"Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work." -- Mark Twain

Thank You My Friends

Years ago I read this saying: “What is the question for which my life is the answer.” I believe it’s translated from Hebrew and has its founding in Hassidism, but I could be wrong. I wasn’t able to confirm that and only did a quick search. What’s important is that this question has stayed with me over time and I refer back to it every time I find myself at a crossroads.

Not surprisingly, this happened today. Yesterday, I got word from the literary agent I want to represent me that she is reading my book and having another agent in her office read it as well for a second opinion. I took this as good news. I also informed her that now may be the ideal time to market my book given a host of serendipitous circumstances. She thought that was great news. As you may or may not know, the publishing industry is in a state of flux. It’s shrinking and changing given the advances of technology and the shift away from physical paper books. So a new writer, trying to publish a book through a major house is pretty much the needle in the haystack scenario. Very difficult. Rarely happens. So as you can imagine, this tiny shred of good news filled me with immense joy. Crying joy. Begging and pleading with God joy to please allow this to happen. Allow my book to be published.

Then as I signed online, today, my daily quote was as follows. “When you discover your mission, you will feel its demand. It will fill you with enthusiasm and a burning desire to get to work on it.” -- W. Clement Stone

What is the question for which my life is the answer? I think this is it. I do wake up every day with enthusiasm and a burning desire to get to work on my books, making new friends and checking in with old friends. The journey I began last August with A SEAL in Uniform and continue with SEAL Master and Navy SEALs: Catch One continues to fill me excitement and determination. And because I began this journey from a place of passion with the mind set to enhance my life, I believe it to be genuine and correct.

And now I am here. Writing romance, talking about love, excitement and sex. Juicy sex actually that I have to tone down in fact, but it has given me a place from where to launch and a place to connect because after all we’re all human. We all want the same things. To love and be loved. To be sated and satisfied. To mean something. To matter.

And now I do. And you do too. In less than the past year, I have signed on to Facebook, Twitter and Blogger. I took on the name reddywriting, the very first email address I ever had, as my brand and announced to the world that I can be found @reddywriting.com, @reddywriting/Twitter, @aol, @gmail and @yahoo, though the latter I rarely use. And now I have new friends. Most of them virtual though no less real. I reconnected with old friends on Facebook, made new friends on Twitter, and share my thoughts via this blog as regularly as time permits. I chat, instant message and text. Being online has become a necessity and my phone nearly a permanent appendage to my body. But most importantly through this process I have become more human and a better me because of it.

The point of this rambling is to say thank you. Thank you to everyone I have met in the past year. Each of you brings a new dimension to my life and I am very grateful for that. I welcome you to share your lives with me as well whenever the mood strikes or you wonder “what is the question for which my life is the answer? “

Three Things In Life

Three things in life that, once gone, never come back:
1. Time
2. Words
3. Opportunity

Three things in life that can destroy a person:
1. Anger
2. Pride
3. Inability to forgive

Three things in life that you should never lose:
1. Hope
2. Peace
3. Honesty

Three things in life that are most valuable:
1. Love
2. Family & Friends
3. Kindness

Three things in life that are never certain:
1. Fortune
2. Success
3. Dreams

Three things that make a person:
1. Commitment
2. Honesty
3. Hard work

My First Twine-Up

I've been into Twitter big time for about six months now. So much so I have heard complaints that maybe I spend too much time there. I defend myself by offering that others watch hours of mindless TV and at least I'm interacting with people, but it seems the jury is still out on whether or not I could be more productive with my time. Regardless, I've learned a lot about interpersonal communication and netiquette or the lack there of. And on Twitter I really have met a very interesting and ecclectic cross section of people around the country and even the world. Meeting new people and making new friends are areas in my life that I had cordoned off for some reason and decidedly missed. I vowed for 2009 to change that and here, finally, is proof.

I attended my first Twitter event. It was a wine tasting hosted by Matt Horbund @mmwine at a fabulous restaurant called Himmarshee on Las Olas in Fort Lauderdale. Pictured are my husband Alan, me aka @reddywriting on Twitter and my friends Freda and Carol. I c0nnected with a dozen people I speak with regularly and had a really fun time. I look forward to the next one and count myself very fortunate to have made new friends live and in the flesh despite the fact that we began virtually.

The Thrill of Accomplishment

I love meeting deadlines - It forces me to focus and make touch decisions. I totally get the sex high soldiers get after battle.

