The Law of Attraction and All That Jazz

Do you believe in the Law of Attraction? I do kinda, sorta(talk about a vague ambiguity). Anyway, I have got to change something about my life.


Remember I told you a few weeks about about the fact that we were having 'current' (electrical power) problems and somehow this ate my fridge. We spent some time living in 'hunter/gatherer mode' living in one condo and storing our food in another. Well this past week we had another 'current' problem. We had a serious interruption of power for about twelve hours. This is not supposed to happen, because the condo project where I live has monstrous generators that kick in automatically when the power goes off. 


Anyway...something went kerflueey and the generators never came on and it took twelve hours to fix. When it came back on I started a load of laundry and promptly forgot about it. A few hours later, when I went to put the clothes in the dryer, the washer was full of water and my soggy towels and nothing else was working.  Yippee! Apparently,the big bad 'current monster' ate my washer.


I waited until Rick got home that night hoping he could figure out what was wrong. Rick re-injured his back (initial injury occurred when we were in the DR)and was no help at all. I was going into Christiansted with some friends the next day, and stopped by the Property Manager's Office to ask them to get the repair man out and they said they would. This was on Wednesday. Today, Friday, with a load of soggy towels still sitting in the washer and not smelling too good (remember, I live in the Tropics) I decided I had better walk down to the condo office for some tokens (they have a laundromat here,but the machines take tokens not coins).  Well it is Veteran's Day and the condo project was closed. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I mean I understand Banks, the Post Office and other Government Services, but the Condo Project. 


In the VI we take our Holidays seriously.


OK, now I'm getting a little crazy. That happens when I feel helpless. I try to call the Property Manager and see what's up with the repairman, to find that the phones on the island are not working. I take my cell phone up into the parking lot to try to call and can't get service where I normally do. HAS THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE MOVED OVER A FEW DEGREES OR WHAT?


Calm down I tell myself. Your a grown up. You can handle this. No I cannot. I'm a writer in the middle of NaNoWriMo and I have no clean clothes. I am losing it. This is what happens to me when I'm completely sucked into my writing. Normally, it's not this bad, but this thing with trying to write a novel in thirty days is a little over the top. Add to that, all of a sudden this book is writing itself. I have to go into the NaNoWriMo site and take down my synopsis, because the book that is being written does not look much like it.


Do not get me wrong, I'm having a good time, but I really stress about the clean clothes thing. After all, the laundry is the last vesture of domesticity that I'm clinging too during the month of November. If that goes, who knows what will happen. I could be left open to all forms of insanity and wildness.


Long story made short. I decided to go to the pool and think this laundry thing over. My motto; when in doubt go get neck deep. The President of the Condo Association happened to be there visiting with some other folks. I went and asked him, if he might have any laundry tokens. A pleasant conversation later one of the couples there, who are owners of a condo here, down for the month of November, invited me to bring this load of laundry over to their place and wash it. I had met these people a few times before but did not know their names. Do you think I took my laundry over to their condo. You better believe it. No one ever called me shy and I really needed clean clothes.


The end of this story. I have clean clothes. We spent the evening visiting with these people.They are from New Jersey. I now know their names. We all had a pleasant time. 


I have got to stop being so crazy. I have got to stop attracting some of this stuff from the lunatic fringe to me. I have got to get back to my book and tell this story.


When I was posting Ghost Stories on my other site http://www.farawayeyes1.blogspot.com people kept asking me; Are these really true stories? Yes they are. This story above is the truth and nothing but.
Would I lie to you or worse make something up? Actually, I might make something up, that's what I do, but I would tell you it was made up.


Living in the VI, you have to adapt. I think I'm doing pretty good and then something like clean clothes (I value my washer/dryer more than my fridge and stove) completely throws me. No matter where you live, you will do better if you learn to think outside the box. Do something like going to a complete strangers condo to do a load of laundry. Hey what better way to make friends. Right?


Some people might even call it crazy. Then again...

I love this commentary, actually it's an Apple Ad. No matter, it's coming from a place where 'thinking is optional' and it's all about the doing. Go ahead call me crazy, I don't mind.


