Halloween Memory Writing Prompts: Enhance Your Author Platform
Flashback of Girlfriend Terror: Memories of Halloween Sleepover
Author Platform Defined
“Author platform” is another one of those new, cool marketing and publishing terminology words. An author platform is your footprint in the professional writing (and other) world.
What do you do or have you done out there in the world that could add to your credentials as a writer and your ability to sell your book?
Your author platform will become critical in getting your book seen and sold and I consider it to be a big part of your book’s marketing plan.
Writers Gotta Write
One way to add to or enhance your author platform is to do what you do best - to write! Obviously, you wrote or are writing a book but I am talking about other kinds of writing. How about writing articles, blogs, guest blog posts and guest columns? You could write on your own site’s blog or a Substack newsletter (ahem). You could write articles and submit them to magazines, newspapers, and websites that are specifically looking for the type of article and subject you write.
I know that writing a book and publishing a book takes an enormous amount of time and effort. The thought of more writing may be more than you can bear but consider doing it because it will add to your author platform.
Writing IS Book Marketing
Every time you write, your name and website (perhaps even a “author of (your book)”will be linked with the article. People reading your article will be able to find you and learn about your book! Also, remember that you don’t HAVE to write about your book or the messages and/or themes in your book. One of the best articles that I found on book marketing in 2008, when I first started researching the subject, was written by Joan Price, the author of the book, Better Than I Ever Expected: Straight Talk About Sex After Sixty. After reading her article you can bet that I checked out her book, one of many, and read it, even though I was no where near age 60 at the time. Now, of course, hmmmmm, where did I put that book? Can you see the power in writing? Write something passionate, authentic, entertaining and helpful and book readers will reward you!
What to Write About: Halloween Girlfriend Sleepover
Halloween is around the corner so I thought I would share how one of my girlfriend Halloween sleepover memories could serve to provide writing prompts for article and post ideas.
Middle School Sleepover Party Terror and the Trauma That Goes With It
All of the memories of my past sleepovers have seemed to melt into one amalgam. Let me take you back in time. It's Kristina Wiershinki's house. (I know I am spelling her name wrong, so forgive me, Kristina)
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.
Here is a list of things to expect from one of my pre-teen sleepovers:
A fight would break out. Two girls would get into a fight about something stupid at the party. As if on cue, some of the girls would side with the one girl and some would side with the other girl. The hostess could only sit back and watch in horror as she watched her party fall apart.
Tears. Count on the tears. Someone would end up in tears and need to be comforted. An attention-getting maneuver, maybe, but always an old-standby.
Some kind of 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 is a good thing we had never watched The Exorcist! 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," "light as a feather." Slowly the girl would start to rise in the air, sometimes all the way to the ceiling. A “supernatural power” was supposed to be at work. More likely, it was the strength of 11 girls that lifted the "victim" to the ceiling.
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 has the inevitable call to the parent in the middle of the night for the one girl 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 warm water" trick to make the victim pee in her pants? Or the lesser known, but also crowd-pleasing, 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.
Finally,
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 and no one would be the wiser. Those were the days. The texters of today are out of luck on anonymity and this fun trick.
Memory Provides a Writing Prompt
A walk down memory lane could be just what the doctor ordered to prompt a good story for an article perhaps even you next book! I, for example, could write about how much the ritual of the sleepover affected me in the long run. Perhaps sleepovers were simply a way for me to bond with my peeps. Maybe getting away from the house and my brother and sister to be a bit independent was was I needed. Perhaps the opportunity to cope with all the different personalities of my girlfriends was a way to prepare me for the outside world. Who knows? But all fertile writing prompt material, yes?
Tell me about the stuff you used to do at your sleepovers and share an example of stuff we used to do at sleepovers. If you have never had a sleepover, I’ve just given you a peek behind the curtain of what goes one, Happy Halloween and thanks for reading.
Why Subscribe to Get Your Book Seen and Sold Substack?
With paid subscriptions, some less than $5/a month, you will have access to all of my resource filled posts, plus a fill-in-the-blank marketing plan that you can download.
At the highest subscription level ($100/yr), you will also get a 30-minute consult with me.
When you are ready to make some decisions about YOUR book subscribe today and let’s come up with a plan.