I Am So Far Behind Myself I'll Never Catch Up!

What an odd thought, huh?  The visual just doesn't quite compute, but the feeling is nevertheless urgent.  

There I am, my mind whirling on ahead to where I'm supposed to be getting to, where I ought to have been long since, and here I am, huffing and puffing along in my Little Old Gramma Lady self.  

*Laughing*  

What's a woman to do?  

Take it one step at a time, doofus.  

Well yeah, that's all I CAN do.  

Leaping buildings at a single bound is not in my repertoire, but I can maybe stretch these old legs out a bit and take longer strides.

If I put my mind to it.

Oh yeah, there's my mind - clear up there someplace ... 

I'm going to paint myself a great big spiral and hang it over my writing desk, that's what I'm going to do.  Just as a reminder that no I can NOT just skip over to where I want to be.  I have to go around and around these little curls first.  

Sigh.  

I think I liked it better when everything was just a dream.  

HA!

No way!  

This is far too much fun.  

I've got a job to go to for the next four days, so will plod my way through them.  

THEN I'll take another step along my own personal spiral.  

Yep.  

FIBONACCI - USEFUL IN SO MANY WAYS!

I'm snagging a post from one of my other blogs because it seems pertinent to where I'm at right now in the decision-making part of my ever-convoluting brain. 

I read a lot of informative posts on marketing and distribution for books, and it all makes sense to me, especially the parts about the importance of doing the MATH.  

In the process of sifting it around in my head I came to the conclusion that I don't think I'm ready for the big time quite yet.  

It's not that I don't have my dreams, and it's not that I don't believe that dreams become reality - because, at least for me, there have been too many dreams that ended up happening for me to doubt that possibility.  

And so I've let the idea of marketing percolate around in my brain here, right?  

Now, as it percolates around in there, it touches on any number of other bits of things that are also constantly percolating around in there.  

Like magnets, or maybe Velcro, bits connect and stick; sometimes seemingly unrelated bits end up stuck together.  

So as I was pondering how to go about this marketing thing, and whether I even really WANT to go about it, my brain threw out a reference to this FIBONACCI thing.  

Not quite sure what to make of THAT, it took me a bit to recognize it for what it was:  my mind telling me to look to the spiral for answers.

Sure that sounds somewhat mystic.  I'm of mostly Celt-related lineages, so it's allowed.  I'm also INFJ, so it's practically mandatory.  

At any rate, I recognize a spiral when I see one.  

And you know what?

They don't start on the outside (dream catchers excluded, but they're man made).

Fibonacci.  

Spiral.  

They begin in the center.

They spiral out from there in the most natural progression ever identified.  

And there's my answer.  

HERE IS MY ORIGINAL POST:

FIBONACCI  -  THE GOLDEN RATIO  -  THE GOLDEN MEAN

PHI  -  1.618…

You don’t have to be a mathematician to appreciate the beauty of a spiral. 

They’re everywhere.

Go to the grocery store and look at the bottom of a pineapple.  There it is.

Fibonacci.

Check out a seashell.  There it is again.

Fibonacci.

Pick up a pinecone and examine it carefully.  You’ll find it there, too.

 Fibonacci.

When the season’s right, head on out to a sunflower field and see what you can see in the pattern of the seeds.  Yep. 

Fibonacci.

Close your hand into a fist and look at it from the top, your thumb wrapped around your curled fingers.

Fibonacci.

The human body is amazing.  You know those drawings of a person where they’re all stretched out and there’s a circle around them and measurements?  Go on line and you’ll find what I’m talking about.

Hurricanes spiral.  Watch the weather channel for pictures of storm development.  Tornadoes spiral.

Fibonacci.

Galaxies spiral.

Fibonacci.

Our DNA is comprised of a double helix, which is … hmmm … countering interconnected spiraling strands.

Fibonacci?

Ocean waves when they curl into themselves do it in that same ratio. 

Fibonacci.

Make a dream-catcher.  You won’t notice it as you’re working on it, but when you’re done – there it is AGAIN.  You’re working on it from the outside in, but as soon as that center holds, you’ve got yourself PHI, which is a Greek letter they use to designate the ratio thing.  The letter Phi is a circle with a line through it from top to bottom.  Pronounce it 'fie'.

1.618…

Fibonacci.

People have been using spirals for probably longer than any other symbol. 

Artists use Phi.

Photographers use Phi.

Architects use Phi.

Our government was created by men who knew the value of Phi in a whole different way.

Coaches use Phi.  Believe it.  Game plans have to balance.

It makes you wonder, doesn’t it? 

Spirals are beautiful.  They are also vitally important.  They keep everything in balance, hold it all together.