Enjoy your weekend. I'm going to the beach. Neck deep in salt water, my favorite place.

Thunder on the Water

More storms moving through the Territories today. Big deep blue clouds, flashes of lightening and thunder rumbling over the ocean. Kind of spooky, but I do love that sound. Of course, every so often there is an 'up close and personal' strike with a crack of thunder that lingers for about three minutes, and rattles the filling in your teeth. Scares the crap out of me, but I love to be scared. Unfortunately, we're not getting much rain.


The old phrase "water, water everywhere," has new meaning when you live on an island this small. No rivers here. Oh every gut turns into a rushing turret when the real rains come, but it runs off into the ocean or soaks into the ground pretty quick. The water we use is 'collected' water. Even the fanciest places have cisterns. The condo project that I live in, has a sophisticated system for collecting water and recirculating their 'grey water' to flush toilets and the like. Gives a whole new meaning to "Don't drink the water". Yeah, I learned that one the hard way.


As we head into winter, our normally dry season, if the cisterns aren't full most folks will end up buying water and it ain't cheap. Unfortunately, the folks most likely to encounter water problems are poor. A lot of folks here are poor. I love the storms, but the dry storms don't do us any good. Among other things, pray for rain. Nice gentle rain here in the Caribbean. No mud slides please.


As most of you know (if you reading here and not skimming, you know) that I am currently consumed in NaNoWriMo. This is my first time and I am having a ball. What a way to write? Sorry my posts here are not as clever and entertaining as usual, but you know, I gotta save it for the book.


I do want to mention that I watched an interesting movie last night. "Limitless". It was a freak show. Now, I wish I could write something like that. Rent it sometime. You might like it, or you might see how warped I am. Either way.


I'm probably not going to post here on Wednesday. It's hard keeping up and writing something worthwhile for you to read. Know that I AM writing somewhere.  By next week I'll try to post something from The Ghost's Story on  http:/ farawayeyes1.blogspot.com Rick says this is my best one yet. Of course, he is still dependent on me for food, so you can't really trust his judgement.


I'm going to try to add a link for a song here. This is on my writing playlist. I'm missing my horses as I write this one. I'm feeling homesick for the ranch in Colorado and the ski town we used to live in. Unfortunately, the place I'm homesick for doesn't really exist any more. Only in my mind. Ah change.


If the song doesn't show up you will know I'm still blond, still cyber-challenged and still live where 'thinking is optional'.


I'm practicing my French,so Bonne chance for today.

a Day Late and A Dollar Short ~ Just more of the usual!

Ok, I'm a day late and a dollar short with my Friday post. Nobody is too surprised, are they? I did mention to y'all about NaNoWriMo, right? Well I am driven, consumed, obsessed and having a really good time. 


The story is one inspired by an experience I had in an old house we lived in on a Colorado ranch. This place had it's own ghost. Yes,I did see him. When I questioned the family history about the place,I found out who he was. I'll tell you that story in December when I finish NaNoWriMo. I don't want to taint the novel I'm writing by getting into the real story. Does that make sense?


Anyway, as I write this story everything is so vivid,I can see these places, because I actually know then. I'm having a great time, if not making myself a little homesick. The truth of the matter is that whenever I get homesick, it's for that ranch and that little (what used to be little) ski town in Colorado. The incredibly sad part of this is that what I'm homesick for doesn't even exist anymore.  Most of our friends have left, it's now a big mega dollar ski resort, and the ranch we lived on has been bought and sold several times by rich investors, who by the way have been rumored to never be able to stay in the old homestead house where we used to live. This ghost has got to like you or you are outta there real quick.


Enough of a stroll down memory lane. I'm having a really good time with this story.I'm enjoying NaNoWriMo even though it is kind of grueling. There is so much support and encouragement on the 'net' from other writers,that it makes you feel like you are part of a real community. For old 'loner' me that's an accomplishment in and of itself. 


Hang in there with me. These posts might be short and far and few between, but know that I'm writing. I may even post some excerpts to see what you think. When that happens they will be on http://www.farawayeyes1.blogspot.com I post there on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so check it out and see if a bit of 'The Ghost's Story' goes up. It will probably be a week or two before that happens.


