October 31

Most people on this planet know that the 31st of October is Halloween – Whilst it’s not really noted in Australia – I was quite interested to read about it online as to it’s origins etc and that it’s the 2nd largest holiday celebrated in the world. (I assume Christmas is the first!)

A bit of research today uncovered the following (I’m lazy so I’ve just copied and pasted the info!)

The history of Halloween goes back 2000 years. Many believe that Halloween’s origins are found in the Celtic festival of Samhain. The Celts, who were located in Ireland, the UK and the northern parts of France, celebrated their New Year on the first of November. Samhain was celebrated the night before the New Year.

The New Year, Celts believed, marked summer’s end, harvest time, and the start of dark, cold winter months. Those winter months were associated with death by these people. On October 31, the night before the New Year, the Celts celebrated Samhain. This day, they believed, was when the ghosts of the deceased returned to earth because the boundaries between the living world and the dead world blurred. Found on http://ezinearticles.com/

For me though the 31st of October has other meanings other than the American holiday of Halloween.

When I was young my Nan’s sister (My great aunt) died on the 31st of October. She had come over from South Australia to celebrate my Nan’s birthday for that year (From memory I think it was her 70th) I was only quite young. But I loved this particular Aunt as she was just so much fun, she was light hearted, loved to laugh and was never cross. The evening before they left to go back to SA (The 30th of October) I remember not wanting to go into her room to say goodbye. My nan asked me why? I told her it was because I was afraid if I said goodbye I’d never see her again. I consequently didn’t say goodbye to her. She was killed in a car accident the next day. (I know freaky shit – I’ve got a list of that kinda stuff happening to me!)

The other meaning that the 31st of October has for me is the day I finally said enough is enough and walked away from a three year tumultuous relationship. I’d been treated like shit for the very last time, so I packed my stuff and left her house and never returned again. That was in 2003. I’ve not seen her since and to be honest it took a long time to get over that relationship (I lived with her so it was quite serious!) But I always remember the date, as she was American and her parents had sent her out Halloween ‘candy’ so she could have a sense of home.

Today though the 31st of October 2009 I’m older, wise and in a better place. I’ve got new things to add to the list of things that happened on the 31st of October, such as a friend’s that I’ve just recently made Helen – It’s her birthday today. Happy birthday Helen.

It’s also the eve of November and my first attempt at NanoWriMo. Which brings me to the next 30 days of November. NanoWriMo is a competition to write 50,000 words in 30 days. You can’t start writing until the 1st of November and you have to stop on the 30th. 50,000 words is a shit load considering the most I’ve written for an assignment thus far at Uni is 6,000. With creative writing though the words just flow out, and the word count (for me) is never in the forefront of my thoughts. That section is reserved for my main protagonist going on whatever journey I chose to write for them. This fiction piece I’m writing will have a female protagonist. Her name is Zoey and she is going to be kick arse!

I plan to try and write a daily blog in November just as a record of how I managed to get 50,000 words out of my mind and onto a page. So when this blur of November is over I can look back and recall just how I felt, but most importantly how I managed to put all the pieces together. Some days will be short and sweet, others might be long and winded such as this post. But overall I hope YOU my readers enjoy the journey, and I’ll keep you updated on just how Zoe fares in my future sci-fi world.

To my readers who take part in Halloween – I hope you enjoy yourselves – to everyone else thanks for reading.

That’s all I’ve got.

*Nb Word count is: 788 words