Double Rainbow

I saw a double rainbow this week. It was gorgeous and stretched across the sky. I always feel blessed when I see a double rainbow. I feel like momentous things are around the corner. I feel like promises are being kept. I want to throw my hands up in the air and do a happy dance. It's a great feeling.

For the weekly update, I'm almost finished with my passage gig. I think I wrote my favorite two passages this week: Stan Lee and Marie Curie.

Stan planned on being a great writer someday but got tangled up with what he felt was the lowest of the low writing in the early forties -- comic books. I totally identify with a writer who needs a paycheck. As this young writer and editor of comic books (only 20) dreamed of doing something worthwhile in the writing field, he wrote endless comic book scripts.

One day he snapped and thought he would quit. He took a leap of faith and wrote what he wanted to: The Fantastic Four was born. Here were superheroes with no super secret identities. They had fun. These heroes squabbled like a family and half the time having superpowers sucked. Next, Stan came up with The Incredible Hulk, Spider-man, Thor (a personal favorite) and then the X-men popped up (Note, my daughter is named after one of the X-men. Can you guess which one?)

The thing that inspires me about Stan Lee, instead of moving on to "important" stuff, he elevated comic books into an art form. He reminds me of Atlas. I can think of few writers for young people that have had such a far reaching effect in our society. Still, I have yet to attend one children's conference that even acknowledges his existence. Hmmm.

A quote from Stan,

Excelsior!"

(This is really packaging material, but it sounds cool. Let us always remember we are the wordsmiths.)


Marie Curie has always been a role model for me. From a young age, she had noble (ha, ha) purposes. She was a scientist, a teacher, a writer, a mom and life-long learner. I read her autobiography in high school and again in college. I even majored in chemistry in college. It took me time to take her lessons and apply them to my life. The idea of pushing on regardless of the trouble--I've been so grateful that she pushed on and told others to do that too. Her example of strength has helped me through many hard times.

Here's a quote from Marie:

All my life through, the new sights of nature made me rejoice like a child.

The Beauty of Our Dreams

Another week has rolled around, and I'm still writing passages. I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I had to write a couple of poem passages this week, and I found out something strange about my writing self. I can't write poetry directly into the computer. I had to turn back to ancient technology of pen and paper.

Why? Because short stuff was all written long hand when I was a teenager. It was written late at night, with me curled up with a cup of hot tea and some lit candles. I found that I couldn't connect with my emotional core, until I moved away from the computer and to a space that was comforting, cozy, familiar.

As soon as I did that, I couldn't stop the flood of feelings. Hidden voices popped out of me - stuff I didn't even know was in me wanted to get out. So here's something to think about, what environment connects you to your emotional core? Do you have any stories hidden within that are waiting for the right moment, the right setting, to set them free? Let me know if you find something that surprises you.

Another thing that really opens me up emotionally is art. I love to draw. I said I would post some of my Getty pictures. There is this cool room at the Getty and they give you pencils and paper and let you work. It's really quite the fun time. Go try it if you live in LA or are visiting there. I believe you might find surprising things about the way you view the world in "drawing room".

I did this one:

This one is a little blurry but I think you can get the feeling of the bunny.

So I will close my weekly update with a lovely thought from Eleanor Roosevelt:

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

TGIF and "WHY I NEED A CELL PHONE"

It’s Friday! Passages are in process. I finished the Picture Window revision. Whoo hoo! Now, the weekend is devoted to submissions.

It was a pretty quiet week. I dragged the bones to critique group and yoga this week. I’m centered in so many ways now.

So here’s some fun stuff again from my daughter. One day a few years back, before my daughter had a cell phone, the following PowerPoint presentation showed up in my inbox. This is kind of long but I remember laughing so hard I fell out of my chair. Enjoy!


WHY I NEED A CELL PHONE!!!!!



























So my daughter did wrangle a cell phone from me with this powerful presentation. I did not understand text messaging at the time, but it became very clear when I got that first $300 phone bill. We've lost a phone since I caved to creative cell phone persuasion. We have oodles of fun over in the wilds of Washington.

One last stream of consciousness note: Hey, people , I need a good book to read. Any recommendations?

Stuff I Did Not Know

I thought camels had a tank of water up in that hump and that's why they could live in the desert. Camel humps are made of fat. Camels can live in the desert because they efficiently handle fluids. Who told me camels had a tank of water in their humps? Here's more. I did not know that penguins live at the equator. I am sorry that I'm so ignorant. The universe is conspiring to rectify that situation, because I'm still writing passages. I did 9 this week. I have no current assignment, but 12 ought to show up on Monday.

On the writing front an odd egg has wobbled a little bit. I was very surprised about that.

I sent out my first round of queries for my new novel – flat out photocopy rejection, one mild revision letter.

We lost the car keys again. Where did we find them this time? Under the wet/dry vac on the carport. Ah, the first place I should have looked; at least, that what my teenaged son tells me.

On encouragement, I've been thinking about Anne Morrow Lindbergh. I went and pulled out my copy of Bring Me a Unicorn. I had forgotten how she could turn a phrase and how she infused her personality on a page.

On that note here is a nice quote from Anne:

The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach - waiting for a gift from the sea.