A Halloween-ish Kind of Post… Guest Author Jennifer Estep
October 29, 2007 by shilohwalker
Jennifer Estep is joining us today at the V&S loop.
She’s also giving away prizes… ;o) Everybody that comments will have their name entered into a drawing for your chance at two prizes… Just a reminder about the contest rules here at the blog…you can comment as much as you want, but you’ll only be entered once. Entries are done via ISP, not name, so one entry per household.
If you haven’t checked out her site, make sure you do!
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First of all, thanks to Shiloh and the rest of the Vamps & Scamps for letting me guest blog. You guys are too cool!
So, Halloween is coming up, and soon, ghouls and goblins and miniature vampires will prowl the streets in search of candy - or else. I never really got into Halloween as a kid. I didn’t care about haunted houses or sticking my hand in plates of cold spaghetti. Didn’t watch scary movies. Didn’t carve jack-o-lanterns and watch for the Great Pumpkin.
I even wore the same costume every year. A black cape thrown over jeans and a T-shirt, a black hat with a floppy point, and a cracked orange plastic pumpkin. That’s it. That was my costume. I didn’t even put on a fake warty nose. Not even once. In short, I was the most pathetic little witch you’ve ever seen. But as long as my pumpkin was full by the end of the night, I was pretty happy. Unless people gave me coconut-flavored candy. Yuck!
Over the years, I’ve realized Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. And not just because of the candy. Well, not entirely. You see, every day I read or write is a little bit like Halloween - a chance to play dress-up. A chance to try different characters, different genres, different authors on for size, and see how they fit. Each book I write or read is a new experience, a new chance to play dress-up in my mind, to pretend to be someone else, if only for a little while. To experience someone else’s highs and lows. To be brave and noble and fall in love with the hunkiest guy around.
So what have some of my imaginary costumes looked like over the years? Thanks to writers like Meg Cabot, J.D. Robb, J.K. Rowling, and Ian Fleming, I’ve been a long-lost princess. A tough, but vulnerable detective. A boy wizard with a heavy burden on his young shoulders. The world’s coolest and most resilient spy. And countless other heroes and villains, saviors and sinners, and, yes, even vamps and scamps. 
I’ve made my own imaginary costumes too, with my Bigtime books. I’ve been a nosy investigative reporter. A hot-headed superhero with a killer fashion sense. And some of the nastiest, most maniacal, egotistical, over-the-top villains you could ever dream up. All wearing outrageous, brightly colored spandex. Which, now that I think about, probably has something to do with that boring, black, witch costume. But that’s a post for another time.
Regardless, my pathetic little witch costume is long gone. Thanks to all the great writers out there and my own overactive imagination, I can dress up like whatever I want to, whenever I want to. I’m still holding on to my plastic orange pumpkin, though, cracks and all. Imaginary chocolate will only get you so far.
What about you? Who do you like to dress up as in your books? Whose worlds do you like to escape into? Inquiring minds want to know …
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Thanks so much for dropping in, Jennifer… guys, feel free to ask or comment away. I’ll draw two winning names for the prizes that Jennifer is giving away, one autographed copy of KARMA GIRL and one copy of HOT MAMA.
Good Morning Jennifer!
I have to admit I don’t dress up for Halloween. Altho I do like to decorate the house and kids. Halloween is such a cool Holiday.
I love to escape into all kinds of authors books. Especially your Karma Girl! What an absolute hoot to read.
I can’t wait to get my hands on Hot Mama.
Congrats on the new release!
Billie Jo
Hi, Jennifer!
I love halloween - especially decorating my house and all. That’s always fun! and specially scaring the little kids that come by to get candy (teehee) it’s mean I know but also really funny. Poor kids.
Congratulations on the new release!
I don’t dress up anymore but usually go all out for the kids - trying to get them what they want. If, as an adult, I have to dress up, I go for comfort!
Now I would love to have Eve and Roark’s transportation! Can you imagine being able to fly over the traffic snarls? Or fly over the idiot in the fast lane who forgot where his accelerater is located? Can anyone say pet peeve?
