Sometimes letting go of the past or accepting what came before can prove to be a difficult thing.

Before email and facebook we were left with just memories of past friends and loves. Now, good or bad - logging in to your facebook or opening your email could bring you face-to-face with recollections you might either embrace or would have preferred to keep hidden in the recesses of your mind.

As a writer, I often ask questions. One question I recently asked both friends and family was, "if you had the chance to go back to high school and college, would you? Would you do things different?"

My immediate response was "YES!"

But my husband was just as strong in his "NO!"

My reasoning was that I would have not listened to the naysayers and I would have pursued my love of writing waaaayyy  sooner that I did. I wouldn't have written just for myself and then thrown away all those manuscripts without a second look. (Yes, I did throw out quite a few...oy)

But, my husband looks at the question from a completely different way saying, "every choice we've made, every relationship we've shared (good or bad) shapes us into who we are at any given time."

Would we have met and fell in love if we'd both chosen different paths? Would we have moved to California for seven wonderfully warm years? Who's to say.

As a writer constantly drawn to ways to give my characters traits and lives that people can relate to, his idea makes perfect sense and I've spent a lot of time contemplating just this theory.

Along the line of thought that choices we've made shape who we are today - what about the paths we've taken in a past life (if you're into that sort of thing - which I am  )  Could fears, hope and dreams of a past life correlate with the person we are today? I know I have a very unnatural fear of railroad tracks, I will drive MILES out of way to avoid driving over them. Is that just a crazy phobia on my part - or is there something deep down in my soul that screams out in fear when those railroad tracks come into view forcing me to take a detour?

Lucky for me the month of March finds my local RWA writing group hosting a workshop on Past Life Regression as a tool to creating memorable characters! The best part is you don't have to belong to RWA or Dunes & Dreams Romance Writers to take the workshop. (And you can take the workshop in your pajamas (woot!) since it's an online workshop given in our forum. You can come and go at your leisure giving yourself plenty of time to reflect on your past.

*****PERMISSION TO FORWARD GRANTED AND ENCOURAGED *****

Dunes & Dreams RWA Chapter 215 (from Eastern Long Island) present their March 2010 Online Workshop.

http://www.dunesanddreams.org/writing-workshops

Cost: $10 D&D members, $25 all others. Payable in US funds only.

March 1 through March 29: Past Life Regression for the Writer’s Soul: A New Approach to Character Creation with Dawna Richard

Blurb: Have you ever had the feeling that you have been to a certain place or time or experienced reoccurring dreams? Have you had a lifelong phobia that you have no explanation for? This could be an indication that you have lived before. Whether you are interested in exploring the possibility of a past life or you are just looking for that next story idea, this class is for you. Learn a little about yourself and unleash a plethora of new ideas along the way. Through past life regression/self meditation techniques, you will have the chance to explore the workings of your mind and gain the tools to uncover a story and characters waiting to be written.

Bio: Dawna Richard is a founder and lead investigator of California Paranormal Research and Enlightenment. She has more than 15 years’ experience with reading Tarot, past life regression, and paranormal research.

She lives in sunny California with her husband, son, and three dogs. When she’s not working or investigating haunted locals, you can find her pursuing her goal of becoming a published author under the name Kylie Dawn.

DATE: March 1 – March 29

Registration deadline is February 28th.

PLACE: Dunes & Dreams RWA FORUM (Not a yahoo loop)

Registrants will receive a login password to the workshop forum several days before the workshop begins to allow ample time to become familiar with the forum or to notify the coordinators if you have trouble logging in.

COST: $10 Dunes & Dreams RWA Members/ $25 all others (US funds only – paypal or checks)

 
CANCELLATION AND REFUND POLICY: No registration fees will be refunded. All payments for a workshop must be received by the registration cut off date. Payments received after the cut-off date can be applied to a future workshop of the
applicant's choosing.
 
If a workshop is canceled due to unforeseen circumstances, such as instructor inability to teach class, registration fees will be applied to a future workshop of the applicant's choosing.
 
Hope to see you in class!

Registration form and more information:

 http://www.dunesanddreams.org/writing-workshops or

email the coordinators at workshops.ddrwa@gmail.com

Make it a Saucy Weekend, give someone you love an extra hug, don't be afraid to speak your mind and do one thing you didn't plan on!

Current Mood: Esctatic

Have you ever seen the demonstration with the glass jar filled with rocks, pebbles and sand?

The idea is your day is represented by that empty glass jar.

First in, the rocks, the most important obligations - your family, your job, etc.

The jar looks pretty full, but you can still dump in some pebbles that find the crevices. The pebbles are the lesser obligations, maybe some appointments like hair or nails? Maybe it's shlepping the kids to lessons and scouts?

