Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Wonky Dreams and Immortality


Yes, it is STILL Digressuary... the month that never ends, but at least we are digressing.

So the other night I had this crazy time travel dream... future self me (who looked remarkably like current me, but never mind) had traveled back over many generations (not sure how THAT works, either) with a task to change an event that would improve the future...

And the bad news is I didn't arrive via Tardis... I must have had one of those wristy-mabobs Captain Jack Harkniss wears.

The event was to get a really rotten guy arrested and thrown in jail before he could begin some genocidal rampage... I know, worthy cause, right!?

And being a writer, I figured my best chance at influencing this event was to write the guy into a book so everybody would KNOW what he was up to... but see I didn't know much about what he was up to, because it was CURRENT self who had to DO this darned task... future self was just telling me to do it...

So I decided... if it's good enough to get Al Capone, it should work for me... I wrote the details of that bastard's tax evasion. Hid it away in a book... so it would be found when needed... or could just enter the mainstream consciousness so everybody just KNEW...

You know how dreams are... it made sense at the time.


So if YOU were to jump back through time, what would YOU change if you could?


And what the heck does this have to do with immortality?

See... people sometimes ask us why we write... and I think of myself pouring over boxes of old books... books in attics, books in used book stores, books ANYWHERE. There aren't many things I love quite as much as old books... And I want to have MY books end up in those boxes... be found 50 or 100 years from now by some person who may never have heard of me, but takes a peek... It is like time travel and immortality all rolled into one.

Anybody else have plans for immortality?


15 comments:

Ted Cross said...

I write for the same reason, and I've gone a step further and written directly about immortality (which I think we will have in some form within the next two centuries).

Tonja Drecker said...

Nope, I'm not going for immortality. I'm happy with one life ;) Enjoyed your dream - cool that you wanted to write in it too.

Southpaw said...

So your future self traveled back to past self, right? That's one wild dream!

Alison DeLuca said...

I love that dream! I want to read that dream!

I never really thought about it - I just write and write, since apparently I'm addicted.

But one day, as I was hauled a box of print copies up the stairs, it suddenly hit me: These are MINE. No one can take these away. Anything can happen to me, and these guys will go on.

jaybird said...

This time traveling dream sounds amazing. I'm always writing down my crazy dreams- they all have the possibility to show up later in my writing-

If I could go back in time and see myself I'd tell my past self to enjoy my skinny ass, because I will never see it again! LOL

Matthew MacNish said...

We just watched the end of season 4 last night. I far prefer David Tennant to Matt Smith, sadly.

Hart Johnson said...

Ted--immortality as reality, eh? We will have to rethink procreation... that makes for a good dystopian book, eh? The immortality seeking society and a group of rebels that think life should be what it naturally is...

T-I FREQUENLY dream about writing... sometimes it is vivid enough I think I really wrote something and am devastated when I wake up and haven't really written it down.

Holly-yeah, that's supposed to be against the rules, eh?

Alison-I know, right!?

Jaybird-HA! I was never skinny enough to tell myself to enjoy it. But yeah, gotta capture all the dreams we can!

Matt-I like Tennent better, too, but Matt Smith has a little more wonky to him, which has some redeeming qualities.

Mark Means said...

Of course, I'd come back in a shiny DeLorean and probably have to warn myself about my crazy kids :D

I tend to think that everyone we meet is 'immortal' in one way or another...as long as we keep the memory of them alive within us.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Sure! I don't even need a phone booth. Unless it was with Bill and Ted and I became part of their history report.

Jan Morrison said...

oh for the time travel - yah, that is why I write and always has been. I'm travelling to my future self or in someone else's future past. I know that doesn't make sense but yet.
Hey my ducky - I would shortly be happy for you to read my second draft of Bright Angel - would you be up for it? It is getting shorter and shorter ...

LTM said...

Oh! I love the idea of a box found in the future and someone reads our books... That's awesome immortal time-travel. :D

As for your dream, it's almost like you're a super hero! That rocks! LOL!

Although, hubs says that's not how time travel works. He's sort of a party pooper sometimes. :D

I like your dream~ <3

Helena said...

Having a book live and be read for many years after me -- of COURSE that's what I want.

Your dreams sound as weird and surreal as mine. And time travel has always been one of my fantasies.

Laura Eno said...

Please tell me you're signing up for Stephen Tremp's National Wormhole Bloghop March 13 & 14. It's exactly what your dream is about! :)

Unknown said...

Fun dream!
I'm actually writing a book about a girl who time-travels--through her dreams to hang with her thrice great-grandmama, and unravels a mysterious chain of events to save herself and her family from an untimely end.
Aren't dreams fabulous? What a goodie you had Hart!
Man--Al Capone is smarmy lookin' huh?
~Just Jill

Unknown said...

P.S.
What would I change?
I never would have gotten that permed mullet in the tenth grade.
~JJ
It sounds like an entree.
"I'll have the permed mullet with fries and a soda please."