Anyway, thanks for introducing yet another new author. The books sound interesting.
Good Morning Jennifer:
I love Halloween! I also didn’t like it as much as a child, but once I had kids of my own, it all changed. My daughter and I dress every year for her Halloween party and on the actual day my son dresses with us. We normally try to get costumes that go togehter someway (queen, princess and prince. My DH wounld never be caught in a costume.)
Congrats on your new release. As for characters I like to escape with, that’s hard. I have read so many wonderful books and admired their characters that it’s hard to narrow it down, but I love SEP’s Chicago Star series. I would love to be a herione in one of her books, married or dating a football star (LOL) a dream.
Wonderful blog! I never really thought of reading as dress-up but it is definitely true. These days I generally prefer to escape in a romance where there is always a happy ending. However, I do occassionally “dress-up” as a forensic scientist or private investigator. And there are always those times when a girl needs to be a little naughty.
Hi Jennifer,
Fun post today
It’s fun to dress up the kids on Halloween and watching their excitement of the holiday.
If I were to dress up as a book character I would be a vampire vixen or maybe a courtesean.
Congrats on the new release!
Hugs, Danette
I think Halloween is great fun. As for who I would like to dress up as, Lady Victoria Gardella from Colleen Gleason’s Gardella Vampire Chronicles. Regency style elegance and deadly stakes….I would get to indulge my girly side and still be able to take down a villain.
Thanks for introducing me to another author!
I will be checing out Jennifer’s website in a moment.
I don’t dress up for Halloween and have no desire to do so. My daughters dresss up and this year they will be Spider Witches.
I used to dress up with my son. But he doesn’t go anymore now, so no dressing up for me! Congrats on the release! Sounds like a great book.
Hi Jennifer!
I don’t dress up anymore although my daughter wants me to this year when we go out trick or treating. My daughter is dressed up enough for both of us this year. She is going as a vampire and looks really scary (red and black crimped wig, red fake eyelashes, fangs and a goth dress). She’s 6 and suppose to be a princess or a fairy, right? My middle son is going to be a mage and my oldest just rolls his eyes when I ask if he’s going to dress up (he’s a teenager).
I’ll dress up in a costume this coming weekend when I go to a murder mystery party.
I would love to dress up as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. It has always appealed to me greatly and I am a great fan of time travel so this combines both worlds. Congrats on your books which are great.
Billie Jo — Thanks for the nice words about Karma Girl. I hope you enjoy Hot Mama even more!
Wendy — I forgot about house decorations. That’s half the fun, especially if you really go all out and do your whole house and yard.
Lisa — Having some of Eve and Roark’s futuristic gadgets would be very cool.
Patty — That’s a cute idea making your family costumes fit a theme. You could all go as superheroes this year …
Kelly H — I think reading is definitely a form of dress-up. What somebody needs to do is write a great romance with some CSI elements. That would be the best of both worlds.
Danette — A vampire vixen would be really cool. You’d get to live forever and look awesome doing it.
Little Lamb Lost — I haven’t read that series, but I’ve heard a lot of good things about it. It reminds me of a Buffy Halloween episode, where she dresses up in a period costume and starts acting the same way.
Jodi — Spider Witches? That sounds really cute.
Wonderful post! I love hearing about other people’s memories and ideas.
I think every time I open up a book I get to be that character in an imaginary costume…doesn’t matter what book or who the author is…for a little while as I read I get to live in that world. Thanks to books I have been a young lady making her debut in society, a mail-order bride headed toward the unknown, a vampire unsure of who she is, a vampire slayer, a firefighter trying to find her place among the men she works with, a tough as nails heroine, a modern-day woman who gets transported back in time, a wealthy heiress, a down-on-her-luck single loving mother, and many more…if only in my mind. These are the best kind of “costumes”…the possibilities are endless.
