End of September

Here it is! The eve of the spookiest month of the year. I'm still not done decorating the front lawn and am still trying to decide on a costume for this year. Have a few too many ideas in mind!

I wanted to do the milk jug jack-o-lanterns seen here, but the glow sticks I was able to find don't seem to be working for me. I did not want expensive sticks, so I got those at Dollar Tree. I then tried tea lights, which seem to be a better option. I also found a solar garden stake at the Dollar Tree. I broke the end of the stake while trying to insert it into the ground and am experimenting with holding it upside down in a jug. Also at DT, I saw and got some of these Halloween stakes, which I was able to put into the ground without any trouble. Will let you know how the whole things works out once I get it to how I like it.

Some Things I Did Not Know...

 ... before I began writing my newest work-in-progress (which I have admit I have been slacking on lately!). I'm now questioning whether to change them or not.

For the letter in my work, I used a fake zip code and what I though was a fake city name. It is, but there is actually a city with a similar name, that I know nothing about. As a disguise for Hollister, California, I used the name Holtsville, which does not exist. When I posted about this in a Hollister-based group on Facebook, someone pointed out a city in Southern California called Holtville. It's near El Centro, at the border of Mexico. I have to admit I have never been to a lot of parts of my own home state, including this one. The name was changed from Holton to avoid confusion with a city in a nearby county named Colton (another I knew nothing about). Holtville is known as the "Carrot Capital of the World."

At least the zip code 95025 does not exist. Even so, I am not sure whether to come up with another fake city name. Notice the fake name is one letter different from the real one. 

Another is that the last name I chose for my character, Dutton. What I did not know is that is the name of the characters on the series Yellowstone, since I have not watched the show. I only knew about the character Beth after meeting the girl at the bar last Halloween dressed as the character. (I had to ask who she was, since I did not know immediately). But I do not see any reason to change the name, since it is a somewhat common name. If the story ever gets to print, some may think I took that name from the series, but is entirely coincidental. 

After getting my ideas down, I feel I worked too hard to want to change the names. The city, I may have to, give the circumstances, but if there can be a fake Springfield in the US where many real-life cities named Springfield exist, then I don't see why there can't be one that is only one letter off from a real one, and in different parts of the state. It is fiction after all, just loosely based on a real town. The only time the city is mentioned, BTW, is in the letter, as the story is mostly based on the character's thoughts, blog and journal entries. No email yet, but I may work that one in. So the location only plays a minor part.

13 Knockoff Costumes

Colleen at The Thursday 13 holds a weekly blogging prompt where bloggers make a list of 13 things on Thursdays. The topic is for you to choose. The blog host doesn't have any official graphics to display on the Thursday 13 posts, so I decided to whip one up myself. 🙂    

With the spooky season upon us, it's time to start thinking about Halloween costumes. I'm still deciding on one myself 🙂

Here are some off-brand costumes, many of which resemble the real thing. I got to thinking about this after seeing the "Slipper Queen" (Cinderella) and the Apple Queen (Snow White) at the Spirit store. I was also reminded of how when Kmart was still around (the Spirit store is in the former Kmart building), kids would often see a generic orange clownfish costume and say, "It's Nemo!" A lot of these look a lot like the real character.

Just choosing 13 for this post was hard. There are certainly more out there. 

More Challenges Completed

 

With only three months left in the year, I am checking to see how many prompts I have left to fill and how many until I complete the whole challenge. Some have one or two prompts remaining.

Since my mid-year post in June, I have completed the following  challenges:

Color Coded and What's in a Name

I pointed out in this post that I found a book that I was able to use for the color brown and the NFL Team (What's in a Name). I'd nearly forgotten about the Browns (I don't watch football!) and was trying to find books with "eagle" or  "cowboy" in the title, as those were the first team names that came to mind. By using the brown title, I was able to complete both of these on the same day.

Reading With Wrigs:

I nearly missed the fact that this book had to do with an election and politician  When Saw this category at the beginning of the year I immediately thought I'd be reading a book about a real-life election. But this was the only category I had left on this list, so I decided to count the book for the category so I could complete this one. Glad to have another done!

Reader Haven:

I unexpectedly finished this one earlier this month. Only one category as left, and  I realized a book I was reading then fit that category. Some things just work out great when you don't expect it.

 

My Reader's Journey:

This was one of those had some space-set related category (something I noted in this post). I took suggestion made in one of the comments. This was the last one I added for this one, and again I'm glad to have gotten another done this month.

It's getting to be time when the new for next year star pouring in. And I'll have to decide when to star posting the ones I host. The challenges often begin posting in November and December, some in October. And some not till January after the new year begins.

First Day of Fall

 

It's here and about to be true! The weather for tomorrow is expected to be around 98. And one week after a short rainy day last Monday. I'm so used to this. No surprises. I now wonder if there will be another heat wave in October as there was in my area last year. 

Book Discussion: Letters in Books with Places and Postal Codes

 

In this post, I said how I used fake zip code in a letter. This got me to thinking about books that have used letters with zip codes or postal codes (from other countries). 

