In my spare time (okay, by that I mean five minute snatches here and there), I’m reading a fortune telling book, a book on hexes, and finally finishing THE ART OF MODERN CONJURING.

Gotta say, I love THE ART OF MODERN CONJURING.  Originally published in 1886, I guess technically the info on the conjuring isn’t “modern” but that just makes the book all the more fun.  It’s full of techniques that allow you to fool others into thinking they are seeing magic, and it also some very interesting sections on mind reading.

Which brings me to my topic today, “Willing.”  According to my lovely book, Willing was a popular game/past-time back in drawing-room days.  The idea being that “the combined will of a number of persons will compel one of the party to do what they desire and will.”

Picture, if you will, a group of people gathered in a circle, all holding hands (in one unbroken chain.)  One person stands in the middle of the circle, wearing a blindfold. She (or he) is told to keep her mind completely blank.  All of the others focus on one task (they all know this task—everyone is in the know, except for Ms. Blindfolded), and if the event goes as planned, Ms. Blindfolded will suddenly break through the circle and complete the task that the others were all mentally shoving on her.  They’ve willed her to complete the task.

Now, when I read the info about Willing, all kinds of story ideas popped into my head.  Oh, the things I could do with this scenario.  Both in a novel that is historical or in a contemporary.  This is definitely gonna go down in my idea file.  🙂  (And it’s gonna be included as a game at my next Halloween party, too!)

What do you think? Do you believe you’d be Willing?

I had to post this link because I find it…fun.

…is a white tiger shifter.

(Photo taken from my last trip to the zoo in New Orleans)

I love white tigers–I’ve always thought they were absolutely beautiful creatures. Strong. Deadly. (Yeah, let’s not forget the deadly part. Sometimes, I see folks on TV playing with ’em like they are kittens and I have to shake my head.)

I’m about 85 pages into my WIP, should hit that sweet 100 page mark by tomorrow night. I love having the first 100 pages completed. I know I’m in the book at that point. No turning back, I’m a fourth of the way finished. The set-up is complete, I’m deep in my characters and usually the action, too.

I enjoy using different creatures for my shifters. I’ve written about wolves, jaguars, even a dragon (that book will be out in 2009), and now a white tiger. There are some shifters you won’t see me touch–I’m just never going to write a book about a giraffe shifter. No matter how hard I try, I don’t think I could make that sexy. 🙂

Are there any shifter stories you’d like to see? Or maybe some others you’d like to add to my “no, please!” list?

I’m hanging out over at The Haunt today–a great yahoo group of paranormal readers and writers.  If you haven’t joined this new group yet, I’d definitely recommend it!

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/The_Haunt_at_PNR/

Be back later with a longer post!

Sorry to be so late with this post today.  My sister was in a car accident.  The car was totaled, but, luckily, she wasn’t hurt.  (Okay, I think Bobbie feels like a truck hit her, and, um, it did, but no bones are broken and I think that’s fabulous.)

Something else that I think is fabulous?  Bobbie was alone in her car when the accident happened. She has two girls, and I’m just so thankful they weren’t with her.  My sister has a toddler, just a few weeks older than my son, and she’s usually in the back seat of Bobbie’s car, buckled in her safety seat.  According to my mother, who was on scene right after the accident, not much was left of the back seat.

Very, very glad and thankful that her toddler wasn’t with her–very glad that neither of her girls were in that car.

Will resume normal blogging tomorrow.  🙂