After a fun-filled weekend partying with friends dressed up in clown costumes, necromancer gowns, and how could I forget the horse wizard, business rhino, and Mexican Alien Fart-o-Meter — how can I already be thinking of next year’s Halloween bash? Well there’s two reasons actually.

One, I’ve almost perfected my Steampunk outfit and I’ve worn it consistently for the last two years. With Dragon*Con at the beginning of September followed closely by Halloween, I have a feeling I’ll want to liven up my wardrobe a little bit next year. I’ve got some goggles I want to make still for it, get some fingerless gloves, and find a better way to attach my freaking topper hat, but still! It’s fairly close to being done, and so I’m getting the urge to add a new get-up to my choices.

Two, my sister has been showing The Birds in her English 1101 classes. Yes, I know – the fabulous Alfred Hitchcock version that I adore. I admit I would have loved to watch Hitchcock’s work in my freshmen college years, though our dystopia films were just as fun come to think of it. Anyway, it makes me think of what Melanie Daniels wears in the film (played exquisitely by Tippi Hedren of course). I’m sure you’ve seen it around. It’s really a neat concept even though the fabric for the outfit is a little wanting.

So after a little browsing, I found this unique rendition of it. You know, anything involving blood, gore, and a ripped out eye is just going to be creepily fun! What a way to turn this simplistic outfit into a grotesque study in avian phobias! And then on top of that, I found a wonderful “shopping list” posted up on etsy listing parts and pieces to create your own Tippi outfit. How fun!

So yeah — Tippi may just be my next big costume attempt. And since I’m a big fan of Tippi Hedren anyway (did you know she runs a conservatory for lions in Florida now?), it might just give me an excuse to practice my sewing some more.

In writing news, I read this insightful post comparing E-Pub with Traditional Publishing. It’s very useful for writers like me – writers who are about to have their first book ready to publish – to see what the market looks like at the moment. It’s changing so dramatically now that it’s difficult to keep up with what direction you should approach. I tried explaining to a friend of mine the other day how E-Publishing is now a respected form of publication to little avail. Apparently if you’re not keeping up with all the news going back and forth on this topic, it’s easy to fall behind. Of course I’m still undecided, and probably won’t be ready to make my decision until the very end. Some folks are suggesting that you wait around a few years until all the scam groups get weeded out, but honestly, I feel like I’ve already waited a year on my novel getting it prepared. And now that I’m going to be devoting all my time on the sequel during NaNoWriMo next month, I’m even more determined to get the first book finished up.