Let's Talk with Maggie Toussaint
Let’s Talk with Maggie Toussaint
April 11, 2019
Ripped from the headlines
By Maggie Toussaint
Oftentimes the TV news or newspaper stories of the violence in the world is frightening. Many of us are thankful that the really bad stuff happens elsewhere.
But what if it doesn’t?
The world is very connected today through ease of travel and communication. Geographical isolation is not the protective shield it once was.
As a mystery writer, I am drawn to solving puzzles and trying to understand motivations. Ideas from the media percolate in my head, and that’s how I came up with the overarching mystery in Dreamed It, my June 11 release from Camel Press.
I took an incident from the headlines and applied it to my fictional town of Marion, Georgia. The local cops there are used to run of the mill crimes and even paranormal crimes. Serial killers, not so much.
Since my Dreamwalker Series tends more toward cozy than mystery, I kept the forthcoming release focused on the aspects of identifying the killer. My sleuth Baxley Powell is challenged by a new aspect of her special talent, but her dreamwalking and highly developed intuition save the day.
For a chance to win a print copy or mobi digital book of Doggone It, comment on your dreams. Do you remember them when you wake up? (Print book winners US address only)
While you’re here, visit our contest page for a chance to win a book from the April Book Vault from any of our six authors. This contest runs through April 18. Click here.
Posted in Let's Talk, with Maggie Toussaint • Tags: BLB Discussion, Dreamed It, Dreamwalker Series, Let's Talk, Maggie Toussaint, Ripped from the headlines | 32 Comments
I do dream but most of the time when I wake up I don’t remember the dream. I know upon awakening that I had a dream but have no idea of what it was about. My wife on the other hand dreams quite a bit and remembers in detail her dreams. I have never understood how she can remember and I can not!
Some aspects of life don’t even out. We have different gifts and different abilities is how I explain deficits or talents I may have. Unless it frustrates you that you can’t remember, my unprofessional advice is to let it go. If you are a searcher, then perhaps leaning more about dreams and lucid dreams may help you access those twilight thoughts. In any event, I’m glad you visited, Barry. Nice to have you here.
I never remember any of my dreams! It is very frustrating. I don’t often dream, but when I dream it is in color and often the dream is confusing to me. I’d like to wake up and analyze my dream, but I don’t remember any of it. Other people remember every detail. I is very frustrating.
I totally get what you’re saying. I have woken up determined to write down everything form something so vivid it brought me out of a deep sleep, but usually all I can remember is an object in color. From past experience, the objects rarely relate to my reality, but it is puzzling. I try to keep pen and paper by the bed so that I can jot something down sooner, but I’m such a list maker that I’m all the time moving that pad of paper or stealing the pen. Thanks for stopping by, Theresa!
When I remember dreams, they’re usually of the “can’t find my locker/classroom” variety, or I’m in a hotel, but can’t find my room, even though I was there before and all my stuff was in it. I’ve yet to remember a dream that would offer more than a funny scene in the kind of books I write.
Losing things and losing my way are more in the nature of waking dreams for me at this stage of my life. I think the barrier between conscious and unconscious thought thins as you age. I’m glad that you are comfortable with your dreams!
My dreams are vivid and in color — when I can remember them. Mostly I sleep soundly, but when life gets a little complicated, I work things out there.
Ah, you have working dreams. Must be that logical engineering mind piecing things together. I remembered more of my dreams when I was younger, and I don’t know whether to be happy or sad about that because some of the things I dreamed were flat out scary.
When I dream, in most cases I don’t remember what it is about. Lately I’ve had dreams with my parents who have passed on in them. Having lost them with 6 months of each other I feel it may be the reason why later.
That’s interesting, Robeader. The dream makes me wonder if there’s either unfinished business that needs to be addressed or if there’s an issue with the grief process. That stalled grief process led me to create the Dreamwalker Mysteries. I have fewer acute dreams of my late sister now, but I always have a sense of her fun, creative energy. People have asked me where I get the ideas for some of the paranormal scenes. I have no idea, defaulting to the mishmash of my personal experiences, education, and readings, but the best answer is that the scenes were distilled from the story ether, another dream state….
I love dreams (like I love Tarot) because of the symbolism — our subconscious is sooo clever. When things are tough, I have what I call “stress” dreams, with me being pursued by something symbolic of my daytime problem. When I lived in Texas, I would be chased by tornadoes. Now that I live in Florida, however, the tornadoes have been replaced by alligators (and sometimes sharks). If I ever moved to NY, I wonder what would be chasing me, LOL?
