This blog by Cher’ley Grogg
I did not become what I had thought I would be as a child except for being the mother of a girl and a boy and being married to a wonderful man. Which is okay, by me. I wanted to be a teacher, I did become a Sunday School teacher and that was probably as close as I actually wanted to get to teaching as I got older. I sure never dreamed of being a truck-driver, or an artist or a writer.
When I grow up, can’t be thought of by me unless I think of this song by my favorite female vocalist;
Once a year, children (and some lucky adults) can become anyone they want to be. I thought it was interesting to see how the focus on who they wanted to be for Trick-or-Treat had changed and here’s what I found.
The last 30 years of the most popular costumes:
1983 Princess Leia
84 Freddy Krueger
85 Hulk Hogan
86 Care Bear
87 Where’s Waldo
88 Elvira
89 Batman
90 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
91 The Terminator
92 Catwoman
93 Barney
94 Power Ranger
95 Star Trek
96 Scream
97 Batman & Robin
98 South Park
99 The Matrix
2000 Austin Powers
01 SNL Spartan Cheerleaders
02 Spider-Man
03 Pirates
04 SpongeBob SquarePants
05 Star Wars
06 President Obama
07 Spider-Man
08 The Joker
09 Vampires
10 Lady Gaga
11 Snooki & the Situation
12 The Avengers
13 Twerkin’ Teddy
There was only one that repeated. Did you see which character it was? This information came from A Costume Site (in case you still need to order a costume).
When writing, we have an idea, or an image of our heroes and heroines. We even have ideas of what our villains look like. 
Does our heroine look like a princess or does our villain look like “The Joker”? What about their occupations? It’s very important for your characters to have solid occupations (they can’t all be born rich). In Stamp Out Murder, my main character, James is an accountant by day, he has money and he can afford to collect stamps, antiques and Civil War memorabilia. Carolyn, the damsel in distress helped him to become the hero who overcame many obstacles to set things right and to save her.
Ordinary people are heroes and heroines, you meet them every day and you probably have a few in your family.
***Did you grow up to be what you thought you would? Maybe you’re like me and you’re still waiting to grow up. Did your character grow up to be what they thought they’d be?***
Cher’ley’s Books are listed below and on sale at Amazon and local bookstores.
“The Secret in Grandma’s Trunk” This is an especially good book for your Tween Children and Grandchildren.
The Journey Back-One Joy at a Time and the B&W Edition of The Journey Back
And please join me on my Facebook Fanpage, that’s managed by one of my most faithful fans: Cindy Ferrell
Here’s a link to Cher’ley’s WEBSITE
Writing Wranglers and Warriors 
How I’ve given some cool info. Cher’ley
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Wow! That second image was quite a shocker, Cherley! There I was thinking ‘I’m shirley Temple and I’ve got curly hair…’ a song I sang as I played children’s skipping ropes games. I scrolled down and.. I see what you mean about being someone different though I’m not rushing to be Freddy K. Maybe Edward Scizzorhands? – since I’m a big fan of Johnny Depp. 🙂 I’ll maybe go off and think about a halloween costume now. Thanks for the prompt since I’ve got blog posts to write this afterenoon.
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Lol. Nancy. When you get your new book blog ready send it to me. No hurry. I loved Shirley Temple..Cher’ley
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I enjoyed the blog, made me think back. I seen power rangers and thought of boys dressing up for few years like them and wearing the costumes all year long , hero’s are good . my oldest is married expecting his first baby and my youngest is in the military, go go power rangers lol
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A new generation of Power Rangers, Batman, The Ninja Turtles and Spiderman. Just make sure to take lots of video. I can see Bassas wearing the little cap like a bat, carrying the Dracula figure and saying “Boo” to the camera. Ben would talI so fast his wordswould run over each other. “Look Mammaw, I’m Spiderman, Guess who I Am Mammaw, I’m Spiderman. Do you know I’m Spiderman?” Love You. Mom
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Great post Cherley. When I was a kid I wanted to be the lady of the manor and one year for Halloween my mother found a turquoise silk taffeta ball gown with long gloves. She did my hair up in a fancy bun. Add a fan and I thought I was a queen! When I got older I decided I would become a lawyer. I read the Encyclopedia Brittanica one book at a time. Later I thought I’d be a history teacher. Instead I got married because my boyfriend was going overseas with the Army and we figured he’d probably end up in Viet Nam. Instead he was sent to Germany, where he spent the entirety of his duty. After a couple of months I followed and spent a glorious three years living in Germany and traveling through Europe. I returned to the States pregnant with my first child (a girl) and 18 months later we had a boy. I’d say my life turned out the way God intended.
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Linda, I think you are right. God’s plans are best. Did you love Germany? Do your kids live near you? Cher’ley
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Guess I’m lucky, I been and become everything I thought I wanted to be. Of course some of them were characters as an actor. Smile. What fun and thoughtful post. Doris
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Doris, You are lucky and being an Actress, you get to dress up the other 11 months of the year. Cher’ley
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Fun post. I wanted to be a teacher, which I was briefly. Later I wrote user manuals–a form of teaching. I also got to have horses most of my live. So I’ve gotten a lot of my dreams.
But I still don’t feel like I’m all “growed up.” My current dream is to be a successful writer.
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Kate, it sounds like dreams really do come true. I’m happy for you and I’m anxious to read your books. Cher’ley
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A truck-driving novelist … sounds like it’s time for an autobiography. 🙂
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Thanks Mike. It keeps me busy.
Cher’ley
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Fun post, Cherley! Like Nancy, the 2nd photo made my eyes bug out!!! I caught the Star Wars repetition — one of my most favorite movies/movie series! I wanted to be a biologist, particularly a park ranger in the national parks; I’ve been able to write about our national parks, so that’s a close “dream”! Like Kate, I dream of a fulltime writing career and I look forward to what the future may bring!
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Gayle, LOL on the photo. I guess we’d all like to write full-time. I’m glad you are close to fulfilling your dream from your childhood and you dream of being a full-time writer. Cher’ley
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It’s taken me years but I’ve finally become what I wanted to be when I was a kid, a writer. Sometimes when I write I cut pictures from magazines of what my characters look like, sometimes not. Great post.
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Erin, I’m glad you became your childhood dream. I have a file on my computer of what I think some of my characters look like. None of them look like Freddie. LOL Cher’ley
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