to know whose story it's going to be.

Check back with me Wednesday. I think I'll talk about trees. Do you like trees? Do you have a favorite tree? The newspaper asked that last week. It's a good question and one that I'm ready to see if I can answer before I head off to SC for my booksignings at the Barnes and Noble in Greenville on Thursday night. I just found out there are two B & N stores there, but I'm going to be at the one on Heywood Road. Then Friday night I'll be at the Spartanburg Barnes & Noble. If you're in the area come on out to see me. You can tell me about your favorite tree.

Two states down - Two to go!

I made my trip to New Albany, Indiana. The Heaven Help Us Bookstore was a beautiful place owned by a couple of beautiful people, Nyla and Mary Lou. They were mother and daughter team, and both had a love of books. Their store overflowed with lots of other lovely Christian items as well. I did a little Christmas shopping while I was there and got the twins a couple of cute plush hammers that make a breaking noise when you whop them on something. My husband, who was sweet enough to drive up there with me, kept popping them against his head and laughing when it sounded like his head was shattering. It must have been a man thing. But then again, I was the one who bought them.

You can bet if I lived in the area, I'd be in Nyla's great store shopping all the time. I kept seeing things I would like to buy. And the book section was well stocked and had lots of great titles. Not only that, Nyla was an avid reader who stood ready to point out the best books to her customers. That's service.

Oh yeah, one more sort of amusing note about the trip. Nyla had told me her story was right next door to the nice restaurant when she sent me directions. I thought that was good, to have a nice restautant right next door. But it turned out the restaurant was actually named The Nice Restaurant. Great thinking. What do people sometimes say when you ask where they want to go out to eat? Right. Somewhere nice or a nice restaurant. So if you're in the New Albany area you can go to the Nice Restaurant and slip on next door to an even nicer bookstore, Heaven Help Us. And believe it or not, just up the street is The Flower Shop. No joke.

Three other inspirational fiction writers were there as well. Jamie Carie had her book, Snow Angel; Shelley Shepard Gray was signing her popular Hidden; and Ramona K. Cecil had a couple of her Heartsong Presents novels there. One of her titles was Sweet Forever. So of course, I ended up buying all their books. They looked so good and writers should support other writers, shouldn't they? A couple of them were sweet enough to return the favor. I decided their books would make great give-aways on my website in the next few months. So check that out after I draw for the "trick or treat" winner on the thirty-first. You've still got time to send me an e-mail in get your name entered into that drawing. Just go to my website, http://www.annhgabhart.com/ and click on contact Ann.

All three of the other authors were coming out with new books in December or the first of the year. So they're ahead of me a few months there. My new book, The Believer, is a summer 2009 release. I got the changes finished on the new book and sent in and approved, so it's a wrap. Of course there will be copy editing and proofing down the road, but the story is ready. I'm hoping my readers will be ready for another Shaker story. I think you'll like Ethan and Elizabeth, the two main characters. Now I need to get started on researching the next book. I thought I had decided on a Civil War book, but I'm wavering on that historical time frame now. I'm thinking that might be better in another story and not a Shaker story. But we'll see. That's one of the good things about research. It seeds your mind with a lot of different ideas and then you have to sort of wait to see which ones are going to sprout and grow best.

Then today was the trip to West Virginia to see Matt and John's baby dedication at their church there. It's always fun to see the new babies and the loving parents and families at a baby dedication service. My son's family took up quite a bit of room with his three girls and the twins. The two year old wasn't too patient with the preacher's dedication talk, but the twins never made a peep. They are both very laid back and happy babies.

We didn't get to stay to play long since Darrell and his group were singing tonight and we had to get back in time for that. That was the third night in a row the guys had sung. Their Homecoming on Friday and Saturday went well. Thanks to all who came and thanks, Faye, for coming by to speak to me. Then Sherry stopped to talk to me tonight. It's great to meet you guys wherever I am. Also hope you're feeling much better by now, Bonnie.

Tomorrow we'll head out for some R & R with Darrell's brothers and sister and spouses in Tennessee. I won't be going to South Carolina until the next week, but I'm really looking forward to the trip down there to see my daughter and maybe gain some new readers for The Outsider and Summer of Joy at the Spartanburg Barnes and Noble Store (Nov 7)and the Greenville Barnes and Noble (Nov 6). I love bookstores. Especially these new bookstores that are so reader friendly. My biggest problem is trying to keep from buying a carload of books everytime I go. I love to buy books for my grandkids and for everybody on my Christmas list. At least this close to Christmas I'll have an excuse.

Guess that's all my news. But I did have one more thing. Do you guys have a magic mirror? Maybe not exactly like the witch in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but a mirror that you look in and you see yourself as looking not all that bad. Then you get out somewhere, perhaps go in a public restroom and all of the sudden spot yourself in that big bright mirror and you don't feel so flattered. Your hair looks messier or grayer or duller and your skin looks a little splotchy or not as smooth as it did back in that magic mirror in your own bathroom.

Is it because we're holding our mouths right and lifting our chin to a flattering pose? Or is the light dim and we just can't see? I don't know. What I do know is that most of us have people in our lives who look at us and see us prettier and better than we are. That's because they're looking at us with "magic mirror" eyes of love. I'm wishing you lots of "magic mirror" eyes looking at you this week and making you feel beautiful and loved.