In philosophy, the Golden Mean is the point of balance between too little and too much of whatever you’re discussing, whether it’s how much food to fix for dinner or the governing of a nation. 

It’s not just a physical phenomenon is what I’m saying here.

We use it every day in a thousand ways. 

Things have to balance. 

Remember the dream-catcher?

That center must hold or everything falls apart.

We have to find our own centering point.

When we’re walking, our center of balance keeps us from falling over. 

When we’re living our lives, both outer and inner, our centers are what hold us together.

Go out and pick up a few pinecones.  Get some old ones in there, ones that are beginning to come apart.  Guess where they start falling to pieces.  When they lose their center, it’s just a matter of time before they’re goners. 

Posture and body mechanics are (surprise!) important if we want to keep our physical health.  Why do you think ergonomics is such a big business?  We shouldn’t need anyone to tell us, or help us with special equipment, to stand, sit, walk, yada yada, in accordance with the way our bodies are designed, which is centered. 

Maintaining our personal centers is just as important; it’s not like we want to lose our internal balance any more than our physical balance.  We need both. 

So take a good long hard look inside yourself, find what centers you, and keep it strong. 

And all of this extrapolates into everything else in our world, from you and me to our families to our communities to our states to our regions to our nations to our global relationships clear out to the stars and whatever might be beyond them. 

Just sayin’.

Let’s not be any more unbalanced than necessary, okay?

Victor Vignettes at Amazon Books and on Kindle

Victor Vignettes takes us back to a time of change for a small family who moves to the Colorado Rockies, making a dream come true.  

In the midst of the mountains (grey-scale photos of the area provide a glimpse of aspen, evergreens, and ... well ... rocks) changes beyond their control come upon them.  

Their dream takes on nightmare qualities as they are faced with challenges of a sort they never anticipated.

As they struggle to make sound choices, their world is irrevocably impacted and they leave a part of their souls in the mountains to keep company with others down Phantom Canyon.

Definitely Ready For A Time Change!

Navigating the research realms of Ancient History is going to be a welcome respite from navigating the ins and outs of setting up websites and eStores.  

The website is:

shielabranson.com

The eStores are:

https://www.createspace.com/4522374 for THEY ARE MY SONG
https://www.createspace.com/4534174 for VICTOR VIGNETTES
(copy and paste these I reckon, until I figure out another way, sigh)

Sidhelagh also has a createspace blog, where she nags me to get on with the story of Mamm's heirloom under-bed chest.

Then there's Amazon's Author Central:
amazon.com/author/shiela
and Amazon's Shiela Branson Page, where my books are listed

And the Kindle Store on line

Indeed, while I don't mind all of this once I get the hang of it, there's a part of me that would rather be Raider Chasing with the birds in the spring of 487 AD - before everything got more exciting than anyone anticipated!  

And so, for the next couple of days I hope to be back in the days of Mamm's mother's mother, to see where she goes and what happens when she gets there.  

You meet Mamm in They Are My Song.  The story she tells of her heirloom storage chest (in the upcoming book) takes us further back in time, an always fascinating journey!

The Long Dark is upon us.  Let the Stories begin!  

'THEY ARE MY SONG' is Available at the Kindle Store!

THEY ARE MY SONG is a book I just finished making.  Okay, Mamm, Danann, Sidhelagh, Drustann, Alianora, Sass, Talorc, Caileen, Kalann, Aine, and Merri did it.  Credit where credit is due, you know.

It's what I've been working on for the past months and let me tell you it's been a LOT of fun!  

Now that it's done and 'out there' I reckon I can finally tell you a thing or two about the whole thing.  

And no I'm not going to blab the whole story.  That would defeat the purpose of getting it published.  

Still, there's a story behind the story and I can tell THAT.  

Into every life, no matter where or when it is lived, comes a time when each of us is faced with making a choice.  

What is important enough to us that we will risk all in order to preserve it for those who will come after us?  

At the time and the place of this story, the legacy our people are forced to defend is, on the surface, the belief system by which they live their lives - religion, if you will.  

Before their time, their people have fought to remain in their own homes, to retain their own independence, to maintain their own culture.  Some won; some lost.  

Our people represent, in the gathering darkness following the invasion of Europe by the Huns and the fall of the Western Roman Empire, one of the few remaining sparks of light in an Age that comes to be known for its Darkness.  

This is a work of fiction.

However - that time, that place, and such people as we meet in They Are My Song were very real.  

Their immediate forebears  had fought to preserve the land in which they lived; without those battles, and the price paid, our people may well have not HAD a legacy to pass on, nor a safe (relatively speaking) place in which to preserve it.  

Religious freedom is but the tip of the iceberg.  It symbolizes a much more fundamental concept.

