WW March 26th 2008

I worry about us sometimes. I really do.

Here we are, we humans, at the height of our evolution to date. Think about that for a moment. Think back to the dawn of humanity. There we were just us and this earth with all the abundance of nature. And look what we have wrought from it. Whatever we have now that we didn’t have at the dawn of civilization, we have created. No one parachuted supplies to planet earth. All that we have came from the earth and our own ingenuity and creativity. Just look at the difference between nothing but rocks and trees and fields and streams and oceans to what we have today. Isn’t it amazing? Isn’t it miraculous?

So why do we create boxes to hold clothes irons bearing the words, “do not iron clothes while wearing them.”?

I ask, because inquiring minds want to know.

I went to the medical lab here in town last week for some blood tests. This is a small town, what you might call a bedroom community, with large cities laying within easy commuting distance, and a vast amount of farmland surrounding it.

I timed my trip to the lab well, getting there about a half hour before lunch. There was one other person there. They called the gentleman in, and a few moments later he was done, and left. So there was only me. Within moments, my name was called, and into the inner sanctum I trooped. I’d already checked in, given the nurse the requisition from my doctor, and presented my health card to be ‘swiped’ into the computer. The printer attached to the computer had then obligingly printed out stickers for the tubes of blood they were about to draw from me. These stickers not only bore my name, but my doctor’s name as well.

I took a seat, and rolled up my sleeve. “I’m going to have to ask you for your name and address, please,” the lab tech said. What, they hadn’t believed me? Or maybe I appeared to be a doddering old woman, unsure of my own identity? No, it was neither of those. “We have to verify that you are you because sometimes we call a name and the wrong person responds.”

Yes. You know me, I had to ask. “You mean, sometimes you call out ‘Annie’, and Peter follows you into the room?” “It has happened,” came the quite serious answer.

“Amazing. But I was your only customer just now,” says I. “Doesn’t matter,” says she. “The rule is, we have to ask.”

This ranks right up there with the time I called a government medical hotline. I had a sore close to my eye and I wanted to apply an ointment we’ll call ointment X, which is a good healing cream for scratches and cuts. However, after reading the box I couldn’t tell if it would be safe to use next to my eye, or not.

After many questions and being passed to a second nurse, and then a nurse-pharmacist, the question came: “Ms. Ashbury, is this Ointment X, or Ointment X For Eyes?” Cautiously, with perhaps a hint of sarcasm in my voice, I responded, “If it was ‘Ointment X For Eyes’, I would not be calling you.” The lady on the line sighed heavily and said, “Yes, I know, but I am required to ask.”

This brings me to the reason I’m worried. We seem to have evolved right past intelligent, creative beings, and into a society of morons.

When I was a kid, if I did something or said something stupid, my momma would say to me, “Don’t be so bloody stupid. Stop and think for a moment. Where’s your common sense?” That was not only her response, it was the normal response to stupidity.

When did we change the reaction to stupid behavior from that to, “Oh dear. We have to have a procedure to protect the person—and us—from this stupidity.”? And perhaps more to the point, why did we change it?

When a baby learns to walk, they’re very wobbly at first. But we, as parents, encourage that baby to keep trying, to stretch beyond what is natural or possible at that point in time, to strive to get better. When our children go to school and begin the educational process, the same principle applies to the brain, does it not? We introduce them to one plus one equals two and then set the bar higher, and higher still until the student is contemplating complicated algorithms.

And yet, we drink take-out coffee from cardboard cups with the words, “Warning! Contents hot!” printed on the side.

Perhaps more alarming than all the warning labels needed and all the new procedures being implemented, is the fact that having to take these precautions nowadays seems...normal.
Perhaps what we ought to do is really appreciate all the advances humankind has made to date, and cherish them. Because I’m not sure, given the current climate of cautionary dogma, how much progress we’ll be able to make in the decades and centuries yet to come.

Love,
Morgan

Wednesday's Words

My beloved bought me a lap top computer for Christmas.

Now, there are two things you need to know, here. The first is that, sadly, I’ll never see forty again. The second thing is that technology and I just don’t seem to get along.

I didn’t know what to think when I unwrapped the package and saw what I’d been given. I’d never received an expensive gift before, and so, of course, I was very grateful. Grateful not just for the money spent, but for the faith in and support for my writing career this gift demonstrated.

But it’s a lap top computer. It came equipped with a built in microphone and web cam. It did not come with a writing program. I can take it back to the retailer at the end of the month to have the new Windows program, Vista, installed, free of charge. So, no sense in installing a writing program just yet.

I told my oldest son: “I don’t know how to use it.” He was eloquent in his response: “Turn it on.”

I told my daughter: “I don’t know how to use it.” She, too, was eloquent: “Read the directions.”

The directions were the most eloquent of all: 1) Unpack the box (actually had to do this in order to get the sheet containing the directions that told me to unpack the box.) 2) Insert battery. 3) Connect to external power 4) Turn on the Computer 5) Follow the on-screen instructions (SEE! – it’s so complicated, they couldn’t even print out the rest of the directions!!)

One really good thing: the manufacturer of my lap top has a 24/7 live help desk where I can click on the thingy and begin an online chat with someone who knows all about the lap top, and can answer all my questions. I suspect that we’re going to be very good friends.

