Ramblings and Rushes

This past week has been exhilarating, thanks to a constant barrage of storms.  Rain, wind, hail...then a pure, hot beam of sunshine spears out of the sky and raises long, steamy tendrils like wraiths from the ground until moments later the clouds crash together, the wind howls and the next storm roars in. Hour after hour, day after day.

To say I love this would be an understatement.

But, for all of you east of me--which is pretty much the whole of the country--batten down the hatches because these weather tantrums are headed your way like spoiled children who've had way too much Hallowe'en candy.

And, too bad for me. On Monday the temps are to rise into the 90s and stay that way for several days...if not weeks...months...sigh.  I'm just not ready yet for the endless days of nuclear fusion.

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In Wednesday's post I mentioned the weirdness of the Repeating Numbers Phenomenon that I have been experiencing for awhile.  Strangely, once I wrote about it, they've stopped appearing.  I was seeing these repeating numbers almost every day, often more than once.  Now nothing.  Either aliens have cut off their signals, or the Heisenberg effect is in play.

Speaking of Heisenberg.  Many things have been relegated to the nether regions of my brain as either not necessary to keep anymore, or irrelevant data that has no meaning in my adult life.  Still, a few concepts remain front-and-center because they captured my attention, for whatever reason.

Chekhov's Gun.  One of my favorites, a principle learned long ago in a Lit class and never forgotten:

Remove everything that has no relevance to the story. If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off.  

If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there.

Another is Heisenberg's Effect.  Although this is actually a concept more in the world of physics, I studied it in Anthropology, and the same theory applies: In the act of observing something, it's changed by the fact it's being observed. Observation changes reality.

This appears to be true for me.  I observed the weird time repetitions, and now they've changed, or just...disappeared.  I'm okay with that.

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I was working with a story on my writing blog, posted one installment and then decided not to continue.  It just seemed like more of the same paranormal stuff that I've been doing for ages. I think It's time I changed the channel and tried something new, different, not something I've done before.

Maybe that's the reason my mind's been an empty well of late.  Because as soon as I made the decision to strike out into uncharted territory, it was like I left a dark room and walked into a party going full swing.  Seriously.  Names, places, ideas, colors and scents, desert winds and humid jungle raced through my head.  I filled several pages with notes; characters told me their names; exotic places built themselves as I frantically tried to keep up with the flow...

It's an amazing feeling to create a new world.  And oh, how I've missed the rush...