Yes, I’m a sucker for October and Halloween. Cooler weather (I’m hoping for some, at least, after Sacramento quits its 90-plus degree temps). pumpkins, decorations, monsters, scary movies… I’m all for them. I love them all. Right now I’m listening to an album called The Greatest Show Unearthed by a band called Creature Feature. It’s got songs about zombies, aliens, and more. I dig it big time.

And, of course, there’s “Spooky Scary Skeletons” in the video above. It’s also one of my favorite songs. Because I’m that kind of weird.

I have a playlist in YouTube Music (I refuse to use Spotify, and I’m feeling kind of gross about using YouTube Music, but that’s neither here nor there) called “Spooky Shit”, which features songs by Creature Feature, Ghoultown, and music from the soundtracks to Bride of Frankenstein and other classic horror movies. It lifts my sullen spirits at this time of year.

But in other news…

I set some pretty ambitious goals for myself for September. I was going to choose a topic to write a nonfiction article about, revise Padma (my 2016 — Jesus, was it really that long ago? — NaNoWriMo novel), finish up the barf draft of The X of Doom, and choose a couple of short stories from last year to revise and submit. Unfortunately, some very bad brain days interfered with those plans, and I ended up writing about 6,000 words total on The X of Doom, revised two chapters in Padma, and worked on zero short stories or nonfiction articles. I did watch a lot of bad horror movies on Amazon Prime, though.

I’ve been trying to think of useful ways to power through bad brain days to be productive on my creative projects. Unfortunately, on such days, I’m barely able to concentrate on my day job, and when that’s over for the day, my creative juices are gone. These are the joys of having Bipolar Type 2 and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. (By the way, I should remind everyone else to TAKE YOUR MEDICATIONS because I know when I don’t, bad things happen. Sometimes I’m tempted to skip my meds because, well, they don’t seem to work; and sometimes I feel great and I’m tempted to skip my meds because, well, they clearly aren’t needed. They’re needed anyway. I take my meds.)

I’m not sure there are ways to “power through” a bad brain day, though. They happen. I suppose one must roll with the waves of emotions and do the best one can.

Anyway.

Be safe. Be kind to others and to yourself. And have fun.