(Forgetting) My Wildest Dreams

Well I went and did it...had an interesting dream last night and woke up thinking, "that will be PERFECT for this week's dream interpretation blog." Then I promptly went and forgot it.

Which brings me to another aspect of using dreams to unlock your subconscious--you have to remember them first. For those of us whose mind is closer to Swiss cheese than a steel trap, a dream journal comes in handy for this purpose.

A dream journal needn't be fancy--a small spiral-bound notebook will do. Keep it at your bedside along with a pen, and get in the habit of writing down at least a Cliff Notes version of your dreams upon waking. Don't brush your teeth, check Email, or anything else before doing so, as important details (or the entire dream) may slip away.

I'd stopped doing this, as my preschooler had taken to using the free pen and paper as her personal art studio. Instead I'd taken to reviewing dreams mentally on waking, committing details to memory. As I'm no longer a spring chicken, this was a sticky wicket at best. Some days I head straight for my writing desk and type up dream inspirations immediately. Too often, however, I get thwarted by vital distractions like my kid's breakfast or watering the plants. So it's back to the journal for me. Think I'll tuck it under the mattress to spare it from my child's Michaelangelo complex.

Now, for those of you who HAVE managed to remember a recurring or unusual dream, don't be shy! Post it here or contact me at writerlisalogan@verizon.net for a free interpretation of common symbols!

Until next week, Pleasant Dreams....

Book Trailer Contest on MysteryAuthors.com

Got a mystery trailer or been wanting to make one? ENTER MysteryAuthors.com's SIZZLING SUMMER BOOK TRAILER contest!

If you have a promotional trailer for a book in the Mystery genre (or subgenre) you are eligible to enter. To submit, send a link to your trailer to MysteryAuthors@verizon.net during the month of July. Put BOOK TRAILER CONTEST in the subject line. Please include your name, title of your book, and the name of your trailer's creator. Deadline for entries is August 1, 2007. NO entry fee!

All entries will be posted for viewing on the site, and visitors will have a chance to watch and vote on their favorites during the first two weeks of August. Winners will be posted on August 15.

The winner of JUDGE'S CHOICE will win a FREE YEAR of membership on MysteryAuthors.com! Other winners will receive a special award they can add to their trailer and/or display proudly on their website. Winning entries will also be showcased on MysteryAuthors.com through the end of September, and will be acknowledged in Lisa Logan's Do-It-Yourself Trailer Workshop.

CATEGORIES:
VIEWER'S CHOICE
JUDGE'S CHOICE
MOST MYSTERIOUS

Don't have a trailer yet? Visit http://lisalogan.net today and check out the free how-to workshop! It's easier than you think.

Good luck!

Roller Coasters & Monkeys Dropping Bananas

Yes folks, my dream life's been at it again... sending me off an another foray into "What the Heck Was THAT All About?"

I received a good deal of feedback after my last dream blog, with several people writing to ask about dreams they've had. So I've decided to make interpretation blogs a regular offering from My Wildest Dreams!

In last night's dream I'm walking along a tree-lined street. Suddenly, something falls from a tree onto my head. It's a small cluster of bananas. (Never mind I am NOT standing anywhere near a banana tree.) I look up, and see a monkey. He's obviously knocked loose his breakfast, and I step back so he can retrieve them. I look up again, see another banana, and start eating it. Another monkey comes and steals it from me.

Next thing you know, I'm inside about to take the first test ride on a roller coaster I happen to own. It gains speed, headed right for the loop-de-loop...and halfway up the loop, it breaks down and stops.

Enter my dream interpretation sources, which tell me some surprising (and potentially naughty) things. Not surprisingly, bananas in dreams tends to indicate items of a, er, sensual and phallic nature. Now, monkeys snatching my bananas might sound like I need a love life overhaul, to say the least, but I discovered that monkeys hanging from trees also represent being troubled by young ones. Enter my preschooler, who's been a real handful lately AND who has been interfering with my sleep patterns ("stealing" my night hours with wakefulness). The monkey business in my dream makes more sense.

Roller coasters involve, not surprisingly, ups and downs in our lives or erratic emotions and behavior. In truth, I'd been so busy lately that I HAVE been rather, well, MOODY. And thus, the mystery behind another wacktastic dream sequence is solved.

Is YOUR subconscious trying to tell you something? Post a comment here or contact me!

I Have a Dream (Interpretation)

Note: some might find the dream mentioned mildly disturbing. Not for the easily nauseous.

Those who have visited my web site have seen my slogan, "Writing in My Wildest Dreams." My dream life is fairly vivid, sometimes in color, and usually well-remembered. I can even program my dreams to work on stories for me. Then again, my REM state has a life and will of its own, and wackiness DOES ensue.

I had one of those dreams this week. One minute I'm in an elevator with a group of strangers-that-I-know, the next we're hanging perilously to girders inside the elevator shaft. I shout a warning to one girl who looks ready to fall. Alas, she slides away into blackness, and the rest of us are helpless to do anything but watch.

Then, BOOM! It's me at the bottom of the shaft, back broken and part of one leg gone. Yet I'm quite calm, smiling and positive as paramedics (instantly on the scene) extricate me. Then the dream fast forwards and I'm happily recounting my tale to a friend on the street, me on crutches and encased in a plaster cast. Can we say, ohh-kayyyyy?

I turned to a dream guide guide for insight into this latest wild and woolly, and thought I'd share my findings here. Falling dreams involve a sense of insecurity or situations that are out of the dreamer's control. Elevators mean the same thing, or indicate a rise (or fall) in position or status. Turning into someone else in a dream--as I became the woman at the bottom of the shaft--indicates some aspect of the dreamer is changing. Back and leg injuries have specific meaning as well: dreaming of your back denotes ones' status, or some kind of pressure placed upon you. A crippled/missing leg indicates a lack of balance in life.

In putting these themes together, I was instantly able to recognize a subconscious fear with my writing career. I've got one book published and others under consideration. There's a bit of insecurity in that position, though one might believe a first book contract would surely eliminate lack of confidence. Not so. Enter whispers of, "Was the first just a fluke?" and the reason for my dream becomes clearer.

Once in a publisher's hands, manuscripts representing my (hopeful) rise as an author are out of my control. Meanwhile, self-applied pressure to further writing goals strains the seams of my daily schedule, putting things out of balance as I work to juggle job, home, family, and writing. Despite the pressure, fear of failing, and risk, I'm doing what I love to do. Hence my seemingly misplaced happiness throughout the dream.

What did this tell me? If nothing else, I decided I could use a few days away from my writing desk. So I put away my writer's hat, grabbed a favorite book, and planted my nose firmly therein.

Have you had recurring or particularly odd dreams? Dreams involving falling or other themes described here? Feel free to share. And keep on dreamin'! They might just be trying to tell you something.