Happy Halloween and Blessed Samhain

Happily engrossed

I love it when I wake up with fresh ideas for plot lines or character development. I even love it when a new idea wakes me up early on the weekend and I can’t fall back to sleep because the characters want to have their story told. I’ve been happily engrossed with story ideas for the past few days.

Although not many of my personal acquaintances know this about me, I write children’s fiction as well as romance. There are some days when I have a children’s story flowing at the same speed as one of my novels and it’s wonderful. I’d love to have a few extra hours in every day…(or in the very least, learn to manage my time better).

I’ll be the first to admit that I need a lot of work on managing my time. Since I’ve been sick with Heaven-knows-what for the past two and half weeks, I haven’t been working on anything at my usual speed. So, I have a lot of catching up to do.

I’ll have a little free time this coming week and I look forward to seeing how many projects I can juggle. Until I sign that coveted contract, I’m free to work on whatever takes my fancy. For now, I’ll try to be grateful for that and not be envious of all those who have deadlines. :)

Two days off

Right now, I’m enjoying a velvety mug of chai and reading a delicious book. Could there be a better way to start off my two-day vacation?

Today, my goal is to get organized, have fun, relax and recharge.

Now if only everyone else would cooperate… :)

The Writer’s Well

The subject heading has a double meaning for me. First, I am the writer and after a week of sickness, I am on the road to recovery. Also, this writer’s mind is overflowing with ideas and goals for the coming months.

It’s strange, but while I was sick, I felt as if my entire being was depressed and not simply my immune system. I couldn’t find the motivation to make it off the couch in search of yet another clear fluid I must consume. So, for all of Tuesday, I didn’t bother, thinking that by Wednesday I’d surely feel better. But of course I was wrong. On Wednesday my fever went up a couple notches and my back started to hurt – a sure sign of a cranky kidney. That right kidney, the same one I sliced open in a car accident, is always the first to tell me when something’s wrong, sort of like my conscience for better health instead of moral judgment. That cranky organ is still pinching me a little, letting me know that I need to drink more, but the clock is telling me that if I drink any more today I run the risk of having a “water” dream (and no one wants that). So, I’m ignoring it for now.

I went to the doctor on Wednesday, and after two hours of tests, he wasn’t quite sure what to tell me. He said it sort of acted like the flu, but not quite (he tested to make sure). It sort of acted like bronchitis, but not quite. He wanted me to rest as much as possible and try to get my temperature back to normal. Drink plenty of fluids (yeah, right). And stay home from work.

I hate to say it, but the part where he said “Drink plenty of fluids” made me feel guiltier than the part about missing work. Even though we need the money (which I hate saying), I was happy to have the excuse to do nothing. As gross as it sounds, it was nice to have the option of showering. On Thursday, I opted not to, but still changed into clean clothes. As I teach one of the second graders I work with, “Girl rule number one: Always wear clean clothes.” And I did, even if only to curl up on the couch for the day, nodding off every once in a while.

On Friday, I was feeling better. There was even a fleeting moment when I felt a bit of guilt for not being at work. But it passed so quickly, I hardly recognized it. I checked my email instead. That was when I decided that, sick or not, I couldn’t let a whole week go by without trying to achieve my dreams. After all, I’d just spent nearly a whole week feeling sorry for myself and sleeping and coughing up the stuff that should never be in a person’s body in the first place.

So, on Friday, I sent out a query letter. That letter jostled the plug at the bottom of my writer’s well. I had tossed it down a while ago without thought and over time, ever so slowly, the well kept draining like there was a pebble wedged between the seal of the plug and the bottom of the well. For the longest time, I didn’t know what could be happening. I went to the well, expecting to see my own reflection, to see in my own gaze all the stories and characters waiting to leap out, but instead I saw no water, no reflection. I checked and found the plug chain was still attached. Everything should be in working order. I have all the ideas. They haven’t gone anywhere. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what happened to my well.

But the moment I clicked the SEND button, it was as if the seal slid into place.

Now, this writer’s well is overflowing again.

Peering out of the cave

The dim light filtered through a haze of drab gray clouds makes me squint as I peer out of the cave of sickness I’ve been inside for the past week. I’m on the road to recovery, gratefully. My head is still fuzzy and my thoughts are coming to me as if through the thick, murky phlegm that has been my enemy of late.

I will keep this post short, but unfortunately not very sweet. The reality of being ill and having to take care of yourself is a very unpleasant one. And I am fully ready to have that change in the future as well. I’m ready to be well. I’m ready to be an incredibly successful writer. I’m still ready.

New recipe

I know I’m late with October’s recipe…but it’s finally posted! I hope none of you went hungry. :)

This recipe for Rocky Road Fudge Bars is one that has always been in my family (well, at least in my lifetime). Every year, my sister asked to have these for her birthday instead of a cake and it soon became a tradition. When my oldest son first tried this dessert (since I usually make it for my sister every year), he decided that this would be his birthday cake as well. So, as part of my nuclear family tradition, I make it for him every year at the end of September. In June, for my sister’s birthday, we get to have them again.

They may take a little work, but believe me, they’re worth it!

I hope you enjoy this recipe.