WHAT RULES YOU?

Do you believe in fate?

Magic?

Luck?

Odds?

Astrology?

“Mercury is in retrograde,” a friend announced last week.

She went on to explain why that was important to know.

“Don’t sign contracts, engage in making important decisions.”

Well that’s just ducky…I signed three contracts in the past week.

(non of which was with a literary agent of course)

“Cars, computers and other electronics easily break down."

Hmm? My TV went out and my ozonator.

“Miscommunication is a big problem now.”

Huh! I have had some miscommunications recently.

Well, the Scorpio in me had to investigate this retrograde phenomenon.

And so I Googled…

Seems all my friend said was true (damn)…

And Mercury will be retrograde until the 23^rd of April (damn)…

But as always…

There’s a flip side to all this negative heavenly body movement…

The purpose of Mercury retrograde is to review and revise our life

and our connection with reality. The timing of this universe is geared

 toward the Sun as it moves through the zodiac and is important in

the major adjustments as we move our efforts to organize, plan and

launch our innovative resourcefulness into new directions .

So?

What will I concentrate on?

The negative or the positive aspects of Mercury?

Does how I think even matter?

Don’t I have any say-so in the universe?

Or is everything left up to the planets and stars?

Well, now that my Spiritual/Writer Retreat in Akumal is moving forward…

I'm choosing to align my thoughts and efforts...

And look beyond Mercury's path to the brighter aspects of the sun.

(but I will do a "phew" when Mercury goes out of retrograde)

What about you?

Do you believe in astrology?

Has Mercury in retrograde affected you?

Always, Em-Musing

WRITING RANGE

I’ve been taking shooting lessons.

I guess at my age, knitting might be a more appropriate hobby…

But knitting doesn’t make me feel safe…

If an intruder broke in and was approaching, I don’t think…

“STOP! I have a knitting needle and I’m not afraid to jab you!”

Would be as effective as…

“STOP! I have a gun and I’m not afraid to use it!”

Lately, I’ve been feeling the need to protect myself…

And although I’m not sure whether I’m ready to buy a handgun…

(it’s a serious responsibility)

 I am feeling empowered just going to the range and shooting.

After taking a course in safety…

I finally went on the range.

Donning safety glasses and ear muffs…

I’m looking down the barrel of a 22 revolver…

As the instructor reminds me…

To line up the first sight with the rear sight…

And to keep my eye on the sight…

Not the target.

Hmm?

I would have thought the target is where I want the bullet to go.

I squint, I aim, I pull the trigger and–

Not even close.

“You’re looking at the target,” the instructor says…

“and not keeping your eye on the sight. And you’re

‘pulling’ the trigger not 'squeezing' it.”

With my adrenaline pumping, I take aim again.

"Take a deep breath, try to relax," the instructor says.

I fired off a few more shots. Still off target.

“You must apply continuous, smooth pressure to the trigger

without disturbing the alignment of the sights until the gun discharges.”

Finally, after not too many more shots…

I focus just on the sights, I line them up and–

HA! Almost bull’s-eye!

On the drive home I got to thinking about my writing…

Am I too focused on the target of being published...

And not keeping in sight that I must continue to send submissions?

And that if I do get another rejection...

All I have to do is relax, reload, and fire again.

How about you?

What are you focusing on?

The sight? Or the target?

Always, Em-Musing

P.S. I'm also going to be taking a "Non-lethal" course in self-defense.

WRAP IT UP

Sometimes…

Something happens…

At just the right moment…

That one second before or one second later…

You wouldn’t have heard or seen something…

That makes an impact.

Yesterday, I left my office and went to the kitchen…

To get a glass of Topo Chico (bottled mineral water from Mexico).

While I sliced a wedge of lime…

I glanced up at the TV which had been left on from earlier that morning…

And caught Dianne von Furstenburg on the Nate Berkus show.

Wow, though obviously she's been around, I haven’t seen her for a while.

I remember her from the early ‘70’s…

When she introduced her infamous jersey knitted “wrap dress”…

Along with her equally infamous comment…

“Feel like a woman, wear a dress.”

That remark back then  was controversial because…

The women’s movement was also redefining women’s persona…

By telling them to burn their bras. (I never did)

But I did have a “wrap dress,” though not an original of hers…

Mine was a knockoff, that never quite stayed tied…

Anyway…

Pouring the mineral water into the glass…

I looked up just as Diane said,  “It’s a big waste of time to be insecure.”

That comment, just like her “wrap dress”…

Though simple, made quite an impact, at least to me.

How much time have I spent in useless wondering?

Has insecurity stymied me?

If insecurity wasn’t a player in my life, where would I be now?

What about you?

Is insecurity a player in your life?

And if so, how do you deal with it?

