Night Bleeds From the Stars and Spreads

October when Night prowls the streets 

like an invisible cat.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HM8ZS5Q

October, the month of my 

HALLOWEEN DUO

 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GVFH1PF/

The shadows are cut 

from soft black velvet.

Beware the scythe 

which hovers in the dark

like a lost smile.

Tonight starts the Countdown to The Night ...

   The Night of the grave's delight 

and mortals' flight.

Curl up in bed with my Halloween Duo 

(only $1.99 each) 

    Outside your window Something 

presses against the glass.

Does blood stir in its veins?

No.

  

The Night Winds.  

And lurking in its head?  

Worms 
disturbed
from a grave being opened
from beneath.

What does It hear with its ears?

The Abyss between the Stars.

It sifts the human storm for a likely soul.

It eats the flesh of reason.

There is but one escape.

Read my tales until sleep takes

you to slumber safe.

You doubt me?

Don't say I didn't warn you.

WHERE YOU WANT TO BE

https://www.amazon.com/Hunters-Moon/dp/B01LZJXBD6/

Are you where you want to be  ...

   in your book ... in your career ... in your life?

Few of us could answer YES to that question in all the areas of our life.

Are we trying too hard to DO

 and forgetting simply to LIVE.

1.) ASK: DO YOU EVEN LIKE YOUR JOB OR YOUR DREAM?

What prompted you to that profession, to that dream (say of writing).

In the bustle of the struggle, we forget to think of the answer to that question.

Ask: Is this for me?

If the answer to that question is YES focus on what is most important at work, 

instead of worrying about your own expectations.


STILL ...

The odds are you are NOT happy at work.

52.3 % of us are not according to a new study.

 The prospects for long-term work with the same employer have eroded 

and employees have been saddled with ever-higher health plan deductibles and payroll deductions.


2.) WHAT TO DO TO BECOME HAPPIER IN AN UNHAPPY JOB 

Decide what is making you unhappy about your job and change what you can.

Sometimes you cannot change the external so then you must try to change the internal.  

Change the stories you are telling yourself about your situation -- 

 “I can’t stand this,” “This is awful,” or “I should be doing something else with my life.”

Unpleasant does not mean unbearable.  

Life has its seasons (each teaches us important lessons if we but listen.) 

Cursing at the rain never kept anyone dry.

We are where we are.  

Try to find the humor in each hour or try to bring a smile to a co-worker.

Perspective is everything:

There are those in the Third World who would be astounded that you are miserable compared to where they are in their lives.


3.) BUILD MEANING WHERE YOU CAN 

Find meaning where you can.  Sometimes the relationships are what makes a job endurable.

Other times, the relationships are what gnaw at you.  

Those miserable people teach you how NOT to be,

and they have to live with their dissatisfaction and bitterness every minute.

Imagine being angry within all the time.  

There is worth in even the most minor of tasks if we do them with pride and integrity.


4.) CONNECT YOUR JOB TO BED-ROCK VALUES

Your job allows you to pay the bills and to care for your family -- that, at least, is positive.

If possible, place photos or reminders of those you love on your desk, in your locker ...

You will feel better for doing what is needed for them.

Perhaps your job allows you off time to pursue your dreams or to pay for tuition to reach your dreams.


 5.) MAKE YOUR OWN MANTRA

Come up with things to think as you go about your work day such as:

What Blessings Are Mine Right Now?

Remember to Practice Kindness Today.

Let Go of What I Cannot Control.

Listen to What My Heart Is Trying To Tell Me.

Be Productive Yet Calm -- Inch By Inch and It is a Cinch.

Just Breathe.


 6.)  FOCUS ON WHAT MATTERS MOST

We often create unachievable expectations for ourselves.

 Re-evaluate what you are doing and what you really need to do. 

Look for the quality, not quantity of work. 

Stop equating hours with doing a good job at your work or with your dream.



7.) LEAVE WORK AT WORK -- ESPECIALLY DURING DAYS OFF.