Well guys, it's the weekend. Go out have some fun. Spend at least a few minutes of your weekend where 'thinking is optional'.

Insecure Writers Support Group - Who Me?

I'm such a loner that it doesn't occur to me to look for support. Looking or not it seems to come. You know that old saying about "mad dogs and Englishmen", most days I'm both. What I'm trying to say is that so many of you take such good care of me, even though I don't have the good sense to ask for help. 


I write goofy things on this blog, of course, it's like my Journal so what ever is in my head that day shows up here. That's not always good. This would be the reason I started the Far Away Series Blog where I try to sound a little more sane and promote my writing. At either site it feels good to write and write I do. Often I post something and think; 'oh, this will really mean something to so and so'. I can't wait to see what they comment. Well most often so and so never comments, but someone completely off the wall will say the sweetest thing or be touched by something I've said. That's what makes it worthwhile. That's why I write.


I stated in an earlier post how we all live for the applesauce (applause-old theater joke), those comments are the applause, whether good bad or indifferent (BTW - there is no such thing as an indifferent comment, if you cared enough to say it, you cared enough.). Keep them coming. They keep us alive. They keep us in touch with each other and with our own reality.


I am such a loner that sometimes I don't even recognize that I am outcast. No matter. If I do not know it, I am not it. Likewise; if you do not tell me that you love me, I will not know it.


I was speaking to a friend from Idaho last night who is still astounded to hear I have written two novels and am working on a third in this month of November. Ahh, the things we assume we know about someone, but forgot to ask. My husband says that I like nothing better than the sound of my own voice. While I do love that sound, I like even better the sound of your voice telling me about mine.


NaNoWriMo is working out good for me so far. I have to keep reining in the muse, it likes to get ahead of me. (Bird by Bird, I keep reminding myself). It's important to tell the whole story, in the right order. I knows what's in my head, but you don't. Well,maybe some days even I don't know.


When the in securities get to big, scary, dark, overwhelming, nerve wracking, about to gobble you up, get yourself in some water. That's what I do. I know it sounds crazy, but it works. If you are lucky enough to live at the beach, salt water is my favorite. If you have a pool nearby, go there. If nothing else take a shower or bath. Let that velvet flow of water wash over you and rinse all the scary stuff away. Your muse will thank you. You will thank you. Try it, you'll like it.


OK,I admit maybe this is the craziest advice you will find in any blog on this support group, but it's practical advice, something everyone can do. You don't need to wrap your head around it, just wrap some water around yourself.


OK, maybe I'm more than a little crazy. Remember I live where the commas don't, and thinking is optional.

Republique Dominicana

We are home safe and sound from our weekend in the Dominican Republic and I want to tell you it was awesome.


I'm sure if you went to one of the may wonderful resorts in the DR everyone would speak English. We did not. We spent the weekend in what I would call downtown Santo Domingo, a city of about three million people. Almost no one spoke English. I did get to speak Spanish and French. Was I intimidate? You bet. But if you wanted to eat, sleep, get anywhere, you had absolutely no choice.


When we first got to our accommodations where no one spoke English, we found that they had given our reservations away and there was no room for us. OK. Rick was polite but persistent in both English and Spanish. Finally, they found us one room, we needed two. There was another woman traveling with us. They had big comfy chairs in the lobby, so Rick told me to take the room with our friend Rosa and he would sleep in a chair. If I learned one thing this weekend it was ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE. We had some other friends from Puerto Rico staying at the same place, when I started asking around we found that there was a room with four beds with only two women in it. Our friend Rosa was happy to stay with these two women and Rick and I had the last room left at the Inn.


