WHOSE TIME HAS COME?

I was in my car the other day…

At a red light…

When I glanced out the passenger side window…

And noticed an old cemetery…

Next to a gas station and behind a medical lab.

I’ve sat at this intersection hundreds of times…

But never noticed this small, inconspicuous cemetery before.

The thin, old-fashioned headstones…

Were askew…

And darkened with crud from acid deposition.

There were no flowers on any of the graves…

Unlike the cemetery a few miles up the road…

That has flowers by almost all those newer headstones.

I’m thinking that the dead people…

In this little old cemetery…

Have probably been there sooo long…

That even their relatives are all dead…

And in cemeteries somewhere too.

Just before the light turned green…

I noticed a sign on the fence surrounding the cemetery…

Hours - Sunrise to Sunset

Hmm?

If ghosts really do exist…

Perhaps the cemetery sign should read:

Hours for living people – Sunrise – Sunset

Hours for dead people – All the time  

Always, Em-Musing

P.S. OK, I confess. This is a resurrected and edited post from last year.

BELIEVING EVEN WHEN NO SEEING

Halloween…

A time for being scared…

But what is it that really scares you?

What makes you turn on all the lights at night…

For fear that something lurks in dark recesses?

And what would that “something” be?

I grew up in a home where I was told bedtime stories…

About ghosts and spirits that hovered all around me.

I also read illustrated books of poetry in bed…

By Robert Louis Stevenson and Eugene Field.

And Field’s poem, “Seein’ Things” had a huge impact on me…

Because besides the poem being scary…

It was accompanied by a scary illustration of a boy in bed…

With apparitions hovering by him.

And so I really believed in those “things.”

I’m just thankful I never saw any of them.

So for me, being scared…

Starts from a belief that something can be true.

Like waaaaay back in the 70’s…

When the move, The Exorcist came out…

I went, I saw, I was scared.

Because the movie was based on a true story.

(I still won’t watch it again)

And now…

The Haunted Boy…

Another film about that same true story…

Of a child being possessed has been made. 

It  debuted on Oct. 21^st in St. Louis…

It’s also available on DVD.

Will I see it?

Hell no!

Because even at my age…

I'm still scared that …

Sometimes they’re in the corner, sometimes they’re by the door,

Sometimes they’re all a-standin’ in the middle uv the floor;

Sometimes they are a-sittin’ down, sometimes they’re walkin’ round

So softly and so creepy-like they never make a sound!

Sometimes they are as black as ink, an’other times they’re white–

But color ain’t no difference when you see things at night!

Always, Em-Musing

FINGERS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT

It’s that time of year…

Na

When a paranormal activity…

No

Outside the range of…

Wri

Scientific explanation…

Mo

Occurs and—BOO!

NaNoWriMo!

AAAAHHHHH!

It’s haunting me!

Every blog I follow, there it is…

NaNoWriMo!

I learned about this global event…

Just two years ago.

I remember thinking—WHY?

It’s sounds too stressful, too scary!

But the more I listened to other writers…

Talk about how exciting it was to participate…

The more I wonder…

Would I?

Should I?

Could I ever do…

NaNoWriMo?

Ahhhhhh! Still thinking about it.

Always, Em-Musing

P.S. For those wondering what the heck NaNoWriMo is, 

here’s the link http://www.nanowrimo.org/

AFFECTED EFFECT

A strange wind blew through Sunday afternoon…

Bringing rapid gusts…

A greenish-yellow sky…

And thunder and lightening.

Standing in the kitchen doing dishes…

I watched this all unfold in just seconds.

Having had trouble with my computer.…

Not too long before…

I raced upstairs to my office to shut it down..

No sense tempting the fates.

I then turned the TV on to the local stations…

To make sure a tornado wasn’t heading this way.

Thank goodness, no…

Well, with the TV on, and no computer…

I sank down into the sofa…

Switched the channel to HBO…

And to my delight, The Lovely Bones was just starting.

Several years ago…

I had read the book by Alice Seybold…

So I knew the story and enjoyed reading it.

Wish I could say the same for the movie.

Oh, not that it wasn’t well done…

Because it was…

And that’s my point.

It was so well done…

I felt creeped-out for the rest of the day.

And the weather only enhanced that awful feeling.

It’s funny to me how I can feel so altered…

By something that’s not real.

The Shining, both the book and the movie…

Was another story that gave me the creeps.

And all stories by H.P. Lovecraft creep me out.

With Halloween approaching…

Is there a book or movie…

That has ever altered your mood or emotions…

In a creepy way?