I don’t really do a whole lot of real life dressing up for Halloween. Usually, if I do I am just a boring old witch or vampiress. I suppose it’s because I’m either too lazy or normally broke around Halloween so I can’t afford an extravagent costume & I have no sewing skills so I can’t even make my own. However, I do love to imagine that I have the most extraordinary costumes and one of my favorite is a dark angel with real feather wings. That’s what I’m being for Halloween this year in my head. And I even have an amazing body to go with it - if only :o)
I think that’s one of the reasons I love reading so much because there’s so many amazing characters to choose to step into for awhile. It’s Halloween almost every time I open a book - at least for a little while.
Hi Jennifer,
I don’t dress up as often as I used to. I usually just throw on my undertaker t-shirt and hand out candy at the door.
i think it would be fun to dress up like Elizabeth from Pride & Prejudice.
Hello Jennifer,
It’s great seeing you here. Your books sound good and I love the covers
I don’t dress up anymore for Halloween. If I was to dress up again and could be someone from a book I would pick a vampire girl
This Halloween my fiance and I will be staying home watching movies.
Hugssss
LindaH
No more dressing up for me, but I live in a kid zone, so lots of little ones to fuss over. I love the heroines in Tara Janzen’s, Crazy series, and think that dressing up as Skeeter Bang would be a hoot.
I don’t dress up for Halloween and really don’t remember what I dressed up for as Halloween when I was little. BUT, I do love Halloween, my kids get so excited and we pick out pumpkins carve them and place lights in them. We decorate our front door and hubs takes them trick-or-treating while I stay home and hand out candy to the cutest little ones!
I love to read of the exploits of the heros and heroines in my favorite books, but I’ve never put myself there as the characters. It HAS made me wonder what kind of character I’d be though. *g*
I don’t dress up for halloween. I’m not creative to just whip something up. I had a friend in school who could do that. One year she dressed up as an alien and all she had to buy was green body paint. Man I wish I had pics of that year but we thought we were way to cool for pics we where 15 or 16.
Next year I might dress and and stay home and give out candy depends on if the little still has to go trick or treating or not.
love the blurbs on your books. THey are on my tbb list. Just need to get to them lol.
Thanks for commenting, everyone, and for all the well wishes. I appreciate them.
I might have been a witch every single year, but when I was a kid, I really, really wanted to be Wonder Woman.
I used to put a dish towel around my shoulders, pretend it was a cape, and that I was Wonder Woman. The sad thing was I did it even when it wasn’t Halloween.
That’s another great thing about books — you can write whatever characters you want, too. Which is really just another form of dress-up for authors.
a vampire, genie, or a cowgirl
If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?
Hi Jennifer,
Congrats on your new release!
I haven’t dressed up for Halloween for a long time but I love to eat the candy when the Trick a Treaters are gone from my house. LOL!
I happen to dislike the dressing up part of Halloween. I love giving out candy and seeing the costumes of the kiddies.
What worlds do I love to escape to? Any world that my favorite authors write about.
Haven’t dressed up in years….just give out the candy (when I’m not eating it). Have a good holliday!
Sorry I missed out yesterday - computer issues. Anyway Jennifer, your books sound really good, and I love that they’re funny. I’ll definitely check them out
Any superpower? Hmm … that’s a tough one. Since I’m working on a new book right now, I’d have to say superspeed — so I could type as fast as I can think. (I’d also ask for superstrong wrists, too. Carpal tunnel is not fun.)
Hi Jennifer!
Your books sound great.
Here in Belgium we don’t really celebrate Halloween, no trick or treat for example. But we do decorate our houses and tell ghost stories and those kind of things.
Hi Jennifer. I never did dress up as a child. I was afraid of Halloween then but I love to see children in costumes now and like the jack-o-lanterns and other decorations.
I love Halloween it’s my favorite holiday. My girlfriend comes over every year with her kids and husband. He takes them out trick or treating and we sit on my front porch dressed up and hand out candy. I love seeing all the different costumes every year. Hope this weather is nice tomorrow!