Things That Go Bump in the Night ... by Delsora Lowe

October is known for many things. Beautiful falling leaves, at least in my neck of the woods. Cooling temps that are now considered bearable in comparison to hotter and hotter summers. Homecoming and fall sports like football and soccer and field hockey…at least before Covid put a kibosh on so many things like gathering for sports events. And, of course, Halloween, where things go bump in the dark. As a grandmother of three grandsons who still get into Halloween, it will be sad that Halloween may be another victim of the need to social distance.

But I digress. The topic for this month is about the scariest scene I’ve ever written. As you may have read on my other posts, I am not a romance thriller writer, but I have been known to add a villain here or there—one that gets in trouble with the law and does bad things. But normally, my villains are not scary, just troubled.

When I first started writing, I did write two books that had very bad villains. One had a contingent of “bad guys” who were watering down cancer drugs to make a profit. They caused an accident which killed the heroine’s husband because he was on to them, and injured the heroine who now lives with a life-long limp and the heartache of losing her husband and unborn child in that accident. The resolution comes when the heroine must save her friend and herself from these very evil guys, as they run through darkening woods and hiding under bushes. I hadn’t reread that scene in years. Now it doesn’t seem quite as scary as it did when I wrote it, 😊 but I did leave a lot of bodies behind.

The other book I wrote with a scary scene or two was about a stalker during an ice storm in the woods of northern Maine. He uses the heroine’s young son as bait, and she and the hermit hero, who gives her respite from the storm, have to rescue her son on lake ice. I asked a member of the MaineRW to help me make sure the rescue was true to life. She lives in that part of Maine and lives the outdoor wilderness life. So, she gave me tons of pointers. I haven’t reread that story ending, but I do remember holding my breath while I wrote the scene.

Both those books are tucked away “under my bed.” They did get a few bites from publishers, then the dreaded rejections. Now my books are almost always pure romance, but I do tend to throw in a hint of mystery or suspense. To scrub my brain of killers and stalkers, I’ll end with a few fun stories about Halloweens of the past.

( 1) When I worked at LL Bean, behind the cash register in the retail store, most employees dressed up for Halloween. I’ve never been very inventive about costuming, so I decided I would wear my Christmas hair band with reindeer antlers. I made a poster that I anchored with a ribbon around my neck and it hung down in front of me, explaining my costume. I drew a head of a reindeer with a big red nose (Rudolph) and then drew a red circle around the reindeer head with a red line across Rudolph (the international NO sign). I ended up being assigned to the Hunting and Fishing department that day, so when hunters came up to make hunting related purchasers and wanted to know why I was wearing my outfit, I explained it was a DO NOT KILL RUDOLPH costume. I thought my amateur drawing was cute, funny, and ironic, especially working in an iconic hunting and fishing store. They were not amused.

(2) When my kids were young, I came up with the brilliant idea of making candy bar costumes. I painted card board boxes like candy wrappers, cut a round hole in the bottom of each box for their heads and holes on the sides of each box for their arms, I figured the top opening of the box would be where their legs would stick out. What I didn’t anticipate was that those little legs (I think my kids were around 2 and 4) couldn’t get up the steps to knock on people’s door, because the boxes didn’t bend. I failed to cut slits up the sides of the boxes. So, we had to lift each child encased in their box up the two or three steps at each house. Watching them waddle around in those boxes was hysterical. But they loved their costumes. To end, I wish for everyone a safe, non-scary, and uneventful October. Unless, of course, the eventful includes love, laughter, and loads of fun. Below is my new cover for my first, fall-themed book.

AMAZON
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Legacy-Parkers-Point-Serenity-Starlight-ebook/dp/B0743NVCC6/
Books2Read
books2read.com/u/b6rQzx

AMAZON
https://www.amazon.com/Love-Left-Behind-Hartford-Estate-ebook/dp/B08L5N5DS9/
Books2Read
books2read.com/u/mglVqK%20

~ cottages to cabins ~ keep the home fires burning ~

Delsora Lowe writes small town sweet romances and contemporary westerns from the mountains of Colorado to the shores of Maine. Author of the Starlight Grille series, Serenity Harbor Maine novellas, and the Cowboys of Mineral Springs series, Lowe has also authored short romances for Woman’s World magazine.
Lowe's new novella, The Love Left Behind, released on October 17, 2020.

Social Media Links:

Author website: www.delsoralowe.com
Author FaceBook page: https://www.facebook.com/delsoraloweauthor
Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Delsora-Lowe/e/B01M61OM39/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
Books2Read Author page: https://www.books2read.com/ap/8GWm98/Delsora-Lowe
BookBub Author Page: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/delsora-lowe-93c6987f-129d-483d-9f5a-abe603876518
Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16045986.Delsora_Lowe

ClipArt:

Halloween Candy: https://www.netclipart.com/isee/wmbJb_funny-clip-art-pictures-clip-art-halloween-candy/
Rudolph: https://creazilla.com/nodes/31732-rudolph-the-reindeer-in-a-santa-hat-clipart
Evil Mad Scientist: https://www.kissclipart.com/madness-clipart-clip-art-crazy-clip-art-6fkchm/
Frozen Pond: https://www.clipartkey.com/downpng/iTRooim_transparent-frozen-pond-clipart/