I had occasion to participate in a group discussion, recently, and the topic was love.

I know, some of you might think that’s a strange topic for an erotic romance author. There was the usual “love is a battlefield”, “love is for suckers” type of comments. There were some who were blissfully happy with their life-long mates, and some whose happiness had shattered because either they or their partners had committed an unpardonable offence, or had fallen out of love.

The ones that snagged my attention, however, were the one or two who declared their very serious, soul mate relationships had ended because of ‘circumstance’. One said, “we love each other, but that’s just the way it is.”

This floored me. Not be with the one you love above all others, your soul mate, due to ‘circumstance’? Accept that outcome without a fight?

Perhaps I’m too much of an optimist, and too much of an idealist. But you see, I figure it’s like this: life is short and uncertain and filled with events and people that aren’t always kind to us, so therefore we need to be kind to ourselves. And the kindest thing we can do for ourselves, if we are lucky enough to find that one person who lights up our hearts and lifts our souls, is to do everything we can to hang on to them with both hands. Truly rare, I believe, is the ‘circumstance’ that cannot be overcome.

To love means you’re willing to scale any mountain, cross any ocean, defeat any obstacle, in order to nurture and protect and cherish that love. Giving up isn’t even an option.

Love,
Morgan

Wednesday's Words

Now that life is settling down into normal routines after the holidays, it’s nice to take a few moments and reflect on the weeks just past. Sometimes, thinking of special moments that happened – be they poignant or funny – can help you set those memories so you can easily pull them up to help you get through the “winter blah” times to come.

I remember one Christmas, when I hosted the entire family. There were fifteen of us at my table, and man, did I cook up a storm. My husband always chides me for cooking too much food. I always remind him right back that Christmas time is a ‘feast’, and the entire purpose of a feast is to have way too much food.

This one meal in particular, I recall, because we didn’t often have my in-laws on Christmas. There was a green salad and coleslaw, turkey and stuffing, baked ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice with raisins, broccoli, cauliflower with cheese sauce, turnip, dinner rolls, and several different kinds of dessert.

I had just taken my seat at the table, wondering if I had the energy to eat, when my eighteen-year-old son turned to me and said, “We should eat like this everyday!”

Well, of course, we can’t eat like that everyday. But wouldn’t it be nice if we could greet every day with the same sense of family and friendship and sharing that we enjoy at Christmas?

Love,
Morgan

A New Year, A New Beginning

Once the rush and wrapping paper of Christmas is over, what I like best about this time of year is the anticipation of a new year, and new beginnings.

As the pivotal day approaches, some of us make resolutions, and some of us clean our houses top to bottom. Maybe we make arrangements to go to a party in a big hotel where we take a room and don’t have to worry about driving home, or perhaps we plan to attend a gathering at a friend’s, or maybe we just decide to stay home and watch on television as the ball drops in Times Square. But in whatever fashion we greet those first moments of the New Year, we are, almost every one of us, brimming with jubilation and excitement. We are filled with hope.

All that was, has passed away. The slate is wiped clean, and everything is new again.

Just think of the possibilities!


Love,
Morgan

From me, to you

As Christmas approaches and the year winds down, I find my thoughts drifting to the past. When you’ve lived long enough, you come to the point where even the most joyous occasions are, if not bittersweet, at least flavored with a touch of sobriety. Certain times of year bring us thoughts of loved ones no longer with us; friends moved far away; and even places that have been erased, or changed, forever. We look back over the years to who we used to be, and wonder where that bright-eyed, youthful person has gone.

But this time of year is also a time of hope and renewal. A new year lurks just around the corner and we wonder – in moments when we re-discover that bright-eyed youth within us – just what joyful surprises are in store for us.

May your New Year be filled with joy, laughter, and love.

Love,
Morgan

You Just Never Know

Last year, I participated in NaNo. For those of you who don't know, that's the short form for National Novel Writing Month Challenge. The object of the challenge is to write a 50,000 word novel from November 1 to November 30th. I needed the challenge desperately, then. I had begun my first brand new work in a long time - the story that became Made For Each Other - and I was stalling out, just like an engine that hasn't run for a long time. Kelley Armstrong - author of the best selling "Women of The Otherworld" series - and Raina Toomey both challenged me to do NaNo, and I thought yeah, I need to write just for the hell of it. I needed to rediscover the joy of writing.

Well, very shortly after commencing this project, Kelley sent me a message: this is National Novel Writing Month, not National Novel Writing Week!

My story took off, and 15 days later was finished at 54,000 words. Entitled "Once Upon A Time", it was a light romance with no conflict and a simple premise: two fairy godmothers receive an infusion of power when a woman confesses her belief in them. I have in this story not one, but four romances. And I remember telling Raina at the time that it was a cute story, but not marketable as there was no conflict.

But you just never know.

I am currently working on a synopsis for a three bookd series, "Once Upon A Time", which I will be sending to my publisher, Diana DeBalko of Siren Publishing. She's excited about the concept...and so am I.

And yes, I found lots of conflict that I could inject into this mega romance!

Love,
Morgan

Visit my website: http://www.morganashbury.com