Tuesday, January 22, 2008

The MoonQuest Oracle?

Wednesday, January 15 ~ Albuquerque, New Mexico

I'm sitting at my computer, staring at a blank screen.

I know it says in The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write that writer's block is a myth, but it's time to send out a new issue of my inspirational newsletter and I have no idea what to write.

Yet, I know today's the day.

As I look around my office for inspiration, my eyes light on a copy of my novel, The MoonQuest, and I remember two of the book's reader reviews, one each on Amazon and GoodReads.

In both instances, the readers had been using The MoonQuest as an oracle or divination tool, opening the book at random when they needed guidance or reassurance.

Could it work for me?

I pick up the book, which falls open to page 168. As my eyes scan down the page, they stop abruptly at this: "Their time had come to an end. Yours is beginning."

It's what O'ric tells Toshar after Toshar has had a vision of the slaying of loved ones from his past, and it seems an oddly harsh theme for a newsletter. My eyes continues to scan but keep returning to those ten words.

Suddenly, I'm cold, and I realize it's not a chill in the room, because I'm only cold when rereading those two sentences. It's a truth shiver -- what we called "chicken skin" when I lived in Hawaii -- and it's telling me to trust what I'm reading.

With a certain skepticism, I copy the words onto my screen. Before I know it, my fingers are dancing across the keyboard and The Year of Living Wondrously, an article on letting go of the past, begins to take shape...effortlessly.

As I complete the piece, I'm reminded that the words are always there, waiting for me to notice them. I wrote that in The Voice of the Muse, but it's something I too often forget.

It's a timely reminder this week as I prepare, after a lengthy absence and with some trepidation, to return to work on The MoonQuest's sequel -- a book that has long baffled me.

The words are are always there, and so is the story. All I have to do is listen for it and let it out. All I have to do is forget any difficulties from the past and trust that each new beginning will carry me forward, in perfection and ease.

3 comments:

motherwort said...

Inspirational, as always, especially as I prepare to spend the weekend writing, blog and short stories. As for bibliomancy, it has a long tradition. Nearly every time I buy a book I open i up and read a passage and if it speaks, I buy it. I don't always get "chicken skin"(what my Greek grandmother termed a goose walking over my grave), but I do know if I'm ready for it. Thank you for the words of wisdom and may the Force be with you on The MoonQuest sequel. A lot of us are waiting to hear more from Toshar and his friends.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Sue.

I've certainly practiced bibliomancy with others' books, but had never thought of doing with one of my own!

As for Toshar & Friends, I've got good news and bad. The good news is that The StarQuest is largely about Toshar's daughter, Q'nta. The bad news is that Toshar is largely absent....at least as things stand now.

We'll both have to stand by to see how it all plays out!

motherwort said...

So I'm thumbing through books trying to find my next read and I pick-up a book on fairy tales by Marie-Lousie von Franz, the great and provocative Jungian therapist/explainer:

"If, out of mental laziness, you simply sit back and hope that the spirit of unconscious will maneuver you through all the difficulties of your life, then it will play you tricks. But if you make your utmost effort to face life on your own with great courage, but find that you can't, that you are up against a wall and it's beyond your capacities, then, generally, these helpful gifts emerge from the unconscious."

Something to keep in mind.

And I'm sure I'll love the new book and the new characters. You'll find the heart of them and in them and so will we.