Go Into The Mist

There is something spectacular about mist. It is in the ethereal nature of mist to cloak surroundings, creating an echo that can be thrilling and frightening at once. Sometimes mist can be thick and dense, fog-like, moistening clothes with each engulfing caress. Other times, it’ll float languidly and light across the road, perhaps hovering above a creek or a copse of trees.

Should we wish it, we could ramble on and on about the scientific properties of mist. I, for one, would like to rely on what I know to be true.

In the Black Hills of South Dakota, there is an old Sioux legend that the mist that enshrouds the Hills is exhaled from a sleeping white giant or the breath of the Great Spirit, Wakan Tanka. The Black Hills are a sacred place. After the Sioux won dominion over it, they were promised by soldiers and a president they could keep it, but when whispers of gold were posted in newspapers out west in 1863, miners risked death to venture into the Hills and stake a claim. It wasn’t until Custer came through with an expedition to find gold, in 1874, that the public learned there definitely was ‘gold in them thar hills’. Why? Because most miners who sought gold in the Hills, were never heard from again.

What about fog? The movie The Fog warns us, “Don’t go into the fog!” (I always hear that bit of dialogue when I see fog.) And, I half-expect Captain Drake and his crew to come walking out of it with a fishing hook in their hands.

Clint Eastwood played a DJ and got embroiled in the worst side of fandom when he heard ‘Play Misty For Me’ over the airwaves.


In Pirates of the Caribbean, At World’s End, a gigantic English armada waits on the other side of mist.

Have you ever walked in woods surrounded by mist? That would seem silly, but movies love this particular scene, especially when dealing with werewolf and vampire themes and a heroine too stupid to live. (TSTL syndrome isn’t rare among mortals.) Take Twilight, for instance. The bad vampires always appear from a mist as if floating on air: beauty and the beast, strength and weakness, love and fear, peace and mayhem, insulated in one entity, mist.

Today, as I was driving home from work, mist hovered low upon the ground and visibility was limited off in the distance. How was I to know there wasn’t an English fleet waiting to challenge me on the other side, if I might find myself stranded in the Bermuda Triangle, or whether or not I might meet Captain Drake, himself.

Imagination. Amazing how it works, isn’t it?

Imagination has power!

As writers, we often feel as though we are struggling free of mist, fleeing the beast bearing down upon us. When we cannot see what awaits on the other side of this achievement or that final or that request, and we cannot look back to see how far we’ve come, how are we to know that each challenge outweighs the risk?

We come prepared. We believe. By writing every day, nurturing our imaginations, tendering our hearts, balancing our mortality, and venturing where no writer has gone before, we WILL break out of whatever hurdle, or mist, stands between us and the bridge over the abyss. Like the Sioux in the Black Hills, if we focus on the sanctity of our calling, the breath of the Great Editor/Agent will spill down upon us, bringing us peace… and a three-book deal.

Now, isn’t that imagination? ;)

What do you think when you see mist? Do you get fanciful notions about pirates and villains, or can you see your way through it and to the other side without looking back?

Journals - Do You know Who Will be Reading Them?

Journals of daily life are not a a new phenomena. Back in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, people kept journals of their lives, writing down mundane things like crops, visitors, numbers of animals owned, marriages and death - nothing personal. I guess, of course, there were personal diaries with more intimate facts but probably not to the extent we write today. Kathy could probably tell me if that were the case since she is our resident historical expert.

In bookstores and department stores there are stacks of beautiful journals to be purchased. I love looking at the different kinds, especially the hand-tooled leather ones (I love the smell of leather - LOL). Today we buy these journals for the purpose of writing down our inner-most thoughts, hopes and dreams, expounding on what we want, what we love and what we dream. These are probably personal and intimate thoughts. I suppose it's sort of like self-help therapy. Get it down on paper, exorcize the thought and then move on. We spare nothing of our feelings . It's all there for people to read after we have shaken off our mortal coils. Ever thought about that? It is a scary thought. I know, I'll be dead, so who cares if I hated the milkman? Still, the image of my relatives reading my most intimate thoughts gives me pause. As writers we love the written word and isn't it wonderful that we can write in these beautiful journals about what whirls around in our heads? Well...the idea of it made me start thinking maybe this might not be such a good idea.

I came up with a solution that pleased me! I decided to keep two journals!

In one journal, which I write in every day, I chronicle what I do, who I spend my time with, my tasks or my achievements - mostly the happy things in life. This is the journal which will survive me for posterity. People two hundred years from now (if it survives that long) will only read about my every day life and think "Gee, she sure was a positive and happy person!" I also think they might consider me quite a boring person.

