Back in business

Hi, kids! Thanks for all your kind congrats about the Macavity. I did not win the Anthony--Laura Lippman, a very fine writer, did--but It Was an Honor to Be Nominated. Well, hey, it was! The convention in Manhattan, Ks. was really fun, and the best part was getting to chatter for hours with Diane on our drives to and fro.

I hope y'all had a lovely weekend, with plenty of slacker time.

For the next month, you will probably get no substance from me. I not only have a lot of traveling to do, but I'm digging in DEEP into my book and a short story that's due soon. (At least I finally got an idea for it.) At first I thought maybe I'll just close down the blog for a few weeks, but I don't really want to do that, and I'd miss you guys. So I decided not to disappear--except for the weekends when I'm gone. I'm just not going to to try to write any posts that say much more than "Hi. See you in the comments." I figure the real blessing of doing this blog is visiting with you guys in the comments, anyway.

So I hope you'll put up with stupid posts for a while!

Oh, and see you in the comments. :)

On the road again

I'm picking up mystery writer Diane Mott Davidson at the airport today and driving her to The Little Apple--Manhattan, Kansas--where she will be the Guest of Honor at the 4th Annual Great Manhattan Mystery Conclave. I wish I were seeing you guys there! I'll be back in time to post on Monday.


I hope you have a delightful weekend around the blog village and beyond. Don't forget to read a good book--like Cybermancy by Kelly McCullough.

The Virgin of Pizza

That funny pink masterpiece above is a "dessert pizza" inspired by something my heroine and her friends ate in my last novel, The Virgin of Small Plains. It was created by Robyn Knox for a bookclub meeting at High Crimes mystery bookstore in Boulder, Colorado.

The ingredients:

Crust - sugar cookie dough

Tomato Sauce - red colored cream cheese frosting

Pepperonis - rolled out Starburst candies

Tomato Slices - raspberry jellied fruit slices

Black Olives - black jelly bean slices

Green Olives - green jelly bean slices

Anchovies - Swedish gummy fish

Green Pepper Slices - green colored sugar cookie doughCheese - grated white chocolate

Red Pepper Flakes - crushed red hots

Thank you, Robyn!

Bit o' blog business to announce here:

I'll be in Manhattan, Ks. this weekend, in Wichita, Ks. the next weekend, and in New England the weekend after that. Sooo, I'll be closing up shop for a few days now and then until this traveling is over.

But we're definitely open for business today, so I'll meet you in the comments for coffee, tea, and whatever else is on your menu today.

Dreams, 2

As you know, now and then I love to talk about dreams and the unconscious, at least partly because of their mysterious relationship to creativity. I've started keeping track of my dreams again, as I do rather formally now and then, and I use the techniques in this post.

For the theologically inclined, there's a nice little book called Dreams: A Way to Listen to God, written by the late Episcopal priest and Jungian, Morton Kelsey. Even for the non-theologically-inclined, I think his advice is basic and accurate:

From his section called, "How to Interpret Dreams":

1. The cardinal rule for those who wish to understand their dreams is to write them down.

If you don't write it down within five minutes of awakening, you'll probably forget it. According to Kelsey, the dream laboratory of the US Navy in San Diego did research that indicated that 95% of dreams are forgotten after five minutes if not told or written down.

2. Take your dreams seriously.

Kelsey says, "If you seriously believe that a power lives in the realm of the unconscious that wants to speak to you, then you will begin to give serious attention to your dreams and they will begin to speak to you."

3. Pay attention to images.

He says, "It is important to familiarize ourselves with our inner images. The dream brings us into contact with problems in our unconscious that need to be explained and worked out."

4. Make associations.

Kelsey: "Pay attention to the associations you have with particular dream contents. I once had a very short dream, much like a vision. I saw a pink peach pit. Now what could a pink peach pit mean for me? I associate peaches with the state of Georgia. The memory touched a sore spot in my unconscious, and it became clear that I had repressed a certain problem because I shied away from a situation that had taken place in that state."

5. Pay attention to repetitions.

Kelsey: "When a dream repeats itself, it is usually important. It is as if a friend is poking us in the ribs advising us to pay better attention this time."

6. Listen to the dream as if it were a play or a movie.

"The dream can be regarded as a play with various actors representing different parts of ourselves. When we see a play, we usually do not need another person to go along and explain it. We see the beginning, we follow the situation, and the development of the action, and we usually understand the solution or conclusion. We can follow the action of a long dream in the same manner. Most dreams appear to be enacted on the stage of our soul to teach us something." Kelsey suggests that when they're not easy to understand, telling them to a friend who knows us well may help. " Note from Nan: It would have to be a VERY honest friend. :)

7. Learn to understand archetypal symbols. "(They) appear in the dreams of almost all people and carry a universal meaning in addition to a personal one."

Book Launch Party!

His last novel, WebMage, earned a starred review from Publisher's Weekly. They said, "this is the kind of title that could inspire an army of rabid fans; it's a good thing a sequel is planned for 2007. " And here it is! I am proud to present the new novel from our very own blog buddy, Kelly McCullough. We know him as a tea-drinking, hard-working writer and blogger. But to a growing legion of fans, Kelly is the incredibly inventive creator of a whole new world. As Publisher's Weekly also said, it's a "delightfully skewed and fully formed world—much like our own, but with magic, paranormally advanced technology and Greek gods. . .McCullough handles his plot with unfailing invention, orchestrating a mixture of humor, philosophy and programming insights that give new meaning to terms as commonplace as "spell checker" and esoteric as "programming in hex." Booklist called it fast-paced and action-packed: "McCullough has done an excellent job of weaving myth, magic, IT jargon, and the English language into a bang-up story."

And now here's the new one, just out this week, and sure to receive an equally glowing reception from critics and fans!

And speaking of a reception, Kelly will drop in and out all day to answer your questions and pass the champagne!


Kelly's books are available at DreamHaven (signed copies available) and Amazon.

The Valley of Elah

For today, just a movie recommendation: "The Valley of Elah" starring Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, Susan Sarandon, and a couple of real Iraqi War vets who do an amazing job. I suspect this movie will be a litmus test: hate the war, love this movie; love the war, hate this movie.

I didn't see "Crash," the previous movie by Paul Haggis, the director of this one, but I know that for everybody who admired it, there were others who criticized it for making ham-handed social commentary. Some viewers may think this one does that, too, but it wasn't ham-handed to me, it was moving and powerful. I can't think of the last time I sat at the end of a movie with tears leaking uncontrollably from my eyes.

I hope you'll see it, too.

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