The fog

     Once again, I apologize for the entry last night.  Occasionally these things happen so I'll just move on.  Anyway, it rained all day yesterday.  By the time we got on the road last night, the fog was so thick we could barely see more than a foot ahead of the car.  I love the eerie, murky-looking way that headlights reflect off the mist, limiting your visibility forcing you to move slowly and carefully.  It almost leaves you feeling claustrophobic, as if the world is closing in on you.  Even the air feels thicker, like trying to suck bisque through a straw.  Buildings that you pass every day suddenly look sinister when the fog rolls in. 
     Movies like "The Fog" and "The Mist" capitalize on nature's antithesis to the rainbow.  Yet even before "moving pictures", masterful writers used fog or mist to set a mood.  Edgar Allan Poe, best know for setting a dark, and oft times macabre, element to his work utilized fog to its fullest.  The funny thing is, when I started writing this entry, I was so busy connecting fog with the work of others that I completely forgot about my own.  For those of you who already read the preview to my first book, "Journal of the Undead: Littleville Uprising", you already know about the foggy night where it all begins.  The next time you're enveloped in fog, take a minute to slow down and let your imagination run wild....

My bad......

     Sorry guys!  I was visiting with my out of state family today.  I thought we would get home much, much earlier than 1 AM!!!  One gift that every member of my family, including myself, possesses is the gift of gab.  Sometimes when a large group of people get together there are awkward, uncomfortable silences....not with us!  We're like Energizer Bunnies.  We just keep going and going and going.  With that being said, I am exhausted.  I promise to get you all a better entry tomorrow. (assuming the zombie apocalypse doesn't begin) Good night, everyone! 

When the lights go out

     Okay.  First, get your minds out of the gutter!  I write horror not romance.  Today, thanks to some pretty violent thunderstorms, our power went out.  Let me be the first to admit it... in my opinion, being "unplugged" is a nightmare of the worst kind!  After just a few hours, I can get the kind of cabin fever that would make Jack Torrance from "The Shining" look well adjusted.  As luck would have it, my sweetie was home today so crisis was averted and there were no casualties.  I'm sure no one wanted to see me running through the house with an ax, splintering doors anyway.
     Instead, we pulled out the old board game Scrabble and passed the time in friendly competition.  I enjoy Words With Friends, but there's a certain olde timey fun to the classic game.  The wooden tiles and cardboard playing surface take you back to an age long before cellphones, Blu-ray and the Internet.  Of course, this also got me thinking about the history behind the beloved game.  As someone who hopes to make a living with words, this piqued my interest.
     I'm sure I've mentioned my ongoing love affair with Google in previous posts.  As soon as the power was back on, I made a beeline for my laptop.  Yes, I do have a smartphone and, yes,  I could have done my research that way but I love my laptop even more than I love Google, so I waited.  Besides, I had the game itself to distract me.  Anyway, I learned that the game originally began as another title but in 1948 it was dubbed Scrabble and has been so ever since.  Just to put things in perspective, because 1948 was WAY before my time, here's a few of 1948's highlights in addition to Scrabble:  Warner Bros. shows the first color newsreel,  Indian pacifist Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated; though I am loathe to mention it, the stock car racing organization NASCAR was founded and the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang was also founded, "Gentleman's Agreement" won the Oscar for best picture, the World Health Organization was established by the UN, the first monkey astronaut, Albert I was launched into space and Harry S. Truman was reelected. 
     So, there you have it.  Some slightly off-kilter ramblings after a wire free, off the grid, kind of day.

Alien Allergies

     Have you ever noticed that most alien invasion stories, be they film or literary, seem to have the same general theme for their destruction?  In one way or another the invading army of extraterrestrials have an "allergy" to a primary make up of our planet.  Earth's hero discovers this weakness and after destruction of the Statue of Liberty and perhaps, the White House, we win.  The most popular, by far, is the aliens' inability to tolerate water.  I'd like to pose a twist on this theory.  I've started dabbling with this concept and once my "Journal of the Undead" series is complete, I think I am going to develop it even further. 
     Each year, countless reports tell us that the pollen count is "the highest ever" while those who had never suffered with allergies before, are now complaining of symptoms.  Most pharmeceutical manufacturers are seeing a steady increase in sales of products specifically made to target those symptoms.  For longtime sufferers, many dread leaving the safety of their purified-air homes.  What if pollution and other environmental factors weren't the cause of the increase?  I have two alternate theories that could shed a horrific light on this recent phenomenon. 
     Let's start with the less traumatic.  Assuming that there really is intelligent life out there, let's give them credit for actually doing a bit of research on our planet and its various cultures.  I'm going to propose that, in addition to verifying that the environment was actually suitable for their make up, they've acclimated their species with our vast sources of entertainment.  In other words, I'm betting they would have checked out Hollywood's take on alien invasions.  It would be a gloriously ironic twist if they found a way to make us allergic to our own planet, accelerating our desire to colonize the moon or perhaps other planets.  I have a twisted sense of humor so this particular theory tickles my funny bone. 
     My favorite scenario is a little more disturbing.  I propose that the aliens are already here, living amongst us.  They have infiltrated societies worldwide and have been elected to high positions in governing bodies posing as regular humans.  There is one incredible difference between us and them....our method of reproduction.  The increased level of pollen does not come from the ever decreasing plant life.  Think about it; trees, flowers and plants are continually being destroyed and replaced with macadam, concrete and pavements.  To quote the song, "They've paved paradise and put up a parking lot".  This "pollen" is actually the aliens' method of reproduction.  The alien life form does not host its developing progeny inside their own bodies, instead, the aliens release their fertilized eggs, a.k.a. "pollen" to be ingested by humans.  These tiny eggs attach to our nasal passages or the lining of our lungs.  The once fragile alien feeds off of us until ready to emerge from their cocoon.  Next, the human becomes ill.  No longer needing its human, the developing alien is able to escape the human host  through nasal discharge or hacked up mucus.  It then returns to its parental units to be nurtured and raised to assimilate to human life.
     I know the typical choice would be for the alien to completely overtake the human body and live through it as a shell.  I don't know about you but I've seen the "body snatchers" bit done to death.  Let's shake things up and break out of the box! 

