It’s October, which means it’s officially Halloweenis.
Which is my made up holiday for when spooky season collides with the brutal reality that you still need to pay rent and sell your creative warez.
We’re creatives and artists but we are not about that starving life.
Look, I could happily live in Halloween mode year round. Give me fog machines, horror movie marathons, and an excuse to wear all black every day while pretending I’m summoning Edgar Allan Poe instead of just avoiding my never ending pile of laundry.
The aesthetic is perfect, the vibes as kids say…
[Checks notes]
…are immaculate, and everything feels appropriately dramatic too.
Although there’s just ONE thing we shouldn’t forget.
The bills don’t pause for atmospheric mood lighting, bloody gory death scenes and those bastard cany corn candies that’ve somehow made it across the fucking pond to England.
(WHY???)
You still need to write the words, ship the projects, and keep people engaged while making a bit of dollar dollar too.
I’m not throwing Halloween under the bus. I’m just gonna harness the spooky energy to make my creative output more compelling and I suggest you do too.
This is prime time for darker storytelling, atmospheric marketing, and content that plays with tension and mystery.
People’s attention spans sharpen when there’s a chill in the air. They want to be unsettled, intrigued, pulled into narratives that match the season’s gothic mood.
So how are we gonna do this?
Write our ad copy that reads like a ghost story. Or maybe if you’re launching something new or throwing an idea out into socialmedialand, make the content build suspense instead of just delivering the info.
Let your emails feel like they’re being transmitted from a haunted house where the WiFi somehow still works perfectly.
(I heard a rustle downstairs and nobody is home and I tell you what, this place I’m in is genuinely haunted and I will write about it on Halloween eve…)
The best part about Halloweenis is that spooky sells. Fear, mystery, and the unknown are powerful psychological triggers that make people pay attention. Horror movies make billions. True crime podcasts dominate charts. People are drawn to things that give them controlled doses of adrenaline.
So don’t pull up the covers and ignore this season.
Create work that captures people’s imagination when they’re already primed for stories that go bump in the night and all of that creepy goodness.
Halloween when it gets here, might only last one day, but Halloweenis can fuel your creative work all season long and ALL year round.
Okay, so, get back to writing. The spirits demand content.
Stephen Walker.