Running Free Time

I just realized today that I missed the first release anniversary date of MURDER BY HAIR SPRAY IN GARDENIA, NEW ATLANTIS ~ on January 15th . It’s not surprising, though, given everything I’ve gone through and been involved with recently.

What is eery to me, however, is that *not* only is this the date for the solar eclipse that lasted for 11 minutes and eight seconds, establishing a record that won’t be broken until December 23, 3043 ~ but, my futuristic novel takes place in the year, 2051, after catastrophic weather and land changes. A little too close to the horror going on in Haiti currently.

Here’s the first line ~

The evil cloud of hair spray dominated the air in guest room 666 at Gardenia’s only motel, The Eternal Magnolia – so named because it was surrounded by a park-like acre of Magnolia trees, saved despite the cataclysmic weather, wars and land changes on Earth.
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Running free time... or taking off the bridle. If you’ve ever been around horses, often, when you take off the bridle to put them in their pasture, they will take off running with the sheer joy of feeling free, unbound. That has always been a sheer joy for me to behold. I’m certain it’s one reason a lot of us love watching the wild horses run.
Why we care so much that wild horse herds remain free.

I think we’ve lost that in our society these days... running free time.

As a kid I would run the neighborhood with my sisters and with the other kids. Truth is, though, I rarely felt I had enough running free time. This feeling, this deep frustration, only increased the older I got. Even though, I avidly wanted to learn and enjoyed going to school for that reason, I also felt imprisoned.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always felt way too restricted, way too stifled by the structure and expectations of our society. And, the restrictions have only gotten worse for the current generation, in my opinion. Much worse. I look around and wonder what is the real price we pay in our souls for all this ‘ultra safety’?

But, let’s not get bogged down by that discussion, pro and con. More to the point, I believe one reason shapeshifter novels hit the right ‘spot’ for many readers is because there is that sense of freedom and animal wildness... that precious running free time we’ve been denied and all crave at a basic level.

Unbridled... I’ve read that race horses do best if they’re not in a constant state of being trained, but are given a space of time to run free. No discipline. No bridles. Just time to stretch their legs, look at the horizon and choose to run, feel inspired to race the winds.

As a writer, I’m feeling the need for some running free time. To simply pen wild and free, not worry about editing and revising and polishing, not concern myself with the proper and perfect crafting of a story. I don’t want to feel *Oh no! I’ve used ‘that’ particular word too often in the story! Oh heavenly days, and heaven forbid.*

I want to simply loose my imagination, race with my thoughts... be uninhibited with whatever I’m feeling and my characters are feeling. Go with it. Go with the flow. Race with the wind.

However, there’s a problem. One I can’t seem to get past right now. I no longer know how to run free. Take off the bridle and I’ll put it back on, metaphorically speaking, for all of you with strange images in your head right now.

Perhaps, I’ve over-disciplined myself, pushed myself too much. Restricted myself and expected too much. Over-trained... though, some would say I haven’t trained enough... whatever. The fact is, I’m trapped.

Though, to make it clear, as I edit and polish BRANDED BY THE TEXANS, I’m not longing to race away. Not at all. No, I’m enjoying the process, overall. As I read through Kylie’s story with her three Texans, Dillon, Dono and Dash, yep, I’m having a dang good time, to use the parlance.

No, it’s about writing another story just for the sheer fun of it. Giving myself some running free time.

So, how are you feeling? Ready buckle down and get to work? Or, would you like some running free time, too?
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Hey! Shapeshifter lovers, here’s Pat Cunningham’s cover art for her next release, BEST OF BREED, coming from BookStrand. Pretty cool and definitely shifter snazzy, don’t you think?
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Plus, take a look at COYOTE MOON by Pat Cunningham ~ Can a half-werewolf woman, unaware of her wolf nature, come to love the WereCoyote determined to free her wild side and make her his mate? ~ http://bookstrand.com/product-coyotemoon-14959-330.html ~
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HAPPY SHAPESHIFTING NEW YEAR!

~ MAY YOUR BRIGHTEST READING DREAMS COME TRUE ~

Savanna Kougar

~ Run on the Wild Side of Romance ~

Author of ~

All Shades of Blue Paradise
Red Lioness Tamed
When a Good Angel Falls ~ In Print
Tangerine Carnal Dreams
Murder by Hair Spray in Gardenia, New Atlantis ~ In Print
Black Cat Beauty
Her Insatiable Dark Heroes ~ In Print
Stallion of Ash and Flame ~
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