Return to Raccoonation

After reading my blog entry about negativity and attracting what you fear (in my case raccoons), I received yet another raccoon gadilla, this time from a former and beloved student, Dr. Jeanne Kane. Check this out!!! http://video.yahoo.com/watch/3579597/9892929

Ever since my last blog about how your fears draw the very thing you're afraid of to you (in my case, racoons), more and more of them have been showing up in my life and on my emails. Here's one taken by Chris Flugmacher on his property in upstate New York.

Meet Saralee Rosenberg, author of Dear Neighbor, Drop Dead (Avon)

Saralee Rosenberg and I met through a writer's networking club called Power Punch and instantly connected because we both have written comic novels about strong, Jewish women and the supernatural. Saralee is the author of four wonderful novels from Avon (HarperCollins) including A LITTLE HELP FROM ABOVE, CLAIRE VOYANT, FATE AND MS. FORTUNE, and her latest, DEAR NEIGHBOR, DROP DEAD.

Dear Neighbor is a hilarious, heart stomping romp over fences and defenses that begs the question, who are your next door neighbors and what was God thinking when he threw you together? Sometimes it's worth finding out.

Saralee's books resonate with women who struggle with family relationships and friendships because they go right to the heart of the matter in a humorous way but with lots of emotion. Her central theme is, it's never what you worry about that happens, it's the stuff you don't see coming. All of her stories are roller coaster rides through unforeseen journeys and where her character's land always keeps readers guessing.
www.saraleerosenberg.com
blog: www.saraleerosenberg.com/wordpress

Gina Sorell, Vicki Broadrict, and Jeanne Kane at Terry August's House

Three of my terrific students met for lunch on the west coast today. I'm on the east coast. Oh, if only my etheric body could separate at will so that I could have been gossiping with them over tea and doing psychic readings in my Great Neck apartment at the same time!

Do you believe that fears draw negativity to you?

That's what all the New Age books say. And it seemed that that's just what happened to me. One night, as I was crossing the street from my apartment, two racoons stuck their heads out of the sewer drain. Part of me thought, Oh, aren't they cute? But the part that had been surprised to see something so incongrous, went nutso screaming. I must have scared those poor racoons more than they scared me. (I'm embarrassed how citified I've become when one of my female students faced down a bear.) But my racoon phobia began. And suddenly, I began to see racoons every time I went out at night.
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"Are there a lot of raccooons around here now?" I asked neighbors.
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"Haven't seen a one," each reported.
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And still I saw them skulking around garbage cans, loping across the street as I drive.
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Last night I saw one eyeing me through my glass patio door. My patio has a tall, criss-cross metal fence. Did the racoon climb it?
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I promised to stop thinking of racoons, and here I am writing about them.
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Have you been afraid of something that ended up being drawn to you?

Things I did today instead of writing my new novel

1, I wrote politcal emais, trying to convince my friends to vote for my candidate.
2. I ate two organic beets, got beet juice on my blouse and tried to get it out with carpet cleaner that the carpet cleaner guy swore would get stains out of anything.
3. I gave the blouse to a friend to use as a painter's smock.
4. I talked to my friend, Marlene, on the phone.
5. I caught up on this week's New Yorker story.
6. I got on the scale.
7. I swore I wouldn't eat anything more.
8. I did.

How about you?

Meet Teri Shikany

Hi, I'm Teri Shikany.

It was a casual email forward from my youngest son about online writing classes through UCLA that changed my life. I discovered the personal essay, a medium that fit me to a "T". I am profoundly grateful to Rochelle Shapiro and my fellow writing students for giving me the structure and encouragement to be a writer!

I live in the northern California town of Danville with the most incredible husband, with whom I share the job of "staff" for two needy cats.

I work part-time as a teacher and test administrator at a local county jail. When I'm not working, I spend a lot of time obsessing about my two-year-old grandson who lives in New York City and accruing frequent flyer miles to go see him.

The area I live in is rich with parklands where I can hike with my husband. It is the perfect foil for the more sedentary activity of writing, and I consider myself truly fortunate to be able to do both.