A New and Spooky Interest…

It started when I bought Katherine Ramsland’s Ghost and started reading. Well, that’s not quite accurate. That’s when it restarted. I’ve been interested in ghosts since I was a kid. Did you ever play that game where you hold up two fingers in front of a mirror and see an extra finger in the shadow on the wall? Something to do with George Washington…I think…so long ago. And the game of Ghost in the Graveyard, best played in an actual graveyard, of course. Best not played with annoying cousin out to scare the s*** out of me.

Then there was Ghost Story, the movie. I’m afraid to read the book for fear that it might cause a breakdown in my psyche that I’d never recover from. The movie is enough. It’s a love/hate relationship. I’ve seen it half a dozen times at least and each time I can’t go to sleep until all closets and crevices have been checked. And because of that movie, any images to do with cars and water evoke the same emotional response.

Why does that movie freak me out so much? I think because somewhere deep down I believe in ghosts.

And yet, I’m a skeptic. Which is why I like Katherine Ramsland’s book on the subject. She’s a seeker, so she’s open to believing, but she needs to have her own experiences as proof. That’s me–in need of my own experiences. To get these experiences, I’ve discovered two nearby conferences this spring that I’m hoping to check out. One is in Fredericksburg, VA and the other is here in Richmond. I’ll have to see what the budget allows for (or can stretch to), but I really would like to look at all the equipment hands-on and listen to the speakers’ experiences.  The Fredericksburg expo seems to offer actual ghost hunting. I’m thinking “ghost stalking”–that’s from my recent viewing of Most Haunted and Ghost Hunters, where some of the participants seem quite aggressive. But everytime a door slams on one of these shows, presumably by itself–I am totally FREAKED OUT.

So have you had any experiences with hauntings? I’d love to hear about them!

Shara

www.sharalanel.com

We had fun!

The January issue of my newsletter is out now! This issue centers on ghost hunters and psychics.

Well, I spent most of Saturday at The Pink Banana in Virginia Beach with my friends: Bridget Midway, Leigh Ellwood, and Laura Bacchi. Here’s some pics from our signing:

         

I had tons of fun, especially when certain toys were presented to us After we hit Senior Iguana’s and tried some delicious margaritas. And the iguana IS real, though I don’t think he moved the whole time we were there.

Shara

www.sharalanel.com

Point of Rock rocks!

Awesome! Just got back from checking out my friend Jeff’s band POINT OF ROCK and they do rock! Yeah, he paid me to say that No, seriously! John’s guitar made me long for the days when I used to play (badly), because I always aspired to be as good as he is. You can tell he just loves it. Jeff’s wife Carla had her own cheering section, which was apparently a slew of teachers from where she works. They really contributed to the party atmosphere. And it was so cool to see Jeff hammer those drums. I’m used to him in his writer/critiquer persona, so it was neat to see this side of him.

I particularly loved the venue, the Sycamore Rouge in Old Town Petersburg. It was smoke-free, which is always a plus for my clothes. It was a really fascinating space with an outside courtyard, interior gallery, and a performance area reminiscent of a street in France. And the food was delicious!

And a quick reminder if you live near Virginia Beach: Jan. 13th, visit me, Bridget Midway, Laura Bacchi, and Leigh Ellwood at The Pink Banana where we’re autographing books and giving away free stuff from noon-6 pm. And because of that, I need to get in bed and get my beauty sleep…long drive in the morning!

Shara

www.sharalanel.com

Down the Rabbit Hole…huh?

I’ve been watching the “What the Bleep” movie, trying to fathom exactly what it’s saying. I’ve read a bit about quantum physics in the past (thanks to an ex-beau), but as soon as I see mathematical formulae, my vision grays and my mind blanks. But this movie seems to link the quantum world to spirituality and a concept of God.

Interesting.

So first thing I’m trying to understand: waves when you’re not looking, particles when you are. What? Waves equal numerous possibilities, then when you look, you’ve made a decision. Now it’s one particle. I think. Or the concept that on a quantum level solid matter is really mostly a vacuum, which seems to imply that we should be able to walk through walls if we put our mind to it. Haven’t figured out how to do that yet, but it seems like it would be a useful talent.