Always, Em-Musing

KEYBOARDING

I think my keyboard…

Is an enigma.

Either that…

Or I need to use the Enigma…

(decoding machine)

To figure out what the heck happens…

When certain keys are randomly hit.

Take yesterday for example…

I had planned to organize all of my document folders.

(yeah, I lead such an exciting life)

It’s amazing how much junk I’ve saved over the years.

After methodically, deleting some, renaming others…

And putting a few into folders…

I decided to update a spreadsheet…

On agents I’m querying.

I remember how excited I was…

To create this spreadsheet…

It took hours to gather all my query info and enter it.

The bad part about setting up a spreadsheet like that is…

I got to see all the rejects again.

So there in “my documents”…

Was the Works icon for my spreadsheet …

I hi-lited it and–

AGH!

My pinky went rogue, hitting some key and–

POOF!

Spreadsheet gone!

Immediately I checked the “recycle” bin…

Nada.

I then did a “search” and “find”…

Nada.

Aw! All those hours setting it up–wasted!

Well, not one to let something like this stymie my day I thought…

Fine! I’ll edit the manuscript I’m working on.

So, with that document open I thought…

Hmm, I don't like my “paragraph” setting, think I'll go into "format" and–

AGH!

All  my paragraph indents were suddenly…

GONE!

I don’t know which finger to blame for this act of sabotage…

But today…

As I cursor down through every line of the entire manuscript…

And manually put back in all the indents…

I’m going to be on “pinkie alert”…

Just in case this little finger…

Decides to go keyboarding out of control again.

Always, Em-Musing 

TAKE MY WORD FOR IT

While in LA…

I went to Warner Brothers Studios.

My niece is lead makeup artist on the show The Mentalist…

So I got to go behind the scenes…

And besides being introduced to the stars of the show…

(Simon is even better looking in person)

I met many of the crew…

The producers…

And Ashley Gable…

Writer of the particular episode being shot that day.

As one scene was shot many times…

At different camera angles…

I stood behind Ashley with headphones on…

In awe…

But not from listening to the actors  delivering their lines…

But of her—she’s a writer!

What fun it must be to see your words performed.

I also ate in the commissary…

Amongst various cast and crew…

And roamed the lot.

While walking down streets with building facades…

Where written stories are played out…

And famous movies and TV shows have been shot…

I realized that just as cameras capture the action in film…

Writers have to capture the action in word.

And while actors play out the scenes…

Characters in a book come alive with words.

And while a movie or TV show has dozens of behind the scene people:

Makeup artists, hairdressers, props masters… 

Set designers, wardrobe people, visual effects, grips, etc…

To make “make believe” believable…

All that makes "make believe" believable in novels…

Still boils down to…

Just authors…

And their words.

Wow!

Always, Em-Musing

BEAT OF THE RHYTHM

What I love about vacations…

Is how I can take a brake from the norm.

But what I hate about vacations is…

It always takes me a while to get back to the norm.

Just flew in from in LA…

I hadn’t brought my laptop while away…

I just wanted to experience everything…

Not necessarily write about it.

But talk about withdrawal from writing…

While experiencing an influx of stimuli!

And now that I’m home…

I can't wait to write…

But…

It seems I can’t  put a coherent thought together.

Call it jet lag…

Call it brain lag…

I just want my…

Circadian…

Bio…

And blogger rhythms back.

Always, Em-Musing

INSULT TO INJURY

Believe me when I tell you…

SNAP

That old age doesn’t creep up on you…

CRACKLE

You’ll hear it years…

POP

Before it hits…

Like just the other night…

I was eating a tortilla when…

CRUNCH

What the heck could be hard in a tortilli–

AH!

My tooth!

Or part of it.

“Could be an old hairline fracture,” the dentist said…

Caused by an old mercury filling.”

"Oh?"

“Or it could be that you’re teeth are getting old.”

“Er.”

“What?” he asked.

“Older.”  I then grinned, showing my older teeth…

He got the message…

And three days later…

I got a root canal and left his office…

With my gums numb…

But not my sensitivities…

Because now I have yet one more body part…

To worry about…

How to keep looking young.

Help!

Is there a anti-aging cream for teeth?

Always, Em-Musing 

GOOGLE ME

All I wanted to do this morning…

Was some research for my blog…

But on my path to search…

By way of Google…

I got distracted by…

Pop ups…

Ads…

And videos.

I mean…

After seeing a colorful wad of something disgusting…

On the Google page…

I had to check out Chainsaw Maid…

A claymation video.

