I remember coming across the picture on the left, both originally published in Life Magazine and taken by photographer, Eliot Elisofon.  I had gotten somewhere during high school.  I’m not sure where because I didn’t subscribe to this magazine, but when I saw this picture of Roddy McDowall as Ariel from “The Tempest,” I was in awe.  This was before I knew anything about the actor.  It was before I knew he was in Planet of the Apes, The Poseidon Adventure, and Cleopatra.  It was before I knew what “The Tempest” was about and before I bought the kid’s version of it for my nephew.  I am still in awe of his performance and his expression.

Why did this photograph stick with me after all these years?  Because when you push aside the story of treachery, marriage, boats, and water, the face speaks for itself.  This is a spirit who wants something other than what it has.  The stare alone should conclude that even if you don’t know what it is referencing, this isn’t something you want to disregard.  This is a catalyst for me, I believe way back when in my high school days, when I first conceived my trilogy.  I still need to write it and what I want to unfold on the pages remain the same: violence, mysticism, evolution, sacrifice, fighting, bloodlines, creation, families, and more.

This is the dilemma I go through: wanting to work on five different stories at one time but only having the realistic option to truly work on one at a time if I want to actually finish something.  The same goes for my coloring as well as my reading as well as most everything I do.  I still have my goal of finishing my rewrite by the end of the this year, but now I feel like working on my killer/detective story after it.  Yet, I know I must go back to my two sisters story because that can’t be put off anymore either.

Roddy McDowall died in 1998 of lung cancer and a recent co-worker of mine who died in her 50s reminds me no one is guaranteed a long life.  I sometimes feel I should have so much more done by my age, but I suppose this is what life is all about.  Yet, it seems my time is dwindling with each rapidly passing week and month.

I’m currently re-watching The Last Kingdom on Netflix and realize the comfort it brings me to watch historical fiction play out on the screen.  It’s crazy.  Don’t ask me why.  The only way for me get through these feelings of lack of time and overwhelming sense of urgency of my creative endeavors is to confront the emotions.  Lasso them in and push them out in other ways.  I do plan on re-writing this weekend and while I am getting closer to the finish line, page by page, I have a ways to go.  I don’t see the yet.

As I part ways for tonight on my blog, knowing I am a mixture of odds and ends, the only time I forget about anything is when I’m jogging in 90+ Fahrenheit heat.  I will be doing this very soon. Ariel received much desired freedom eventually and so do I wish as well as everyone else reading and not reading this blog.  Good night, everyone and in some places, good morning or afternoon.