So what did I do instead of write? I stitched. I have been writing nearly every day for a year and a half. But I once enjoyed other crafts before the…
My Pod People Went on Vacation this Weekend.
How is it that a sunset can cancel out the horrors of having your trees broken in yet another bizarre storm?
I’m talking about my expanding world of developing characters, and if I’m honest, it feels closer to being invaded by a litter of 99 Dalmatian puppies frolicking and vying for a standout place in my stories than impregnation by horrific alien parasite beasts.
If you’ve been following this thread of musings, you know I’m fond of expounding on how my burgeoning characters mysteriously began showing up only a few short years ago when I inexplicably began writing fiction, which led me to conclude they must have been seeded by aliens who conspire to use the human race to produce their entertainment.
But what I’m really talking about here are all the short story submission opportunities that seem to be due almost on top of each other. Do they all get together and plan it this way? Every magazine or competition I’m interested in has a deadline in February, pretty much all at once. But that just means my little podlings are popping out right and left from the deep recesses of my mind. I’m good with that. I hope the stories never stop coming, the characters never stop developing, and I always have too much to write. That is my idea of a good life. And that is what I’m looking forward to in 2023.
I’ll let you know around April if I survive the first quarter.
Now, if I could just get to that point where I didn’t have to spend forty hours of every week working for someone besides my Pod People… oh, what I could do with that time…
Happy Writing in 2023!
But my amazing and dedicated spouse is outside rescuing our trees from dense snowfall so full of water we keep hearing the echoing cracks of tree branches all over the neighborhood as they give way.
He spent two hours shoveling snow off the roof this afternoon and keeps stomping around tonight muttering words of doom. But that’s not a whole lot different than every other new year since we have lived in a high desert valley at 5,000 feet below a 9,000 foot mountain peak. I just had to have the bright idea to marry my sweetheart at midnight on 1 – 1 – 91, not giving one thought to a future where we live in a place that makes celebrating wedded bliss in winter difficult. So, it wouldn’t be ringing in the New Year without listening to the beloved grumbling, then tucking the stressed out grumbler into bed by 8:30, so I can stay up and maybe catch my sister on Facetime at midnight.
I love you honey! Here’s to 32 amazing years. And retirement will be in a place where there is no snow to shovel… I promise.
P.S. I’m having a hard time writing this coherently because despite it all, he never misses an opportunity to crack open a bottle of champaign. So, when I say, “I wish I could say WE were kicked back drinking champaign,” it means ME. He’s shoveling more snow and worrying about our giant elm crashing down on us. I hear him coming back inside. Yep… that’s him now calling our tree service… sounds like they’re having a busy night.
I’m raising my glass to all! Here’s to a fabulous new year full of exciting times and ordinary moments we can cherish!
First off, I live in a state where these are legal to own. My husband is a blade expert. And he’s the best story collaborator any writer could have. …
Now tell me…Whose Husbands Give Them a Badass Knife for Story Inspiration? Mine Does…
Once I realized the “real world” was largely in my head, it became infinitely easier to interact with the reality of others.
Musings
Check out our conversation and meet this sci-fi author who gives us more on his insights.
So much of my focus and efforts go into creating my characters (aka my Pod People) and bringing them to life through the written word, that I lose sight of the fact that once they are out there, they might live in the world of mankind forever… or as long as mankind exists, and the digital content or printed copies stay intact and available… But I, as their creator, don’t even have the potential to last too many more decades, maybe not even too many more years… weeks, or days…? I’m at that age after all.
It makes me wonder if that is why I create them.
What do you think about that? Do you write stories so that a piece of yourself will always exist, so long as there are humans out there who might read them? I know we write for many reasons, but I think I will have to admit this is one of mine.
When I think about that idea more, it makes me realize my Pod People have the upper hand. I mistakingly believed it was me who had the power over them, but it’s the other way around. That’s okay, so long as they do their job and stick in the minds of my readers.
And they have their work cut out for them…
Since I’ve been reading, watching and writing stories in the fantasy genre, I’ve enjoyed a common theme. No politics. Sure, there are good versus evil forces trying to whack each other into oblivion. Even The Umbrella Acadamy now has the Sparrow Acadamy to battle for their place in the world, as if going back in time and saving it wasn’t enough. But there’s an honesty to good versus evil in our entertainment that our current real world lacks, like the stout-hearted Hobbit facing the fiery maw of Mount Doom in the land Mordor. I kind of hope it won’t take us thousands of years to find our Frodo.
It used to be the other way around.
I used to think politics were reasonable. You had two sides of an issue. Your representatives debated the two sides using logic, conviction and maybe even passion. Granted some issues would be controversial and the debates would get heated, but reason would prevail in the end. You could feel good about living in a world like that, put entertainment and it’s battles in their place, freely enjoying the question of Alien versus Predator because when you inevitably didn’t get a definitive answer and the threat still waited around the corner for the hapless protagonist, you could walk out of the theater, and return to a world that made sense.
Now, it’s the real world where all the lines are blurred beyond recognition. People are walking around in utter confusion about who is bad and who is good, and there’s no one left to shine the light on reason. Lies become truth that’s wielded in the guise of helping the masses, when it’s all designed to further one man’s ambitions. A mere human who has the ridiculous notion he can take it all with him. Where? Is there a spacecraft waiting to transport him and his gold to a planet containing the fountain of youth? Will his minions follow him there, so he has someone to fire every other second? Well, at least they will believe him if he says it’s so.
My pod people don’t care about any of that. They’re too busy fighting battles they can understand even if the enemy is a mystery, because it’s me who gets to orchestrate the fates of my pod people. I can set them on a clear course that, when it’s achieved, will leave the sensible ones standing and the evil ones pounded to dust. Maybe my pod people will find love and friendship along the way, a fellowship of supporters who can pick a clear side and stick by it, confident they’re all in it together and have each others’ backs.
You can find my brand of entertaining chaos on My Books page for a nice escape from the blurry lines of reason.
Viewpoints all mine and my pod peoples’…
By D. L. Lewellyn 