I will tell you about the Dominican Republic, but first I want to tell you a little bit about our friend Rosa. It was most important that she go on this trip and do some important work. Her path was filled with obstacles. When we finally got to the airport in St. Croix, ready to leave, we were a little late. (Yeah, you guys know me) Anyway, Rick and I had only carry on luggage. Rosa had a bag that needed to be checked. TSA would not take it, because we were late. They told her she could board but she could not take her luggage. She did not know what to do. I looked her in the eye and told her I knew it was important for her to go, I suggested she leave the bag. BEFORE THIS; I had plead vehemently with the A/A check-in clerk to the point where she told me not to say another word or they would not let me on the plane. She told me not to talk to the Customs Agents or anyone else, but to shut it and go through the boarding process. (I wanted you to know that I did not tell Rosa to leave her bag behind without a fight.) ANYWAY...Rosa exercised more faith than I have ever seen before. She walked away from her luggage and boarded that plane with the clothes on her back. Once in your life I sincerely hope you can experience that. It is to stand in the presence of greatness.


In the Dominican Republic I had the opportunity to speak Spanish and French with a little bit of English thrown in. I got so used to speaking Spanish, that yesterday when we were coming through Customs in Puerto Rico, they were trying to redirect us and I asked something in Spanish, the agent let lose with a whole paragraph in Spanish. When he saw the bewildered look on my face, he apologized and said that after I spoke he did not realize that I was not fluent in Spanish. Are you kidding me? I was raised in Chicago. I'm barely fluent in English. Anyway it was a compliment.


We didn't make it to the beach. The ocean there is very different that on our little island. It is of course beautiful and just as blue, but the swells are enormous 5 - 6 ft. These are not white cap waves, just the ocean swells. That was intimidating.


No one would take dollars. We had to exchange our money and the exchange rate is not good. There's a little wake up call America. There were military types armed with automatic weapons as interesting places. Like a toll booth. I mean the toll on the highway was less than a dollar. They must be pretty serious about collecting. Interesting for me that after three days, the armed military presence ceased to bother me.


Rick and I ate out in a very posh restaurant on Friday night. Nobody in the place spoke English. Our poor waiter was very intimidate. We managed to have a wonderful dinner, and we got what we wanted. He understood my Spanish. We even had Chocolate Mousse for desert. It was in this restaurant where  I learned my most important Spanish word POSTRES ~ yeah, you guessed it that means desert. When the check came I though I was going to have to put my CPR skills to the test. Rick was hyperventilating. See a copy of the charge receipt at the bottom. NOT TO WORRY, that's in DR pesos. About $69US. We knew that, but just the sight had Rick's heart stop for a minute.Hopefully our credit card makes the right exchange, that should be interesting.


Both TSA and Customs were either on High Alert for some reason, or I look like a terrorist. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Rick hurt his back and on the way home every time he had to take his shoes off, I had to tie them up for him (he could not bend over).  All that messing with his shoes made them nervous. They kept telling me to step away from him and then he would get the once over again. I told him to wear the flip flops, but would he listen?





This turned out to be one of my most favorite "road trips" ever. I will be going back. Bad news from our kids is that they probably won't be able to come for Christmas. We are looking for cheap rates to St. Martin. We will try to go between Christmas and New Years to distract ourselves from missing the family. Hey, they speak French there. Who's up for a road trip.


Nanowrimo starts tomorrow. I can hardly wait. We'll have to see what it will be like and adjust the posting schedule accordingly.I know your waiting with baited breath.

Happy Halloween.I hope you can spend the day somewhere where "thinking is optional". I'm gonna.

TGIF and the Big Bird

It's Friday already and so I'm back here. I have to admit it has been fun going back and forth between this blog, which BTW is my personal Journal (rant) and http://www.farawayeyes1.blogspot.com which is supposed to be more about my writing and my books. Lately, I'm not so sure I can tell the difference.


I started the second blog because I was afraid I was too Politically Incorrect and often sounded a little crazy on this one. Sure I could have just toned this one down a bit, but then where would I go to get it all out. Also,I really want to be prepared to promote my books and my serious writing. Now I'm really sounding crazy.


Anyway...today when I  opened up my 'dashboard' for this blog, the title for one of the blogs that I follow was "How Much Should a Writer Blog". ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Maybe all writers are not as crazy as me, but I have to write. OK, I'm saying this out loud. It's a compulsion. Can't you tell? 


The past few weeks I have been waiting (not so patiently, I might add) for my editor to get me the second round of revisions on my first book "Far Away Eyes". The second book is done. Ideas for the third are running through my brain. I have done all of the research for "The Ghost's Story", the project I'm working on for NaNoWriMo (do I really need to tell you again, to google it) which won't start until 11/1, so this is it. Blog 1 and Blog 2. This is where I have been writing.


