April 14, 2004

Dreams

I'm so damn

"Dreams are doorways... if we but have the courage to step over the threshold."

"...She would wake sometimes in the middle of the night with the ragged scraps of a dream floating around in her head, and lie watching the stars, thinking: Was I at the door then? And was there something wonderful on the other side, that I've already forgotten?

She became determined to keep these fragments from escaping her, and with a little practice she learned to snatch hold of them upon waking and describe them to herself. Words held them, she found, however rudimentary. A few syllables were all that was needed to keep a dream from slipping away.

She kept the skill to herself, and it was a pleasant distraction for the long, dusty days of summer to sit in the wagon and sew pieces of remembered dreams together so that they made stories stranger than any to be found in her books."
-From "Everville" by Clive Barker

Some authors provide more than just a wonderful journey - they make me feel proud and exhilirated to be a writer. A particular chapter or turn of phrase will cause me to gently set their story down temporarily, pick up my own pen (or more likely these days, my keyboard!) and dive headlong into my own worlds. Clive Barker is foremost among them. One of my goals is for my own writing to have that magical effect - to not just entertain and take readers on a journey, but to make them want to create their own.

Have a good day and thanks for reading.

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