Patience vs Perseverance

    

     By no stretch of the imagination would anyone consider me to be a “patient” person.   I, like most products of the Internet age, want it now.  No, I take that back, we wanted it yesterday!  We want faster Internet, increased speed limits, and instant gratification-even if we aren’t all so forthcoming as to actually admit it.  The truth is, very few people on this planet are truly patient.  However, many of us have an abundance of perseverance. 

     By definition, patience is to bear provocation, delay, set backs, annoyance, misfortune or pain, without  loss of temper, complaint, or irritation.  Perseverance, however, is to steadily endure, maintaining a course of action or purpose in spite of difficulties, obstacles or disappointment.  Both are similar concepts of endurance but with vastly different manners of accepting an undesirable circumstance. 

     I think most writers will agree with me on this…. If you want to pursue a literary career, you must posses at least one of these virtues.  What I lack in patience, I more than make up for in perseverance.  I, like most authors, have endured setbacks, challenges delays and, if not misfortunes, than at least annoyances.  These circumstances are beyond our control and despite our best planning or preparations, still come to pass.  However, it is entirely within our control as to how we choose to react to them.  Personally, I am not a quitter so I will continue to persevere, even if it isn’t patiently.  Those closest to me will agree that I lack that final stage that turns perseverance into patience-without showing signs of irritation or occasionally loss of temper. 

     I wish I could remember where I read it, but a particular gem has stuck with me, ever since I first decided to pursue publication of my works.  The article was talking about the investment of time needed to get a book published, assuming you were going the traditional route and not self-publishing.  The writer described in great deal the different “types” of slow one could encounter such as being trapped behind a slow driver on a one lane road.  The analogy ended with the comparison of publishing to glacial movement.  So true and if anyone knows who deserves credit for this nugget of truth, please let me know! To all of the writers out there who, like me, are trying to get their big break, here’s hoping our perseverance pays off. 

Shameless Self Promotion

     For those of you who have been following my blog since its inception, you already know that I originally started it to share pages from my book, "Journal of the Undead: Littleville Uprising".  (by the way, those pages can be found under the June 13th entry)  I decided to continue the blog for a couple of reasons.  First, I'm a little O.C.D. so if I start something, I feel like I have to finish it.  Also, I didn't expect to enjoy blogging but I really do.
     Another part about blogging that really sucked me in was the stat tracking.  It shows me the number of page views, the countries with the most views, and which entries rated the highest.  Just in case you're worried about your privacy, don't!  I have no way of knowing who is actually looking at my blog.  So, unless you choose to leave a comment or email me with thoughts or questions, (which would be great!!) I will never know you were here. 
     Here's where the "self promotion" part comes into play...... If you haven't already done so, please check out my Facebook page and give it a "Like".  In general, I put different information up on the Facebook page so that it won't be redundant for those who follow both.  Here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/pages/SG-Lee/147919735388462?fref=ts.  I tried to set it up so that just clicking on the link will take you to the Facebook page but if not, you can copy and paste it in your Facebook search bar.  Also, feel free to share my blog or my Facebook page with friends.  Don't worry, I am not going to constantly bombard you with repetitive pleas to invite your friends and family.  There's nothing worse than getting a request every other day to "please share"!  The only reason I mentioned it is because I had a few people ask me if it was okay to share.  The answer is a resounding, YES!  In fact, I'd not only like for you to share my page but I would love for you to share your thoughts.  Please use the comments link and/or the email link.  They are available for you to be able to communicate with me and I would like to hear from you.
     In closing, I would like to thank each of you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to read my rantings.  Also, I think I need to send a "shout out" to the people of Russia.  I actually have more page views from Russia than the United States.  I Googled this so, hopefully, it really does say "thank you" in Russian and not something rude or offensive!  спасибо

Feeling like death warmed over.

     Everyone knows that writers use their own personal experiences to enhance their stories.  With that in mind, I would like to give you a little insight into a particular scene.  I had launched into a rewrite of my first book at the end of last year.  I felt that it really needed more zombie action while the main characters were being introduced so I added in a parallel storyline.  Just around the time I was working on the zombies that would eventually migrate to Littleville, I got sick. 
     When I get sick, I really do it right.  I had bronchitis, the flu and a touch of pneumonia all at the same time.  I really did feel like "death warmed over".  The end result was writing a scene where one of the characters goes through the transformation from sickly human to reanimated corpse.  Because most of the time I felt so rotten, it was not hard to imagine my body's inevitable decline.  In writing, I embraced every horrible symptom I had endured and poured them onto the page.  Eventually, my character's immune system was no longer able to fight off the infection and he succumbs to his unavoidable death. 
     Of course, this is not the end of our new friend.  Shortly after he draws his last breath, his corpse reanimates and he begins his new life as a flesh-eating monster.  I really had fun, not only describing his transformation, but explaining his new perspective on the world around him.  I described the way things looked, how his transformed body moves, and the impulses that replaced his human thought processes.  I will forever look at illnesses in a different light.  Perhaps, after reading the series, you will too.