Thursday, July 28, 2011

DUDE! WAY COOL!

Today's blog post is short...
As I'm getting ready for two friends...
Who are coming to visit me.
So I don't give a bad impression of Akumal...
By making you think it only has mosquitoes...
I want to share with you some of the other wildlife...
That is way cool...
The Green & Loggerhead turtles
That are laying their eggs now on the beach



At night volunteers from Centro Ecologico Akumal...
Come with their infra red lights and mark the nests...
Way cool!
Till next week...
Have a great weekend.


Always, Em-Musing

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

BLOODY GOOD

It’s amazing what creativity emerges in me…
In the wee hours of the morn.
I’ve been working on a new manuscript…
While down here in Akumal, Mexico.
It’s still rather abstract…
But at 3:45 this morning…
I woke up and felt something developing…
Nothing concrete…
Nothing I could put on paper yet…
Yet…something was rising…
With every waking second…
It was growing…
Like an incessant itch­­­­…
Wait!
It was an itch!
Another mosquito bite!
ARRGGHH!
And then an idea welted up…
As fast as my right eyelid….
(last week it was my left)
Ha ha! 
Yes! 
This will work!
I can see it now…
I’m going leave a dish of food out…
Like I do for my cat back home...
So she won’t pester me at night.
However, this time…
I’m going to leave out…
A bowl of my blood…
So the bastards…
Can dine all night on me…
Without actually dining ON me!
Ha ha! A brilliant idea, no?
So?
Have you ever came up with a brilliant plan…
(or crazy)
In the wee hours of the morn?

Always, Em-Musing

Monday, July 25, 2011

OF LOVE, SEX, AND BURGERS

As I’m reading Duma Key by Stephen King…
I’m realizing that his storytelling…
(at least for my reading pleasure)
Is like making love.
The first pages seduce me…
Promising a plot that will, in the end…
Fulfill my every reading desire.
And that’s really all I need…
Just a good story…
Told by an adept writer…
Who knows how to use his craft…
To bring me to complete and utter satisfaction.
While I enjoy other authors and their style of writing…
From James Patterson…
Who makes me feel...
Like I've just read and gobbled a fast food burger…
To Gabriel Garcia Marquez…
Who titillates me with a 12 course meal…
On every page.
Don’t get me wrong…
I love burgers and 12 course meals…
Just not as my main fare every day.
What I do enjoy  everyday are....
Stories written with a style...
Somewhere in between.
(And Stephen, you're still the best!)
So?
If you had to choose just one style of writing...
As your literary lover...
Or for a meal...
What would it be?


Always, Em-Musing

Friday, July 22, 2011

LOVERS AND OTHERS

I took an old love to bed...
He was not as I remembered…
He was better!
I ran into him at Borders.
Instantly I felt a connection with him again.
I don’t know why I gave up on him years ago…
He had style, he was articulate and told great stories…
But on whims I moved on to others…
Intrigued by something new, something different.
Now, after more than decade…
And having found him again…
I wasn’t going to go home without him…
And so I brought home--
Stephen King and Duma Key.
Oh Stephen! You're the best!
More on my one true love, Stephen next week…
For now, I’m working on another submission…
And struggling finding my way…
On a new edition—at least for my laptop—of Word.
So?
Anyone else love Stephen King?
Or have read Duma Key?
Or is working on a submission?

Always, Em-Musing

Thursday, July 21, 2011

BUGABOO

If you’re a writer…
I’m sure you’ve read, as have I…
That writers should write what they know…
Well this morning…
As I’m trying to post to my blog…
What I know right now is…
I’ve been chosen!
Yes! Seems I'm the sole food source…
For every frickin’ mosquito here in Akumal!
YEEEOOOWW!!!!
At least back home in Ohio…
The mosquitoes are large enough to be seen…
And you can hear them doing their zzzzzzzz sound.
But these sneaky bastards are stealth…
You never see or hear them attacking until….
You’ve become…
ONE GIGANTIC RED ITCH!
And to make life (and my body) more interesting…
There are several varieties of itchy bites…
Like the tiny tenacious ones that last for days.
(these are usually on my knuckles or souls of my feet)
Or the quarter sized mounds of itch.
(like the one by my eye making me look like I have a shiner)
Or the half-dollar sized red patches with a small white center.
(these make me look like I have small pox)
But I can’t complain too much…
My life is simpler now…
No more do I need my day and night creams…
Or my body lotions and bronzers…
To look and feel fabulous...
All I need is...
A can of Off!

Always, Em-Musing

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

IF IT ITCHES & STINKS?