Plan the day and week to get what’s most important done during work hours.

 Make tasks fun or enjoyable; they are not tasks but just part of your life. Experience them.



8.) GIVE YOURSELF THE GIFT OF FREE TIME

 It’s not just becoming more efficient at work. You need to grant yourself permission to do less, and to begin living your life again.

Whatever re-charges your emotional batteries, plan a segment of time each day to do it.

It is a proven fact that if you do only 2 minutes of planned exercise a day, you will feel happier.



9.) DROP THE SUNDAY NIGHT BLUES.

 If you feel a sinking feeling in your stomach each night before you start your work week,

 realize that 5/7 of your life is made up of your employment.

Seek ways to bring a smile or happiness to each hour you are working (or writing).

Insist that you are going to make those 5/7 of your life worth living.

Look for reasons to laugh or smile each hour.  

Look for a stressed face at work and try to ease the tightness you see there.

10.) LIFE IS FLEETING ... EXPERIENCE IT; 

DON'T SIMPLY ENDURE IT!

THERE IS A DARKNESS DEEPER THAN NIGHT

Ask people if they believe in the supernatural 

and most will scoff.

What do they feel when alone at night 

walking a deserted city street?

Imagine turning a corner at night

and finding rows of stores

where short-sighted people have sold parts 

of their souls for that which will not last.

All such sales are final.

 And we live in such a world.

Innocence, once gone, cannot be reclaimed.

Yet, there was never a night or a problem 

that could defeat sunrise or hope.

Yes, the problem will still be there.

But wisdom has been bought by our mistakes.

Wisdom enough for the task at hand.

May there always be a way open for you.

 “Each night, when I go to sleep, 

I die. 

And the next morning, 

when I wake up, 

I am reborn.”

 - Mahatma Gandhi

EVERYTHING I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HOW TO LIVE ...

I learned from those danged horror movies

- Ghost of Mark Twain

"You do not how right you have things
until you handle them all wrong."
- Mark Twain.
 
Just a heartbeat ago, I eased into Roland's apartment to swap tall tales 

when I came upon him dozing in front of his electronic newspaper,

blog he calls it. 

Sounds like one of those tar pits in California those poor dinosaurs critters got stuck in.

I leaned over his shoulder and read what he wrote.

Why, what was wrong with the boy? His post depressed the beejesus out of me, and I'm dead.

What he needed was a little help from his good friend, the beloved, yet humble, genius of literature ... me

What was needed here was ... I stroked my chin. Of course, what was needed here was ... me.

I would save Roland from his depressing folly.

I started to ruminate on all of life's follies when it came to me how much help those terrible horror movies Roland watches truly are.

Why there are some golden lessons to be found in those flickering frames,

especially for you folks not blessed to be ghosts like myself:

1) When it appears that you have killed the monster, ALWAYS get the loud-mouthed neighbor to check to see if it's really dead.

The bliss of silence in the neighborhood will be your reward.

2) Even if it seems to be the funniest thing in all creation, never read a book of demon summoning aloud. 

Your mother-in-law is demon enough, thank you.

3) When the power goes out, gals in flimsy undies will ALWAYS take a fancy to search the basement -- 

and they NEVER change their flashlight batteries.

4) If your young 'uns suddenly start to speak to you in Latin or any other language which they should not know, shoot them immediately.
 
It will save you a lot of grief in the long run. For such eventualities,

ALWAYS buy automatic handguns, since it will probably take several rounds to kill them.

A loving parent is a sure-kill parent.
 
This also applies to any tiny waifs who suddenly start to speak as if they have been gargling with lye.

They are either possessed or have been raiding Father's liquor cabinet.

Either way they deserve what they get.

5) As a general rule of thumb, don't solve puzzles that open portals to Hell.

6) If appliances start operating by themselves, send your spouse to check for short-circuits, then get the hell out of the house.

