All posts by marilyn jaye lewis

writer, editor, publisher, thinker -- all-around joyful gal!

Whacked-out April

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I’m referring to the month of April being seriously whacky; not to some unknown woman named April who might be whacked-out of her mind somewhere…

Like everyone everywhere, I began the month of April on April 1st — a really lovely spring morning around here. By 8:30 that morning, though, a cable TV repair van ran a red light in the intersection in front of the library that led him directly into the driver’s side of my faithful 19-year-old Camry.

He totaled it.

I prefer to dwell on the fact that I walked away from the crash relatively unscathed, with only a few hours in the ER and 4 and a half days in bed, and will finally get a new car, which I needed anyway.

However, it has not been a fun month. And the release of SomethingDark Issue 3, out of Bristol, England, this month, brought another disturbing thing. While I’m the North American Editor for SomethingDark, this issue is a little late in being released and with its release came the news that writer/colleague/friend/radio host and person I edited in Issue 3, Michael Hemmingson, is dead.

I’m of the opinion that he’s not really dead but is living under an assumed identity with his daughter in some foreign land (i.e., Japan). However, if I must accept that he is really dead, I think he died under seriously questionable circumstances. He “died of a heart attack” in Tijuana, where he coincidentally  had lots of drug cartel enemies…

The whole thing was really disturbing news for me, making me wonder where the heck time flies to because Hemmingson has been dead for over two years already and no one told me! However, the issue of SomethingDark is truly worth waiting for, so check it out at the link above. And if you were long ago scheduled to be in Issue 4, the Japan issue, you will be hearing from me directly!

While researching cars online, trying to figure out what I will end up driving one day really soon (more than likely another Camry, even though I was planning on buying a Jeep Commander when I moved back to New York, but now that the move is indefinitely on hold…). Anyway, I came across this fantastic magazine ad from 1967. My father bought this very same car in 1967 — in red!! The lady in the insane hat did not come with the car, nevertheless, it was a seriously COOL car!! I was in the second grade when he bought the red Wildcat and I was astonished the afternoon he drove it up our driveway in Cleveland. Wow. It had a black leather interior. I had almost forgotten all about it!

Buick Wildcat 1967
Buick Wildcat 1967

So I wanted to share that fun news with you, rather than all the other not fun stuff that’s been going on around here.

Other good news… The producer in L.A. loved my Tea Cozy Murder Club: A Murder at Parsons Ridge TV movie script. He only wants some very minor revisions, which I’m working on today. Then we shall see!

Meanwhile, as I await the check from the insurance company, I’m planting flowers in my garden and trying to get this property back to what it once was three and a half years ago…before it was scheduled to be demolished.

Hope things have been just as good wherever YOU are! Thanks for visiting, folks. Here’s hoping May is a little easier. I’ll keep you posted. See ya!

zwriter

 

 

 

 

Okay! Progress getting made

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Since tomorrow is April 1st, it looks like it’s only been about 2 MONTHS since I last posted anything here (but what a fine and lively post it was! I hope you all listened to that wonderfully fun song! I am still listening to it in my car.) (Not exclusively — I listen to quite a panoply of Frank Sinatra tunes from the 40s & 50s while driving in my 19 (!!!) year-old car…)

Okay.  Many updates occurred while I was absent from the blog.  Some of them traumatizing — for instance, any and all developers and private real estate investors suddenly and without warning dropped all interest in commercializing my specific block on my street here in Gahanna.

This means that after keeping me in limbo for 3 and 1/2 years, telling me they were tearing my house down and re-zoning my block for commercial use, and hence my reasonably-foreseeable-future plans of moving back to New York — all of it came to a grinding halt.

It has something to do with City Hall, taxes, other residents, unhappy voters.  So now I am basically working around the clock to afford all the many, many repairs this poor house needs to make it livable again.

I know that the absolute minute I get it back to being the sweet little dream house it once was, they will knock on my door yet again and tell me they are tearing it down. But you know what? We’ll just have to see what we see. I can’t live in limbo anymore with a house falling down around my ears.

So.

The one-woman musical I’m working on with the actress in New York is basically done. Yay!! I think the premiere will be in Toronto, though, not New York City. I will keep you posted about that. It has something to do with funding from the Canadian Arts Council. But I can tell you, with complete certainty, that it is a GREAT show!! I am so thrilled to be a part of it.

Now she and I have 3 more plays/musicals to write together. I’m guessing that will keep me busy for a huge number of years. (The actress has been working on the above-mentioned one-woman show for maybe 7 years already. Writing, re-writing, workshopping it, performing it — it won an award in Canada already. Then I came on board to help significantly re-write it about 2-3 years ago. These things really do take forever.)

I have also finished writing my TV movie script for The Tea Cozy Murder Club!! It goes off to the producer in L.A. on Friday. He is excited to read it and I am super-duper excited to send it to him! This is an idea I have been developing for about 4 or 5 years. Now, I need to start writing the novels that go along with the TV movies (there is, at the very least, a series of 4.)

