Discovering a unique Halloween lifestyle blog last fall made my soul dance. We all need that these days, really any day. Halloween is simply my FAVORITE holiday and always has been. My mother is the one who instilled a love of all things spooky in me. She loves Halloween and created fun for the holiday every year. I have pictures somewhere buried of me in homemade costumes – the most family famous was a cardboard cutout mermaid tail. I was 4 or 5 years old and it was a DIY creation that worked well on paper, and then my parents couldn't figure out how to keep me upright in it or how I could walk. It's all in the details, people! But, I digress. I discovered SpookyLittleHalloween.com while researching holiday ideas. Miranda's blog is simply genius.
Miranda taps into Halloween 365 days a year with ideas for DIY, recipes, a horror-themed book club,, playlists, events, and more. She has been very gracious about the questions I pepper her with for Poe in Wonderland posts. So, I was thrilled when she agreed to an interview.
Can you tell our readers about yourself and your blog?
I’m Miranda, and I’m the Halloween lover behind spookylittlehalloween.com. I’m a writer who lives in Houston, TX. By day I work for a nonprofit, and by night I write about Halloween for fun. Spooky Little Halloween celebrates October 31st all year long with ideas for Halloweenifying everything in your life.
Describe how you first got into blogging?
I’ve been blogging for more than half my life. It started when I was 16 and looking for a writing outlet. I was around 26 when I started my first “professional” blog about music. In 2015, I decided to give Halloween blogging a try, and it took on a life of its own.
What would you say is the greatest satisfaction about being a Halloween blogger?
The community! I love making new friends who love Halloween just as much as I do and finding new ways to celebrate together. This adventure has put people in my life I never would have met otherwise because we live all over the country – and even the world.
What subjects did you blog about when you started at 16? Have you continued to maintain online space since then or did you take a break for a period of time?
A lot of my early blogging was personal writing – more diary-style blog posts from an angsty teen! Some of that evolved into creative writing I did for a bit. I fell in love with flash fiction. Eventually I decided to occupy a more serious space by using my professional writing skills to share my thoughts on music and, later, Halloween.
For the most part, I’ve maintained some sort of online presence since I was 16, whether it was blogging or social media. It’s always healthy to take a step away, but the Internet landscape is how I connect with a lot of my good friends these days.
If not Halloween, then what holiday would you write about and why? (Can’t count Halloweenifying it.)
I often joke that if I didn’t write about Halloween, I would pick a completely random holiday to blog about – something like Arbor Day or Leap Year. Honestly, though, it would be hard because I don’t feel as strongly about any other holiday. I’d probably venture back into music or focus more on creative writing.
We love reading and book clubs at Poe In Wonderland. What motivated you to start The Halloween Book Club other than it’s about the holiday itself?
On my better days, I’m an avid reader. I actually tried to start a book club with my music blog but we didn’t get very far. When I started noticing some friends and followers in the Halloween community seemed to enjoy the book reviews I had shared on the blog, I decided maybe this was the right space for a book club. Apparently I was right because it took off and we currently 4,300+ members! Much like trying to Halloweenify other holidays, I enjoy the challenge of seeking out new novels with a Halloween/horror/supernatural theme to them. There are SO many!
I was excited to see The Halloween Book Club. I have dearly missed my monthly book club with the pandemic so it was awesome to see this online one. Readers vote on 4 titles a year. I'm at the beginning of the second book I've participated with in the club: The Graveyard Apartment by Mariko Koike.
If you could transform into any character from a Halloween-themed book, who would you be?
While not explicitly a Halloween book, I think my vote would go to the aunts from “Practical Magic”. Being a wise old woman who lives in a killer house and who all the local kids think is a witch is what I want to be when I grow up.
The monster I despise the most is the zombie. Is there one you just cannot stand and dread to see in a movie or read about in a book? Why?
How interesting! I’ve never thought of that. I don’t think there is a monster I don’t enjoy or avoid – what I don’t like is excessive gore. It makes me queasy and that feeling completely takes me out of the flow of the story, whether movie or book.
SpookyLittleHalloween.com is hands down one of my favorite things to read online. Halloween thrills my soul and to see new things every week about the holiday is satisfying. Miranda's posts are extremely creative and surprise you since you might not realize how many Halloween things exist in the world. Browse her blog for ideas and stay for the fun!
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