It's the second journal, one which I don't write in every day (unless someone has serious peeved me), that will never, ever see the light of day and will never be read by anyone else. I keep it well-hidden in case of snooping relatives. This is the one I call "My Hate Journal." Sounds kind of sad doesn't it? But it's not really. In it I write all the negative things that boil up in my life. All the social slights. All the people who annoy me. All the fights I have with others. All the things I perceive as offending me. I pour my anger, rage and hurt into its pages, sparing nothing. It's really very cathartic. I get the bad stuff down on paper then it's out of my head and my heart. I can move on without being consumed. However, the difference between this one and the one I shall leave sitting on my bookshelf in case I die is that once I fill it, I burn it. I take it outside, put it in the little burn area I have and light a match to it. While it burns, I watch the smoke and tell my anger and disappointment good-bye and good riddance.

So, I just wanted to put that niggling little thought in all of your heads. LOL Who will read my journal if I die? Will my children sit and read about my secret crush on Hugh Jackman? How embarassing! Do I want them to know all my secret thoughts? I know most of you like to sit down and look back to last year's journal and see how far you have progressed. BUT do you really want to read about that little check-out clerk who threw your bags at you? Or maybe even something worse? Re-living all the hurt or anger? Just a thought...

Do you keep a journal? Do you consciously avoid putting down your true feelings because you don't want someone reading them in the future? Or do you really care about that? What do you think about my two-journal theory? And no comments about being paranoid....

Dream a Little Dream

Happy Martin Luther King Day. Seems like a good day to talk about dreams. There will be a lot of talk today about dreams, as in desires and whims. That is fitting because Dr. King had a big dream. If he were alive today I don't know if he would be thrilled with the progress but I think he might be pleased.

But what I want to talk about is "sound asleep in the bed" dreams. I'll go on record right now saying that I do not believe dreams are prophetic. I think they are the sum of what has been swirling around in your subconscious. I do believe dreams are a way for the the mind to give you what you need sometimes.

But then, I didn't used to believe in ghosts until I went round to two with the house down the block. I would like to believe some of what I dream will come true because I often dream that I can fly, and how cool would that be? I also dream in color.

By now, everyone knows that Stephanie Meyer dreamed the meadow scene with Edward and Bella that got her on the road to writing the Twilight series. I sometimes dream about my characters but I never get any new material--it's mostly a movies of what Stephanie (Plotter; not Meyer) and I have already written.

How about you? Do you believe dreams are prophetic? Do you dream about your characters? Do you, like Stephanie Meyer, get new ideas while you sleep?

One commenter will get a nifty new sleep mask.

WHAT ARE YOU READING?

Opps. I'm late this morning.

Kathy is reading Almost an Outlaw by Patricia Preston, a new novella at Carina Press.

Stephanie is reading Dark Desire by Christine Feehan and My Man Micheal by Lori Foster.

Jean is reading The Baby Agenda by Janice Kaye Johnson.

What are you reading?

We Are The Champions!

I am always proud to have attended Auburn University. The degree I received there gave me many opportunities and has been the foundation of my professional life. This past weekend amidst the roar of the crowd. I became even prouder of MY university.

I know, I hear most of you groan and say “But Football?” Yes, football. It has nothing to do with the fine education you receive from attending Auburn. It has to do with what we call the “Auburn Family.” When you meet a fellow Auburn fan, you say “War Eagle.” Not because of the football but because we are family. It's our greeting to each other. We aren’t a nation or a club – we are family. We love the Plains, Toomers Corner, the eagle flying, Aubie and our proud traditions, just as any college alumni would. We are proud to be the Auburn Family.

At the beginning of this year I hardly hoped that our football team would win eight games. I have attended every home game and some away games for years because I love Auburn. I never expected what would happen this year. All I could hope for back in September (sorry Jean and Stephanie) was that we would beat Alabama. Throughout adversity this year, we never lost hope – not during all the close games or the snide comments about our quarterback. We took the criticisms and we held our head high. We are Auburn. You don’t desert family if there is a problem. And yes, even now, I can hear the comments that this may still end badly for Auburn (shades of USC) BUT so what? We will still have our family, our love of the university and our pride in that university. We will still be FAMILY. For a moment, when Wes Byrum kicked the winning field goal with two seconds left, we all became one, jumping, screaming and hugging complete strangers. We were National Champions! WE WERE AUBURN!

As most of you know, I had the privilege of attending the BCS bowl this past weekend in Glendale, Arizona. Such a surprise, I took a lot of pictures. I thought I would share some of them with you.


I was at the Botanical Gardens in Phoenix. I got to the point of if you've seen one cactus, you've seen all of them.



The views were beautiful out there on the desert.



Darling hubby who surprised me with the trip and bought me lots of jewelry in old Scottsdale.



A few Quackers in front of the stadium before we went inside. The stadium is nothing compared to the SEC stadiums but it was nice.