Ignore the subsequent screaming -- or enjoy it, 

depending upon just how "sweet" your bitter half has been to you lately.

7) If you are offered a "steal of a deal" on a house that has been

a) built on the site of an Injun massacre,

b) the home of a family whose members had taken to dismembering one another, or

c) been an asylum whose inmates took to munching on the help --

take the real estate agent lovingly, kindly and gently by the arm --

and shove her into the basement, locking it behind you. 

Unnatural beasties get hungry. And better they make human jerky out of her than you.

Don't mind about the body. 

It won't be there when the police arrive. 

The police won't be around long either -- if they stay.

WHY HORROR?

Why are we drawn to horror? Why are good girls drawn to bad boys?

 
1.) The allure of the forbidden.
 
That is one of the reasons horror beckons to us from out of the shadows.

Why is that boy, that deserted mansion, forbidden?

It is as old as the blood which pulsed cold and tingling through Eve's veins as she reached for that forbidden fruit on that hauntingly lovely tree.

 
2.) Curiosity.

It is human nature to want to know what lies over the horizon. It's what drove the pioneers across wild, hostile lands.

What does that locked door conceal? That chained chest. Why those heavy links, that rusted lock?

Is this all there is? Or is there more beyond mere line of sight? We know there is more.

Science tells of us of dark matter piercing the cosmos with light-years long strands of matter invisible to the human eye. 

We are likewise blind to the world of germs. What other worlds are we blind to?

Give a nugget of uranium, a tiny stone really, to an aborigine. Tell him it is a good luck charm. Tell him to drop it in the village well.

What harm could one tiny stone do? 

Visit his village two months later. View the many corpses laying strewn like dead dreams all across the ground.

3.) Identification.
 
We watch and imagine what we would do in like situations. 

The world dissolves into chaos as random individuals descend slowly into madness.

You are picked up by the local sheriff as you are doing your morning walk with your dog. 

He orders you and your dog into the back of the car. 

He presses his gun to your dog's head and rambles on about brains looking like wet oysters. Do you want to see?

What would you do? What could you do?

Life is frightening: 

Global warming. Diseases that eat the very flesh of your body. 

We watch horor on the screen to encapsulate the horror of real life. It is not us up there.

We would be smarter, faster, more in control of our emotions.

We like the adrenaline rush sudden scares give us. 

Safer than driving fast, dating inappropriate guys or gals, and with the thrill of saying mentally, "It's not real; I'm still safe."

 
4.) The Darkness Within.

Terror versus Horror. 

Is one more physical; the other more mental? 

Does revulsion and squriming terror pierce through our mental barriers to stab deep into our unconscious fears ... and desires?

(Take the public fascination with the trilogy of the girl with the dragon tattoo:

she is repeatedly brutalized, raped, shot, and beaten. 

The books and movies are bestsellers. 

Is there a darkness in us that wants to roll around in sadism like a cat does catnip?)

You are horrified by the news of the floods in Pakistan. 

You are terrorized when you wake up one New Orleans morning to the news that the dams have burst, 

and you look out your front door to see rushing waters swallow your neighbor's home ... then your very own.    
Horror is realizing the monsters are real and are out there to get you. 

Terror is looking into the mirror, seeing yourself becoming one -- but still enough you to scream silently at the sight.

Stephen King said horror literature is a means for us to take out the monster, play with it for a while, and put it back.

But who is the monster?

Is he some squirming presence waiting on the other side of the dimensional wall waiting for a crack to appear? 

Is he the beloved president whose wife is slowly going insane at the awful reality of who he truly is?

Or does his/her eyes stare back at you from the mirror?

Carl Jung:
"Everyone carries a shadow, 

and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is. 

At all counts, it forms an unconscious snag, thwarting our most well-meant intentions."

Why do you think we read horror? 

Why are we so drawn to dressing up as monsters or as our secret identities? 

Why do you write the genres you do? 

And what role does "control" or "lack of control" play in horror/scary movies and literature?
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