One thing this brought to mind the Shopaholic series, where the MC receives letters from banks and credit card companies. The author is British, so the banks are in cities such as London and Liverpool, and the story itself is in London. Click to see one of the letters in one of the books. I looked up the address in the letter to see if the street was a real one. No results for Camel Square in Liverpool showed up. I also looked up the postal code used in the letter to see if it exists (the results produced no such evidence). Also, I could not find a PGNI First Bank in Liverpool or Endwich Bank in London (used in another letter from the same book). 

Also in the post on Monday, I referenced The Best of Enemies, one of the books I got a Kmart before they closed in my town and which I read during the pandemic shutdown. I still have my copy. The prologue in this book is a series of invitations fr celebrations and letters from the hotel where the celebrations take place (with the cost of damages). I had already looked up the zip code used in the hotel letters and saw that is it an actual zip code in Chicago. Another of the letters is from a branch of the same hotel in Las Vegas, with a real zip code from that city. But when I looked up Hotel Wintercourt, no results for such a hotel turned up.

I also noticed that no handwritten signatures appear in these letters. I wondered how to do this when I did my letter. But when I saw these examples, I decided to keep mine as is, and not try to create a fake signature and try to insert it into my WIP. And although these examples use real zip codes and cities, I plan to keep the fake ones in my work. 

These are the only examples of such letters I can come up with right now. And these are letters from businesses, rather than personal letters, which have often been used in books. The letters in the Shopaholic series are interspersed throughout the books. I specifically looked for business letters since this is what I have in my WIP.  Not only are the city and zip code fictional, but so is the name of the business, a hospital and the street on which it is located.

What are some other books that have letters like this in them? What is your take on using real vs. fake dresses, codes, and cities in books?

Whether to Use Real or Fictional Towns and Zip Codes

One thing that seemed inevitable in the wake of Trump saying pets were being eaten in Springfield was memes and videos of The Simpsons, the long-running animated comedy set in a fictional town known as Springfield. It's never been said exactly where Springfield is, even though several U.S. cities bear the Springfield name.

I don't want to mention a lot about the Orange Menace (this is a topic I like to avoid). But as I said, the Simpsons references seemed inevitable after his recent claim. And the fact that The Simpsons is set in a fictional city also brought to mind something I recently did when I began writing my newest work-in-progress. 

I was uncertain about using my own home town and zip code in a fake letter I used as part of my WIP. I immediately made up a city name, Holtsville, and at first, I did use the actual zip code for Hollister, California, but after reading a comment on this post about my work, I decided to check for a possible zip code that might not exist. The actual zip code for Hollister is 95023 (95024 for P.O. Box addresses). I tried 95025, and saw that it's not an actual zip code. So I used that in my fake letter. 

The Kinsey Millhone books (A is for Alibi, etc.) are set in a fictional town, Santa Teresa (based on Santa Barbara, CA). The books reference the fictional University of California campus at Santa Teresa (referencing the real-life UC Santa Barbara).

Though The Simpsons setting of Springfield is not in any specific state,  at least one fake zip code has been used (on Homer's drivers license), although the article says the zip code is that of Kalamazoo, Michigan (This is in fact true).  And one episode made reference to another iconic Fox series, Beverly Hills 90210, spoofed as Springfield Heights 90210. This, even though 90210 is the actual zip code for Beverly Hills. References like these make the location even more of a mystery.

Also, in the letter in my WIP: the letter is from a hospital, a fictional name of which is also being used. I chose the generic-sounding Holtsville Community Hospital on Sunrise Drive (a reference to an actual street in my town known as Sunset Drive). I glanced through my copy of this book, and saw letters from a  hotel in Chicago. The zip code used in the letter is an actual Chicago zip code. But a search for the hotel name, Hotel Wintercourt, produced no results for a real-life hotel of that name, though links to the book appeared.

Have any of you used fake city names and/or zip codes in your works? 

Nightmare Before Christmas

It's the first of two Friday the 13ths this year! The second one occurs in December. 

I'm starting to see Christmas items in stores, so it really is like a Nightmare Before Christmas.

Pumpkin Spice Cartoons

Colleen at The Thursday 13 holds a weekly blogging prompt where bloggers make a list of 13 things on Thursdays. The topic is for you to choose. The blog host doesn't have any official graphics to display on the Thursday 13 posts, so I decided to whip one up myself. 🙂   

It's getting to be that time! No doubt you've already seen seeing Pumpkin Spice everywhere by now.

Some of these are new to me, some I've posted in the past.

After the Debate

 

Spirit Halloween Store First Visit

The Spirit Halloween store opened on Sunday afternoon. I went  around 3 then. An employee said they's opened an hour earlier, with a long line waiting outside. I'm glad I went later than that!

The former Kmart parking lot that's been empty
since 2020.

The former Kmart building storefront with 
the Spirit Halloween banner.

The official costumes (above photos) and the off-brands with weird names (below photos). The Snow White knockoff is called Apple Queen.

Corpse Bride animatronics.