The people of our story, and those who came before them, and those who have followed them, have preserved for US much more than religious freedom.  In that struggle, individual freedom has also been preserved and passed on.  

The right of each and all to choose, and follow, whatever path best suits us, is something we take for granted, most of us.  

We need to remember that the struggle to preserve that choice has been going on for a very long time, by the very people from whom we are descended, a lot of us.  Real people, real lives, real blood.

We also need to be paying attention to our OWN times, our OWN lives, our OWN choices ... and maybe give a little consideration to the legacy we are leaving for those who will come after US.  

They Are My Song:
Choice
Creation, Life, Death, Eternity
Peace
Faith
Healing
Hope
Love

As the characters' Voices Sing and Speak of these things, are we paying any attention at ALL?  

If You Notice Pieces Missing From Some Of My Blogs ...

If you happen to be looking for something or other that you KNOW you saw in one of my blogs, and it's gone missing, it's probably because it's a candidate for publication and I've pulled it for editing.

Sorry about that, but it's good news for ME!  

I'll keep you posted on what's gone out, and probably put the rest back in.

OOOOF!!! I Am One Tired Woman

What with one thing and another I've been busier than usual these past few days and I can feel the effects.  

Life gets just flat out strange now and then.  

Dakota Long Dark Looming

If there's one thing that's consistent about me, it's that I DREAD the Long Darks of Dakota.  

No two ways about it.  They're awful.  

The jury's still out, but it's leaning toward my losing even that one constant in my life.  

For the first time in my memory, I might actually be looking forward to this coming Long Dark.  

The storying of Dunnottar might be my saving grace, plus I'm planning on using my wood stove more this winter than I've been able to in past years.

The other day I finally went out to Mary and Brian's farmstead (sister and  brother-in-law) and took a chain saw to the dead wood in their shelter belts.  

For various reasons I got off to a late start and got only one load hauled to my house, but there's LOTS there, easily accessible right now.  

Today was icky and I think Mary and Brian weren't home (although that doesn't really matter, I like seeing them) so I worked on inside stuff at home, including getting that load of wood downstairs and organized.  

Truthfully, I had left the big pieces outside when I unloaded (threw the smaller stuff down the basement steps) but tonight I went ahead and brought as much of the bigger stuff in as I could.  

While I was at it, I brought in the rest of my precious oak.  If my wildwood forest (basement wood pile) would only just grow split oak, I would never be cold again.  

It's too expensive for me to buy, but there's plenty of other stuff in the shelter belts around here, believe you me.  

At any rate, I'll be able to use my wood stove more this winter because I'll be home more.  

Not only that, but my new schedule gives me both time and energy to cut wood and bring it home.  

IF I can manage to do this right and can get at least several more loads cut and hauled, using my wood stove might save me a LOT of money on heat this winter.  

So the pay cut I took (and the fewer hours to boot) when I went to part time might just not be as big a deal as I was afraid it would be. 

I can't say for sure, because it's only just a hypothesis as of yet, but I'm thinking that I can keep my heating bill down to a manageable level by using the wood stove.

For one thing, it heats the house pretty well.

For another thing, I keep big kettles of hot water going on it all the time - the great big old-fashioned canning kettles.  So I won't be using my hot water heater as much, and the humidity it puts into the air is a good thing.  

For a third thing, I won't have to use any of my electric appliances for cooking at all.  With the wood stove hot all the time because I'm using it to heat the house, it's going to be immediately available for cooking any time I want.  

So yeah.  I'm kicking myself for not having gone wood-cutting in the shelter belts long before NOW.  

We'll see how it goes this year.  

If it works as well as I'm hoping, I'll go cutting a lot more next year, AND I'll raid the dump on a regular basis.  People haul wood out there all the time.  I got a really pretty piece of birch out there this year and there was scads more but I just left it - HOW stupid am I?  
 Anyway, besides Dunnottar and my wood stove, I'm also looking forward to cutting up the bigger pieces so I can use them.  I like using my little electric chain saw inside.  

AND, come to think of it, IF I can find the NOT electric one I got from Earl, I can ALSO maybe finally get those big trunk chunks that are outside my back fence gate cut up.  They're cottonwood and tougher than nails, but they'll burn if I can get them cut up.  

Yep, the Long Dakota Dark is looming, but this year I might be having too much fun to worry too much about it!

Rorschach Readings

Today's Google thing was Rorschach ink blots.  

They changed over the course of the day and I caught three of them.  

In the first one I saw two mothers leaning over baby strollers.  

The second one was two dragons breathing fire.

The third one was, get this, the guard house onto Dunnottar.  

I kid you not.  

I looked at it and looked at it and just couldn't see anything but that.  

THE FOX AND THE CRANE - MODIFIED FROM AESOP