Thursday, August 28, 2008

In Search of Mermaids

Evidence of Mermaids is at first elusive, but then it starts to show up.
Some people do not want to talk. Rubbish, they say. But, Aha! you must tell yourself and listen closer to these. Perhaps they have a mermaid in hiding somewhere and think it best to try to throw you off the track.

And then there are the people who are convinced there are none. Well, the mermaids put out traps and those who would be better off not knowing (and who would leave the mermaids better off for their not knowing too), they get to not know and not care. The perfume rises slightly from the fog. It is indiscernible to them. And it renders them immune. All the fearfulness of knowing what they don’t want to know is taken away. It is kept in nuts in the forest. But it can come back to them if they go out foraging too deeply in the forest where the nut trees are hidden in the brush and the thick woods. Be careful what you eat.

Ah, but now we come to the ones who want to know. They suspect the magic is out there and can feel the presence of it. They are the true believers, even if they haven't yet made contact. And they are on the trail.
They are, at first, hard to find, and then easily, they appear. You have to look for them, be on the look-out for them.
It is kind of like looking for a certain kind of car you want to buy, like a Volvo (favorite car of mermaids and other elementals, fairies, and such). Then, amazingly, everywhere you look, there are Volvos merrily driving all around you. These are your peeps, oh ye seekers of mermaid and merfolk. They are on the same path.

And the ones who know… Well they are trappers too, so beware. For once you cross into magic, there is no a going back. It will have you for the rest of your life and you will always hear the bells of the angels thereafter. It will flow around you and you will have light and ways of traveling. It is a place of wonders, this world. But be ready to find what you are looking for. It may hear of you and find you first!

Friday, August 15, 2008

Fresh Water Mermaids! Oh My!

And so it begins again, my next big trip UP in search of more wild mermaid background and lore.



The Upper Peninsula is rich and mythic and has inspired, for me, a perfect setting for my novel, Running Away To UP, which takes place there. On this trip, I will compete the second of two in-depth research trips to this beautiful wilderness country at the edge of the North Coast.

I will be going to to Munising, Marquette, and the Keweenaw Peninsula the first two weeks of this trip where I will be exploring the Lake Superior coastline in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

On the 1st of September, I will meet my husband in St. Ignace for the annual Labor Day walk across the Mackinac (pronounced Mackinaw) Bridge, a five mile span across the Mackinac Straits that is only open to foot traffic this one day a year. (Expect 70,000+ people!) Afterward we will be going outback to complete my research trip. We will drive north to Paradise and the top of Whitefish Point and on to the Two Hearted River to fish for trout and hike about Crisp Point Light.

With me, I am bringing a few of the first of the new Mermaid Prints and scouting magical places to leave them or bring them for next summer! Although they are not necessarily part of the novel, they have sprung from it and are starting to have an energy that not only connects to the writing, but that has a life of its own.

These are going to be for sale as a pre-launch and (hopefully!) launch of the novel (and also to help fund my research trips for the novel) and tentatively will be scheduled for wide release next summer!

*For more information about the Mermaid Prints, please e-mail me at Cometcatch@aol.com.

Thankyou!

May magic travel with you too!