Always, Em-Musing 

REALITY THIS

So…

Continuing the theme from yesterday’s post…

About reality TV…

I’ve discovered some other shows…

The “extreme” shows…

Or course there's Extreme Makeover Home Edition…

Then there's Extreme Plastic Surgery Makeover…

And now there’s Extreme Couponing.

I’m not kidding.

But seriously–are they kidding?

How much interest, is there in clipping?

C’mon writers!

What we do has to be more interesting than clipping coupons!

We have to have more emotional layers don’t we?

And there’s obviously more at stake, isn’t there?

I can see a whole season of  Extreme Author…

The first episode would start off with a camera crew…

Capturing the sob story of some weary writer…

Then a team of editors would come in…

And for the next few episodes they’d analyze the manuscript…

Explaining the flaws in the writing…

They then would rewrite, and submit to agents who…

Then submit publishers who–

Um, yeah...

The TV viewers switched channels long ago.

I guess for now the only reality show for us writers...

Is us...

Just really  being in the trenches writing, editing, submitting, etc.

What about you, you creative person you...

What kind of reality show would you create?

Always, Em-Musing

SHOW, ME THE WRITER

Last week, one of my blog posts…

Was about hoarding and I learned…

That there is not one, but two TV shows:

Hoarders on A&E show

Each 60-minute episode of Hoarders is a fascinating

look inside the lives of two different people whose

inability to part with their belongings is so out of

control that they are on the verge of a personal crisis

And…

Hoarding: Buried Alive on TLC

With the help of expert therapists & organizers, the

hoarders will attempt to unlock the key to their

obsessions in hope of reclaiming their lives.

I was fascinated with these people who are obsessed…

And that got me thinking about writers…

Aren’t we obsessed?

With writing?

And getting published?

And that got me thinking…

Wouldn’t it be great…

If we writers had our own TV show?

Using the copy from the two TV shows…

The synopsis of our new TV show would read like this:

Each episode would be a look inside the lives of two

different writers whose inability to stop writing, even though

they’ve submitted and have been rejected countless times,

is so out of control that they are on the verge of a crisis.

And…

With the help of book doctors and editors, the writers will

learn what needs to be done not only to their query and synopsis,

but their manuscript.

I figure, with agents claiming…

That they get 10,000 submissions a year…

And 99% don’t cut the mustard…

I don’t think there’d be a shortage of writers.

And just think…

Everyone in our lives will finally understand our need to write…

They will see what obsesses us…

Why we talk, giggle, and argue with ourselves...

Why we stare at a blank computer screen for hours...

Why we are cranky for no apparent reason...

Why we eat so much chocolate.

They will learn the hope, dreams, angst, and heartache...

We unpub’d writers go through everyday.

So?

What do you think about my TV show idea?

Always, Em-Musing

SPREAD THE WORD

Ahh…

Sping is in the air…

Time to discover…

Another "secret of the universe"...

(I've discovered a few others in the past)

It’s called—The Law of Expansion.

Don’t laugh, though it may sound silly…

It’s real and I can prove it.

Let’s look at paperwork…

First it’s a small pile of envelopes neatly stacked on your desk…

Then, once opened…

It becomes a wastepaper basket brimming over with paper.

See? The Law of Expansion.

Or you buy a small electronic…or something…

That’s been wrapped in plastic, stuffed in Styrofoam…

Then placed in a box that goes into an even bigger box.

You open it all up...

And then for whatever reason you need to put it back…

But now you can’t fit the box in the box or the box in the Styrofoam…

Because it’s expanded.

See? The Law of Expansion.

And this is exactly what happened to me.

Yesterday, I pulled out a pair of pants I had put away last season…

Tried to get into them but couldn't…

Now you might wonder...

Is it because I've been stuffing myself like a pig …

And haven’t exercised in months?

Oh, no...I had nothing to do with it.

See? It's The Law of Expansion.

And darn if doesn’t happen every spring.

Have you ever encountered…

The Law of Expansion.

Always, Em-Musing

C.I.P.

 If you’re a writer…

Then you know how your mind fills with fantastic creative stuff everyday…

Plots, characters, new worlds… …

And it’s so much fun being up in your head, you don’t want to leave.

So, if you’re a busy writer like me…

Or even if you’re just plain busy…

You know what it’s like to have so much going on in your mind…

That you wind up doing mindless things…

Like getting off the wrong exit…

Forgetting to get the one thing you went to the store to get…

Forgetting to pay your house payment…

And one time, I was in such a rush…

I forgot to put on my underpants when I left the house.

Thank God you can’t see through jeans.

But alas, this morning

When I was working on my W.I.P (accent on the "P")...

I was so excited because I added a new chapter...

And I was loving it and didn't want to stop...

But with several cups of coffee in me…

And Mother Nature calling...darn!

I had to leave my laptop...

