A few items came to my mind that didn’t fit the length of a typical blog entry. Usually I’m reluctant to publish them, but I think I’ll include more of them in the future. Maybe I’ll call the recurring theme “Saturday Stream of Consciousness” until something better occurs to me.

Photo credit: Jon Roig https://www.flickr.com/photos/runnr_az/5840862249/in/photolist-9U8WRx-6vWW9Z-7UVMq1-pmHn7g

I tried a float session and have mixed feelings. The term “sensory deprivation tank” sounds scary, I guess, but that’s what I was expecting. For marketing purposes, “float” sounds less torturous. When I read Dean Koontz’s The Door to December, I was fascinated by the concept and wondered what sensory deprivation might hold in store for me. I knew it wouldn’t be like what I read in the novel. That would have scarred me for life. I hoped that I might experience something enlightening, like a trance in which I could remember something long forgotten. Instead I just fell into a deep relaxation. I turned off all the lights and ambient music, surrendered to the womb-like warmth and quiet, floated in the salty water so much like the blood flowing through my body. I listened to my heartbeat and my breaths and eventually slumbered, until bubbling jets alerted me that my session had come to an end. It felt like something between a really calm night at the beach and waking from a dream because had to pee. I don’t know if I’ll try it again. My senses weren’t truly deprived, not like what I sincerely wanted. I might have had similar experiences with a hot bath, followed by a nap. If any of you have tried a float session, please leave me a comment. I’d love to read your experiences.

I’m excited to be attending a local writing conference next week. It was rescheduled after Hurricane Florence interfered with its fall date. (Wouldn’t it have been nice if that had been the only problem the hurricane created? Luckily for me, that was nearly the only inconvenience I suffered.) It’s only a one-day conference, but it’s my first. I hope to overcome my introversion and make some contacts among the attendees. So far, I haven’t had much luck finding a local writing group that meets when or where it’s realistic for me to attend. Maybe I can create one with some of the conference participants I meet. I’ve tried a couple of times to enroll in a local speculative fiction writing class, but it was cancelled due to low enrollment both times. While some of my experiences with online writing groups have been great, I feel like a smaller group of local writers would be better. Maybe I’m wrong. Perhaps the distance inherent in an online group allows people to feel more confident in giving honest criticism of my work. I’d like to find out which method helps me write better.

Fool’s Spring is over. You may have seen a popular post in one or more of your favorite social media outlets about this. We had a few really nice days in a row, enough to get my heart singing with the birds for a lasting breath of warmth. I had to use the air conditioning, but now the heat is running again. The poor trees that already blossomed are hating the returning cold. The migrating geese are probably regretting their wasted trip north. At least I know better, after two decades in NC, than to have swapped out my cold weather clothes for my summer things. Of course, last year at this time I was mowing the lawn. You never can tell, and that’s the only consistency.