Working On Niches: Backyard Weddings and Homemade Costumes

Phew, I've been busy lately! No, I didn't have a wedding; but my sister did, and I was there to plan, assist, and document every step of the way. Which is a good thing, because I was working so hard that I didn't even have a chance to think, and I can't even remember parts of it due to all the stress!

I learned so much during the process of planning and executing this backyard wedding that I just had to share. For example, I never knew there was quite so much involved in making nice-looking table settings, or that decorating wedding cupcakes isn't quite as easy as it looks. We tried some things that were decidedly non-traditional, such as growing our own wedding flowers; we were also happy to give some non-traditional things like having your dog at the wedding a miss. Finally, working out the wedding budget was a big part of making sure that we kept things affordable.

You can find a complete list of all my thoughts, hints, tips and suggestions here: How to Plan a Backyard Wedding.

Creating all of these mini-sites on Squidoo has meant that I've moved firmly into the backyard wedding niche. I'm excited to explore this are in the future, and see what else I can contribute.

As for an older niche - homemade costumes - working on the wedding stuff has meant less time for that. However, I'm really happy to add How To Make a Punk Costume and Nerd Halloween Costume Ideas to my existing list (which already includes such wildly popular items as How To Make a Viking Costume and Homemade Rockstar Costume Ideas).

I'll get more into building niches and working as an online entrepreneur (which has a lot of overlap with freelance writing) in a future post. For now, hope you enjoy the fruits of my labor, and please let me know if you have any questions!

September Writing Updates for YOU

I've been pretty busy writing over the past month, and I've got some great stuff to share.

First up is The Smoking Jacket. Five Tips for Determining If Your Girlfriend Is A Spy is a great piece about finding out whether your girlfriend is really just good at learning languages, or whether she's actually got something to hide. Then there's Five Ways to Afford Beer On a Budget, which provides some excellent tips, including bartering any useful skills you might have for some refreshing brew.

Over at Trail's Edge Blog, there's a lot about flirting with your fellow outdoor enthusiasts. For example, you always want to be prepared for romance when you're roughing it (you never know when you'll run into your future mate!) That's why you should check out Guys: 5 Tips For Staying Sexy in the Wild and Girls: 5 Tips For Staying Sexy in the Wild. No less important is knowing the right gear to have on hand with you at all times. If you've read the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, you won't be surprised where I'm going with this: 5 Uses For the Towel.

And don't forget, Halloween is just around the corner. Which means I've been busy updating my awesome site about Viking cosutmes, discussing tasty Worms in Mud dessert recipes, and asking people what their favorite Halloween monsters are.

All in all, a very productive month!

Halloween Is Closing In! Costumes, movies, music and more!

Halloween is almost upon us, and I've been busy over on Squidoo! Feast yourself on a wealth of Halloweeny-ness.

Like Halloween costumes? Then the following sites are for you! Learn how to make homemade Viking costumes, or how to make a homemade Sarah Connor Terminator 2 costume, if that's more your style.

Looking for entertainment? Find a whole list of great Halloween movies to watch, and Halloween music to listen to. After that, you can stop by and vote for the top ten best Halloween songs. If you prefer your entertainment in literary form, there's also a list of Halloween books for you to peruse. And don't forget to choose a story to win the Halloween story contest!

You can find a good little scare while selecting your top ten favorite Halloween monsters. Just don't get too scared!

Pumpkin picture composed using images by viZZZual and Ha-Wee on Flickr.

Halloween Story Writing Contest Voting and The Lizard's Tale

The deadline for my Halloween Story Writing Contest has just passed! I've received a ton of great entries, so please head over to Halloween Story Writing Contest and vote for your favorite! Voting ends next Friday.

Heres a story of mine, to whet you appetite!

***

A stranger knocked on the door to the villager's house. Helsun opened the door and peered out into the misty darkness at the shadowed form. His wife, Magrit, stood behind him.

"Can I help you?" Helsun asked.

"I'm lost," the stranger said. "May I come in?"

Helsun and Magrit agreed to accommodate the stranger, but kept a wary eye on him. He was an odd man, with a a hooded cloak that hid his face and body from view. Magrit brought out a bowl of soup and a crust of bread.

At that moment, a lizard ran out from a darkened corner of the house. Helsun cursed and tried to stomp it, but only got the lizard's tail, which broke off as the lizard scampered away.

The stranger looked at the tail. "Has that lizard done you any harm?"

"Dirty things," Helsun said, and Magrit made a sound of agreement.

The stranger finished his food and left. Helsun followed him to the door, then said to Magrit, "I don't like this. I'm going to tell the others."

Helsun strode into the darkness. The mist had turned into a thick fog, and Helsun was soon lost. He stumbled about until he felt rough bark beneath his hand.

"Dirty thing," a cold voice said behind him.

Through the fog, Helsun saw that the stranger, now uncloaked, had a reptilian face and a long tail. Helsun cowered against the tree, fear overwhelming him.

"Do your limbs grow back as well? Let's find out..."

***

Liked it? Read more at Halloween Story Writing Contest! And don't forget to vote!

Halloween Story Writing Contest

A wolf howls in the distance. You lock your door and place a chair under the handle, just to be safe. It is, after all, only a month until All Hallow's Eve, and who knows what sort of ghosts and ghouls are waking from the dead?

