Liminal Lands

Are you a collector? I collect words. Hear me out. When I was little, I collected stickers and interesting rocks. When I got older I started collecting glass bottles. I’ve always collected journals and pens, but as any collector knows, collections need space. There comes a point when you must tell yourself the collection is finished. Not so with words!

Words evoke and illustrate. In the right hands (or mouth) they can create whole words or destroy them. There’s power in words and potency in the right words. The same is true of a story, itself an intricate working of words.

So, when I found myself at a loss for the right words to complete this post, I decided to incorporate my love of stories and interesting words. Part of the joy of collections is occasionally trotting them out and remembering why you like them. Here's one of my favorites:

LIMINAL: adj. of, relating to, or situated at a sensory threshold

I can’t think of a more appropriate word to revisit for a blog based on fairy tales. It is said that fairies occupy the space between ours and the hereafter—the Liminal Lands. How else can fairies attain immortality?

The best example I have of the liminal is Rip Van Winkle who, in some versions of the story, falls asleep after drinking with mysterious men thought to be fairies and wakes 20 years later with a longer beard but otherwise unchanged. He slept in the liminal space and somehow went unnoticed.

Do you have any favorite liminal spaces?

Kaaterskill Falls, Catskill Mountains, NY

Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Rip Van Winkle and Me

Fairy tales and folklore have a tradition of putting protagonists in comas. Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Rip Van Winkle are only a few examples of letting things cool down while the main character takes a prolonged nap. Evil queens are dispatched. Curses are lifted and generally life goes on. It changes the trajectory of the story, like painting oneself out of a corner.Snow White and the Evil Queen could have gone on like that indefinitely.How long could Sleeping Beauty avoid new clothes and spinning wheels?And Rip's laziness wasn't going to make much of a story if it didn't lead to something.Writers do the same thing. When I get stuck on a story, I work on another story until I feel refreshed enough to get back to the old story. I know other writers who go on retreats or put their work away for a prolonged period of time, hoping distance will give them a fresh look.Well, I'm currently stuck in a marketing spiral. I've written about this before, but I've decided to take drastic measures. With book 2 in my Enchanted Path series due before the end of the year, I need to concentrate on it exclusively for the next month. I'm proud that I've been able to post every Tuesday for almost a year and intend to continue.But for now, I need to unplug from social media and blogging. I'm taking a month and a half off to get a better handle on my new draft of A Noble's Path.I'll return in time for the anniversary of my return to the blogosphere with all new insights about fairy tales. 

Vacations Hangovers or the Rip Van Winkle Effect

I just spent the last two weeks on vacation. After getting my book published and fixing all the little glitches that kept it all from running smoothly, I probably could have used a whole month of rest. Nevertheless, I’m grateful for the time I did have to unwind and unplug. I was even diligent enough to write a couple of posts in advance and have them publish while I was gone.I spent my vacation days sleeping in, ate when I wanted to (instead of by my walking-talking kid clock that knows exactly when meals should be ready), and generally slowed down. It was wonderful!But coming back is always an adjustment. Waking up is regulated by my regimented dog (who thinks humans sleeping past sunrise is self-indulgent) and I’ve already mentioned my organic food clock, but finding my footing again takes a little more. Getting back to work feels like pedaling a rusty bike—it moves, but it requires so much more effort. In regard to my blog, I had to figure out what fairy tale or folk story could possibly relate to the disorientation of being away and then returning. Lucky for me I was on a road trip and it took me through the Catskill Mountains.Rip Van Winkle was a story written by Washington Irving about a man who goes on a walk and comes across a man in outdated clothes needing help with a barrel of ale. He helps the man up the mountain despite the thunderous noises coming from their destination and discover a group of little men playing a version of bowling. The barrel is opened, Rip can never refuse a free drink, and he falls asleep. When he wakes up, twenty years have passed, and he recognizes no one. In Irving’s story, Rip slept through the American Revolution which leads to some awkward conversations! In the end, his grown daughter takes him in and he spends the rest of his days regaling anyone who’ll listen about his time with the fairies.Two weeks off doesn’t have the same magnitude of twenty years. As far as I know I remained in this realm of existence. Even so, returning to the daily grind feels like coming back from fairy land.