Lost a dear friend yesterday...
Thirty years of laughter, tears, and confidences shared...
Plus all the other ups, downs, and upside downs of life.
Time may heal all wounds...
But time doesn’t make mourning a death easier on the heart.
When I lost my sister, my soul mate, years ago...
This saying came to me
I don’t want to down the gauntlet of emotions
to get to the other side of sorrow.
Will miss you, Maryann...my dear friend
If there are martinis on the other side…
Salud!
Always,
Em-Musing
It’s the Monthly Blog Hop for the Insecure Writers Support Group founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh.
The first Wednesday of every month, an optional question is announced that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience, or even a story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post. Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG. Let’s rock the neurotic writing world
The awesome co-hosts for the April 2 posting of the IWSG are Jennifer Lane, L Diane Wolfe, Jenni Enzor, and Natalie Aguirre!
April 2 question: What fantasy character would you like to fight, go on a quest with, or have a beer/glass of wine with? Remember, the question is optional.
You’re asking me to go to Fantasy Land?
Okay, I’ll play.
When I looked at DC's & Marvel's list of superheroes...
Which, by the way, there are lots and LOTS of them.
It was fins down for...
AQUAMAN!
Ummm, but not this version from 1941.
Mmmm this one!
So he would have to figure out a way for me to breath underwater.
Mouth to mouth would be lovely...
But I don’t think we’d get very far.
I’d love to have him take me down...
To the depths of the deep blue...
And see the lost continent of Atlantis...
And other civilizations that have been lost to the sea.
I’d want to see sunken pirate ships (no bones please)...
And deep-sea creatures...
Not seen except with vessels like the Triton.
And I wouldn’t want any conflicts...
Because what if he lost a battle?
(I know that'd be impossible)
But if did happen...
I’d be down under water by myself...
And who knows what would happen to me?
But maybe...just maybe...
I'd develop a super power of my own and save myself...
And I'd become—AQUAWRITER...
And write about all the glory and mysteries of the sea.
Don't laugh. It's my fantasy and, in it, it could happen.
So...
What about you?
Which fantasy character do you choose to do something with?
And what are you doing?
Always,
Em-Musing
It’s the Monthly Blog Hop for the Insecure Writers Support Group founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh.
The first Wednesday of every month, an optional question is announced that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience, or even a story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post. Remember, the question optional.
Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.
The awesome co-hosts for the March 5 posting of the IWSG are Ronel Janse Van Vuuren, Pat Garcia, and Liza @ Middle Passages!
March 5 question - If for one day you could be anyone or *thing* in the world, what would it be? Describe, tell why, and any themes, goals, or values they/it inspire in you.
If I could be “anything”...
I’d be the Universe...
My mind would expand to understand everything...
I’d learn all the Universes’ secrets...
I’d see other creations...
On other planets in other galaxies...
When and how they came into being...
What life forms were/are there...
I’d see the Past, Present, and Future of earth...
But wait...
On second thought...
I wouldn’t want to see the future of earth...
If we’re going to go BOOM!
So instead...
If I could be “anyone”...
I ‘d be a super-duper Fairy Godmother...
But there’d be a couple of catches...
1) You could go back in time to view or relive moments but you couldn’t change anything because that could alter other’s lives.
2) Your dream would expire after 24 hours.
Me?
I’d go back in time to my first kiss
But not the awkward teenage kiss with braces and pimples...
The real one...
When I’m kissing the first person I fell in love with...
Yeah...
I would replay that one as many times in 24 hours as I could...
Because no other kiss compares.
And you?
Who or what would you be?
Always,
Em-Musing
It’s the Monthly Blog Hop for the Insecure Writers Support Group founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh. The first Wednesday of every month, an optional question is announced that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience, or even a story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post. Remember, the question optional.
Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.
The awesome co-hosts for the February 5 posting of the IWSG are Joylene Nowell Butler, Louise Barbour, and Tyrean Martinson!
February 5 question – Is there a story or book you’ve written you want/wish you could go back and change?
If I could go back to my first book...
I wouldn’t change the story...
I’d change my attitude...
I wouldn’t be so hesitant...
I would know in my gut that the story was good...
I wouldn’t take so much time wallowing...
Wallowing in self-doubt and insecurity...
And not spend so much time feeling sad...
Sad that my family and friends weren't supportive...
Sad that my story wasn’t picked up by an agent...
And I wouldn’t have waited so long to self-publish.
When the book was finally on Amazon KDP...
