To Post...or...Not to Post...

I've been helping regional writers find a publishing platform for their stories for over 20 years, but last week something happened that I never would have expected in a million years. I'm not going to give you any revealing details because knowing the authors, they probably wanted me to revel in the magical moment, let it go, and move on to the next moment fate had in store for me. This was just so special and so precious that I had to record it for posterity.

I do most of my editing/writing/publishing at a local Starbucks and last Friday when I walked in, there was a package waiting for me with my name on it! I sat down in my usual spot in front of a wall of windows looking west with a panoramic view, set up my laptop, popped open my Refresher, and opened the package. There were three greeting cards each signed by a different person.

The people who signed the cards were characters in the story I was working on!! It was a fiction tale full of magic and mystery, much of which I'd come to believe might actually be possible! For a moment I was transported into a Twilight Zone where fiction invaded the real world, the characters came to life, reached out and touched me with their affectionate words of gratitude.

Seeing their signatures left me in a daze for minutes wondering if indeed they had truly become a living presence in the flesh-and-blood world I inhabited. I let myself come back to earth, but I didn't want to as I took a long sip from my Blueberry Refresher, shaking my head.

At that moment I knew what I was doing, all the hours editing, writing, producing books, had nothing to do with money or fame, but rather it was all about relationships and supporting each other in the creative community.

I'd very much like to tell you who those characters were, and who the authors of that book are, but I'm afraid if I do I'll break the magical spell that delivered a special package with my name on it to my favorite cafe in the literary Twilight Zone.

Magic or Mere Coincidence

The "Magic" swirling around the Hazel Moon project continued to intensify. Authors Lisa & Lori Minneti were planning on attending the Rick Springfield concert at our local Bastille Days Festival which also happened to be one of my favorite summer festivals. Upon arriving, I saw the Arcadia's Oracle tent and was drawn to one of the psychics. I asked her to give me some explanation for these bazaar happenings, were they mere coincidences or were they somehow connected to the project.

In no uncertain terms, she told me they were "signs" that unseen forces were indeed guiding the unfolding of the destiny of the project, and, that the authors were sharing truths about the reality of the magic of this unseen world. She went on to describe the authors as being "High Priestesses" on a mission to enlighten our world and that they were old, wise souls who had lived before.

A week earlier, at work one of the authors was in an office where a nickname was given to the receptionist, and it was suggested that everyone have a special alternate name to represent them. Our author chose, High Priestess and only later learned from me that the fortune teller had given her that very designation!

Here is a scene from Chapter 9 in Hazel Moon:

Stage left, standing still like a statue of the Madonna, was Lady Luna, her China-doll perfect skin beginning to glow as if she were the actual Madonna about to be taken bodily up into heaven.

The book's Luna character is an immortal being who can shape-shift into physical form, has lived many lifetimes, and takes on a variety of stunning appearances. At the festival I found this animated statue to be a remarkable representation of Luna! An actual living human being, she would stay still until someone tipped her, then she would make a few slow gestures, often pausing for a photo, before resuming her pose as a still statue.

The Tarot Card reader, a fortune teller, also was a remarkable representation of the Mrs. Casimir character in the book, someone who helps guide November and gives her a magical gift.

Throughout the story there are references to Celtic lore, and the Salmon of Knowledge story is prominent. I walked to a park just outside of the Bastille Day festival grounds, sat down on a bench, and saw this Birds of Knowledge plaque about a sculpture on display.

And last, but probably not the end of these incidents of "Magic" author Lisa Minneti was out walking her dog, Jake, and came across two dead bunnies, the dead bunnies featured in two prominent scenes in her book.

So, although it might be normal to write these incidents off as common occurrences, mere coincidences, they might also be a strong indication that the world is more than we know and somehow what we imagine can shape our physical reality.

Whitesnake Concert

Last night the authors of Hazel Moon invited me to attend the Whitesnake concert taking place at Summerfest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. First of all, the band still puts on a show to rival what they did in their prime in the '80s but today they seemed to have attracted an audience of loyal fans from a wide range of ages. David Coverdale's voice was a strong as ever and their new material was actually quite good! All that aside, how did going to the Whitesnake concert enter the world of Hazel Moon?

Lisa sent me links to two music videos where Lori was featured. I commented that she was Tawny Kitaen gorgeous and deserved the hot spot in the video. Then, it turns out that Lori loves Whitesnake, the band that made Tawny Kitain famous, and had a thing for David Coverdale. Within hours it seemed, it came to my attention that Whitesnake was apearing in a matter of days at our annual lakefront music festival in Milwaukee, and Lori, an actress by profession and a television personality as well, was planning to dress up as Tawny Kitaen in the famous Whitesnake video, and Lori could have been a standin for Tawny in the video, so that's how we all ended up there.

This concert means so much more because it seemed to be the apex of a series of "Magical" connections surrounding the unfolding, the birthing of the novel, Hazel Moon. First, there was the incredible Synchronicity of my "running into" Lisa at a Walgreens on the day before Easter, a day known to symbolize Resurrection & Renewal. I hadn't spoken to her in over 20 years, I'd seen her one or two times since then, but we weren't really friends, and yet that day I had to tap her on the shoulder and within minutes she learned I was a publisher, and I learned she had a manuscript for a novel.

Within days I had the manuscript copy and got to work, chapter by chapter, shaping the material into a form that would better appeal to a wide audience. From the first page on I recognized I had been given a diamond in the rough, a fantasy tale surrounding the coming-of-age of a girl whose religion, whose center came from the world and culture surrounding live concert performances and in general, music and song lyrics. The story's theme served as a powerful metaphor that any reader could apply to their personal source of inspiration and grow from the reading.

Running into Lisa was just the first of a long list of magical synchronicity happenings. For example, Hazel Moon takes place over a 24-hour period during a full moon in August of 1984 when characters November and Angela were all but desperate to see their favorite band in concert at the Hazel Moon Music Festival going on in their area. During the Whitesnake concert David Coverdale pointed the full moon out to the crowd and Lisa, Lori and I looked at each other and were the only people in the world who were thinking not of Whitesnake, but of the world they'd created in Hazel Moon.

Another example of an extraordinary connection, within hours of editing a scene where a little bunny was killed by a predator, I found a baby rabbit on my driveway in the same condition as described in the book. Also, within hours of editing a scene about a fawn, my sister came over and mentioned seeing a fawn during a walk for the very first time in her entire life. I don't pretend to understand the magic involved, but I suspect it is somehow connected to the power of prayer and intention and imagination to create our destinies. That prospect is a subtle challenge for the reader of Hazel Moon to wrestle with.

Early on in the project, I suggested meeting at the cafe where I do most of my writing. When Lisa & Lori arrived, they saw the many colored lights of a carnival going on nearby, and in the remaining mist of some rain clouds, Lisa saw a rainbow. In the book there are many many references to different kinds of beautiful, rare colors, and rainbows are featured in multiple scenes. Lisa saw the rainbow in the mist as a sign that developing the book was part of our collective destiny.

Then, we find out that the band featured in the book, Echo and the Bunnymen, were actually touring in America and would be in Chicago this coming September, giving the author's a powerful opportunity to engage the band in helping promote their novel.

Throughout the book, Hazel Moon, the authors press home the idea that magic is swirling around each one of us constantly, and all we have to do is open our eyes to see that the world is much more than we know.