A Halloween Nightmare: Sleepover Parties

Non-fiction Writers Who Share Personal Stuff Provide Value for Their Audience

(Pic credit: Marley Shelton, Marla Sokoloff and the rest of the girls at a sleepover in a scene from the film "Sugar & Spice," 2001 Getty (https://daily.jstor.org/slumber-parties-and-folklore/).

Happy Halloween! Why a Personal Observation Post?

On Substack, I write about book marketing and publishing but adding a personal observation post is always a good thing for a writer’s audience no matter what you write.

Why?

Because a personal post shares another side to the writer. It offers another dimension - a personality glimpse of the writer - and it gives the writer authenticity for all of their writing! If you like the personal side of a writer’s musings, the expert side seems more relatable and authentic.

Recently a few of my favorite authors on Substack wrote personal posts that were fabulous - thought-provoking, entertaining, and honest. They reminded me how powerful a glimpse behind the curtain of the author can be for their readers.

Kate Brenton: The Golden Thread: Horrendous Airline Experience vs Helpful Strangers

Kathleen Schmidt: Publishing Confidential: A Personal Note About Mental Health

Meg Oolders: Stock Fiction: Name My Nemesis

In the spirit of personal essay, here is my personal share and invitation to you share as well.

Halloween Sleepovers

When my middle daughter was 11 years old, I allowed her to invite 10  friends over for a Halloween party sleepover. I’m sure she caught me at a moment of weakness - ten, loud, emotional girls in my house for a straight 18 hours, brought unimaginable fear to my soul. When I think back on that night, which I obviously survived, I remember my own sleepovers as a kid.

All of the memories of my past sleepovers (they were many) have seemed to melt into one big amalgam.  Let me take you back in time.  

I’m at Kristina Wiershinki's house.

The year is 1978.  The Bee Gees and Michael Jackson are the biggest things going.  Kristina had the coolest room I had ever seen, complete with a princess canopy bed, fully furnished and decorated.  As a little gift (the seventies version of a gift bag) we all got a 45 record of a Bee Gees song.  I still remember the label.  It was cream colored and had a picture of a cow on it.

For some reason all of the sleepovers had the same themes repeated over and over.

• Count on a fight to break out.  Two girls would get into a fight about something stupid at the party. As if on cue, half the girls would side with the one girl and half would side with the other girl.  The hostess could only sit back and watch in horror as she watched her party fall apart.

• Tears.  Many, many tears were shed.  One girl would end up welling up over a slight and need to be comforted. New teams would form accordingly

• Paranormal goings on.  Whether it be the Ouija board, a seance, or simply the testing of the "stiff as a board" theory, something supernatural was going to “happen” at a sleepover.  It’s a good thing we never watched The Exorcist movie. BTW, the "stiff as board" experiment is when a girl lies down on the floor and the rest of the girls place two fingers underneath her on all sides.  The person at the girl's head starts to chant "stiff as a board” then,"light as a feather." Slowly the girl would be begin to raise in the air, sometimes all the way to the ceiling.  A supernatural power was supposed to be a work. More likely, it was the strength of 11 girls lifting the 70 pound "victim" to the ceiling but we all preferred to think it was magic powers.

• Stomach-ache.  The non-stop drinking of soda, pizza, cake, ice cream and candy had the same effect then as it does now.

• The Midnight Parent Pick-up.  Every single sleep-over had the inevitable call to the parents in the middle of the night for the one gal who couldn't make it through the whole night.  This phenomena would leave the poor soul who couldn't hack it branded for life but also had the horrible side-effect of having to see the hostess's parents in pajamas. (probably the MOST upsetting thing about the night)

• Attempted Pranks. Failed attempts at suburban legend tricks on the poor souls who fell asleep before the others.  Who didn't at least TRY the "put the thumb in the warm water" trick to make the victim pee in her pants.  Or the lesser known, but also famous, put the training bra in water and then freeze it to the horror of the victim, who didn't need the darn training bra in the first place but was forced to wear it by her mom.

Last, but not least:

• The Calling of the Cute Boys.  Back before the the time of caller ID or *69, a hot- blooded American girl could call the cutest guy in school and once he answered, hang-up. No one would be the wiser in the 70’s.  Those were the days.

Thanks for letting me take a walk down memory lane.  I’m sure that the ritual of the sleepover was a healthy one. Although I do remember my Mom suggesting we skip Ouijia board - a window to the devil, she thought.  Sleepovers were definitely a way for me to bond with my peeps.  For certain, it was a way to learn a new aspect of my girlfriend’s personalities…. just like … adding personal posts to your expert substack posts are a way for you to share yourself, your authenticity, to your readers!

Happy Halloween!

INVITATION - I would love to hear your sleepover stories in the comment section.

Thanks for reading. Email me with any questions: wjcwolk@gmail.com

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