I KEEP GETTING ROBBED

 

I KEEP GETTING ROBBED

 

 DREAM: I Keep Getting Robbed (October 26, 1989, Six weeks after my memory returned.)

My phone is not working. The cord is broken and keeps coming out of the plug. People are coming into my house to rob me. I get more and more upset because I can’t get a phone call through to the police so they can rescue me {(A famous movie star)} is one of the robbers. He knows my phone is not working and he comes back to rob me a second time. I start calling the police but can’t think of the address. I scream at everyone,“What is the address here?” I am so excited and upset I can’t think straight and no one is helping me. The police are trying to get the address from me. I can’t think of it. I am screaming, yelling,  angry, and agitated. 

Finally I get control enough to think to look in my address book. I then remember that I am on “Cold Water Canyon Road.” I yell at the police so they can start on their way while I am finding the exact address.

Another robber enters my house, but claims he did not rob me. I am confused about this. He has entered my house, but has not taken anything. Therefore, did he rob me or not? He wants me to tell the police that he did not.

The police start to leave before I am rescued and I yell,“Where are you going,?” A woman gets in the car and drives away. I can’t believe she is leaving before I am okay. I wake up agitated, nervous and distraught.                                   

 A telephone that doesn’t work is in many of my dreams.  

Cold Water Canyon road shows up in several of my dreams.This is a street the begins in Beverly Hills and heads north across the Santa Monica Mountains and through the eastern San Fernando Valley.Virginia Hill had a house on Cold Water Canyon, and both Mickey Cohen and Brenda Allen had houses of pleasure in the area. The San Fernando Valley was, and is notorious as a place where pornographic films were made. 

"Robbed," is a metaphor for raped. 

 

 

I learned sand play therapy from my therapist, Barbara Cook, when I lived in San Francisco. It is a creative way to tap into the unconscious. It became a hobby. I collected many objects to use in my story telling. It was fun and soothing. In this picture of a house is a metaphor for me.When I made this in 1992 I had no idea what it meant. There is a section in my book about the usefulness of sand tray therapy in the healing process.

 

Yesterday, I sent out three more query letters. 

Elizabeth Winick of McIntosh and Otis agency accepts memoir submission. Her query guide-lines are a little complicated. She wants a query letter, proposal, outline, author bio, and three sample chapters from the manuscript. Luckily, Susan Shankin, owner of Precocity Press, advised me to write a full proposal before beginning my quest for a publisher. I have done so, and could easily pull out the information requested. 

Miriam Altshuler of DeFiore and Company, has arranged for the publication of the book, Survivors Cafe:The Legacy of Trauma and the Labyrinth of Memory, by Elizabeth Rosner, a book I have read, and own. It gave me much to think about. I quote from the cover." As survivors of many of the twentieth century's most monumental events -- the Holocaust, Hiroshima, the Killing Fields -- begin to pass away, Survivors Cafe addresses urgent questions: How do we carry those stories forward? How do we collectively ensure that the horrors of the past are not forgotten?" This book "sang" to me and addresses many of the questions I have asked myself. 

Miriam wants to know what the heart of my book is about and asks for the first chapter of the manuscript.  

Jennifer Wills, of The Seymour Agency, is interested in representing memoirs. The agency represents a large and diverse population of authors and books. Their submission guidelines were easy: A pitch letter of three to five lines, first five pages of manuscript, and a bio. And, I liked Jennifer's picture.  

I got an immediate auto response email from Miriam Altshuler and Jennifer Wills telling me what to expect. Jennifer says she will respond within three weeks if she is interested, but not to be discouraged if I don't hear from her. Miriam says she receives so many query letters she can't guarantee a response,but  appreciates my submission. 

 

 

 My great niece at six months old, and again at eighteen at her high school graduation. Time flies.

 

Onward and Upward.