ZONING IN

                 IT'S BLOG DAY!

The first Wednesday of each month, 

members of IWSG announce a question that members

can answer in their IWSG  Day post. These questions may prompt you to share insight or a personal experience or story. Remember, the question is optional. IWSG was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh and is a forum of writers who gather to talk about writing and the writer's life. 

 The awesome co-hosts for the May 6 posting of the IWSG are  Feather Stone, Beverly Stowe McClure, Mary Aalgaard, Kim Lajevardi and Chemist ken!

Today’s question – Do you have any rituals that you use when you need help getting into the ZONE? Care to share?

 My ritual to get into the writing zone...

Starts at 4:30 a.m....

With Italian roast coffee brewing...

Palo santo incense smoking...

Lemongrass oil in the defuser misting...
And Solfeggio tones playing.

I take several deep sustained breaths and...

**VOILA!**

I’m in my writing “zone”

And it feels like this

However...

If you were to ask me how I get into my editing zone...

That’s a totally different frame of mind... 

Because mentally...

It feels as if I’m being banished into a hut...

In a dense jungle all alone...
And must stay there... 

Until every possible nuance of the manuscript is polished. 

And it feels like this







But now...

If you’re talking about the rewrite zone...

Well......
That feels like I’m being dragged into an abandoned asylum...

And won’t be let out until...well...

However long it takes!

And it feels like this

Thankfully, I've only been there once.
So?
What about you?

What’s your zone?

And how do you get there?

Always,

Em-Musing

TRIBES

Four women…

Having brunch at the Omni hotel….

Watching the crystal blue Caribbean…

Lap on the white sandy beach.

I was in heaven…

Of course the beautiful terrain helped…

But more important that day…

I found my tribe…

Four writers!

Here in Mexico!

Not that I can’t write alone, mind you…

But I find the company of other writers…

Inspires me.

Recently I watched Midnight in Paris…

A Woody Allen movie…

About a writer who goes to Paris…

And at midnight…

A vintage car picks him up…

And whisks him off to cafes and bars…

Where he meets Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald…

Picasso, T.S Elliot, Dali, and Gertrude Stein to name a few.

Imagine?

What that would be like…

To sip coffee or a brew with any of them?

For now and for me…

Since I can’t be with my tribe in Ohio…

I’ll find friendship, inspiration, and accountability…

Here in the Caribbean…

With my new tribe.

So what about you?

Do you have a tribe?

And if you could pick one author in history…

To sit across from in Paris…

Who would it be?

FYI…

One of the members of my tribe is…

Elle Cosimano…

A newly published author of Nearly Gone…

A YA thriller.

Here’s the link to her website: 

http://ellecosimano.com/nearly-gone/

Always,

Em-Musing

CAUTION: WRITER THINKING

Writing can be dangerous!

Well not the actual writing part…

But the thinking, envisioning, and fantasizing part…

Unlike the physical part of writing…

When you’re seated writing on a pad or keyboard...

The thinking, envisioning, and fantasizing part…

Is worked up in the corridors of your brain…

Soundlessly plotting away…

Which leaves you free to do things…

Like drive on the highway…

Concocting a plot twist…

At 75 mph!

And then after about ten minutes…

You look around and go…

“Where in the hell am I?

Caution: Writer Thinking!

Or like when you’re putting on mascara…

With a wand that has hundreds of brisk bristles…

That could potentially blind you.

But deep in your brain cells…

Your envisioning which actor your hero looks like…

When—OW!—you just poked your eyeball!

Caution: Writer Thinking!

And then there’re times when you’re at a party…

And all you want to do…

Is find a corner and think of a name for your heroine…

But instead the most boring person in the world…

Has cornered you…

Telling you about one of their boring dreams…

When suddenly they ask you…

“So? What do you think it all means?”

Now you’re desperate...

Trying to figure out what they were saying…

And you realize you don’t have a clue…

However this is the guy who could promote your hubby.

So you laugh and say something stupid like…

“Wow, that’s really exciting.”

And he says, “I dreamt of dying! How is that exciting?”

Caution: Writer Thinking!

So for all those who live or work with a writer…

Or heaven forbid, are driving with a writer…

Be on the lookout for that glazed over fixed stare…

Because…

Caution: Writer Thinking!

Always, Em-Musing

SUPER MOON

You just can't make something like this up...

I was Googling 'super moon'...

And this visual came up on a sidebar.

 

Either someone has a silly sense of humor...

Or they’re a marketing genius...

To link this big tush to the super moon... 

Unfortunately...

All this visual did...

Was to force Sir Mix-A-Lot's song, I Like Big Butts…

Into my mind...
Specifically that one line from the song..
Complete with valley girl accent:
Oh, my god, Becky. Look at her butt. It's so big
But more important than her tush is la luna...

Did you watch the super moon rise?

Where? 
Me? 
I was on the beach in Puerto Aventuras, Mexico...

Always, Em-Musing

TRIPPING THE BLOG FANTASTIC

Here in Mexico…

The most feared law enforcement agents…

Are the judiciales, similar to our F.B.I.

If they’re at your door—dun, dun duuuuuun…

You’re going to jail.

After my blog post yesterday…

Where I successfully scared some followers…

About the wildlife in the area where I live…

I just know the time is coming when…

KNOCK KNOCK

“Who’s there?”

(please be a joke)

“The Judiciales.”

Lord! I’m going to jail!

“Open up. We’re confiscating your laptop.”

“Oh, please don’t. I can’t live without it.”

“You’re scaring tourists away with your stupid blog.”

“I’m just trying to be amusing. Get it? Em-musing.”

“We don’t think it’s funny that you’re scaring

tourists. Tourism is what this area depends on. 

You’re robbing families of income. ”You're meaner

than the cartels.'

“I’m so sorry!”

“Am I going to jail? I really don’t want to rot.”

“Not this time, but if we catch you scaring anymore

tourists we’ll haul you off to a dungeon.”

“Thank you! Thank you!”

“And gringa? Do you remember when you got your

residency visa you were told to learn Spanish?”

“Yes, uh…I mean SI.”

“Well, you’re not doing very well, are you?”

“No. And I’m not saying ‘no’ in English…

Because ‘no’ is ‘no’ in Spanish too, no?”

“Don’t’ be a smart ass.”

“Sorry. I mean lo siento.”

“Better learn faster because we’re watching you.”

***Earth to Leigh. Snap out of it!***

Phew!

Guess my mind took a little side trip.

So tell me…

Ever have a government agent knock at your door?

And does your mind take you on side trips?

Where do you go?

Always, Em-Musing