Clicked this banner as it flew over the stadium.




The view from our seats before the game started. We were offered five thousand a piece for those seats before we came inside.
Gee, maybe we should have taken them and gone to the hotel to watch. Nah....




The ESPN crew were right below us. Note "Mushmouth", as I fondly call him, in the center.



The band, which is near and dear to my heart, spelling out Auburn.



The coin toss. You can't see it from this photo but those Oregon shoes were neon yellow, atrocious.



We'd won! Confetti everywhere!



The championship trophy being awarded to Auburn.

I have lots more but didn't want to bore you guys. I had a great time and just wanted to share.

I Wasn't Expecting That

Welcome to the tulip tree. We hope you are not confused; today is Wednesday and you are usually reading a lovely thought provoking blog by Katherine Bone. This week, since Cheryl is on her way home from the BCS championship game we switched some things around a bit and I am blogging with you this week on Wednesday. So this is probably not what you expected when you clicked here to visit us....

This leads me to my topic: the unexpected. Tonight, I was invited to dinner by some friends who were cabin crazy. I said I would go if I could come straight from the gym. "Sure come on!" they said.

I arrived at the restaurant thinking that I was meeting my three close friends, but when I rounded the corner (after falling outside on the ice so I was sort of rattled) there was a HUGE table of people. My face clearly reflected my surprise since they all laughed at me. I joined the group and made sure they understood that I had come straight from the gym. After I calmed down, it turned out to be a lot of fun.

There are some times when unexpected is bound to happen. I tend to think that anything unexpected is going to be bad but I am learning that often this isn't the case. Sometimes unexpected means something good. For example, the snow days this week are turning out to be a great bonus. Recently Pantster and I received a rejection and we are looking at taking this manuscript to a different place that we are very excited about. So again, an unexpected bonus from a negative situation.

I guess it is sort of like that old platitude--a door never closes unless a window opens. While I am a "the glass is half full and oh, what a pretty glass it is" sort of gal, I have never really bought into the whole idea that doors closing on my dreams can be a good thing. Maybe that's because I don't want to try to climb through a window.

Have you ever made plans only to find out that reality had a different idea? Did the new reality turn out well?

Dwell In Possibilities!

I’m surrounded by positive quotes at my computer to encourage me every day. Since writing is a solitary business and there are constantly plenty of road blocks in the way, it’s important to never lose sight of the goal. But what is this goal? First, one must understand the goal and envision it. Second, one must plan how to get from point A to step B. Third, one must work hard to achieve each rung in the ladder leading up to the goal until the final product is in hand.

January is a month to meditate on goals and at Okay, Listen Here, we’ve been no different. But when do goals materialize and become tangible entities that will positively influence lives?

I recently had the opportunity to hear a published writer speak about setting goals. She advised to set a goal and then double the time sequence for it. Since I had already set goals for 2011, I now have to take a more serious and practical look at those goals. Are they tangible? Am I setting myself up for failure? Under this writer’s direction, it appears I have.

Today, besides waiting for the BIG game to start (Auburn vs Oregon), I’m reconsidering my 2011 plan. After all, it’s almost mid-January and I still have yet to produce any writing. Why? Well there are too many reasons to go into here, but one important reason would be spending time with my children before they had to go back to school or their jobs. And of course, there is getting the house back into order, putting away Christmas decorations and moving furniture back into place. Thanks to a snowy day, I took the opportunity to chalk those things off my list today. ;)


(Cue Scarlet: “Tomorrow is another day!”) But unlike Scarlet, as writers, we neither have time to waste on words, nor chance any threats to our productivity.

So where did I go wrong in visualizing my goals? Here’s where I erred. I did not take into account the holiday transformation of my home, nor the kids being home and everything that entails. I also didn’t factor in illness, vacation, trips to and from children for whatever reason, and down time. Just yesterday that hit me full force when I heard that my grandson had fallen and broken his elbow. He’ll have surgery tomorrow. (Please pray for him.)

But I digress. Is it back to the drawing board so soon? Well, thankfully it is never too late to start over, to reinvent oneself, or redirect goals for whatever reason.

Tonight, while I think of my grandson and cheer, War Cam Eagle!, I’ll be restructuring my goals for 2011. And as I do, I’ll keep in mind these quotes, which have been an neverending source of inspiration to me.

“Struggle as hard as you can for whatever you believe in!”

“If it is to be, it is up to me!”

“Never, never, never give up!” Winston Churchill

“Live your dream, love your life.”

“You’re holding the seeds of your own future in your hand right now. Step out in faith. Start now planting one good seed after another. Eventually you’ll enjoy a good harvest every single day!”
Where are you in your 2011 goal plan? Have you had to backtrack like me or are you on track?