Now the jar looks packed tight, and then some sand gets poured in - again finding places to settle. Because you know there's more to your day that just major obligations and being the taxi. The sand is helping with homework, talking to your friends and family, catching up on emails, etc.

Now the jar is completely full isn't it? Wait. A glass of water is added and it fills the jar.

What is the water? Is it the time you veg out in front of the TV? Is it the moments completely to yourself you THOUGHT you couldn't make time for?

The idea is we all have to juggle the rocks, the pebbles and the sand - but even that little bit of water can still fill in those empty spots, find a home in your day. And you know what? You can't leave it out. For that jar to be filled to the brim, you need to have those YOU moments. Even if it's just five minutes with your favorite drink, the time alone in the car to and from one of the "rocks or pebbles" in your jar - you need to recharge those batteries.

We have a saying in our house (to be fair, it's the hub who says it) "If Mom isn't happy, the whole house isn't happy."  He's right. Even though I don't have much to do with the financial stability of the family - I'm the spiritual one, the emotional glue. If I'm frazzled, the whole house is out of whack. (If you've read my blog before you know this does not mean I am organized...me organized? hahahahaha)

How do you find the balance, the time for yourself to recharge? We're all different and have varying methods of reducing the stress levels of our lives. For me,  I know that writing even that one page gets me closer to my next contract. Releasing my words to the page is my therapy - my emotional glue. I get up earlier than everyone else to give myself those quiet moments to get the words on paper. At night, it's that cup of tea and anything chocolate (and lately, followed up with tums chaser, but I digress.)

It's what I do.  How do you sneak in those "you" moments? 

Here it is, Fiction Friday again and I've been toying with the idea of whether or not to post about this show all week.

Why?

Because it bugs me, and I'll probably get lots of disgruntled comments about how closed-minded I really am - and for a woman who writes romance (and sometimes erotic romance) do I want that rep?

Let me start by saying this is nothing against Jenna Elfman - I like the actress, I think she's very talented.  I just hate the premise of this show and think it's a waste of her talents. (And the fact that Grant Show isn't featured enough - but I digress...)

I assure you I am not closed-minded and I am the first one to agree that normal is state of mind and not one to be foisted upon people by society, religion or government. BUT, have we sunk so low as a society that the whole premise of this show could be considered a feel-good comedy?

In case you haven't seen this "gem," the premise is older woman picks up much younger guy in bar, goes back to his flea-bag apartment to have unprotected sex. Which results in her becoming pregnant. Now she's shacking up with "the baby-daddy" as he's referred to in the show and still dating guys her own age - while forging some weird live-in relationship with the younger guy.

Unless the humor is about our society being morally bankrupt, then yeah, I get THAT.

Unfortunately, my household is contributing to the ratings on this loser because of its time slot (which actually fits the name of the show - "accidentally on purpose") because if it wasn't sandwiched between two winners like "How I met your mother" and "two and half men" - I'm sure it would have been cancelled by now. So, my hat is off to the time-slot execs at CBS for earning your money with that smooth move.

I guess this conservative girl does take heart in the fact that Jenna's character didn't go the obvious and just have an abortion - in that respect she did do the morally upstanding thing. The rest of the show? Not so much.

Other men buying cribs for her baby. Her friends trying to hook her sister with a "gay-guy" to fix her image (oh, yeah, that was a great storyline!)

My problem is my teenage boys watch tv with us on Monday night for the comedy - is this the message I want to send my impressionable, hormone driven 16 and 18 yr old boys? Most nights we try to switch over to another channel for that 30 minutes - but if I leave the room to do something else and forget, my kids end up watching something I don't think belongs on prime-time. Unprotected sex, unwanted baby and living with one man while dating another is not exactly the humorous message I want to send to my kids in prime-time.

Okay, let me have it. It's fiction. It's a sitcom. Lighten up Frances... yeah I know. Sometimes I just can't help who I am and how I was raised.

And now back to your regularly scheduled programs...

 P.S. If I do watch, it's for Grant Show!

The very lovely and uber talented Gina Ardito bestowed this award upon me yesterday, I'm flattered!

This award originated from The Scholastic Scribe, whose father suggested she sign up for the High School Journalism Program because she wasn’t strong in math.

And as anyone who's been in the blogosphere more than a week knows, the award comes with a few rules. (1) I must confess to 10 things you might not know about me and (2) I must pass this award on to a few other lucky recipients.  Got it?  Let's go...