The mystery book series I’m writing with my illustrator friend in Brooklyn is still moving forward (The Miracle Cats and the Case of the Purloined Passport). We had to put it on hold, though, momentarily, until I completed the script for my other project because the producer’s assistant emailed me and asked if I was planning to wait on sending it until after the producer retired….

Anyway, so I finally had to stop juggling everything at once, and write one thing at a time. But now we are back to The Miracle Cats. Here’s the latest illustration. It is “Sister Thomasina”:

"Sister THomasina" aka known as Tommy Cakes!
“Sister Thomasina” aka known as Tommy Cakes!

I am also researching and putting notes together for a one-man play I want to write. I will go over more of those details as it goes along. But I’m very excited about it. It is somewhat connected to my ministry, but I won’t say more than that, lest I send you off on a complete tangent that would be wholly inaccurate.

Now that I’m done with school and staring down several years’ worth of paying off student loans… I am now learning Ancient Greek, and re-learning Biblical Hebrew (which I studied as a child, so a lot of that comes back to me). Anyway, learning them both at once is not really so daunting as it might seem because they have similarities. Sort of. Plus, I am strictly doing it on my own time and at my own pace, so it is really invigorating and fun.

I doubt I will ever learn enough Ancient Greek or live long enough to translate the Septuagint on my own, but we can dream, can’t we??? I’m already planning to write my own version of The Jefferson Bible (my minster at church refers to my plans as The Lewis Bible and it may well be that!). And I fully, fully intend to do this and maybe even publish it online! We shall see…

So, that’s it. That’s it. That’s where I’ve been. It is completely, 100% thoroughly safe to say that I am exhausted.  But that’s how it goes sometimes.

Right now, it’s a wonderfully rainy spring morning. The birds are singing outside my window and the many, many cats who live here are planted at the screen door, looking out at the beautiful, wet, singing world. I hope it’s just as peaceful and promising where you’re at today, gang. Thanks for visiting! See ya down the road.

rain

 

 

 

 

Back to normal around here

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That drawing above was done by my girlfriend in Brooklyn — the one who is collaborating with me on the cozy murder mystery that features my cats. (Bunny, above, is one of the cats in the book, although she is also an actual cat — see posts below.)

My girlfriend drew the picture last night in solidarity with me over Bunny’s recovery. So beautiful.

On that front, it is safe to say that Bunny has, indeed, recovered! Last night, she was ornery, stubborn, and opinionated. In other words, back to her old self! She refused to come up to bed with me and listen to her 528 Hz. tones, and was insistent on sleeping in the living room, down under the coffee table, thank you very much. I was very pleased with the development…

Now all I need is for MYSELF to get back to normal — no, not ornery, stubborn, and opinionated; it would take an Act of God to stop me from being ornery, stubborn, and opinionated! What I need to do is get my energy back and my clarity back and my overall vitality back after Bunny’s brush with death, so that I can get back to my writing projects/deadlines and produce more than, say, one paragraph a day… Plus, the actress in New York City (you remember her, gang, right? We are still working on her one-woman show) — she popped in yesterday via text and asked if I was “ready for more pages”???

I’m always ready for more pages… I wouldn’t be back to normal if I didn’t have 2, 3, or 4 projects needing 100% of my attention at once.

I’m still waiting to hear back from the new developers about buying my property — which would then lead to my finally moving back to New York (and getting a ticket to see Hamilton post haste!! It kills me that I am not there, seeing shows, gosh dang it!) Writing is the only way to take my mind off of not being there. Although, keeping my thoughts centered on being there, I believe helps pull the experience to me.

Ah well, so back at it around here, gang. Thanks for visiting. Have a terrific, action-packed, super colossal (and perhaps snowy) Saturday, wherever you are!! See ya.

Bunny by Val
Bunny by Val

All right, gang, you decide!

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Well, gang, for 10 straight days, this was basically my precious Bunny after her stroke. She would barely eat anything and would rarely move from the living room couch unless I helped her.

Bunny on the couch
Bunny on the couch

After 3 1/2 days of playing her the 528 Hz tone (see post below) for a total of 2 hours a day, she seemed to be noticeably responding, and then bright and early this morning, she was up and about and hanging out in the kitchen with all the other cool cats, wanting some breakfast! And she has been alert and hanging out under the coffee table all day. She has not once gotten back up on the couch to sleep.

Remarkable, no? I am so happy. She has lost a lot of weight, but she is alert and talkative and her appetite has completely returned. Yay!

Bunny under the coffee table
Bunny under the coffee table

All right, on that happy note…to all my East Coast friends, enjoy that massive snow day!! Stay cozy! See ya!

Solfeggio Frequencies to the rescue!

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I was really starting to lose hope regarding Bunny’s ever being back to normal again (see post below about Bunny’s stroke). For a week, she was lingering in this sort of not-good/not-bad state of mostly sleeping and barely eating and beginning to fade away.

I, myself, have been listening to the Solfeggio frequencies every day, for 15 minutes a day, for the last 4 months, and now I swear by them. They helped raise my mental vibration in order to eliminate depression, sustain creativity, improve health, awareness, happiness. So this past Monday, out of despair over Bunny’s condition, I was suddenly inspired to try them on Bunny, as well.