Ultimately the point of the movie (and there’s a book of the same name–haven’t read it) seems to be that we create our own reality based on our emotions, which effect (affect?) us at a molecular level. The point one of the speakers made that I found interesting was this: positive thinking tends not to work because it’s like one thin layer over top of a thick mass of the negatives we’ve already programmed (or had programmed) into us.

So how do we really change? If the negatives are causing even our neural nets to connect in certain ways and our cells to have fewer good receptors, how do we fix what’s already been done? I do not think the movie covered this, at least not to my understanding. If you have any insight, please comment.

Shara

www.sharalanel.com

An excerpt from THE MEN ON MARS

Here’s the blurb:

Mars fuel station attendant Helena Terra is obsessed with returning to home to Earth and she’ll do anything to get there. Anything. Including trading sex for a ride.Her boss, Nate Rickman, doesn’t want her selling her body to the scum of the solar system just for a ride. So, even though Nate has vowed never to return to Earth, he borrows a ship and gathers a crew–just to give Helena a ride home. Of course, it has nothing to do with the little menage-a-moon-people Nate witnessed or the fact he can’t get hot Helena off his mind. He’ll get her safely to Earth then blast right back to Mars, with no dangerous stops on the moon in between.That’s the plan anyway, but things never quite go according to plan…and ménage a trois leads to ménage a trouble.

(WARNING: 1 swear word in this excerpt which hopefully implies more…) 

Have you ever thought of the man on the moon as sexy? Well, he is. Sexy as hell. He lives in this specially designed dome, deep in one of the moon’s famous craters. The heat shields and giant fans and other technology that I don’t understand – and don’t care to – keep him from frying under the sun’s rays.

He explained all of this to me as he bought me another drink. So I listened, since I never turn down free drinks. We were at the Mars Bar on the red planet. Space shuttles and orbiters cluttered the vast parking lot, which was really one giant launch pad. The rockets’ hatches connected to an underground moving walkway, something like the one at the Atlanta airport on Earth. The scientists had long suspected that water resided on Mars, and once they found it, the planet became a fave watering hole for the droves of transients that traveled our solar system.

“I could take you there,” said the moon man, selling me on his words with a sweep of coal lashes over his silver eyes. I swigged my drink. Maybe he could. What do I know? I’m just a fuel assistant stranded on this red rock until something better comes along. Could this be the something better?

“To the moon?”

“Yeah.”

“Literally, or is that just your pick-up line?”

“Literally. My biosphere is quite lush. All the amenities.” He leaned closer, nearly slipping from his barstool, crowding me with his six-foot frame. Not that I minded the crowding. He was a perfect specimen, and I wouldn’t mind exploring his tight pecs and abs.

I was fairly short by Earth standards, only five-foot four, but I had nice proportions, or so I’d been told while naked and sweaty in some man’s room. “I’m sure it is,” I said, trying to imagine the view from the moon. “But I’m gunning for the ultimate biosphere – Earth.”

“The moon would get you closer.”

“But not close enough. Nowhere to work, and no ships to hitch onto.”

He leaned back and rubbed his chin. “There’s mine.”

“Will you take me to Earth?” My drink, a Uranus mai tai, was beginning to take effect, softening the stark strobe lights from the dance floor, as well as making the stool I sat on seem a bit wobbly.

“Will you fuck me during the whole trip?”

Available now at Loose Id!

Moving forward or stuck with the eggnog?

Just went to my first WW weigh-in of the year and whoa, was it a doozy! Not good at all. I gained tons during the past month. Okay, not literally tons, but I undid quite a bit of my good work from 2006. So what to do? Moan and belittle myself? Or refocus on WW? Yep, refocus is the answer. However, I didn’t quite succeed in emptying my house of goodies before today. The eggnog’s running low, but it’s still there. My hubby gave me a pound of maple sugar for Christmas, delivered all the way from my old home town Freedom, NY. Still have most of that and a few chocolate truffles and Ferrero Rocher and Hershey’s kisses. We’re talking favorites here, not junky leftover candy that no one really wants.

So I’m appealing to you! Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope! Post words of encouragement to help me get back on track with my weight-loss. The spring will bring the usual barage of retreats and conferences, so my goal is to be able to fit into my decent (and not-so-decent) clothes by then. I’m doing good on the eating front so far today. Now need to convince myself to workout…

Shara

www.sharalanel.com