I was exhausted...
I didn’t want anything to do with it anymore...
I hardly marketed it...
And quickly moved on to my next manuscript...
The one I am seeking an agent for now.
This time around...
I’m done with insecurity and stalling...
They serve no purpose.
And this time around...
I have the determination to market effectively.
If you have a supportive team...
A spouse, loved one, or a friend to cheer you on
You are blessed.
So?
What would you change in your first book?
Always,
Em-Musing
P.S. The artist for the above illustration is: Silvia.Azizaj
.
It’s the Monthly Blog Hop for the Insecure Writers Support Group founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh.
The first Wednesday of every month, an optional question is announced that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience, or even a story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post. Remember, the question optional.
Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.
The awesome co-hosts for the January 8 posting of the IWSGare Rebecca Douglass, Beth Camp, Liza @ Middle Passages, and Natalie @ Literary Rambles!
January 8 question - Describe someone you admired when you were a child. Did your opinion of that person change when you grew up?
With a six-year age difference...
My older sister Christine and I were not that close...
In fact we fought often...
And I used to tell her I hated her...
And though I loved watching her put polish on her long fingernails, she used to scratch my arms with them.
While she was in high school, she won a scholarship to Pratt Art Institute...
Her favorite things to draw were fashion models wearing clothes she designed.
One day my Barbie doll went missing...
I couldn’t imagine what had happened to her.
A few days later...
My sister returned Barbie to me along with several outfits she had made for her.
I loved my sister for that...
And I changed Barbie’s clothes often and also gave her new hairdos.
When I was thirteen, my sister got married and moved to Panama with her husband who was in the army.
I was heartbroken.
She returned twice to our home before finally moving back to the States...
And what she brought with her from Panama were tales of the jungle...
Of meeting Cuna Indians and seeing exotic jungle animals...
Like jaguarundis, tropical birds and snakes...
She also did paintings of the jungle which fascinated me.
She continued her artwork in LA becoming successful making and selling bronzes of dogs.
She sent the late Queen of England a bronze of a corgi, and in turn, my sister received an official letter from the office of the Queen thanking her. One of Christine's bronzes is also at the Ronald Reagan museum.
My sisters's name is Christine Fischer.
She has since passed...
But her bronzes and my memories of her live on.
And because of her jungle tales...
Is it any surprise that I now live in a jungle in Mexico?
And what about you?
Who did you admire growing up?
Always,
EM-Musing
Below is a story I wrote about a supernatural experience my sister and I shared.
No footprints. How could that be?
My sister and I had been walking the beach in Malibu that morning. The lapping waves of the Pacific, the cresting sun over the hills, and the architectural array of beachfront homes were a blurred reality compared to our painful conversation. Her breast cancer had returned.
“Why does God allow diseases and other bad things to happen to people?” she asked.
I had no answer. Does anyone really?
We continued walking, discussing her treatment options. I searched for words to give her comfort and hope, and she confessed her doubts about our Christian upbringing and if she needed to believe in Jesus anymore.
I said a silent prayer.
Finally, our walk took us back to our shoes we had left neatly side-by-side and were surprised by a big heart etched in the sand next to them. Inside the heart was written: John 3:16. We looked at each smiling as if we expected the other to fess up that they had done it, but that didn’t make any sense; we’d been with each other the whole time. We contemplated if someone could have heard our conversations and then made the heart with the bible verse in it while we were gone. Our husbands? A passerby? No. We were the only ones on the beach that early morning except for a few runners. But even if it had happened like that, it didn’t explain why there were no footprints in the sand. Had the heart been there when we left our shoes? No. We were both clear that we would have noticed it.
“Do you remember what John 3:16 says?” I asked my sister.
“I do. ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.’”
Neither of us knew what to say. That distinct message in the sand was an answer to her question and an answer to my prayer.
We returned to her house and our waiting husbands and told them what had happened. After their doubtful and joking comments, my sister and I let the subject drop. We didn’t want to hear anything negative; we needed to ponder more on the message given to us.
Though there were no human footprints in the sand that day, my sister and I both knew someone in the spiritual realm had been there.
My sister accepted this mysterious and spiritual “message in the heart” that day and renewed her acceptance of Jesus. As she traveled the remainder of her destiny here on earth, she took comfort that whoever left her that message would be with her to guide her into her next reality. I have no doubt that’s what happened. Christine passed not too long after this.
And I have no doubt that when it’s my turn I will see Christine again.