1. I HATE coconut (unless it's in a pina colada!)

2. I sing alone in my car, cause I can't carry a tune and am sick of people asking me not to sing.

3. I am NOT to be trusted with tools. The hub has had to lock up anything that holds tools in our house - give me a screwdriver (or heaven forbid, a hammer) and trouble and destruction are not far behind.

4. I'm a girly-girl. Give me anything purple and I'll love it.

5. I have a thing for bags and I'm not talking pocketbooks - I'm mean tote bags! If you're trying to sell me something, if it comes with a tote bag - I'll probably buy it.

6. I want to be a vegetarian - but I live with a family of meat lovers who have remained steadfast in their desire to NOT give up meat.

7. I am not good with directions, I refuse to listen to my GPS (because she's wrong ) and often find myself lost - even close to home.

8. When I lived in San Diego I hardly ever stopped for red lights. Not because I never hit a red light, but because I usually forgot to look for them. Where I'm from traffic lights hang across the intersections - they are NOT on the side of the road - on a pole. So in my defense, I didn't mean to run all those lights - it just happened. (I also went the wrong way on a one way street and ended up on rail road tracks - but that's another story for another day!)

9. My husband will NOT get in the car if I'm driving (neither will my parents after one particularly harrowing ride in San Diego, but again, a story for another day.) I'll assume the reason they won't drive with me is #8 and #9 and leave it at that.

10.  I'm always cold. I wear my flannel pjs all year long, I wear a sweatshirt to the beach to the summer. If it's under 90, I'm probably wearing a sweater.

Probably a lot more than you really wanted to know, but there it is folks. Just a few of the quirky things that make me, me. So now it's time for me to pass along this illustrious award on to a new blogging home. My victims are a few of my fellow Passionate Critters:  Jennifer Shirk, Penny Dune, and R.M. Gilbert.

Have fun girls!

Current Mood: Mischievous

I'll admit one of the best things about being a writer is the ability to give in to those hermit tendancies I often try to stuff deep down for the sake of the family who expects me to actually leave the house.

Today is NOT one of those days!

The kids are off from school, the hubster is off on a business trip for the next few days and the weather outside is slushy, rainy and cold - the perfect kind of day to stay home, watch movies, scrapbook with my daughter and get my butt kicked by my sons in the latest mmrpg (massive multi-player role playing game - I think  ) I thought my writing acronyms were hard to keep straight - the ones the boys toss at me make my eyes rolls back in confusion.

So, yes, today I will be the romance writer of your imagination - I will of course be garbed in my flannel pajamas, robe and fuzzy pink slippers.  I'll drink gallons of coffee and chocolate wrappers we be scattered across my desk! (Honestly, this is not what I do everyday - really, LOL)

Enjoy your day, I know I'll enjoy mine!

Current Mood: Cool

Since chocolate and Valentine's Day go hand-in-hand, here's an easy treat to tempt your sweetheart with today (or tonight!)

Truffle Treats

1 Package (8 oz.) Baker's semi-sweet baking chocolate squares

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 tub (8 oz.) cool whip extra creamy whipped topping, thawed

Toppings: chopped nuts, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, sprinkles, grated chocolate, etc...

_____

MICROWAVE chocolate in bowl on high 3 minutes or until chocolate is almost melted, stirring halfway through heating time. Stir until chocolate is completely melted.  MIX in peanut butter until smooth. COOL to room temperature. GENTLY stir in whipped topping. Refrigerate 1 hour.

ROLL mixture into 1-inch balls. COAT with desired toppings.

Makes 35-40 truffles.

Variation: Use 8 squares Premium White Baking Chocolate instead of Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate.

Recipe courtesy of the "Celebrate with Cool Whip" cookbook.

Current Mood: Playful

Fictional romance, just like real-life romance, comes in every shape and size.  Through novels and movies our imaginations, hope and dreams have all played out and tugged at the old heartstrings. From the ill-fated romance to twists of fate - what draws you the most?

Are you at the edge of your seat rooting for the romance that will have a tragic ending like Romeo and Juliet or Tristan and Isolde?

How about wiping away the tears as lovers look past what the rest of the world sees in the stories like Beauty and the Beast or Pretty Woman?

Love and adventure more your speed? All the Indiana Jones Movies or Star Wars.

Destined to find love? I'm thinking Affair to Remember or Somewhere in Time.

So many different moods, so many different timeless love affairs to warm your heart.

What's your favorite? For me, the ill-fated doesn't give me the warm-fuzzies. I am ALL ABOUT the happy ending in my romance and nothing leaves me colder than a love-story ending in death (sorry to all you Romeo and Juliet fans!)

I'm a sucker for destiny and fate anyday.

No matter what your preference, love is in the air this weekend - so enjoy it with the one you love!