Another List

Alright.  It’s Friday.  For most people, the week is winding down, they’re wrapping up projects, getting ready to relax.  But as I’m sure all the independent artists and entrepreneurs out there know, there is no such thing as a weekend when you’re in business for yourself.  There is always work to be done.  There’s no schedule.  There is work that can be done every day.  Sometimes, Saturdays and Sundays are even busier than week days.

I’ve kind of reached a point where I have so much going on that my brain has just started deleting information.  This isn’t necessarily a bad problem, because I’d much rather be busy than sitting around and doing nothing.  But at the same time, I really need to remember and stay on top of things and I can’t have my brain just selecting stuff at random and getting rid of it.  That’s just not gonna fly.

So the time has come to make another list of things I need to do and things I need to remember. Because if I don’t remember it, no one else will.

Except for my mom who, thankfully, reminded me that I have a wedding to go to tomorrow.  Thanks, Mom!

Anyway, here we go.  Yet another List of Things Jackie Needs to Remember.

* You’re going to your friends’ wedding tomorrow!

* You still need to buy a gift for aforementioned wedding.

* Write.

* Make sure you have everything you need for Comic Con.

* Don’t forget you have to set up for Comic Con on Wednesday.

* Keep Writing.

* Finish reading Paula Baker’s new book (It’s excellent. I’m really loving it!)

* Write, write, write!

Lurking in the Woods submission due May 31!

* Cemetery Tours 3!

* Stop binge-watching Ghost Adventures.  Zak Bagans is not going to fall in love with you through the television screen.  Just let it go.

* Friend’s graduation on Sunday!

* You have to look nice two days in a row.

* Stop complaining about the weather.  I know the cold and the rain are giving you a bit of an attitude.  Get over it.

* Just stay focused.  So many good things are happening for you.  Keep working.  Enjoy it.  You have so much to look forward to.  Be gracious and keep going.

* Stop forgetting your allergy meds.

* Stop forgetting your anxiety meds.

* Again, write, write, write.

Love you all.  Have a great weekend!  I’ll let you know if I make it through in one piece.

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PS: All my writer friends, remember to check out my last post if you’d like to be a part of the Lurking series presented by Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing!

https://jackiesmith114.wordpress.com/2015/05/20/the-lurking-series/

Haunted Dreams

I’ve always had incredibly vivd dreams.  My mom always says it’s because of my active writer’s imagination. I guess that’s it, because I know better than to eat anything right before I go to bed.  Some of these dreams are a lot of fun, some are incredibly stressful, and some are just downright creepy.  Last night, I had one of the creepy ones.

It began with a friend of mine (in my dream only.  I don’t actually know this girl.  I don’t even remember her name) telling me that she and her fiancé were going to stay in this old, historic bed and breakfast and that she was terrified.  She said that they’d stayed there before and that she had been terrorized by what she thought was a demon in her room.

Now, it just so happens that in my dream, I was dating Zak Bagans (the lead investigator of Ghost Adventures… Who, you know, I honestly wouldn’t mind dating… He’s kind of hot… Anyway, I’m guessing this was all in my head because I was working on Cemetery Tours 3 last night till like, five in the morning).  Together, we agreed that we would go spend the night in this bed and breakfast to see if we could find out exactly what was going on.

The bed and breakfast itself was really cool and really creepy.  We were staying on the second or third floor, and it had old, fancy burgundy rugs lining the hallway and that overall sensation of a building that has stood for a very long time and has kept more secrets than most of us living can remember. My friend asked if she could spend the night in my room.  Honestly, I didn’t really want her to because I’m really scared of the idea of demonic entities, but I agreed anyway.

I had packed a crucifix, so I made sure to set that on the night stand as we were preparing for bed.  I said a couple of prayers, hoping they would protect the room and keep any unwanted spirits out.  But my friend was still in a panic.  She was convinced that this spirit was going to come for her just as soon as the lights went out.  I tried to comfort her, saying that the building was old, it made a lot of creaking noises, the foundation shifted…  It could very well all be in her mind.  But she wasn’t convinced.

Finally, we turned out the lights and settled into bed.  I was a little nervous, but I kept reminding myself that I grew up in a haunted house (it’s true) and that I’d always been able to sleep just fine.  But then, I heard footsteps walking across the room.  I glanced up and saw the reflection of a man’s silhouette on the television screen.  At first, I really thought it was my friend’s fiancé, so I sat up and looked around and realized that we were still alone.

Freaked out, I ran out into the hallway (yes, I totally abandoned my friend) and looked around for a sign of anyone who could have been the source of those footsteps.  There was no one.  However, as I was standing alone in the hall, some invisible presence rushed up behind me and growled in my ear.  I screamed bloody murder and ran down the hall to Zak’s room (wow, this is beginning to sound an awful lot like a fanfiction).  By the way, I have no idea why he left us girls alone to fight off a demon all by ourselves.  What a terrible boyfriend.

Anyway, I woke him up and told him about what had happened.  He went out into the hall to investigate while I stayed in his room like the scaredy-cat that I totally am.  Meanwhile, my friend joined me and I apologized for leaving her, but we both agreed we were not going back to that room.

Moments later, her fiancé came to get us.  He said that they’d discovered a loose panel in the wall outside of our bedroom.  My friend and I anxiously tip-toed back down the hall to where Zak and he had plied the panel off to reveal an old, dusty, wooden coffin.  It was disgusting and horrific, but I was totally intrigued.  No wonder that room was so haunted.  I told them that we should probably call the police or the manager or something before we went tearing into this creepy wooden box, but of course, no one listened to me.  Even in my own dream, I can’t make people listen to me.

They opened up the box to reveal, not the corpse of a person, but of a mangled, hairy beast, with the body of a jackal and the head of a boar.  I know where that came from.  In The Omen, Damian, the devil’s son, is born from the womb of a jackal.  By that point, I was absolutely done with everything having to do with that bed and breakfast.  I begged them not to mess with the body, to just leave it there and let professionals come in and deal with it, but again, no one listened to me.

The dream ended with the body being destroyed and the four of us hoping that would be the end of it.  But right before I woke up, my friend found a note scribbled on an old piece of parchment.  All the note said was, Don’t you remember me?

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So yeah, that was my dream last night.  Creepy as all hell.  But it left me totally inspired to keep working on Cemetery Tours 3, so that’s a good thing.

In other news, in the midst of editing horse pictures and playing outside, I’ve totally been overlooking all the work I really need to be doing.  For example, I need to revise my short story for the Lurking in the Deep anthology (Cover release on April 2!!!).  I still have an interview with Luke Rainer to write.  I have a friend’s book to edit.  Not to mention, it’s almost April!  Boy Band will be released in less than a month!  In like, 22 days!  I’m so excited!  But I need to get a few more teasers out and get to work formatting the eBooks.  It will all happen.  I just need to get organized.  Make a list.  That’s always my go-to strategy.  Make a to-do list.

That being said, I should probably go get started.  Happy Tuesday, everyone!