Magic in the Air

By Margie Senechal

Greetings! I know it's been a long while since we last spoke, but I'm back. I'm sorry for my negligence. 

Last year, the Wranglers decided to go to one post a month and we each chose a date. And for some reason that seemed to stunt my creativity as to this blog. I'd think about blogging something and then I'd be like, I can't, it's not my day. 

Which is stupid, because I could have scheduled it or just posted one as long as I wasn't interfering with someone else's date. 

Today is the 12th and the date I chose and I'm blogging and not just about my failure :)

For Christmas eve, we (my sisters and our families) gather at my mom's to exchange stockings and enjoy each other's company (hopefully, we are three sisters, after all). It's one of the few times of the year, our entire family is all in one place and this year we will have a brand-new baby on board as my nephew and his wife are expecting a girl in early December. 

Anyway, last Christmas Eve, KB and I were driving to my Mom's and I happened to look to my right and on one of the side roads, I saw a man swooping a bubble wand and casting bubbles into the air. I tried to get KB to turn down another road so we could go around the block and see what it was all about. She thought I was seeing things and turned onto the freeway on-ramp. 

Fast forward like six months and I'm coming home from visiting the Woodstock area of Portland. I'm at the light to get on the freeway at Foster. The light is red and what looks like possibly a homeless man crosses with the light. He gets to the next light and pulls out a bubble wand. And I watch from my red light as he dips and swirls bubbles into the air. Then our light to turns green and he packs his bubble stuff away and I pass him as I cross onto the ramp to head home.

KB still thinks I'm seeing things. But there are worse things to see than a shower of bubbles. 

A few weeks after the bubble man, JV and I stopped at the Burgerville near our house to pick up an order and outside on the garbage can was a water jug filled with flowers that someone left there.

We drive by this location quite often as it's on the thoroughfare to get home. The employees and management didn't remove the flowers for several days. I don't know who left them, but just knowing someone did gave me hope for the future of mankind. Something as gentle as a few flowers left on top of a garbage can.

My mom and I went to a memorial service for a good friend of her's from years ago and acquired a packet or two of wildflower seeds to be planted in her name. A few weeks later, I planted them and waited for them to grow and basically the only thing that grew were what looked like Sunflowers to me. They have ginormous leaves and stalks. 

My dad always grew sunflowers and then he'd lop of the heads and leave them for the birds--after taking some for himself to roast. I started growing them too late as they are just now beginning to open up. 

Last night when I pointed them out, I discovered that Mike, KB, and JV all love sunflowers. So next year I'm planting some intentionally and I will lop off the heads when they're ready for the birds and squirrels to enjoy.

And onto Suitcases--I thought I was done. I'd had a few readers give me beautiful reviews and then I struggled with the query letter. I did query a number of agents to no interest. One agent suggested I needed to add 10-15 thousand more words as 71000 is too short for women's fiction with a magical realism twist.

So, after months of not looking at my manuscript, I printed it out in its entirety and began reading it. It was amazing what I found-- an inconsistent timeline, spelling and grammar mistakes, and miraculously, places where I could add a few thousand words here and there. 

I forgot one of the tenants of writing a novel. When you're done, pack it away for a few months, even six months, and then read it with new eyes. So, I am working on refining my book and putting more words down on the page. And maybe when I get this version done, I will be able to write the kick butt query letter that will entice an agent or two. 

I'm going to close now on a hopeful note, because I feel more hopeful these days than I have in a long time. Anyone else seen bubbles on corners or around the bend?