Confidence. Having that will either make or break your pumpkin by the end of the carving process. The way I look at it, pretend you are a one-of-a-kind pumpkin artist and that orange gourd, just waiting to be gutted and carved, is your canvas. I won’t go into too much detail, because you can find step-by-step tutorials online. But what you really need are tips from a pro. Someone like me.

1. It starts with the pumpkin: your canvas. I prefer to visit a patch, where the pumpkins are locally grown and are fresh for the pickin’. Some say that you should pick out your design first, and then choose a pumpkin that best fits your pattern. But I say choose the one that calls your name. My pumpkin was squealing “Shelby” as I approached it, so it was meant to be. The artist never chooses the canvas. The canvas picks the artist.
2. Next comes choosing the right pattern. Every other year I design my own pattern, but this year I printed one from a website. Most importantly, make sure it fits your pumpkin on the cleanest, smoothest side. You don’t want ugly warts or large gashes in the middle of your pattern, so avoid those.
3. Now comes the most important, crucial part: the gutting. Use a sharp knife (but be careful) to create a large enough circle to fit your hand inside. This will be the lid, so you want to angle the incision inward toward the stem so your lid won’t fall through. Girls: trim your nails before you start digging around in the pumpkin guts. Large spoons work the best for getting all the innards out. Save the seeds and toast them for a yummy treat afterward and freeze the rest to make into a pumpkin pie. Carve out the walls of the pumpkin so that it’s about an inch thick so you have less pumpkin to carve later. When you think you’re finished, keep going. It will take a while.
4. Most pumpkin artists purchase carving kits at grocery stores that have all the needed tools to create the perfect pumpkin. And that includes even the most professional artists, like me. So go buy one, they’re only $10 at Wal-Mart. Use the little tool that I call the “pumpkin sword” to poke holes along the lines of the pattern after you have taped it to your pumpkin. Just don’t apply too much pressure; pumpkin swords break easily.
5. In a typical pumpkin-carving kit, you will find two saws: one smaller and one larger. For tight carving spaces, use the small one. But if you have an easy design with plenty of straight lines, you can use the larger saw. The most professional carvers—and by professional carvers I mean me—carve out the smaller, tight pieces first. Don’t start removing parts of the pumpkin until the very end. You’ll only create more problems for yourself.
6. This is when everything starts to come together. Gently push on the pieces from the inside of you pumpkin, not the outside. If you have large chunks of the wall that need to be removed, cut them up into smaller pieces, especially when it gets into tight spaces. Otherwise, you’ll push and push but other parts, the ones you want to stay, will come with it.
7. Here you can clean up the final design to make it look its best. Use the smaller saw to shave away pieces of the wall that might block some of the candlelight from completely coming through your pumpkin. Little pieces like to dangle and hang in the way, so just gently carve those away. If a piece starts to wiggle, leave it alone so you don’t accidently pull it off.
8. Now place a small tea-light candle on the inside and enjoy. But don’t be surprised if trick-or-treaters beg to know your pumpkin-carving secret. Just tell them “it’s all about the confidence.”