September 23, 2013 Back in the saddle again

After a 2 day hiatus, I'm back and wordier than ever, I fear!  My dreams definitely reflected my need to write again.  After being dumped by a fiance (which caused no real grief in me anyway), I found myself at a club, dancing and drinking (ok, so maybe I was a little pissed off!) where my friends were offering up the typical compliment of tortures for the offending male, when I noticed a flyer on the table advertising a writing contest.  When I first read the flyer, I thought it said " a maximum of 1500 words" but after reading the requirements and thinking that there was no way to meet them with only 1500 words, I re-read the flier and found that I'd missed a zero!  (now, as everyone knows, it isn't a stretch for me to knock out 2000 words in an hour or so when I'm in the groove!)  The contest involved writing a story which tied in with an existing imaginary world and the prize was a spot on the writing team.

OK, this one was definitely up my alley (or in my wheelhouse, to use the current phrase).  Needless to say, I woke up pretty excited about doing more writing, but in a totally different direction from the one I'm pursuing.  I also awoke with the frustration I have fairly often that there was a really great story in there, if I could only have gotten it down before I woke up and the best parts started to fade!  Some day, I'll remember to put a tape recorder next to my bed so I can get these incredible ideas down!  Either that, or I'm going to have to figure out a way to let more than just my close-to-the-surface subconscious take control of my fingers!

I also had a little epiphany this morning (WARNING!  CONTROVERSIAL TOPIC AHEAD!) concerning souls and abortion.  I realize and respect the fact that this won't make sense to those who believe that each soul gets only one body....ever.  But for those of us who believe that a soul comes back repeatedly to inhabit different human bodies and to learn different human lessons, this may or may not resonate.  So here's what occurred to me.  When a soul is stopped from manifesting in its next chosen human form, there are a couple of things that might happen.  In the first, it goes back into  what I simplistically refer to as the Sea of Souls and waits awhile before choosing a new human form and set of lessons.  In the second, it goes back and chooses another human form and set of lessons almost immediately because, in fact, the purpose of the last one was simply to be a lesson to the woman whose body it temporarily inhabited, and, perhaps, even to those around her.  Following that train of thought, it occurs to me that it's entirely possible for the parent or parents who chose not to bring the soul into human existence ( and let me state very adamantly here that I have complete respect for someone who makes this choice as, for whatever reason, they do not believe that they could give the child the life it deserved and instead, make the ultimate sacrifice to allow the soul the opportunity for a do-over where it can come into a better life where it will be allowed to learn all of the lessons it could possibly desire!) could ultimately cross paths with the human form which was chosen immediately afterwards, and that another lesson was still to be played out.  Furthermore, I am seeing where this might have been part of the choices of that soul in the first place! 

OK, cage rattling is done, and I hope that in my constant quest to understand this Universe we live in a little better, I've caused more of you to think than I have offended. :)

In my typical, ADHD fashion, I'm working (very slowly, mind you) on one project while my mind ponders three or four others.  I definitely want to tackle some kind of fantasy, especially if I can corral some of what comes to me in dreams, but have scrapped the idea of a steamy romance novel because, frankly, I lack material for the steamy part!  Although I've begun reading other people's work in that arena with a more critical eye, I just can't see myself writing anything sufficiently steamy while remaining in the realms of believable, or at least bearing a close resemblance to reality! (Trapeze, anyone?)


In so many of the fantasies I've read in the past few years, the world the author creates is in a simpler time where travel is by horse, wagon or feet.  I suppose that if I leaned more towards my science fiction tastes, I'd see something different, but at this point, I, myself, would like to see a fantasy world that doesn't take forever to navigate as a result of antiquated forms of transportation, at least from the lofty perspective of my own experience.  I'd prefer to see something like the modified Delorean turned time machine from Back to the Future, or the development and perfection of portals (though they can get tricky as most writers build in warnings of things like alterations in the space/time continuum when portals are overused.  OK, so it's my story and I can write about safe portals if I want to.  <sigh>  but where would the conflict be if I didn't figure in some kind of danger or battle for control of the silly things?   I'm thinking I need another Vision board just for snippets of story ideas.  But I need to make space in my office first!  Guess I know what's next on my list now!

It seems that the more time I spend thinking about moving from "writer" to "author", the more I make changes to my space, some just to clear it and others to make it more conducive to letting my mind run amok, and the ideas run rampant.  The more I contemplate the idea of an "Idea Board", the more right it feels!  I can see it in my mind's eye as, at first, a hopeless jumble of papers,haphazardly pinned to the cork.  As time goes on, the snippets become neater and develop into rows or piles of related ideas until, one day, one of the rows or piles is removed and the story writing really begins!

Certainly, there will always be more snippets accumulating on the board, and there will be times when I will stare at the board in frustration.   But there will be plenty of others when I will sit in the midst of all of those snippets, sorting and organizing and piecing together another story line for my mind and my fingers to wrap themselves around.  I can see the excitement building as the next story unfolds and I become entwined in the lives of my characters. 

For now, though, I am still working on organizing my space, maintaining the habits I've kept and working on reviving the ones I haven't.  I'm finding that my stamina while dancing is going down and know that it means that, in part, I need to reinstate my three day a week gym routine, and add back a night or two of dancing.  Granted, I've been doing a lot more cleaning lately, much to the annoyance of my cats!  The vacuum comes out at least once a week now, and for them, that is far too often!  They scattered to the four corners of the house as I made my way from bedroom to kitchen and back tonight.  And what was their response to my efforts at a cleaner house?  They immediately tossed sand from the sandbox onto my clean bathroom floor!  <sigh>  It's an uphill battle, but I am proud to say that I'm making some headway.  I no longer allow piles of things to accumulate, nor blankets to remain in an untidy pile on my sofas, even when it means refolding them a dozen times during the week, and I haven't even used them!  (hmmm, I wonder who could be knocking them down and kneading them into an untidy mess?)

I'm also looking to change up my routine a bit here and there.  This week, I added spaghetti squash to the menu, and made smaller, meatless salads to go with it.  Next week, I might cook up some chicken, and when the weather cools off, it might be a pot of chili to go with my salad.  It may seem like a small thing, but to me, change, no matter how small, means a bit of adventure, and I plan to keep adding adventure to my life!  Just call me Dora the Explorer!

What would a blog post be without my nightly gratitudes?
1. I am grateful for being able to see the wonder in the smallest of things.
2. I am grateful for the decluttering that remains decluttered so I can focus on what's left.
3. I am grateful for another busy week.
4. I am grateful for alternate plans when things don't go as expected.
5. I am grateful for the fact that I'm finding it easier to roll with what life gives me these days.

Love and light