DAZZLING DIVAS

No, not me and my friends. Altho we are! And I'd bet that another dazzling diva, dame or damsel of any sex may be reading this. IT'S ANOTHER BOOK I'm working. Now that I have a venue to communicate, it's evidently impossible so shut me UP! Geminis...mercury... addiction to words...communication...blablablah!

In THIS case, an illustrated book named "Dazzling Divas, Dames, Damsels and their Miss Cellaneous Ms. Adventures." My Company is called MissChievious. In I DO ME WED, I conspire to have myself interviewed by Ms. Quote (See. I told you I'd rather be asked questions rather than just talking about myself. Even if the questioner is an alter ego of meeeeee.) From there it was a proverbial hopskip to each Dazzling Dame getting her own poignant - and often pop-culture-tinged - bio, plus a self portrait. (Ever read "Love, Loss & What I Wore"? Like that...but totally NOT. Just the way she used her illustrations.

I've been meaning for sooooo long to marshall the courage to do a blog that I figured I better get the projects out here first, so that I can then proceed to skewering the Screen Actors Guild Awards and explaining why they are absolutely worthless in terms of real voting decisions. Oh, that's right. I meant to do that later.

Ohh, and then there's my bliss-full and uniquely designed new married life. I must get to that electronically. IT'S HARD WORKING YOUR WAY BACKWARDS. How do people write their memoirs and recreate it ALL. I'm thinking "Angela's Ashes." I'm having trouble working backwards 8 months. Good thing I'm right-brained, vaguely NON-linear, and good at forgiving myself. As in "I forgive myself for judging myself as......... ."

So, this was just to introduce my 150 DAMSELS. Above is the book cover, featuring Ms. Behavin' ...and Ms. Ery! (both of whom have very interesting stories!) Forgive me for not sharing their stories, but I keep getting advice from agents and such not to give away too much. Which is challenging since I've always believed in transparency. That...in spite of being a New Yorker and then moving to Hollywood, the "don't-pitch-it-if-you-can't-afford-to-lose-it capital of the worrrrrrrld.

THE VICTORY IN THE OBSTACLE: 365 Days of Positive Perspectives for Modern Lives

Based on the writings of Nichiren Daishonin, this current book is also the product of the tortuous relationship below. In the spirit of "turning poison into medicine" and "lemons into lemonade" I seem to have created a LOT value out of that happily-ill-fated relationship below. Not least of which was continuing on until I met my true, forever, gorgeous (too gorgeous, but I've decided to live with it!), and infinitely loving husband!!!!!

So...at the start of my relationship with The-Man-Who-Shall-Remain-Nameless (but which half the people I know in Hollywood seemed to have guessed), it was Easter and he asked if I recognized it. I've practiced Nichiren Buddhism for years, but that doesn't mean I can appreciate other traditions. But I was so taken aback I blurted, "Well I like the easter bunny" to which he retorted, "aaaahhh, the little heathen Easter bunny!" Except I realize in time that we was NOT kidding.

Then...after he (proudly) announced that he read NO book except the Bible (this to a girl who got her 500 vision from reading compulsively from the age of 4 in ANY kind of non-light), he said one of those pearl-in-the-oyster things that led (8 years later) to this book.

"The Bible has all kinds of great quotes. What does Buddhism have?" (Did the italics capture the snideness in this voice. or did I merely succeed in conveying it in my head?!)

This modern Buddhism (800 year old from the 3,000 year old Lotus Sutra) has so much to illuminate today's culture. All the elements I gravitate to from Tolle and The Power of Now or A New Earth; Abraham as channeled by Esther Hicks; What the Bleep Do We Know; The Secret are clearly activated in the philosophy of Nichiren Buddhism. But WHY WOULD anyone but it's 12 million member know? And there are such universal, colloquial, really COOL QUOTES.

So I decided to see if I could cull 366 quotes from the 2,000 pages of translated letters...but ONLY if they had NO buddhist specific jargon. I wanted them to be totally accessible without anyone needing to do mental/spiritual gynastics to get the value. And then I wrote very informal Iyanla-Vanzant-style instances of how they apply to the situations we all face now!

Okay....I think I may be writing in circles. So perhaps I will stop while I imagine I am still cogent. Alright, I confess. I WROTE THIS 10 minutes ago. Left the screen. It blanked OUT and I had to "recreate it." I have made myself DIZZZZZZY.

I DO ME WED: How to Marry Yourself and Start Attracting the Love You Want

I was going thru the worst break-up of my life. You know? Like ALLLLLL the pieces of AAAAALLLL the other breakups all in ONE. After not eating for days (I had NEVER reacted to sadness like THAT . Usually I'm in line with Vanilla Fudge Swirl ice cream as soon as depression would sink in); and sitting in my parked, idling car for 45 minutes unable to figure out WHERE I LIVED!!!....I DECIDED TO MARRY MY OWN LIFE. In one night of desperation I created a process combining acting technique with right-left brain Inner Child Work and surfaced with a VOW PROCESS. One that helps you to find, for yourself, what love would feel like to you; perceive how you aren't giving that to yourself FIRST; and making your self-marriage vows such an integral part of your experience that anything less feels wrong...rather "bad" loving feeling oh so familiar. As Gandhi said, "We must BE the change we want to see!"

I wrote the process, shared diary excerpts from the 15 most pivotal days in the journey, added 150 cartoons of me and my girlfriends as all hell busted loose....shook...stirred...and voila....my manuscript.

Oh....did I mention that I am blissfully married for the first (and last) time to a man who makes me so grateful I DID NOT get what and who I wanted SO desperately?

And there is a sequel...a GUERILLA WEDDING PLANNER

"Just tell me something about yourself"?!?!?!

It's like the first day of school! Tell you about myself? About what I want to express, SHARE and experience by creating this sandbox to play in?

It's so much easier when I'm just answering questions. First I spend 3 years THINKING about creating a site. I create a site.... IDoMeWed.com. I then ignore the site, realizing I know nothing about tweaking it and I am utterly dependent on others to post stuff.

I cogitate for the NEXT 3 years on creating a blog. Am I unable to trust all the people who assure me it is SOOOOOO easy? Or am I just lazy? Or am I not actually procrastinating but merely waiting for the correct energy to create "motivated action"...aligning my vibe and stuff.

So I think of t hese words as a sort of "bookmark." I have broken my metaphoric ice. I will undoubtedly return and obliterate this initial post out of embarrassment or my inability to treat words as anything but Playdoh (is that spelled correctly).

But, until I am concentrated enough to share what I'm writing, what art I'm creating, my favorite books (The Dwarf by Per Lagervist), music (Yma Sumac is the childhood favorite...Duffy my new rave...Harold Budd and Toumani Diabate my go-to-guys for thinking and writing), and movies (soooooooo many. and now that I go to the Academy with my shiny new husband I see everything!), this toe-in-the-water entry will have to serve.

uhhhhhhmmmmm. I just noticed that if this is how much I write to explain I can't WRITE anything, then I'm in danger of churning out War & Peace when I DO feel like writing.

Scary Gemini/Mercury/Right-Brained Communicator Girl!!!!

Right-Brained Girl/My Non-Sequitor Life

Scarey. chose this name on impulse. so many possibilities. I can only HOPE it's possible to come back tomorrow and erase...i mean edit this stream of consciousness before anyone sees it. NOT an auspicious beginning. BUT...a beginning nontheless. Whew! I will go out and buy some sushi to reward myself for this brave foray into cyberspace!