For the two people who still read my blog, y’all know I write books. Ostensibly I write both fiction and non-fiction, but the fact of the matter is that for me, writing fiction is right on par with having my fingernails pulled out, a la Syriana (only without George Clooney.) I’m trying now to negotiate with a ghost writer who’ll pen the body of work, based on my outline; then I’ll go back in and mess it up in my own special way.
My latest project is a book on how to do crystal readings. I took a neutral approach to the subject, interviewed people who do crystal readings and got their take on the process. In my opinion, readings of this kind play on psychology. Unlike Tarot, which depends on random cards, crystal readings involve someone consciously selecting stones. I believe color, texture, and other physical details reflect state of mind and subconscious details of a subject’s world, and consider the interpretations largely an exercise in applied logic. Specific stones have specific meanings, some relating to metaphysical claims, others less so.
What struck me today was the section I edited yesterday, which coincided with weird things in my life.
There are a few “magic” stones in this context. I called them serendipity stones. One example I described as a taskmaster that throws a boulder in the middle of your path and won’t let you get around it; but when you finally stop to look at what’s there, the boulder’s a diamond.
I’ve had a few of those moments lately.
Case in point: I won an Amazon gift card at work a couple of months ago, out of the blue. I hadn’t spent it, and was debating how to use it. Finally, on a whim, a couple of days ago I ordered a 43 inch smart TV, one of the cheapie Roku TVs from TCL. We’re talking about a $300 device. I figured between the gift card and the fact that the spousal unit will sell our current 32″ set, we’d end up actually paying maybe $130-ish out of pocket and have a modest upgrade from our old Dynex 720p. Hubby and I had agreed to the 43 inch size due to our miniscule living quarters. This is the TV I ordered, and was totally jazzed we could finally afford it:
Purty, ain’t it?
Just as I was leaving work today, Amazon sent me their dutiful text notification that my smart TV had been delivered.
Yay! New TV!!
So when I got home, the spousal unit and his buddy were sitting out on the back porch. (Don’t hate me because it’s in the 70’s daytime here right now.) And I cracked about how hubby was probably mad at me. The spousal unit snapped back about how crazy I’d been to order a 55 inch TV when we didn’t have room for it. Never mind the cost difference.
Whaaaaat..?
Record scratch moment.
Not only was the delivered TV a 55 inch, it’s a 4K Samsung UHD smart TV, retail nearly a thousand bucks. It’s bigger than our living room. This is what Amazon sent:
Also purty. And ginormous, all kinds of too big for our space. We aren’t sending it back – we’d literally end up losing a lot of money that way, and the law and Amazon say we can keep it. We got charged for the $300 unit. If we were in the house we’d absolutely hang onto it. As it is, the tentative plan is to sell it, pay off the credit card bill and sock back any additional proceeds, then try again to order the cheapie TV.
I’m not complaining, exactly, because we’re obviously ahead of the game. But I wanted to watch my bigger-little TV tonight, dammit.
Hey, just grab an extension cord and watch that Drive In sized screen OUT ON YOUR FUCKING PORCH IN YOUR FUCKING 70 DEGREE WEATHER that I’m not jealous of at all. At all.
You know, I had no idea that writing fiction was your personal waterboard. You’re so good at it! But I guess when we don’t see how the sausage is being made, we have no idea of the gruesome details. I hope the ghostwriter tactic works out for you.
🙂
Hubby’s offering it up for sale for $700 or thereabouts, which is around $250 off full retail. If he doesn’t get what he’s asking, we’re gonna keep it, ginormous or not. We used to have a 55 inch TV. I loved it, hubby hated it.
It’s slightly different this time because his best buddy is salivating at the TV, so now it’s become a status symbol, too. Our current living quarters are just a sidestep away from being a true “tiny house”, or pretty sure the buddy factor would result in our keeping it. We’d have to do some serious rearranging to get a stand big enough to hold the thing, but I know my mercenary half. He’d find a certified antique sideboard at a yard sale for $20 and we’d fit it in somehow.
As to the ghostwriter, it’s way past my budget to hire a pro, but I’m not opposed to hiring someone mediocre-to-awful to sling a basic storyline together. It would still be work for me to fix a bad narrative, but easier than the alternative. I scratched out some 70K words on a book, and part of it’s reasonably good. But the rest stinks to high heaven and I don’t have the heart or the stomach to fix it. I’ve got two other projects about 20K words in, each, that I’d like to get done, but it’s such a painful process – and the non-fiction is more profitable.
I’m partnering up with an award-winning writer for my next non-fic project. We’ll see where it goes.
Hooray for life’s little gifts 😉
I have never seen crystals as a vehicle for gleaning information but rather as pieces of the Earth we can hold that channel energy. I say this as an initiated witch and someone who has been reading Tarot for almost 40 years. I won’t get into the other versions of divination that have been a part of my life but you get the idea. Now they may work as the vehicle for readings for some people, to each their own, but it would take a lot to convince me. I would be interested to read your book and learn what some people have been doing. My rocks will remain what they are but learning is the life adventure isn’t it?
There are a lot of people out there who do crystal readings, but the only consistency has been that there’s not a consistent process. I do think there are intuitive and metaphysical aspects to any reading process, but those things can’t be taught. The book focuses on the mechanics of how to do readings. I compared the method to Tarot reading, though there are obviously some differences.
I’m a rockhound, in a literal sense. Started collecting rocks as a kid. Luckily I initiated my spousal unit into the addiction, so on our weekly-ish excursions, he’s also keeping an eye out for unusual pieces.
When I took the print proof to work to skim over it, I got a lot of positive comments, people picking it up. One girl would sneak it and read every time i stepped away from my desk, lol. I hope that’s a good sign.
I expect Poolie had something to do with this mix-up. It sounds just like something she would do…..Hope you get the big-a** tv sold quickly. (shouldn’t be a problem). What a great surprise.
I was thinking the EXACT same thing, Terri. I could swear it had Poolie’s fingerprints all over it, lol. I can’t figure out how a ghost would swap TVs, but if she could, she’d probably think it was hilarious.
You? Are good. Even when you don’t realize it. 💖 And I agree, this has Poolie’s stamp all over it.
Thanks Anne. I’m tired, more than anything, lately. If/when I retire maybe I can return to my fiction roots.