Tag. I’m it again…another blog-swap-a-roo!

My really cool author friend, Marianne K. Martin, http://redroom.com/member/marianne-k-martin/blog asked me to do the swap again.

According to the rules of the hop, I will be answering some questions (the same ones for every other blog hopper) about either my newest release or my WIP (work-in-progress).

But, before I begin…a note on the crisis in our schools.

I know that Marianne is a former teacher and so am I. Today, I am asking all of my author friends across the presses to write to your congressman or congresswoman or to find a few minutes to take any action on your blogs or your public forums to take a firm stand on this gun crisis we have in our schools. By firm, I mean just that. I worked in a prison and never wore a gun, never carried a shotgun, or an assault rifle, although I was trained on all three. We didn’t carry them because the prisoners outnumbered the teachers (I was a teacher) and the correctional workers. No teacher, nor principal, nor anyone on school grounds should carry a weapon (I am speaking of what I saw in the Texas school system just the other day). Google it. You’ll see.

The idea is simple. Get the assault weapons out of the hands of anyone. Is that so hard? A simple pistol and shotgun will do it if you’re a hunter. Bambi doesn’t need 85 rounds shot in 2.4 seconds to die. One buckshot will do.

And, as far as self-protection. Really, you need that many weapons for whom? The terrorists and neighborhood bullies really aren’t as interested in you as you think you are. Down, ego, down.

The sale of these weapons has to stop NOW and then the powers to be can get the mental health crisis, um, ahem, that has been around for thousands of years, better managed. We need a loud voice…we need some money…we need authors or anyone reading this to take a stand.

There are 26 voices in the sky making the 911 to you.

To me, it is loud and clear.

Okay…here is the recap:

What is the working title of your book?

Book Six or The Magical Meditation Tour
 Where did the idea come from for the book?     

This book’s brainchild certainly isn’t the title. It is a series of meditations that have taken place since February of this year. It orbits in and around the astrology of deep meditation and it takes flight on an inner starship I’ve come to know as my own over-soul. One that is connected energetically to all that we know, all that we don’t know. How woo-woo can I go, right?

What genre does your book fall under?  

Silliness. Can you believe what I just said up there? It sounds like I’ve been holding séances in my head. But, actually, there is much truth to it. We are evolving (now) into a different age and I am glad that meditation is one of the activities everyone can take part in if we could just stop worrying about what is going to happen next…like the next question here.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? 

I am going to select my second book, Piper’s Someday.  I would choose Jodie Foster’s child star (has she had a kid yet?) to play Piper and then I would choose Allen Arkin to play her grandfather. We’d have to locate a pretty cute three-legged dog somewhere. As far as Jenny, the cute postal worker, I’d have to say Hilary Swank. Andrea, her girlfriend, should be played by a femmie star…oh, um, Emma Stone. I’ll check with Steven Spielberg and get back with you.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Space, the final frontier. Can I steal that from Gene Rodenberry?

What is the longer synopsis of your book?

If the truth be told, I have barely written a cohesive paragraph on this new one which might not come out for quite a while because it will not be lesbian fiction. But, I am noodling it over and have two or three notebooks full of meditations and will be harnessing the energy of those to create a mythic experience for the reader. This is the goal: to transcend, to entertain, and to inform. To sell, sell, sell and then invite all my friends on an Olivia Cruise with Kate Clinton.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I have no idea.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Most of my first drafts take anywhere from ten weeks to ten months, depending on how much I have going on. My best books come when I write them very fast. My second novel was written in ten weeks. The pads of my fingers were on fire by the time I finished that one.

Who or What inspired you to write this book?

The death of a good friend from pancreatic cancer and the death of my own sweet dog from cancer as well. The idea of death was a really foreign concept to me for many years and right as they were going through the “passing,” I got highly interested in what that was. What it looked like from a human perspective. The idea that we are all spiritual beings having a human experience did not resonate with me till I began reading, book by book, a series of authors who helped me conjugate the losses. It has been one of the most powerful years of my life. So, I thought I might share it with some people.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Look around you. Everyone is talking and walking the spiritual line. We have ayurvedic medicine, yoga, green grass shots at your local health food store, breathing spaces, Super Soul Sunday with Oprah, and a host of activities that are mind, body, spirit. Nutty, crunchy, earthy, and fun. To me, it seems as if religion and church are a fading entity. Thank God. While they give one structure, history, and biblical (or other great book) perspective, I think many people are challenged instead these days by moving forward into a different belief system that just works better. One that is based on new beliefs, new mindsets, new technology, a re-creation of who we are and why we need to wake up to better possibilities rather than stay stuck in outdated insular thinking that just, frankly, doesn’t do it for most people anymore.

It is just downright more provocative and fun.

I want to cross the spiritual line and enter into a new age. It’s coming, you know. December 21^st, 2012 will put us into the Age of Spirit. The veil on the other side is thinning. I am elated and can’t wait to follow the yellow brick road to a better us.

Happy Holidays to all of you,

Ruth

p.s. I’m calling on all of my author friends across the blogosphere to answer these questions for next week if you have time. If you don’t, then at least take that stance on gun control. We need your help!