Dreams, Dreams, Dreams

I haven't been writing much lately (more about that in my blog), and so I seem to have caught Kami's condition of Much Dreaming When Not Writing. I have some very interesting ones in the past two weeks. Like the one where I went to Melissa Etheridge on advice about toddler beds. Or when Dad came to see me and give me a rather cryptic warning about watching out for my little brother (and yeah, Dad, you do look good). Or when I found my former manager from the university bookstore marching with my old high school band during a parade as assistant band director (I have no explanation for that one).

They have been fun (if odd) dreams. But my favorites have been the two that have given my story ideas. Two short stories, one less complex than the other and more fully formed, but still. I'm dreaming in short stories now. I guess some of Carole is rubbing off on my too. I never saw myself as a short story writer, but I'm glad I've given myself room to become one.

A Dove Gray Disappointment

I received a rejection from the wonderful Nelson Literary Agency for my partial of Masks.  I'm disappointed, but also I'm aware that they have to be very, very selective.  They get so many queries, so many partials, so many manuscripts that if I was asked for a full manuscript I'd be very, very surprised (and delighted!)  They reminded me in the rejection that these things are subjective, and after Nathan's contest I can agree heartily.  I'm not taking it personally.  But the stars that danced in my eyes the past few days have fallen to earth.  Time to start my weekly query schedule again.  Hopefully I'll be looking at stars again soon!

Trying to Contain Rays of Obnoxious Brightness

Lock me in a lead box before I irradiate my children.  I'm so excited by the reply from Nelson Literary Agency.  When I first started looking for a literary agency they really stood out.  I like their style a lot.  They're young and enthusiastic and they have some best sellers already on their sales list.  I hope they enjoy my submission and ask for more.  If not, I still feel I did well to catch their attention.  It lets me know that I'm on track with my query letters.  

Hopefully in two months or so I'll have more good news.  Now my question is, am I supposed to wait for them to respond or keep sending out queries?  I think I'll wait, simply because I have a good handful out there and some of those may come back with some interest too.  As much fun as having multiple offers might be on paper (or in this case, in phosphors) I'd find that really stressful.  Besides, this will give me a break from marketing so that I can focus on the whole reason I got myself into this in the first place:  Writing.

Bad Dreams

I know I haven't written in too long because I start to have very vivid dreams. Last night I had not one but about one an hour. Obviously I didn't sleep very well. Normally sleep cycles don't allow for dreams to be that close together, from my understanding anyway. The ones I remembered were all nightmares. One was me trying to survive a tidal wave, and of course because my brain is implanted with this information, the water came in surges that usually raised the water level very rapidly but not so much in cartoon waves but flows. It was also hugely windy. In the second dream, while trying to arrange for a new place to live in an apartment which was hugely stressful (how did I lose my house?!) I looked out the window and saw these men killing children with axes. The last one I remembered was us having recently moved into a two-story condo on the water. I was missing my garden but trying to keep a positive attitude when Huntress got out, went for a fish by diving in the water, and then couldn't get back onto dry land. She swam like crap and started drowning.

All three dreams involve water. If you're Freudian, it's supposed to be all about sex. I'm thinking it's more like about loss and being unable to breathe. I found it interesting that in all three dreams we were displaced from our home. The more I think about it, though I doubt many of you will hold to this theory, the more I think I was sharing dreams and emotional space with Dakota. True or not, the only way to slow down the flood of horror will be to write so my brain is too tired to be creative. Then it'll be back to the usual--shopping, housework, and back in school dreams. It doesn't take long in either direction. I have to not-write for 2-3 days to start dreaming like this (guilty as charged) or a few hours for one day to stop.

It inspires me to write lots before I go to bed, even though I'm tired. But if I'm sharing Dakota's burden ... I hate to leave her alone.

It's all downhill?

If it's all downhill from here, maybe I can stop pedaling so much and just let gravity take me.

Yep, I was outside gardening until 8pm (and yes, it was dark) getting those last few chores in. I still have a tree to plant, but other than that, the bulbs are in, the new lavender plants are in, and I've got enough rock in on one of our steeper slopes that the earth won't slide now that the weeds are no longer holding the bank together. When I was done for the night I looked up at the sky and watched the clouds float in, first as little individual puffs, then lots of puffs cheek to fluffy cheek and finally as a solid mass that walled off the stars.

Why is this important to writing? Because once those clouds start doing their thing, they probably won't stop raining on us until sometime in February. Well, sometimes we get a really cold night and end up with the frost thing, and snow in January, but reality in the Pac NW right now means rain and lots of it. And the rainy season means it's time to write.

Yes, Ris, I am going to sign up for Nano. When? Um, real soon! In the meantime I have lots of writing to do on Masks. I've been away from writing long enough that I'm going into major withdrawals. One of the main symptoms--vivid dreams with involved storylines. Last night I was a madam starting up an all male gay bordello, and someone accused me of stealing 1.9 million dollars, so I decided to set out and prove my innocence in between helping my guys set up their rooms.

I have so got to get to writing.

Hopefully I'll have more opportunities to post here, too. I dread trying. Often the computer crashes, or it says the post was saved and then there's nothing, not even in the part that's supposed to be all autosaved.

Grr.

Oh, and if I want to guarantee a crash, all I have to do is try to comment on a post. Weeeee!

I have so got to sell my writing so I can buy a new machine. Poor old Gypsy just isn't doing very well these days. Alas! So, let's hope that the weather goes downhill so I can build up some momentum and get writing things done. And art. And housework. Am I forgetting anything?