But ah HA! My mind could continue...

And ha HA! I had my protagonist up in a tree when she–

Forgot to take off the underpants!

Well, you’re a writer, you can finish the story.

Actually don’t finish this story...

I will. I have nothing more to add except...

LORD!

So? Ever done anything as mindless or stupid?

Always, Em-Musing

AB HOARD

Recently, on author, Sarah Fine’s blog…

The Strangestsituation…

(she’s a practicing child psychologist, by the way)

She posted about hoarding.

She also recommended the novel:

Dirty Little Secrets: Child of a Hoarder by C.J. Omololu.

I thought the topic and her assessment of the book interesting…

And I have on occasion watched the show Hoarders on A&E.

Now, while I don’t physically hoard…

OK, I do have closets stuffed with lots of stuff…

Especially clothes that don’t fit or I know I’ll never wear again…

And yes, my pantry may include outdated cans…

I think I’m fairly normal.

But still I wonder…

Though I may not physically hoard…

Do I virtually hoard?

Coincidentally, the same day of Sarah’s blog post…

I had perused files on my laptop and found…

Old versions of many manuscripts, short stories and poems…

And while I now have current versions that are so much better…

And all these files are backed up on a flash drive and Carbonite…

I was still hesitant to delete them.

And while keeping all these files in virtual space is no biggie…

Because really, I can run out and buy more space if I need to…

I was emotionally attached to these files…

They represented far more than just pixilated words on a screen.

To delete them and send them to the recycle bin…

Felt like I would be deleting part of my life…

And all the years of struggling to be a writer…

Including all the dreams of being a published author...

Would evaporate…

With just one quick “delete” keystroke.

I’ve been pondering this feeling of being deleted for several days now…

If my words are so easily deleted…

Am I so easy to dismiss?

Tell me…

Can you relate?

Are you a virtual hoarder?

Always, Em-Musing

IT'S SO (not) NICE TO MEET YOU

If curiosity killed the cat…

Then I’ve been warned…

I should have left my curiosity well enough alone.

Many blog posts ago…

I wrote about a man with the Fedora in my neighborhood

I'd always seen him walking—everywhere

Around grocery stores, gas stations, neighborhoods

And looking dapper with each stride.

Well, last weekend my writer group,

Hosted a book lovers event at our local library…

To celebrate the love of writing and reading romantic fiction.

It was a meet ‘n’ greet the public kind of event where we offered:

Book giveaways, book readings by published authors, & refreshments.

And whatta ya know…

This man with the fedora showed up.

And so I went up and greeted him.

He looked at my name tag and, with sparkling eyes said, “Leigh, nice to meet you." 

I heard nothing further he said, my mind having gone to mush…

Not by his mushy sentiment…

But by the pungent smell of his breath. Garlic? Booze? Both?

And then there was his hollow yet piercing eyes!

I took a step backwards trying to discern.

As he rambled on and on and on and on…

I realized that while his voice was there, his mind wasn’t.

I didn’t know whether to feel sad or not…

Because he seemed perfectly happy in his world…

And who’s to say my world is any better than his?

I guess not only truth is stranger than fiction…

But strangers are stranger than fiction.

I wish now I hadn’t learned the truth about him.

It was more fun making up scenarios about him.

What about you?

Ever have a fantasy about a stranger?

Only to be disappointed…

When you find out they’re not the person you thought they were?

Always, 

Em-Musing

MUM EXPECTATIONS

“Grandma? What are we going to do today?”

“Want to see the mummy?”

It’s spring break and I’ve been on grandma duty this week.

“Where is the mummy?” he asked, eyes wide.

“In the museum.”

Maybe to most kids, a mummy wouldn’t strike fear…

But I used to tell him scary stories about mummies…

Though I don’t believe he believed mummies existed.

After paying our admittance to the new Egyptian exhibit...

I noticed he got hesititant. “Where is the mummy?”  

“Just around the corner,” I said as we passed a wall of hieroglyphics.

“Where?”

“There. In that glass case.”

He abruptly stopped.

“He’s dead. He can’t hurt you,” I said pushing him up see.

“That’s the mummy?

“Uh huh. So? What do you think?”

“Disgusting!” he said smiling, his body relaxing.

“Not what you expected, huh?”

After that we walked through the “negative confession” exhibit…

That explained how the Egyptians...

Using prayers from the Book of the Dead…

Told the forty-two gods what they hadn’t done wrong.

Negative confession? Hmm? A very different perspective.

On the way home I got to thinking about my querying process.

I’ve blathered on and about what I have done so far…

But not about what haven’t I done?

Seems I have a long list of my own negative confessions to make.

What about you and your journey to get published?

Is your “haven’t done” list as long as mine?

Or am I the only sinner?

Always, Em-Musing

P.S. And welcome to my new followers