Friday, April 04, 2008

Irony, sweet irony

Some things, I believe, only happen to writers. It's the irony of it all, the "figures" that makes this true. After all, where else would we glean our material?




For example: "It figures" that the one night I'm wrought with nightnames literally all night long precedes the one morning that I am left alone in my sister's townhouse, with raging storms outside, and blow a fuse drying my hair - leaving me instantly plunged into darkness.

Fun stuff, especially while pregnant and running on minimum brain cells.

Yep, only to a writer!

My sister (who we are currently living with until our new house is ready in May) decided to spend the night with friends last night, which meant that - after hubby left for work at 5:45 a.m. - left me alone in her two-story townhouse. I was already creeped out from starting Ted Dekker's "Skin" novel the night before, and the edginess of my bad dreams was still hovering over my head like a storm cloud (conveniently matching the ones outside!!!)

So there I am, drying my hair and hurrying to get to work, when I blow a fuse. The upstairs is suddenly DARK. So with wet hair, by the glow of the computer light (which actually made the entire setting even freakier) I have to get dressed, pretend there is nothing scary hidden in the dark shadows around the upstairs, stumble downstairs, find the storage room key, go outside into more darkness (the storm was so bad, it was pitch black outside!) and unlock the tiny dank storage room that I've never been in, all the while knowing this is exactly the set-up that would be in a really cheesy B-grade horror movie. Lightning split the sky and the door even creaked when I opened it - fantastic. There was even a string hanging from the ceiling with a bare bulb. I'm not kidding. I almost heard the Psycho "rreeee reeeeee".


I look at the breaker box like I have a CLUE what I'm staring at (ha!) and finally figure out one switch is in a different place than the rest. I pop it back and hurry inside the house. Voila- lights. I'm officially a genius - a creeped out genius who is now too edgy to even sit down and enjoy her cereal. So I finished getting ready for work and left as quick as I could.

See I really am much smarter today - because I've learned one very, very important lesson:

NEVER READ ANYTHING BY TED DEKKER WHILE PREGNANT, PRONE TO CRAZY DREAMS, ON THE NIGHT BEFORE A STORM.

I'll try to finish "Skin" (which really looks great!) after I have my baby - at noon - with my back against a wall - with every light on - in the summer - with 5 people in the house with me - and my Bible propped in my lap - and maybe Bugs Bunny playing on the TV.

7 comments:

Georgiana Daniels said...

LOL, Bugs Bunny. I don't think I'd have had the spine to go into the storage room and look for the fuse. Not happening with this big chicken.

Catherine West said...

haha. Oh dear. Maybe you should start writing suspense. I don't know whether that would toughen you up or make you more paranoid though...

Lori said...

At least there were no rodents in this story... Rodents would have definitely pushed me over the edge. That or mysterious creaks from floors I'm not on.

Way to handle it though, you genius, you!

Erica Vetsch said...

I was laughing out loud reading this, but Bugs Bunny tipped me right over the edge to howling out loud. You are too funny, girl.

And I don't read Ted Dekker at any time, in any crowd, with ANYTHING playing on the tv.

Dineen A. Miller said...

LOL! You poor thing. Hope you have a very dull and predictably safe weekend. You probably need it after this. Hee hee...and tell hubby you need a nightlight. LOL!
(((((((((HUGS)))))))))

Rachel Leigh Smith said...

That very same storm system has been thundering, pouring and lightening over me ALL DAY. Talk about perfect weather for writing suspense. It's 10pm now and still thundering.

Alene said...

Jumping over from ShoutLife! Love the story, because it is so ME. Cute! Thanks for sharing. Keep your back against the wall. Blessings.