Starting on 11/1, I will have to cut back if I intend to put in 2,000+ words a day on "The Ghost's Story". I'm not sure what I will cut back to, but I'll let you know as soon as I figure it out. 


The first time I went to college(trust me the times I have gone to college are numerous) I was a Theater Major. In that department everyone lives for the applesauce. (Theater joke,you get it right? It's applause, but of course, Theater Majors are known to be horrible spellers among other things.) Well nothing has changed. I live for the feedback. What writer doesn't? OK,maybe there are a few. Not me. So... I want to say right here, right now, how much I appreciate each and every comment made on either of my blogs. Some days, all I do is check back looking for a comment or two. THANK YOU ALL.


That's it for today, nothing too clever, your're not surprised are you? I've got to run and go jump in the pool and workout. Then finish packing. Then head on over to the airport. Today we are getting 'off island' for a few days. Going to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. I am so excited. I'll tell you all about it on Monday(did you have any doubt). Maybe I'll even have some pictures.


If you are into "Horror" for Halloween,checkout this blog http://dravenames.blogspot.com He has had 'guest posts' of some of the most horrific short stories, that you are compelled to keep reading, this past week. Be warned it is horrific. The blog has a disclaimer about adult content at the beginning. No visuals, just pure scary stuff. 


Have a great Halloween Weekend. Remember to keep 'thinking optional".

Moral Dilemma

I like to give my characters a moral dilemma and see what they will do with it. I'm not too crazy about the idea of having my own. It's great when everything is going great and you can just blah, blah,blah your way through, but when the going gets tough and you are called on to put your money where your mouth is, look out.


On Monday I went on and on about how lucky I am to live where I do and I even had the audacity to state that if anyone heard me complaining they should slap me, please. I can't believe I said that out loud. I am the most superstitious person you have ever met. My husband calls me the resident gypsy. It is most assuredly "bad luck" to say out loud "how lucky you are". There you have it, I brought the current moral dilemma on myself.


When we lived in Florida we were very fortunate to live for one year right on the water. The second year we lived in a large house with a swimming pool in a cage, in a great neighborhood, with good schools. (I neglected to mention this Monday in my 'Room with a View' post, possibly because fate knew what was waiting for me and that I would need to bring it up today.) We, of course, were tenants in both places. That's me again, no strings. (Also fortunate, because I hated Florida and couldn't wait to get back to the Rocky Mountain West.) Anyway...back to my fortunate in Florida story, when a good friend stopped by our second house ,on the way home from closing on a nice little house they had just purchased in Bonita Springs, (without all the fine accouterments of my big rental house) she gave me these words of wisdom.


She said,"At first I wanted to be jealous,but then I realized how hard it is for you here and all of the terrible things you have to deal with and this house is payment for those sacrifices. You have here a sanctuary to come home to and get away from the nastiness you deal with on a day to day basis. I don't have that in my life, and I am grateful.  My little house is a fine sanctuary for the tranquil life I am able to live". 


I was not sure what to make of that. We were dealing with some ugly issues during that time in Florida. Issues a lot bigger than my cry baby attitude of "I don't like it here. I want to go back to the mountains. I want to live with four seasons. I miss the snow. Blah, blah, blah. (Hard to believe,today I live in the Caribbean and love it. What a difference a decade makes.)


Anyway...today I was asked to Pay It Forward. I have been blessed. I have lived a 'charmed' life. I have lived in beautiful places, that  provide incredible sanctuaries. I live in one right now,if you don't believe me checkout the previous post. I'm not being asked to leave. I am being asked to make a sacrifice. Probably a minor one at that, but for right now it seems kind of major. Will I make the right decision? I hope so. Will I learn something? I hope so. Will I expect some thing in return? I hope not, I have already been paid in full.


Crap. Moral dilemma's are fun to write. (I enjoy making the characters stretch.) They are a pain in the butt to live. I guess someone wants me to stretch also.


I have a headache. I need to get back to a place where "thinking is optional".