There is everything.

Namaste, 

O and om. 

Responding to Flying Dreaming Loving

Dearest Odyssians-

Today we are sharing a wonderful blog by our friend, Mary, from her site, “Walking My Path”. She wrote in response to a blog by another one of our good wordpress friends, Michael (Embracing Forever). She explores how we find meaning, love, value and virtue in a complex world.

Enjoy,

and hugs,

O AND OM.

Mary says: This post is in response to a beautiful post by Michael from Embracing Forever, called Flying Dreaming Loving. Everything in quotes is his. The link takes you to his post. Your writing always astounding…..

TO READ THE REST OF HER BLOG, CLICK THE UNDERLINED LINK BELOW:

Responding to Flying Dreaming Loving

AND BECAUSE THE NEW WORDPRESS SET UP AND ITS TECHNO BIZARRO SNAFU IS KILLING ME, TRY THIS LINK AS ANOTHER, FINAL, GENUINE, WILL WORK OPTION –

https://marybmaulsby.wordpress.com/2016/02/22/responding-to-flying-dreaming-loving/

we’re back :)

& We missed you.

my dearest tiger lamb monkey baby, Odysseus, says hi!

Now all we have to figure out is how to work with the redesign that wordpress has thrown at us so our return to blogging is less painful in the future. Today, we couldn’t reply to waiting comments without signing in multiple times. On the plus side, I was able to follow my own blog since WordPress didn’t recognize us as ourselves. Bonus!!

Then we had trouble uploading Odie’s newest pic that we took this morning.  He’s missed you guys too, and wanted to say hi. Plus, he loves photo shoots with is Momma because he gets lots of treats, grooming and attention. Yayyy. Once we got his pic uploaded, we couldn’t figure out how to write in these paragraphs (you’re seeing now) above and below Odie’s portrait. So he turned on his side and went to sleep, while assuring me that, “Momma could do it on her own.” I did. Odie’s still sleeping, btw.

Good news: we finally got there/here and are happy to be sharing with you.

Boy, have we missed you all!

So we have to ask:

Is anyone else feeling like the new user interface is harder to use??

Please share you thoughts.

** we promise to post more soon.

Hugs and love, always…

O and OM.

Dawn and DNA: New beginnings in November

Dearest Odyssians,

Earth Magic Oracle Tarot by – Steven D. Farmer – See below for your very own card readings :)

‘Tis time for a fresh start!!

We love this tarot card. It says the light of our universe is always dawning, we just need the occasional (gentle) nudge that reminds us to relax and let it in. Each day is a new chance to tidy up the cozy, yet cluttered, space in our earthly minds and make way for more blessings from above – to  absorb all of God’s glorious sunshine.

A reminder like this is especially needed now that the days are getting shorter (for us northern hemisphere folk) and growing colder with winter’s eminent arrival. Brrrrr….. I’m already wearing winter boots, hats, scarves, and onesie jumpsuits over my usual layers, and I’m not even outside. Soon the gloves and balaclavas are coming out of storage and I’ll be praying for the balmy 20 degree F. day like the one we’ve had today.

It’s clear I’m not a winter person. Odie isn’t either. With nary a hair to keep his torpedo-shaped body warm – he too will have to don the winter gear he so hates to wear. Note to everyone: hairless cats like to be naked, at all times. He doesn’t know it yet, and I’m not about to tell him, but in prep for a much colder December I’ve run to the pet store and gotten him a super fuzzy camo hoodie that will look great on him. I’ll do the big reveal when it dips below 15F outside. The final month of 2015 will bring those Temps sooner than later.

Still, I’m more than glad November’s passing fast and December is rumbling our way like an unstoppable freight train carrying ice storms and frostbite with it. About a week ago my November took a swift nose dive to the dark side. Between family (arguing), work (starting it again), and the dreaded agent letters I need to sell my book (not being up to my standards of perfection), things weren’t falling into place like they usually do. I felt miserable. Thankfully, I’m starting to feel like the darkness of this month lifting. I’m happy to be back at work. I’ve resolved the issues on my homefront. I’ve found the courage to work on agent letter revisions.  Even better? November isn’t over yet. This month could close out with a positive check mark next to it after all. A girl can dream.

I confess, holidays always prove to be a time of deep contemplation mixed with whys, what ifs and could haves for me. No other time of year burdens me with such introspective hardships. Let it be known,  I didn’t grow up with the Mansons or that Texan Chainsaw Leatherface bunch, but I still feel my folks and I could get along a hell of a lot better. Wouldn’t it be nice if the group of us could grab hot cocoas with extra whipped cream on top, and snuggle in around the roaring fire to twitter away our hours in deep conversations about how much we love and have missed each other?

Yep.  It would.

But it isn’t going to happen. And I’m the only one who isn’t  lactose-intolerant.

I used to wish it and dream it were true, and then cry about it not being true. Why can’t we all get along splendidly? But…. (I hope) I’ve finally gotten to the age where I’ve resigned myself to be who I am (which my parents don’t always think is quote/unquote ‘awesome’) and I am resigned to love and fully accept my parents for who they are – lovely, interesting/weird, and flawed…. aka, human – just like me.