I itch…
Some kind of jungle fungus…
Has gotten into my muse…
Making me write poetry…
And I don’t want to write poetry!
I’m not a poet!
I’m not good at it!
Everything I write poetically sounds corny!
But all this poetic itching and scratching makes me wonder…
If writers are supposed to write what’s in our soul…
What happens when what’s in our soul is corny crap?
Should we keep writing no matter what...
And pray to God it runs its course?
Or run as far away from the stink of it...
So it doesn't taint the rest of our writing?
How about you?
Do you ever write corny crap?
And if so, what do you do about it?


Always, Em-Musing
P.S. I created a new file called Corny Crap
        and I've been flushing an awful lot of stuff in there lately.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

???

ARRGGHH!
I haven't been posting to my blog for awhile...
But today at least I was going to comment...
On the blogs that I follow.
I LOVE to read everyone's blog.
But this morning...
With my coffee by my side...
I got the message:
You are not following any blogs.
What?
Why?
I don't understand.
I know I'm out of the country...
But am I also going to go out of my mind?
Why is Blogger doing this to me?
I'll keep trying to find you, all you bloggie buddies...
Till then...
???


Always, Em-Musing

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

ASS TIME GOES BYE

After developing some calluses…
On my butt last week…
Sitting for hours working on my manuscript…
I can proudly say…
My submission…
For the agents who requested…
AT RWA Nationals.
Is done!
And I’m sending them off today!
And also off today...
Is me to Mexico.
My blogging will  be sporadic…
But I will be checking out all of your blogs…
And the logistics of the writer/spiritual retreat…
That I’ve been dreaming of and ruminating about…
For the past year.

Always, Em-Musing

Friday, July 8, 2011

B.I.C.

Today’s post is lame…
Because I…
MUST…
KEEP…
BUTT…
IN…
CHAIR…
AND
WORK
TO GET
REQUESTED SUBMISSIONS …
OUT!
Have a great weekend!

Always, Em-Musing

Thursday, July 7, 2011

REALM OF BELIEF

Five women…
On a balmy Wednesday evening…
Drinking wine…
Sharing stories…
Of marriage…
Family…
And the supernatural.
All acknowledged having gone to an astrologer…
Four to going to psychics…
Three to seeing “something” dark from another dimension…
Two to being in or conducting séances…
And one to seeing shapeshifters, gremlins, and fairies.
SCREEEEEECH
The last admission is where my belief system stopped.
Of course we asked her what these creatures looked like…
And of course she to us…
But I don’t believe any of us believed her.
But oh, we writers sure like to write about them, don’t we?
I mean, the paranormal and fantasy genres are huge, aren’t they?
And then this woman said…
The scariest thing of all…
“I’ve got an idea for a children’s book, so…
do I just call an agent and tell them my idea?”
BWAH HA HA HA HAAAAAA!
She looked at me like she was seeing a lizard.
I then told her…
She must first write the story.
When I explained the process of getting a book published…
Writing, editing, rewrites, yada, yada, yada…
I think she’d have rather seen the devil himself…
Than to wrestle with the idea of being a published author.
And who can blame her…
Out of 80% of the population who say they want to write…
Only 20% do write…
And out of that only 5% will get published.
EEEEEH!
I just scared myself!
So?
What's your belief system...
About the supernatural...
And writing?

Always, Em-Musing
(please don’t quote me on all the stats
I read them on someone’s blog)

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

SHIFTING IN THE BIG APPLE

I don’t know if it was the …
Lack of sleep…
Nerves about pitching…
Too much bad hotel coffee…
Being “on” every second for four days…
Or just the sheer excitement of being in NYC at RWA…
But by Friday…
With my butt in the chair…
At the last of the workshops…
I couldn’t sit still.
Thank God the speakers were excellent…
So my brain at least could focus…
It was my body that just wouldn’t sit still.
I fidgeted…
I got itches in places I couldn’t scratch…
Like smack in the middle of my back…
My legs were restless…
Hell, my whole body was restless…
I crossed my legs…
I uncrossed them…
I sat this way…
I sat that way…
Endlessly, I twisted and turned in the chair.
And that’s when I realized…
There was a shapeshifter at the conference…
Me!
I went from being a calm, composed writer…
To a two-year-old on a sugar high needing a nap!
So?
Have you ever shapeshifted?
Or if you were you at RWA...
What were your experiences?

Always, Em-Musing

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME


Back from RWA Nationals!
Phew!
What a week!
And…
I pitched my little heart out!
And…
I got invites for submissions!
Wooo Hoooooo!
So this week’s blog posts have to take a backseat…
Because my first priority…
Is working on and getting out those submissions.
So…
I’ll post when I can.
But I can tell you that I did wear my new hats.
(just not everyday)
And…
I actually saw shapeshifters at the conference.
More on the shapeshifters tomorrow.

Always, Em-Musing