Thursday, October 25, 2007

Heigh ho!


Yesterday was such fun. I loved coming back here again and again and finding more and more clever ideas and even some complete scenes! I found it very inspiring, and so lively that it kept me revved up all afternoon while I wrote. When I did write, I had those shivery and amazing kinds of synchronicities, one after another, that seem to say, "You're on the right track."

During lunch at a restaurant, I was writing a scene on a napkin when a child behind me, out of the blue, began singing, "Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way." I couldn't believe it, because those words were the exact right punch line for the scene I was writing! I crossed out what I had written down not two minutes earlier, and wrote in those lyrics, instead.

Then I went to the library to work on the same scene which happens to have Santa's reindeer in it. Before I started writing, I opened an email and before my wondering eyes was a message from a friend with these lines: "Heigh ho, and off they go, pawing the ground, snorting." Those words popped out at me like an in-joke from the writing gods. I had not said a single word to her about my story. I have read and reread her email since then and I still can't figure out what those words "really" refer to. I only know that some impulse prompted her to type a phrase that fit Santa's reindeer at the very time I was writing a story--in October-- featuring Santa's reindeer. How does that happen?

Next, after writing a scene about wild dogs, I got up from the desk, glanced at the DVD's on the shelf and the first one I saw had the title, "The Wild Dogs." And that wasn't even the last of the coincidences yesterday.

Something tells me this story is going to turn out just fine. :)

Thank you all VERY much for all of your funny, smart, ingenious, generous ideas!

24 comments:

Nancy P said...

Thank you! (And you, kb, for your late-night tree branch idea!)

I'm off to bed, where I'd just as soon skip the werewolf and vampire dreams. :)

See you in the morning.

I did mention, didn't I, that my maiden name was Wolfe?

Kimberly Frost said...

Morning Nancy,

Wow! You seemed to have a whole gaggle of muses dancing around you yesterday. Exactly what part of Kansas do you live in? I think it's time for a road trip. ;)

And let's just keep going with the wild brainstorming ideas...

Santa + vampires + eggnog + werewolves with shaven crosses + reindeer + mistletoe + a red velvet suit with satin lapels + an Elvis impersonator + Holy Water

{hmmm, I think I'm getting carried away again}

Have a great day everyone!

Kimberly Frost said...

P.S. I didn't know your maiden name was Wolfe. You should TOTALLY be writing shapeshifter stories. What's taken you so long?

GhostFolk.com said...

Writing about shapeshifting is tough, Kimberly. My claws keep messing up the keyboard. Hmmm... Maybe if I hit that "shift" key.

Isn't that the key that replaces the person sitting at the keyboard with another one?

GhostFolk.com said...

P.S. The confusion with muse and moose could spell trouble for a young man in Maine.

katiebird said...

Good morning.

Nancy, Last night's Cathy wasn't me. I was confused at first too. Because my first instinct is to think that all Cathys are me. And that I must have posted something in my sleep or while I wasn't thinking.

I followed her link, but she's just starting her blog and she hasn't filled in her profile. Now that our identities are blending, I'm REALLY curious about her.

Ghostfolk, your shape-shifting shift key would totally work in Kelly's WebMage book.

Cathy C said...

Guilty as charged - I'm the late-night tree branch poster!

I'm Cathy from MA (Nancy, we met at your seminar in CT and shared Roberta's yummy peach pie while watching the Red Sox)

Katiebird, thanks for the nudge to fill in my blog profile, but then I realized my name here linked to a blog I had started some time ago (just testing the waters), but abandoned ( this is my current one - http://catherinecairns.com/blog)

I guess the lesson is we always leave tracks. :o)

The brainstorming was fun!

Larry Kollar said...

Things work like that sometimes, don't they Nancy?

Wolfe... heh, that's pretty good. Ever get the urge to nosh on fresh cattle on full moon nights?

And welcome to Cathy from MA!

katiebird said...

Hi Cathy from MA! It's good to meet you. Yesterday WAS fun, wasn't it.

Morning, FAR & kimberly & Ghostfolk!

AndiF said...

Wah-wah, I had to go travel for work and missed all the fun. :(

(whew, now I can pretend I had a brilliant idea and was just too late for the party.)

Anonymous said...

Strange happenings, Nancy. Lots of arrows pointing the way. I love stuff like that - you MUST be on the right path!

Nancy P said...

You guys are such a hoot!

Kimberly, lol--who knew Kansas could be so inspring? And funny you'd mention Santa + vampires, because in my story he is one. (Don't worry, I'm not killing S.C.) I mean, doesn't it all make sense? Works only at night, wears red to cover the stains, lives forever, etc. I can even explain how he gets in the houses.

Nancy P said...

Cathy, of course that was you! I must have been too bleary-eyed last night to notice--either that or I like confusing our other Cathy who is katiebird. :p

Ghost, that is sooo funny--the SHIFT key!!! Of course.

Far! Why do you think I was married for so long to a cattle rancher, hmmm. ::evil cackle::

Nancy P said...

Hey, andif. Well, of course we take it for granted that if you were here, you'l have a brilliant idea.

All those dogs of yours. Hmmm.

Kimberly Frost said...

Ghost - the shift key - ROFL. You crack me up.

Big wave to everyone as I go back to work. :)

Kelly McCullough said...

Good morning all. Living in groggy city here with my (currently unidentified) tea. It's black and a little bit smoky, but I'm not up to figuring it out the last moment.

I finished my class last night which leaves me with very mixed feelings. I had a great bunch of writers, every one serious about the craft and serious about getting everything they could from the class. A couple of them will be publishing within the next two years if I'm any judge, and all of them have the potential to get there in the next five-eight if they keep working. Most of them hung around to thank me afterward which makes me go all mushy, and means I've probably picked up a couple more mentees. At the same time, getting all that brain space back is a wonderful thing.

Add to that that the promotion binge for Cybermancy ends on Sunday morning and you get a recipe for being able to think straight again.

Wow, total chat-attack there. Must stop typing. (waves)

P.S. Nancy, I pushed the writing questions thing again last night and will probably collect them shortly.

Anonymous said...

Congrats on surviving the class, Kelly, and on the end of the promotion binge. Sounds like your students were very lucky.

Enjoy the brain space and the tea!

Kelly McCullough said...

Wow, groggier than I thought. Not up to figuring it out "at this moment."

Nancy P said...

Hi, Kelly. Congrats on what sounds like a great class. We'll now give you time to de-fog. :)

Nancy P said...

We've had a spam attack on old posts, so I may go back and close some of them. I also went back to not permitting anonymous comments, though I don't think that will solve the spam. With any luck they'll just go away. I really don't want to make you type in those letter things, and I don't want to "moderate" either.

How do you other bloggers handle it when it pops up?

Anonymous said...

It doesn't happen very often on mine, so I just delete it when I see it. I don't want to start the word verification either...

Suddenly I've been getting a ton of spam on my Yahoo Messenger, tho - every morning I have to delete some kind of message.

Wish these folks would put their time to creating something USEFUL!

Happy weekend, everyone!

boran2 said...

Synchronicity! I'm so glad to hear that it all came together for you, Nancy.

Nancy P said...

Happy weekend to you, too, Beth! I'm going to use part of mine to read the excerpt on your blog. I'm really looking forward to it. I want to catch up on far's chapters, too.

Hi, Boran2. And if tomorrow is Saturday, that means a new addition to your painting. I'll be there.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Nancy! I'm flattered. I'm going to spend mine working toward the climax of my current story. Hope you finished your short story and the right monsters died in the most gory yet satisfying manner...

Night!! :-)