I played the 528 Hz. tones for her for 15 minutes, three times during the day on Monday, then for an hour Monday night. Then Tuesday morning, there was a hint of improvement in Bunny. Not much. I was likely the only one who could see it, so I was willing to accept I might be delusional. But I kept playing the tones for her yesterday, for a total of 2 hours and then, during the night last night, a REMARKABLE and unmistakable improvement in her.

She jumped down from the bed by herself. Went up and down the stairs by herself. Got up onto the couch by herself. Her appetite has significantly improved. She’s drinking more water. She is very alert and, even though she is still sleeping a lot, her “Bunny” personality has returned. When I look into her eyes now, “she” is in there!

So I will continue with the tones and continue to feel completely blessed.

And just FYI, the healthy cats — of which there are many around here — get unbelievably playful and frisky when the tones are playing down in the living room.  They dash all over the place, playing with each other. It’s undeniable, really. When the tones stop, everyone goes back to normal.

I really recommend it.  Especially if you battle depression, or need creative clarity.

Okay, now to try my hand at some writing! Lord knows, I have plenty of deadlines to attend to around here on this snowy day.  Thanks for visiting, gang! See ya.

frisky

 

 

Vigil for Bunny

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Oddly, the day after David Bowie died (see post below in the event you’ve been living in a media-free cave all week), my beloved cat, Bunny, had a stroke.

She is not getting any better or worse, which isn’t saying much of anything, unfortunately. But she can hear, see, eat, drink, use her litter box. She just walks really, really slowly and sleeps 99.9% of the time.  She can get up and down from the couch okay, but not my bed. I have to help her up and down from that. So sad, this process of letting go. She has been with me 14 years now.

I am still not completely over losing her brother, Buster, to pancreatic cancer two years ago. I am just not ready to lose Bunny now, too. But, obviously, if she is contemplating departing this realm, we have to allow whatever is best for her. Maybe being with Buster again holds more of an appeal to her these days. Who really knows?

I am still under 2 writing deadlines, so it’s been a rough week.

Here is Bunny a few weeks ago, just after the Christmas tree went up.

Bunny at Christmas
Bunny at Christmas

All right, gang. Have a good Sunday, wherever you are.

A most wonderful time of the year

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Yes, I am under several deadlines at once! Yes, I am sitting at my desk, writing (sort of). Yes, my mind is wandering!! I have no idea what is coming next in this plot so, like any dedicated writer, I get online and start surfing the web, killing precious time…

If you, too, are killing time, waiting for inspiration to manifest, here are some things to look at/listen to! Free of charge!

Last Christmas, I received my degree in Pastoral Ministry. Here’s the song I celebrated with! Followed by…

…the song the choir sang when I took my first Holy Communion as an ordained minister:

And here’s the song I chose for when I was ordained, even though I was ordained in July, and this is an Easter hymn that is oddly very popular here in the USA at Christmastime (the dull organ intro takes about 60 seconds before the hymn begins but it is well worth the wait!):

Enjoy the start of the season, gang! I suppose I will get back to the typewriter now (ha ha)… See ya!

 

I must regale you!

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I’m still not clear about how to keep you updated on one of my really fun new ebook projects, since I will be writing it under a pen name that I haven’t chosen yet, but the illustrator will be using her real name… I must ponder that; how to keep you informed without giving everything away. (Methinks it might be too late.)

But in the meantime, I wanted to regale you with some of her sample drawings for the ebook series. (These will be a series of mysteries, where my cats solve the mysteries unbeknownst to the humans around them. The humans think these solved mysteries are ‘miracles’.  The first book in the series is titled The Miracle Cats and the Case of the Purloined Passport.) (But you didn’t hear about it here, because someone under a pen name is writing it…)

Okay, here is Beck, also known as the Right Reverend Daddy O. Cakes:

The Right Reverend Daddy O. Cakes
The Right Reverend Daddy O. Cakes

And here is one of the tabby twins, Sister Frannie McPhee:

Sister Frannie McPhee
Sister Frannie McPhee

(I forgot to mention that all these cats are also secretly in the clergy and live in a mostly abandoned church in an old church graveyard…)

Don’t you think she’s doing an awesome job? These illustrations  actually look just like my cats.

Well, I for one, cannot WAIT to see how this book turns out!! On that note, I must get crackin’ around here and do some more writing. (I’m also halfway through a teleplay/screenplay project for The Tea Cozy Murder Club: A Murder at Parson’s Ridge. I have to keep switching between them. Sometimes it’s hard to keep the two stories straight since they are both mysteries with old ladies and cats in them.) (Luckily, the musical I am working on with Sandra Caldwell in NYC has no murders, no mysteries, no old ladies, and no cats in it. It’s a lot easier to keep that one straight.)

Okay!! So have a great day out there, gang, wherever you are and whatever you’re getting yourselves up to. Thanks for visiting. See ya!