Open the Box

“It’s a new day…and I’m feeling good.”

Thinking about these lyrics today by Nina Simone. It’s a new day for this blog. Been feeling stale and stuck lately writing these monthly musings. I’ve shared past posts (phoned it in) and just haven’t felt motivated to write about the stuff I’ve been writing about for the last ten years.

Writing this blog, I learned a lot. I brain dumped, sorted the shit in my mind, visited my past, rode the ups and downs of parenting and the midlife roller coaster. I like to think it helped me grow as a writer, even nudging me towards self-publishing—an old dog learning a new trick. Now, it’s time for a change and I’m excited about it!

I've had a love of the weird and wonderful my whole life. When I was a small child, I’d ask my mother to read the story of Pandora’s Box to me over and over again. When the bookmobile came to my school, I’d seek out fantasy books like The Littles by John Peterson, King of The Doll House by Patricia Clapp, and Witch in the House by Ruth Chew. I remember well my elementary librarian reading Roald Dahl books aloud, giving us just a taste week by week. And, truth be told, I recall all too well my fifth-grade teacher regaling us with tidbits of her current read at the time, The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson, and scaring the crap out of us. Not a great call on her part.

One day I stumbled upon the Facebook group Folk Horror Revivalists, and as a gal with southern roots, my first thought was, “These are my people!” I had a name for what I loved, what I looked for in books and movies. Before this, I relegated the month of October for reading and watching spooky stuff but I was like, “Why if this brings me so much happiness am I only doing this one month out of the year?” Then, not only was the door open, but the light switch flipped. On or off, I couldn’t say.

I began to think, “I can do this. I think I can write a good story.” This was 4 or 5 years ago. I would sit in the car line and type away, balancing my computer in my lap. I wrote my first short story this way. I was writing in my genre. This, coupled with my interest in personal growth, set me on track. I worked through the book the Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I have gone through it twice now and plan to revisit it in the fall.

Writers often talk about the benefits of the morning pages. And I agree. The practice is truly important. The first go around, I wrote and wrote about my parents. The second time, I wrote and wrote about old coworkers, relatives, frenemies, anyone I had a beef with. Three things came out of this. One, you see your part in relationship failures, your perception shifts and you realize, or at least I did, that it takes two and we play a part in the breakdown of communication. It’s not all what they did. I was there too. Even if I felt like I hadn’t done anything wrong in some interactions, my part was I’d let it happen. Two, you think, “What a bunch of fucking wasted energy.” I spent years re-playing shit in my mind. It was time to release the dark stuff. And three, after getting all of that crap out of my head and onto the page, my mind was freer and there was room. I released the dark stuff—the past or the untold stories, depends on how you look at it. The new space—that’s where the stories lived! And now, they could be shared.

Now, back to the blog. I’m not saying I’m quitting self-help; I think we are always learning and always growing but I have more to share than that. This blog will now be about my writing journey and my dark lover—horror. I’ll also try to end each post with a book recommendation (a writer/artist type—if you want horror recs, I post on IG at the end of each month and log my reading selections on Goodreads.) And, I’ll share a guilty pleasure. If that tickles you where you itch, come along for the ride.

I’ll leave you with this, “Welcome to the dark side of Greta; it’s gonna be sweet and sassy, scary for some, like dark chocolate with a pinch of cayenne.”

Book recommendation

the Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

My guilty pleasure

Watching Folk Horror documentaries on YouTube while soaking in a hot bath

Batty Forever,

Greta