Seressia Glass: Blog Me

Seressia December 28th, 2005

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream…

This posting is part TMI and part PSA. Read on if you want.

Last night, I had a sleep study done. It was about time. My sleep has been crappy for easily five years, if not more. Constant waking up, sometimes every hour on the hour. Climbing out of bed the next morning just as tired as when I left it. Sitting in the car, meetings, staring at the computer and completely zonking out.

Not the best of situations, let me tell you.

So I went to the Sleep Center at Piedmont Hospital. My room looked like a typical hotel room, and it had one of those Sleep Number beds in it. I wish I had an endorsement for the SN bed, but I don’t. I didn’t get a chance to work the controls. By the time the nurse got finished attaching all the electrodes to me, it was almost 11pm and Good Night, Gracie.

I think it took me half an hour to get to sleep. This despite still being jetlagged from my trip home from California (flight landed at 12:30, I got to bed at 3, woke up for work at 8. ugh.) All those wires, I couldn’t get comfortable. So I thought. It wasn’t long before the nurse woke me up for part two: putting on the CPAP mask. It looked a little something like this:

Oh, I’m going to knock ‘em dead in the bedroom with this one, let me tell you.

Basically this device emits controlled bursts of air that you inhale through your nose, which helps to keep your airway completely open and reduce snoring and mini suffocation attacks that cut off oxygen to the brain. It took a few minutes to match my breathing to the device, simply because it was breathing faster than I was.

I didn’t think I fell asleep at all, but soon enough, the nurse was back, telling me that it was seven AM. Really? Apparently I slept like a rock, even on my back. And yes, I do have moderate sleep apnea. Apparently, I gave good readings, whatever that means. Glad I could oblige. But you know, if it helps me get some much needed restful sleep, I’m all for it. Sound sleep can relieve all manner of ills, high blood pressure, some depression, some memory loss and forgetfulness, and bring on more energy.

Let’s hope so. My writing schedule can use it, believe me.

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Seressia December 25th, 2005

It’s Christmas Day, and I’m sitting in the den of one (two?) of my favorite writing friends, JM Jeffries. Being the single gal that I am, this time of year can bring a whole ‘nother load of stress, and I really just wanted to get away. So on Thursday, I had breakfast in Atlanta, a snack in Phoenix, and dinner in California.

Jackie Hamilton and Miriam Pace make up the writing team of JM Jeffries. They are polar opposites in a number of ways, but they work well together. Sometimes I envy them, the fact that they have each other to bounce ideas off of. Other times I shake my head, because I simply don’t understand how they do it. How in the world do two distinctly different people come together and forge one voice out of two brains? Yet they make it work, again and again, with phenomenal results.

Now, that’s rubbing off on me. Because, while I did trip out to California because I wanted to thaw out, veg out, and pig out, I also wanted to get inspired. JM Jeffries doesn’t have time for writer’s block. I just asked Miriam, and she says they don’t get writer’s block.

(Oh, my eyes are turning green)

What they get is a hiccup in the writing vision, you know that trying to forge two brains into one voice thing. When one of them is stuck, the other can motor along, or start making suggestions and asking questions that gets the other going again.

It’s an amazing process, and makes me realize that all writers need something like that. No, I’m not saying that all writers should immediately go out and grab a writing partner, because let’s face it, writers are inherently solitary creatures. Most of us are doing good to listen to our muses, much less another person. What I am suggesting however, is that you have a critique partner, or at least someone you can talk writing with, bounce ideas off of. It’s amazing how much I discover I know about my characters and my story when I’m attempting to explain them to another person.

These ladies inspire me just by me being in the same room with them. Just reading their works in progress. Just listening to their enthusiam about their projects. I’ve made serious progress on a couple of projects just in the two days that I’ve been here.

Maybe you don’t need a writing partner, but I think we all need a writing friend. That is definitely the gift that keeps on giving, and I’m glad I took this trip out to California, so that I could discover that.

Happy Holidays to you and yours, and brightest blessings for the coming year.

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Seressia December 13th, 2005

Okay, so I got half a page done, but that’s because I had a weird work day, working from home because of landscaper issues that actually became a bigger issue. All I will say about it is this: if your job depends on you showing up at a customer’s house when you say you will so that you can do work and get paid for it, then you should actually show up. Especially if your customer arranges to work from home for the day to meet with you.

But I digress.

Must see Tuesday is FOX. Bones played in the background while I finished some day-job stuff, but I zeroed in when House came on. Most people I know watch this show. Bitter enemies can find common ground by saying four little words: “See House last night?”

If you aren’t watching this show, shame on you.

Oh, and saw Chronicles of Narnia on Saturday. It was exactly what I’d hoped it would be: a wonderful, emotional story that totally took me away for a couple of hours. I could delve into comparisons with Lord of the Rings (CS Lewis and Tolkein were contemporaries) but I won’t. I saw this movie and was able to recapture the childhood wonder of reading the book and seeing the animated movie on TV. Only better.

Matinee money well spent.

(added 2 minutes later)

Oh, and does anyone else think Tilda Swinton is scary? You should see her playing the angel Gabriel in Constantine. That’ll keep you up at night.

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Seressia December 13th, 2005

Wow! I wrote FOUR WHOLE PAGES on Novella X, all during my lunch hour. It’s unbelieveable that the most productive time of my day, novel-writing-wise, is the sixty minutes I spent shoveling leftover spaghetti into my mouth before diving back into storyboards at the day job.

My muse is talking to me again. Thank goodness.

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Seressia December 10th, 2005

Okay, so I suck at NaNoWriMo. I also suck at book in a week, month, two months. I do manage book in a year, so I suppose I should be happy about that.

Speaking of which, I just want to let you know that I’ve added chapters 2 and 3 to the free excerpt for Through the Fire. Hopefully, you will enjoy them. Despite the fact that it takes me forever, and can be emotionally draining, I enjoy exploring my characters psyche and writing about them. I do hope you enjoy reading about them.

Of course, if you enjoy the first three chapters, I hope you’ll enjoy the rest of the story. Through the Fire will be out in March. Yay!

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