The Answers Have Come At Last!

I bolted from sleep at four this morning knowing I'd found the missing pieces to my current novel. Talk about one of those moments when the world slows down and everything is crystal clear. It's magic. It's profound. It's brilliance. It't speechless-a-fying.

This kind of genius only comes once or twice in a lifetime, and today was one of those days. You know, the kind when you finally grasp the true meaning of life and all the little holes and questions fill in.

What were the missing pieces to my novel? What amazing knowledge was I blessed with? It came in the form of five all-important words. Are you ready to hear them? Are you ready for the awesomeness of them? Can you handle the wake-you-from-a-deep-sleep-because-all-your-problems-have-been-solved words?

Okay, brace yourself.

Really.

These are world changing.

You may never be able to go back to who you were.

Really.

Are you prepared for the awesomesauce?

Here they are:

Put. Grind. Lampshade. Aida Cloth.

Yup. Did I mention I woke knowing these words would solve all my problems? Sigh. Groan. Shake my head and bury it under my pillow.

What these words have to do with my book is beyond me. Why I bolted from sleep with them stamped on my brain and my heart pounding like the book gods had granted me a visit is also beyond me. I mean really. Wake a poor girl up with heart palpitations for Lampshade? Aida cloth? Am I supposed to have my dark elf main character take up cross stitching? Seriously?

Ug. I'm going back to bed.

What words of wisdom have you all been blessed with lately? Because I think I could use them. That or I need to stop eating before I go to bed.

A Visit With Carl Bloch

This week I visited with a master. Well, with his paintings. A group of friends and I went to the Carl Bloch exhibit at Brigham Young University. Amazement courted me as I stood before vivid alter paintings crafted in the 1800s and marveled at the stories told on canvas.



Many of the stories were biblical, reaching out of an even more distant past to whisper messages of faith and love, other were simple yet profound glimpses of life--an old woman feeding birds, a man walking, a wife reading to an invalid husband. All touched me, moved me with wonder and the power of a single moment caught in time. Of emotion.

As I gazed at the works of this long-dead artist, I couldn't help wonder if he ever thought his works would touch me? And in turn, I wonder if my works will live on to touch someone in a distant time.

Carl Bloch said, "God helps me, that is what I think and then I am calm."