Acceptance for family can feel like a grand defeat at first, especially in our family. We’re a group that loves to argue while famously choosing our battles wisely – because we like to win them. All of them. It’s made for some ‘heated’ breakfast/lunch/dinner conversations.

Figuring out that family can’t be reasoned with (or changed through discussion and arguing) seemed like a losing prospect until I was able to wrap my mind around the pros and cons of reality.

“It is what it is.” – Life.

Now I’m resigned to drinking cocoa by myself and having Odie tell me how amazing a mom I am. And that’s good enough. My job is to be respectful and safely distant from my folks, while watching those who created me in a passionate evening before a fireplace more than thirty years ago tend to their own wants and needs in old age – no bearskin rugs, no cocoa with whipped cream, no wasting away the hours in loving, sweet nothings about how great we are together as a clan. Also, there aren’t any chainsaws, shotguns or severed heads rolling about the dinner table. I can smile about that.

We aren’t a family in perfect alignment, but we aren’t the Lannisters from G.O.T. either.

That means we’ve never sat down to wrestle ourselves into a cohesive unit, hungry for world dominance, that will take over the rest of empire one generation at a time. I was never gifted the family business or given talks about how to make the most of stock options and my inheritance to preserve our name and dynasty. It also means I’ve never been asked to enter a treaty with an enemy against my will, or go to war with my neighbors over a land grab disguised as some ancient blood feud. Actually I’ve never been asked to do anything against my will for that matter. My folks have let me be and continue to let me be. Now I am learning to do the same for them.

“It is what it isn’t.” – Life, plus experience.

That, in and of itself, is a revelation as bright as any morning sunshine, winter or summer.

Hugs,

♡ o and om

—————-

EARTH ORACLE MAGIC TAROT READINGS

*** This amazing tarot deck is by Steven D. Farmer. To get your own card readings click the links below.

ONE CARD READING:  http://www.earthmagic.net/earth-magic-oracle-card-single-card-reading

THREE CARD READING: http://www.earthmagic.net/3-card-animal-oracle-cards/

Steven Farmer also other decks and readings that may be of interest: http://www.earthmagic.net/free-oracle-card-reading/

Here is his site:  http://www.earthmagic.net

POST UPDATE:

This is the amazing single card reading I pulled directly after posting this blog:

And it’s meaning:

 

DNA – Karma

While the DNA that you inherited from your biological parents has a physical component, it also has a soul pattern that came together in the creation of “you.” You are predisposed to follow the karmic dictates of this patterning to some extent, yet as you evolve in your consciousness, you can make choices that shift and modify this ancestral design This is one of those times. You can feel the tug of your soul that is both ancient and karmic, yet you also recognize the persistent and loving communication from your Higher Self that contradicts the more familiar solutions before you. The choice is up to you.

– Stephen D. Farmer

How’s that for spot on!!

Quotes For Writers: Fearless Fiction Query Letters

Dearest Odyssians,

I am finally getting to the final final final stages of my query letter. And the best part of having spent so long with the letter (no less than 40 versions over 40 days), and with the book itself (a year and a half), is I am actually feeling fearless about submitting to agents.

A special message of hope to any of you writers struggling in the morass of writing a query – The fear that you are feeling shall pass. I promise. Confidence in submission will come in time. Just keep grinding out new versions of the letter until its wording, etc… fits like a fine skin glove onto the soul of your work. You’ll recognize the perfect-match feeling immediately, I promise. So keep working, sentence for sentence, until you are truly satisfied. 

Did you know a GOOD query letter takes around 2 months to write?? I read that info on a great query letter writing website. I personally can attest to this. When I set out, I gave myself a measly 2 weeks to be done. When I started moving into one month territory and my letter was in shambles, I panicked. That panic led to the horrible feeling that I was failing at this writing thing all over again. But I stuck with it….  and now, nearing two months, I am starting to feel like I have this query dragon slayed.

Here’s More amazing news: Your query only needs to be between 250 and 350 words!! Yep. Hard to believe, but that is IT. Anything longer, and you run the risk of losing a prospective agent’s interest. So keep them short, and direct. This can be a struggle as you try to incorporate the unique voice of your novel. But efficiency shows an agent you know your novel well enough to discuss it simply, and that your novel follows the basic plot points needed to sell most books.

That being said, I myself am swimming in the “longer” end of the pool lanes because my book incorporates such a massive twist at the end, it’s almost as if two plots must be covered by the letter. The first plot readers will see is what I’m calling the surface story of the book. The second, hidden plot, you’ll see upon another reading after the reveal is dropped. Hopefully the book is good enough to give it another go!

Think “the usual suspects”, “fight club”, “the sixth sense”  in terms of how powerful the twist is that I’ve added to the tome. I hope it works to that effect. Intentions are not always achieved upon first tries. Edits should help, if so.

Ok everyone. Good night. And sleep well.

And keep working and pushing yourself into those darkest, scariest corners of your writing world. You will find that the monster under the bed (and in your head) has to be small to exist in small spaces. It’s no giant. It’s no bigger than you, and actually was never there at all, once you turn the flashlights on, and take a close look.

Hugs, and fearless writing to all,

O and OM.