Dream Visits

When someone passes away, are they gone from your life? I read about dream visits and began to notice the difference in my dreams.

A normal dream is when the person is just IN the dream. You notice them in the background or they’re part of the crowd.  You don’t interact.

If you have a conversation with them, touch them and talk with them, you’ve had a dream visit, a rare occurrence. They are supposed to be really visiting you. Cool, huh? They are few and far between and if you ever have one, cherish it.

Since I am older, of course I have people in my life that passed on. But at a young age, I lost quite a few people who were close to me…the main one being my dad. Another blow was my best friend seven years ago. Quiet unexpected at her young age.

I had a wonderful dream a few years back…one that sent me on my research. I was on a boat or ship and people were standing at a railing looking out over the sea. I saw someone walk up to the rail. She was very beautiful.  She was wearing a sky blue top with matching pants. Her hair was almost white blonde, shoulder length. I thought I knew her. I said to myself that it could be my best friend, but somewhere in the back of my mind I had my doubts. I was afraid to walk up to her because I was scared she’d disappear before I found out. I wanted the moment to last for as long as possible. Then again, I felt the need to walk up to her and see if it was her. I approached cautiously and she turned and looked at me. It was her. I asked if I could hug her and she said, “Of course”.  I did and then the dream faded as all dreams do.

When I began to write my series, I included a character that had past away. He only exists in the past and the people who travel back in time get to see him. He doesn’t know that he was part of their lives in the present but they are happy just to see him.

I wanted the character to stand for someone we all wished we still had in our lives whether it was a favorite grandmother or someone we lost too soon.

My characters didn’t have to rely on a dream visit to see their loved one. All they had to do is read their special book, fall asleep and they’d be there with him. Back in time.

Wish it could be that easy.

Time Travel

Time travel…

In 1895 H.G. Wells wrote of it in The Time Machine and it still piques our interest more than one hundred years later. The Time Traveler’s Wife is a recent addition to the genre and even became a movie.

Waiting for Dusk slowly grew and changed into a time travel novel in my mind. My original idea included a dream world and reality. As I continued on, I thought, “Why not make this real?”

The first thing I discovered was that time travel needs rules. You definitely need them and have to stick by them. There can be amendments and add-ons but the mainframe has to be set in stone–how the character gets there and how they return.

I don’t want to give away too many spoilers but since my second book is named, Call of the Canyon, I can tell you that Katie goes back to the Grand Canyon in 1927.

Since Waiting for Dusk is a young adult romance novel, time travel becomes an important part of the story. It’s the only way she can get to see the boy she loves.

In the beginning, she doesn’t know she’s time traveling and it becomes one of the major plot points of the book. Katie slowly begins to realize she’s not dreaming and that this world she visits could be real.

Call of the Canyon continues the story of Katie and Drew.  It explores more in depth the affects of time travel on people’s lives. Their biggest worry is not to change history; just be observers. Somehow that doesn’t quite work out. It’s difficult to go somewhere and not interfere, participate or make suggestions. As soon as that happens, history changes.

Questions also arise about age and returning to the same time period over and over again. Will there be multiples of one person? Do people remember you if they met you before? Do you stay the same age? Since my characters return to only one period in time, these questions needed to be addressed.

With the resurgence of the “Doctor Who” BBC television show, time travel is becoming popular again. In my third and final book of the series, Stealing Time, there’s a shout out to the show. Fans, I hope, will chuckle at the subtle reference.

Many people wish they could travel through time. Some would choose the past and others the distant future. Although we realize this could never happen, we can’t help wonder if there’s a slight possibility. And that’s why we read. To escape. To explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before. To go back in time. To see the future. To time travel.

 

Love is All Around Us

When I began to write, I didn’t realize how much love had to do with it. You have to love what you write, love your characters with all their faults and love the genre you write for. Little did I realize, I infused the story with small pieces from my past. Most involved relationships. And love.

Most books contain something about love; it’s hard not to include it. I’m sure there are examples of books without it but I’m not on a quest to find them. But if we looked hard enough in those types of books, we might find the person’s fondness for his spaceship or the tough girl who keeps an old trinket from childhood tucked away in her back pocket.

So here’s a challenge. For the next week, look for the love in people…places…things. By the end of that week, maybe it will become a habit and feel so natural you can’t stop. Then pass that feeling along. What’s the saying? A little love goes a long way. Happy Valentine’s Day.

Age is Just a Number

Age is just a number. How many times have we been told that? What about forty is the new twenty? Or sixty is the new thirty?

I understand no one wants to look old. I don’t either. Too much emphasis is put on age and looks. Too many products are offered to help people look younger. I want to look the best I can for the age I am.

Age is addressed in my Waiting for Dusk series. When you time travel, it makes you think about it. One of my characters is found again in the present. By then, she’s one hundred years old and still feisty! The main character is happy to have her friend in her life, regardless her age. She doesn’t see her as old, just a friend. Age is just a number to her.

I think there needs to be a new outlook on age. Acceptance. I admit I have to think twice how old I am at times. Sometimes I absent-mindlessly take a few years off or when I get it right, I want to say “Really?” But I’d never want to take decades off my age. I want to feel good right where I’m at.

Once you accept that, you realize you can do things, regardless of age. Don’t let it get in your way. Don’t say I’m too young or I have all the time in the world. Resist thinking you’re too old or should’ve done that years ago. There’s an old saying, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” It’s a good motto.

Forget the number. Forget trying to act older or be younger. Accept that today is a good day to get started on whatever you’d like to be…or do…or try. Go for it. Remember, age is just a number.