There are all kind of explanations for chase dreams and falling dreams! But Diane, you must’ve woken up exhausted and terrified after those dreams. From what I hear, most of the terrors in NYC are the two-legged variety, although I really don’t like tunnels under water. I like knowing I can get out of a place if I need to and a failing tunnel would be a nightmare for me, and possibly others… I also look for symbols in dreams but then I claim to be guilty of interpreting the symbols from my personal context. I become my own POV character, LOL!
I believe the Jungian theory is that everything in your dream is an aspect of yourself — so of course you interpret it personally. 🙂
I have rarely remembered my dreams, but it was a dream that launched me on my career as an author. The dream was extremely vivid and unfolded like the chapters in a book over several nights. The people in the dream were total strangers. Because I couldn’t get the dream out of my head, I eventually decided to write it down. The next thing I knew, I had a novel! That story, after 10 years of revisions (because in the beginning I didn’t know how to write a book!) became Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception, the second book I ever sold.
(Experts and lay people interpret dreams differently, whether its our subconscious trying to tell us something, wires crossed in our resting brain, a message from a higher power, or something else entirely, so take all my comments on dreams with several grains of salt.) I love how your dreams inspired you to take action, Lois. How fitting that inscribing your dream led to so many wonderful stories. I came to mystery through romance so I thought I knew what I was doing, but there’s always a learning curve. I shared a similar multi-year revision process on that first mystery, finally issuing it as a novella and creating a new series. It was a revelation to me that I could write short at all, and it opened up another avenue of publication. Full length books are still my preference though. Congratulations on dreaming big and persevering until your “dream” book broke through!
I dream quite often but rarely remember them
Hi Sharon, I don’t know why some dreams turn to vapor right away, but it happens to most of us. Thanks for stopping by Booklover’s Bench!
I used to have particularly vivid dreams, generally anxiety based. The situations wrre different, but they center on me being the only one to see a problem, and attempting to call 911, but either I can’t find my phone, or the numbers aren’t in the right place, or I dial 911 and get the wrong number. Lately tho, I have been having fun dreams about going shopping and finding great bargains. Much betyer dreams. 🙂
Hi Denise, I’m glad you don’t have the anxious dreams anymore. How cool that you dream of bargain-shopping. Most of my wardrobe is separates, and that’s from buying random items on clearance racks. So nice of you to stop by.
I have very vivid dreams. Sometimes, I’ll write them down. Other times, they’re the inspiration for an entire novel or at least a scene or two. Last night I dreamt I was on a cruise ship. Must have been wishful thinking! My very first published book, Circle of Light, started as a dream. It was so exciting that I had to finish the story when I woke up.
What a great story! I am so envious of those who can still remember vivid dreams. It’s like someone’s dialed down the volume on my nighttime dreams these days.
I very rarely remember my dreams. Sometimes when I wake up during the night after a dream, I tell myself I want to remember it, but when I wake up I have no idea what the dream was about .
This often happens to me Dianne, so I totally get where you’re coming from. Appreciate you stopping by. Good luck in the drawing.
I remember a few of my dreams and they are usually quite strange.
I hope they aren’t strange in a frightening way, more like crazy hair or clothes way… Thanks for coming by!
I remember a lot of my dreams—the good, the bad and the ugly, lol. Legallyblonde1961@yahoo.com
Hi Kara Leigh, You’re lucky (I think) to be able to remember your dreams. Appreciate you stopping by and entering the giveaway.
I have vivid dreams that often carry into that twilight/wakening phase. I’ve also found my dreams are more vivid during those times when I can’t write (due to conflict with my regularly scheduled life, like deadline times at the day job that have me working WAY too many hours). Good luck with the new book, Maggie! Can’t wait to see it.
Writing is such a creative outlet, isn’t it? I don’t know if this is true for you, but for me writing helps clear my thoughts. Otherwise, thoughts get all tangled up. I know your day job is hectic right now, so I appreciate you dropping by, Karla. Thanks for sharing your anticipation for the new book!
I remember some of my dreams quite clearly. But it seems to be the really strange ones that I remember.
I hear you, Carolyn. Strange is always memorable and oftentimes scary. For me strange represents things that mesh together in the wrong way. I’ve had my share of strange dreams. Thanks for stopping by!
Thank you , everyone, for interest in my forthcoming book, DREAMED IT, and your comments. I decided to select three winners. My randomly selected winners are Barry Collins, Theresa Rinko, and Sharon Whaley.