"There are no mistakes. The events we bring upon ourselves, no matter how unpleasant, are necessary in order to learn what we need to learn; whatever steps we take, they're necessary to reach the places we've chosen to go." -- Richard Bach

All this success advice about not being fearful is silly. I'm not afraid! It just takes time to build the network and connections needed to succeed.

What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?

My Hero

"Out of every 100 men, 10 should not be here, 80 are nothing but targets, 9 are the real fighters and we are lucky to have them for they the battle make. Ah, but the ONE, ONE of them is a WARRIOR, and he will bring the others back." ~ Heraclitus 500 BC

The Alligator in the Shadow

Last night or rather this morning, I dreamt that a woman was eaten by an alligator. I watched the whole thing and was powerless to help. While the dream woke me and scared me, it wasn’t like other nightmares I have had. I think it was supposed to be prophetic.

Here’s what happened. I was at an event. A women’s event. There was a presentation; a woman speaker. She was the equivalent of a female Navy SEAL but since there are none, she was called something else. Her presentation was enjoyable; funny and inspiring. There was jewelry; lots of sparkly dangly earrings on display. The bathroom was behind a makeshift office/studio. There was only one. There was a group of women who were involved in the event. A clique. They were nice enough. I was making new acquaintances. Alan and Corey were there, but since it was my gig, Alan took the lead on Corey so I didn’t have to worry, which of course I did anyway, but less than if I were the only one in charge. After the event, I went to the bathroom, but the line was too long, so I decided not to wait. Alan was getting impatient, constantly asking me to leave. I don’t know why I couldn’t leave. I kept feeling tugged in two directions.

Then I found myself outside at night, in the dark, on a fairly well lit street. The women were jogging, in a group. I was with them. They weren’t running fast. All were fit and wearing cute athletic clothing. The street was a dead end and one of the women lived in the last house on the block. It was a nice corner lot with lots of land. The dead end was blocked off by a guard rail. It seemed safe enough. The weird thing was the grass was dead or at least uncared for. There wasn’t a lot of landscaping either, but the house itself was nice; simple but nice. Inside the door I could see the floor was linoleum and littered with kid toys. It was very white. Not a lot of furniture, but not lacking either. I figured she must have been a stay at home mom. In fact, most of them were.

In front of the house there was a sidewalk, the street, more grass and than a canal. Across the canal were more homes; another neighborhood. Because I wasn’t part of this group, I wasn’t my normal chatty self. I was more introspective and observant. I was studying them, sort of. After the run, we gathered in the street in front of this woman’s house and said our goodbyes. I was apprehensive. I didn’t like the look of the canal or the dark, desolate feel to the end of this street, It just felt ominous.

Before I could say or do anything, one of the nice perky women who was still talking and saying her good byes, jogged over to the canal and looked in before she lept across it. At one spot she saw the dark shadow of an alligator and stopped herself from jumping in. She said something like, “Oh, there’s an alligator, I almost jumped in the wrong spot.” Then she just moved over 10 feet ran and jumped across. She missed the other side, of course, as she had countless times, landed in the water with a big splash and started to climb her way out over the bank. The alligator she saw didn’t move, but a larger one she didn’t see did. It swam underwater directly toward her. She was talking about it, saying, “Oh it’s an alligator” and then became panicked when it struck. There was a big splash and a scream, then lots of screams. The alligator pulled her underwater in a death roll and when she came up for air she screamed again. She must have screamed 6 or 8 times. I kept looking for blood, but I was too far away. All I saw was the dark shadow and splashing. I was transfixed. Glued to the spot. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. No one seemed to do anything. Yes, all along, I knew what had happened was going to happen, but I was helpless to stop it and yet it seemed like this was an everyday hazardous occurrence to those around me.

When the screaming stopped, I was a confused, shaking mess. Everyone around me seemed to start moving again. Husbands were called, children located and yet no one called the authorities. No one ran from the alligators. It was as if they just accepted that this happened and moved on.

Afterwards I found a cell phone and called Alan. I could barely talk, I was so shaken. Somehow I managed to get to the mall where Alan and Corey were. I was relieved to see them. I desperately wanted to cry, feel or do something, but I couldn’t. I was numb. Then I realized it was a dream. I forced myself awake and just lay there trying to figure it out.

"Live your life as an Exclamation, not an Explanation." -- Source unknown