Intrigued? You should be! I'm hosting a Halloween story writing contest. Here are the details:

Subject: Anything Halloween related - ghosts, vampires, Frankenstein, the disaster at your last Halloween party. Keep it rated PG. Scary is okay, profanity is not. And try to limit the gore.

Length: This is a type of micro fiction - in this case, 250 words or less.

Date Due: October 15 at midnight.

I will post the stories on the site Halloween Story Writing Contest, along with a place to vote. I reserve the right to edit for spelling and grammar. I also reserve the right not to post a story, due to it being unsuitable (doesn't follow guidelines, too offensive, etc.) Each posted story will include a link to his or her Halloween-themed/writer-themed lens, site, or blog of choice. In addition, I will mention all entrants in a post on my blog promoting voting on the contest.

Images: To make this site more visually appealing, I might add images that I feel suit the story. You may make general suggestions, although I can't guarantee anything.

Prize! The winner of the voting will receive two customized blog posts by me here; one post in which the story is posted with links, and one "spotlight" post on the person who wins, including links of your choosing. There might also be a bonus prize, depending on the success of the contest.

Although the contest is hosted on Squidoo, you don't have to be a member of Squidoo to participate, so spread the word to all your writer friends!

Email Submission Format:

To: emma(at)emmalarkins(dot)com
Subject line: Halloween Story Writing Contest

Squidoo Lensmaster profile (if you have one)
Name or Pen Name as you'd like it to appear (I'd prefer not to attribute stories to awesomedude53)
Title of Story
Body of Story in the email (no more than 250 words)
Link you would like to promote
Your email (if not included elsewhere)

For more information, and to read an example, check out Halloween Story Writing Contest.

Happy Hauntings! And if you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave a comment below!

Halloween Comes But Once A Year

I know it's not strictly writing-related, but I wanted to share with any fellow Halloween-lovers what I've been working on at the wonderful write-what-you-want site Squidoo. That's right, you can write anything you want on Squidoo, and if you're good, you can even get paid!

Yes, I am Emma Larkins, and I admit that I love Halloween. I love everything from the pumpkin-carving to the costume-making to the decorating. I used to love the trick-or-treating, but unfortunately I've long outgrown that stage. Now I just have to satisfy myself with awesome Halloween parties!

So here are a few sites to satisfy your cravings for all things Halloween-y:

Scary Spooky Halloween Music: What better way to get in the mood than with Michael Jackson's Thriller, Monster Mash, and Casper the Friendly Ghost?

Spooky Scary Halloween Movies: From the silly (Ernest Scared Stupid) to the terrifying (Halloween, of course) there are movies here to suit everyone's taste.

I Love Pumpkins - Carving, Patterns, Eating and More!: For those who just can't get enough of pumpkins, this site is for you!

Halloween on Squidoo: A plethora of Halloween sites, from costumes to decorating to recipes, to suit anyone's taste.

And if you're still not in the spirit, how about a Halloween classic?

Storytime: Questions From A Vaporous Mind (And Introducing Friday's Guest!)

It's about time I had some fiction up here! For your reading pleasure, here is a little bit of a ghost story. Let the Halloween spirit be with you!

Questions from a Vaporous Mind

"Do you believe in humans?" May asked. She sat on a moss-covered pile of what might once have been furniture in an ancient stone house. Moonlight passed unobstructed through her form. A locket laying on the ground by her knee vibrated, and May tilted her head.

"Prudence says she believes in humans. She says a human wore her once, long ago."

"Prudence isn't even a ghost. She's just a silly curse. And I don't think that you can really understand what she's saying. I think you're just making it up."

The cursed necklace hopped, jumped, and glowed a bright, angry red. It landed on Eustace and fell right through him without leaving a mark. Prudence the necklace rolled into a corner, as if to sulk.

"Fine then. What do you think?"

"Humans, humans," Eustace said, shaking his head. "I think they're just legends. All the stories make them out to be so strange. They have one fixed size and shape. They're free to move about wherever they wish. They can't move through walls, and apparently if you squish them with a big rock they go away and don't come back."

"I believe in humans!"

This came from Helene, who had just materialized outside the gaping window-hole of the crumbling house. Helene was a residual haunting, and appeared around this time every night at the window before running off into the surrounding forest.

"You'll believe in anything," Eustace said, rolling his ghostly eyes.

"I've seen one once! I think it saw me, too, because it ran away awful quick. They say in the human stories that they're afraid of us."

"Yeah, and they also say that some humans go around 'banishing' us to some 'alternate dimension.' What a load of junk."

The sound of footfalls interrupted Eustace. The ghosts perked up and looked around.

"Eep! I bet that's a human now!"

May dispersed.

"You're such a wimp. I bet it's just a dumb old fox."

Eustace floated past a couple of walls until he came in view of the space where the front door had once stood. There, an odd creature stopped in its tracks and stared straight at him.

"Hello?" the creature asked in a trembling voice.

"Um, boo?" Eustace responded.

The thing let out a blood-curdling shriek, and raced out of the ruined house and away through the forest. Eustace returned to his seat as May reappeared.

"I told you humans were real! That was a human! I knew it!"

"Yeah, yeah," Eustace said in a mournful voice. "I should have squished it with a rock. You know what they say about humans. One of them catches a glimpse of you, next thing you know the whole place is swarming and you can't get rid of them."

Don't forget to stop by this Friday, October 31, for a Community Fridays interview with a truly spooky lady, Chris Verstraete. There's a scavenger hunt! And prizes!