Sarah in Secret Legacy is hiding all kinds of things in her spooky dreams (from family, from her friends and enemies, and from herself most of all). Just like we all lose important parts of every day to our subconscious, and those parts start dancing around in the worlds we paint after we go to sleep. The thing with Sarah Temple is that her dreams tend to become reality, and she’s losing control of them (or maybe she was never in control in the first place, since a secret government unit of mad scientists has buried sleeper programming in her mind to manipulate her psychic abilities into a direct strike weapon). So, you know, not know what’s going on inside her sleeping (and maybe even waking) mind tends to make things dicey.
Yeah, scenerios like that are what’s monopolized my mind for the few weeks I’ve been away. Plus, there was the holiday travel and catch up and the the prep for the next holiday. Craziness–and I have the pictures to prove it, so look for those throughout the week. But I’ve also been hard at story work, and dream work. So Secret Legacy’s coming along nicely. And I’m in the groove and daily writing toward my first “rough” draft THE END. Which means things are going to pick up out here.
It’s amazing the things that happen in our dreams when we are minds are turned on and firing at full speed ahead. Like Sarah, my dreams are swirling. And like my Temple Twins, my dreams give me visions of what’s going on under the surface that my “awareness” becomes during the day. Yours, too, right about now, I suspect. Because this time of year we’re all running on empty and pushing to do more and trying to stretch shorter and shorter days to get the most time out of them we can. Which means there’s less energy to process everything that’s happening, and so our sleeping minds pick up the slack.
Our dreams store memory and experiences, but they also process the reactions to those experiences that maybe we can’t deal with as much as we need to because of all the busy, busy goings on we’re stumbling through each day. Which means, in my honest opinion, that what we find hidden in our dreams can often be the most important pieces of who we are–the things we should focus on with the most energy and time, not the least. Our dream shadows are the key things our minds don’t want to release, until we deal with them. For Sarah Temple, the shadows are where she’ll find her future, if she can master the hurdles she’ll have to face in order to truly reach them. For you and I, dream visions are often a second chance to see what we’ve missed in our race to just get through the day.
We have to be careful–dream symbols, as I’ve mentioned so many times, aren’t to be taken literally. Someone in the comments mentioned a creepy dream about losing all her teeth. Shudder, for folks like me with Dentist phobias ;o) Except, not really. ”Teeth” dreams typically symbolize transition, and more specifically growth in sexual maturity or desire… Now that doesn’t seem so bad, does it, even if the dream itself might be a bit a freaky at first…
So pay close attention during this busy holiday, family, work, creative time. See your dreams. Keep a dream journal by your bed and record what you remember as soon as you wake. Take a closer look at what you’re missing as you race through your day. Take a minute to see where your mind’s focusing its non-waking time (typically at least a third of every 24 hrs, even when we’re all sleep deprived ;o). There’s good stuff there…
For me, there’s a story there. I’ll share more of Secret Legacy soon, including a new version of the opening scene I excerpted so long ago, to give my friends a gander at what changes in a scene and what doesn’t as the story shifts around it ;o).
Come on back for fun pics and updates and maybe even a prize surprise or two… Here’s some glimpses of the amazing store windows in New York City this year–I got to play in the city a bit over Thanksgiving ;o) Talk about a dream come true. I’ll post more window pics, walking around the city pics, Rockefeller Center pics, and museum pics (amazing statues and Buddha and more) soon!
But for now, here’s what the department store windows look like in NYC this year (the glare of the city is reflected in a lot of the shots, which I think is totally appropriate and a kinda cool effect ;o)
Santa and Ms. Clause
Batman and Robin mixed it up!
There were vintage scenes…
and Jazzy scenes…
and windows where you could ask, “Mirror Mirror On The Wall…”
Check back tomorrow to see more windows, talk more dreams, and find out who’s the fariest of them all!
Tags: creativity & inspiration
welcome Anna. What amazing window scenes-would love to be able to see them one day. I bet you had a wonderful time in NY.
Do come back with that excerpt.