And...I had Saturday off, so I spent a good part of the day finishing Chapter 3 of the book. Like I said before, this chapter is very important to the overall story and I wanted to make sure all the ideas that I brought forth in it were clear. I believe I have succeeded. I am really pleased with the way the chapter came out...and I added something to it that I didn't have in the first two drafts that I'm very excited about.
This has been the basic line of action in Chapter 3: Bradley Lore is led to the House of You where, for the first time, he meets the witch, Starchaser. Starchaser invites him into his home and offers him a cup of tea...a very special cup of tea...a tea that, ultimately restores all the memories from his lost childhood. After an intense trip down memory lane, Bradley is very tired, so the witch shows him to the guest bedroom where our young hero sleeps for the night.
When he awakens the next morning, he is somewhat shocked to learn, from a television broadcast about the oncoming glorious war.
What follows is a long discussion with the witch, Starchaser about the politics behind the war and about how the press is taking liberties with the truth by trying to pass the war off as great spritual quest. Now, I don't know who you pray to or what your religion might be, but I have to believe that, if you have truly found something spiritual and good within yourself that you have to be opposed to war...all war, no matter what the reason is for fighting. There is nothing glorious about a war...ever! Think about it...do some reasearch. I believe this to be true.
Anyway...so the witch then tells young Bradley that he, The Perfect Star, is the one destined to stop the war and they must embark on a noble quest to do so. But first...he'll need a little training in Magick 101...which is what Chapter Four will be about. Originally, I had Chapter 4 as part of Chapter 3, but there were just so many ideas that I wanted to express that I decided to break them up for easier reading...and writing!
So that pretty much was the gist of Chapter 3, that is, until Saturday's rewrite when I added a new element to the mix...the dream within the dream...an idea that I just came up with as I was writing...usually it doesn't happen that way. Usually I think of something for a while and run it around the block in my brain for a couple of days before commiting it to paper. But this time, it just popped out...and that is such a great feeling when it happens that way!
Anyway...again...this new scene starts after Bradley falls asleep in the guest room and before he wakes up the next morning. The dream starts with him flying through the night sky with Starchaser at his side...fireworks are going off everywhere in the background. Bradley's heart is dancing on a cloud...full of joy and excitement...then all goes dark and the boy finds himself falling throught the darkness in sheer terror. He lands in a black ocean where he grabs ahold of a log and washes upon a dark shore. He spies a grove of trees and enters into them. Suddenly, he finds himself in the middle of a battlefield with gunfire shooting off everywhere. He drops to the ground and covers himself and cries.
He then wakes up.
I dunno...this probably doesn't make any sense, but I thought it was really cool to stick this here. It's like our first glimpse of the absolute horror that will be the glorious war. At this point in the story, Bradley really doesn't know anything about the war expect that Snibblick had mentioned it very quickly in passing so the dream kinda hints that young Bradley possesses certain psychic abilities, as we all do. I think that what I want for this dream sequence to be is the merging of the Bradley that is, the one that we have known up to this point...and the Bradley that will be...the young witch stumbling to, eventually, learn the many ways of the craft.
When I finished with this chapter, I had such a good feeling running through my soul. It's hard to describe this feeling, but, trust me, it is way better than any feeling you can get after sex! Okay...so some of you maybe saying that perhaps I just never had really good sex...this may be true as well. But I can't imagine anything feeling better than the feeling you get after creating something that, while definitely a part of your physical being, branches out way beyond yourself. It's like making an ultimate connection with the spiritual world and realizing that hey...it's all gonna be okay...no matter what happens in mundane life, it's all gonna be all right.
And it will be.
And this is what I have to believe as I watch my friends go in and out of surgery. A couple of weeks ago, as I have said, Michael had back surgery and I'm pleased to report that he is doing very well. This week, my friend Robert is going in for surgery and I'm sure this will turn out for the best also. Robert has a very strong spirit and I'm sure that life won't throw anything at him that he can't handle. The power of the sprit is truly enormous. Never underestimate it!
1 comment:
My surgery was canceled, folks.
My PaO2 (oxygen) on my ABG (arterial blood gas) was too low for them to dare put me to sleep for surgery. They were afraid they would (A) lose me or (B) I'd be on a ventilator.
Mind you, after hearing that this could cause blood clots, heart attack, stroke, full body system shut down, loss of limb, etc., and that they wanted to have a total of five different tubes in me over two days in ICU, my feelings certainly were not hurt when they said they were canceling, let me tell you!
It's ok. We already know it's not cancer or TB, there's some yeast, but there's the "other thing" that is probably "this" but we don't really know. It could be "that," but it's most likely "this," etc.
That's why they wanted the surgery - a complicated biopsy in which they were going to intentionally collapse one of my lungs to work on it.
Something I was not looking forward to at all.
So, the plan of action that I elected for was to treat it as if we are 100% sure, give me the required pills, and let's see if I get any better at all.
"Better" would be being able to walk from the front door to the car while wearing my oxygen, without gasping for breath. Walking (slowly) through Walmart, while wearing my oxygen, without gasping, and not having to use those blasted electric carts.
It is not expected by anyone that I will actually get off of oxygen, at this point. It is fully expected, short of a real miracle, that I will remain on it 24/7 for the rest of my life, and I'm ok with that now. Not something that is thrilling, but I've learned slowly to adjust.
I had a very bad feeling about that surgery anyway, and told the surgeon that I did not think my body was going to like what he was going to do to it at all.
He off handedly said most people do ok with it. I countered "You don't know how fast my oxygen drops!"
Apparently, I was right.
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