AIRICKA PHOENIX

Yes, I’m a strong believer in dreams and doing whatever it takes to make them come true, but that isn’t the sort of dreams I’m talking about right now.

I dreamt about my grandmother last night, which was strange and overwhelming at the same time. I haven’t seen my grandma in a little over fifteen years, mostly due to distance.But I talk to her daily on the phone (and even attempted to get her computer savvy enough to use a webcam. It was a bust in the first five minutes).

So, back to the dream.In my dream, I was walking into my sitting room, it was night and I had my tea mug in hand. I was headed for the kitchen when I spotted my grandma sitting on the sofa, just smiling at me as though nothing in the world made her happier than to see me. The mug in my hand dropped, making a muffled thud against the carpet. I lunged across the room and threw myself into her arms. The strangest part, I could actually smell her, a familiar fragrance of cigarettes and violet perfume. And all the while I was sobbing, crying my heart out, I kept telling myself that this was just a dream! Just a dream! It didn’t matter. She was there.

I don’t know how long I sat there at her feet, head on her lap, cherishing every stroke of her age-worn hand through my hair, but I could tell I was beginning to wake up, no matter how hard I tried to cling to that moment. Then, just when the real world began to rustle in my ears, disturbing the tranquility of my dream, my grandma touched my head once more and said, “You will see me soon.”

Then, I was awake, staring at the ceiling fan and listening to the sound of laughter from below as my husband tried to herd the children to the breakfast table. I replayed the dream in my mind over-and-over again, determined to remember every line on my grandmother’s face, every twinkle in her eyes. Her words haunted me for nearly an hour, even though I told myself that it was just my most wishful thoughts to see her again.

But as I lay there, my brain had one of its frequent ADD moments and began to wander, taking pieces of the dream and twisting it into a plot. By the time I rolled out of bed, grabbed my notepad and pen, I had an entire story written out. I honestly can’t wait to start on it, if for no other reason than to remember my dream. I’m really quite excited about it.

Speaking of stories, I sent the first 120pgs of my Dead series to get a second and third eye over by a couple of very close friends of mine. I’ll give the pages a fourth over when they send them back and then… THEN I will start sending out MSS and the Query letters I’ve written and polished to an inch of their lives. I feel like I’m about to get on a rollercoaster, all knotted, excited and terrified.