New Moon On A February Friday

The February New Moon (in Aquarius) began its three day cycle last night. Tonight will be its apex.

New Moons are a time to set the foundation for intentions and manifestations. They provide wind in your creative sails. A great time to launch new projects.

I think back to how anxious I was when this Bronx Boy first went out into the darkness of a new moon at Casa Claire.

When I go out to feed Claire and Honey during New Moons, it is hard to make them out in the darkness. You spot them as large silent shadows that eclipse the ambient glow from a distant house or barn light. When the weather isn’t brutal – it’s in the balmy lower twenties tonight – they leave the comfort of the barn and come up towards the house to await their early morning snack. Sometimes, I don’t so much see them as I feel their approach from the darkness around me. They accompany me back down to the barn where their large rubber dishes are waiting to be filled with a delicious variety of chopped fruits and veggies, and peanuts, prepared with as much love as I can cram into each package.

I try to channel my grandmother Posey (Spaghetti’s wife and matriarch of my Clan throughout my childhood) when I do my weekly prep. As my hands gather up and transfer the chopped ingredients from board to bag I feel the positive energy transferring from my fingers to the fruit and veggies.

I store a lot of love in that fridge.

I can feel that same energy transfer from fingertips to keyboard whenever I write creatively. You see, I love my stories and characters almost as much as I love my parallel reality and the creatures, human and otherwise, within it.

I take comfort knowing that as long as Claire is on watch in both the real and fictional worlds, the mules will be the only large shadows approaching me in the night.

Claire and Honey, and in his time, Mr. Rogers, have transferred their love to me with every regular encounter. Love is symbiotic, it travels both ways.

Over time, successful repetition of my nocturnal duties as a mule caretaker has calmed my nerves.

Over that same period, successful repetition as a writer has calmed my nerves on the creative front as well.

When The Wise Ass publication date was approaching three years ago, the crushing anxiety left me breathless.

My Imposter Syndrome was on full blast. What if I was kidding myself. What if no one else felt the magic I did about Claire the Mule.

I survived that first book launch.

As the next three books dropped over the past three years, the approaching anxiety level lessened in increments.

I’m just over two months out from the launch of the fifth and final(?) book in The Claire Saga. My intentions are laser focused on making that launch a success.

Where The Ley Lines Meet has been up on the BRW, Amazon and B&N websites for pre-order for a couple of months now. For the past few weeks it has repeatedly joined its siblings, more and more regularly, in the Amazon top 100 Best Seller List for Humorous Science Fiction.

This morning they were all there again.

As with everything I do, I draw upon my experiences from a long and interesting life.

For example, my only blood daughter, Jackie, was a cross-country champion throughout her school life. Indeed, she successfully competed and captained teams at the D1 level in basketball, x-country, track & field and swimming (she has her mother’s athletic skills) and is now killing it in the business world. Despite her many individual records and accolades, her continuing success came from being first and foremost a team player. It was watching her compete through the hills of Van Cortlandt park in the Bronx where I first learned the idea that a team doesn’t have to be the first to cross the finish line to take first place in x-country. The key in those state wide and regional meets is to get as many of the teammates across in the top 100 to collectively take the collective x-country crown.

Seeing all five books in The Claire Saga staying in the top 100 as Best Sellers reassures me that the epic narrative that is broken down into five distinct and yet cohesive parts – thanks to the constant appearance of the charismatic Claire The Mule captaining the creative crew of mystical misfits in all of the stories – provides me comfort that I have created a winning team. Built around my magical mule.

And while I still remain somewhat anxious over the pending publication of Where The Ley Lines Meet, it is in no comparison to what I felt in February 2021 when The Wise Ass was about to drop.

So, tonight I’m looking beyond this last book. My new moon intentions as I get closer to the launch of WTLLM this spring, is that this winning literary team catches the eye of the right creative scout who will recognize its enduring and expansive narrative value and bring Claire and her magical crew of mystical misfits to the world’s big and flat screens.

So, those of you fine, five readers, please continue to tell all your friends about my friends. Be part of the back story. Get this Rudy of writers into that last game of the season.

Well, speaking of sports, it’s the Friday leading into another Super Bowl weekend. I know where everyone’s head is at. So get on it.

Let’s see what this new moon brings those football teams. No matter the outcome, I hope Christian McCaffrey is on the field, healthy, and has a great game. Clan is Clan. And despite the questionable lineage we proudly claim him for our own.

But before that all happens, I have some kitties to cuddle and rounds to make. Hopefully, my friend Tom Collins will be delivering some premium hay later today. Got to keep Claire and Honey on a balanced diet.

But no matter what else we get up to during this most interesting lunar event, let us make today a great one.