Of course, I then had to check out Bloody Date.

Another claymation video.

Two more disgusting (but creative) claymation videos later…

I had had enough bloody clay…

And thought I’d listen to an AOL radio station…

But before I could listen to the music…

I had to listen to a 15 second ad…

That tempted me with…

A million dollar Publisher’s Clearing House prize.

And so I entered…

Ten minutes later…

After closing numerous pop up windows…

Enticing me to buy…

Inane products or subscriptions …

I just exited out of everything.

(although I still may buy the Shake Weight)

And now…

Twenty minutes later…

And finally not distracted anymore…

I…

Can’t…

Remember…

What the heck…

I was going to…

Research.

Hmm?

This is when I wish I could…

Google my brain.

Always, Em-Musing

WHO WEARS THE PANTS?

The problem with being a pantser…

Is sometimes…

You're caught…

Without any pants on.

It’s called writer’s block

It’s like one day…

I go to my closet…

That’s jammed full of clothes…

But can’t find any pants to wear.

It’s called writer’s block

Oh, I have skirts and dresses…

And even fancy PJ’s…

But it’s not the same as wearing pants.

It’s called writer’s block

In fact yesterday…

I wore a very interesting outfit…

But it wasn’t the same as wearing pants.

It’s called writer’s block

This morning…

As I sit here…

Still bare-assed…

I swear I’m going to find a pair of pants…

Any pants…

And no matter how worn and torn they are…

I’m putting them on.

That’s called editing…

You still have writer’s block.

No, conscious, I don't have writer's block…

I have…

A wardrobe malfunction.

That's all.

It's called writer's block.

Always, Em-Musing

BODY OF WAA WAA

I’m having a root canal this morning…

(Waa!)

And what immediately comes to mind is…

(at least to my mind)

The Panama Canal and the Suez Canal…

That are waterways that ships pass through.

Or…

The Erie Canal…

That is a waterway…

Boats used to use .

So…

Canals = waterways = a body of water right?

Well, then…

A root “canal” must involve a body of water…

And my body is made of about 60% water…

And the water in my mouth is saliva…

Which produces in mass volumes only…

When I’m sitting in the dentist’s chair…

And my mouth is stretched open…

With hands and equipment jammed in it…

That causes me to feel like I need to swallow…

Every half a second…

Which makes me frantic…

That I’m going to choke…

And that panics me…

Because I often choke on my own spit…

But not with my mouth numbed with novocaine!

And so…

I wonder…

Is there a Heimlich Maneuver…

For spit?

BREATH . . . BREATH . . . BREATH . . .

OK, I’m better.

So…

If I’m the queen of “putting things in perspective”…

Let me think for a moment, how I can–

Ah ha! I got it!

Here it is…

What would I rather have…

A rejection letter from my top agent of choice?

Or a root canal?

Hmm?

Well, the root canal will hurt…

But only for awhile…

While the rejection letter will…

BREATH . . . BREATH . . .  BREATH . . .

.

Always, Em-Musing

DRIVE MISS CRAZY

How to drive a writer crazy?

A laptop with a mind of its own.

I was in the process of writing my blog this morning when–

¶

Popped up on my screen.

What the . . . ?

All I had done was hit the “delete” button.

But…

¶’s

Were everywhere!

Fine, I thought. I’ll just open up a new document.

What the . . .?

¶

 Was there too. And on every other document.

Thank heavens for Google…

Any and all problems of the universe…

Can be solved on Google.

And so I fixed the problem and got rid of  ¶.

Now the keyboard is operating s l o w l y .  .  . 

It can’t keep up with my fingers…

And trust me…

I’m not that fast a typist.

I’ll be on to two more thoughts…

Before the words appear on the screen.

And trust me…

I’m not that fast a thinker.

Then I was going to check a word in the “dictionary” option and…

G O N E !

Where would the dictionary option go?

And why?

I then heard a faint whining on my laptop…

Something was “processing” beneath the layers of my software.

Perhaps, my system was “scanning” itself.

No.

It scanned at 2 A.M.

And there was nothing in the vault.

Hmm?

I brought my laptop to the computer shop last week…

And left my life in pixels…

In their geeky hands.

What if the geeks…

Being geeky…

Hooked up my USB video device…

And linked it up to their computer…

So that right now…

They can see me sitting here…

In my nightieEEEE!

Gotta go!

Back tomorrow with more clothes on.

Always, Em-Musing

P.S. What? I’m m a writer. I see crazy plots everywhere