Things That Go Buzz in the night!

(First published here in 2016).

Sometimes what scares you the most are concrete things that scared you as a child. Sometimes experiences you'd think would have left you scarred inexplicably don't. The human psyche is a rich and strange land.

I'm allergic to spider bites. We discovered this when I was bitten on the hand at the age of five. I remember how the pain kept growing, and how my hand swelled until I couldn't use it, and how I had to see the doctor for treatment. A later bite on my back left a scar and taught me the meaning of the verb, to lance.

Yet I'm not afraid of spiders. I loved the book Charlotte's Web. I tolerate one or two on the outside of the house in hopes they'll catch mosquitoes and flies.

Wasps, on the other hand, I am afraid of, although I'm not allergic to them. Go figure!

Last week I was staying with my ninety-year-old mother during a storm. Guess who showed up inside the house?

Yep, Wasps. Plural. Over a three-day period. They should have been dead or hibernating or hiding out in their nest - whatever wasps do in the winter - but instead, they kept appearing inside the house. They did seem sluggish, though - thank goodness!

Initially, Mom found one crawling on the hall floor one morning. Imagine her surprise! Then she spotted one on the edge of the bathroom waste basket. I later found one in the bathroom sink. At that point,we started looking for more. There were five or six behind the blinds in the living room window. That's when Mom realized how they'd gotten into the house.

Weather forecasters had predicted very high winds. I 'd walked around the house and yard, putting anything that might blow inside the garage. But I forgot the pillows on the deck swing. I went out the back door to get them and spotted a birdhouse made of bark on the deck. I snatched that up, too. It hardly weighed anything - definitely might blow away. Unfortunately I stowed the pillows and the birdhouse on the floor behind Mom's recliner.

Sure enough, wasps had built a cozy nest inside the birdhouse! The warm house must have awakened them from their winter sleep. Mom put the birdhouse back outside. We breathed a sigh of relief.

Next morning, there were two more wasps at the living room window. That night one was buzzing around the lamp. After searching the bedrooms for insect interlopers, we left the light on in the living room and shut our bedroom doors hoping any that remained would "go towards the light."

Apparently they did. We found a few more  near the window on the third day. I, for one, am afraid of things that go buzz in the night!

What are you afraid of? ~ Sarah

Sarah Raplee writes paranormal romance featuring underdogs, outsiders and survivors. She has published stories in two anthologies. Her first novel, BLINDSIGHT, Book1 of the Psychic Agent Series, available from Windtree Press. 

My fears become my characters' fears...

 The old adage, write what you know, has never been as pertinent to me as when writing character flaws, quirks, phobias, and mannerisms. I am one of those authors who draws from real life as much as I can to make my characters feel more alive, fully formed and fleshed out.

Case in point: fears and phobias.

We all have fears. They are a normal part of the human condition and are there, inside us, to keep us safe. Fear of being burned is what prevents us from running into a building engulfed in flames.

But phobias are different. They don't seem to be naturally formed in our brains but occur for a myriad of reasons that propel people to a psychiatrist's coach every day.

I love having my characters possess phobias because it gives an insight into their brains, emotions, and the way they handle stressors.

I had one heroine be absolutely phobic about spiders, to the extent when she spotted one in her house, she moved out to a hotel until an exterminator cleared the place. Now, this situation I handled with a great deal of humor, but to a person afflicted with real arachnophobia, this situation wouldn't be funny. And it wasn't to my character.

For an alpha male hero, I gave him a phobia about flying. His aerophobia was so real that he got physically ill at the thought of being up in the air. When the only way he could rescue the kidnapped heroine - and his love interest in a ticking timebomb situation - was to board a two-seater puddle jumper and head for the jungle, he was so conflicted and so terrified, he white-knuckled even the prospect of getting in the plane, determined to find another way.

He didn't and wound up in the passenger seat. Again, this scene was handled with a great deal of humor, but I've known people who will take any mode of transportation no matter how slow, just to avoid getting on a plane.

Personally, I have a phobia - a paralyzing one - about bees. I was stung by a wasp as a child and have never been the same when I see anything flying in the vicinity - including flies. But bees? That's a whole 'nother kind of crazy I put myself through. My apipohobia ( or melissophobia) is so real that when I even hear a bee buzzing anywhere around me, I immediately feel like I've been injected with a paralytic anesthetic. I can't move. I can barely breathe. I begin to sweat, my heart rate triples, and I can't feel my tongue anymore.

Terrifying.

Also...fodder for a character. 

Writing Character Phobias…Or Not … by Delsora Lowe

Phobia – Oxford Dictionary – an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something, triggered by specific or general events or items.

My phobias are snakes and spiders and heights, but since they are my phobias, I don’t want to even think about them, much less write about them.

All I can say is I had traumatic encounters with the first two when I lived overseas as a child in the land of yucky things that caused me great anxiety. I don’t think of them as irrational fears, since the exposure to the first two could have been not only dangerous, but deadly. The third, a fear of heights, was a learned phobia from my mom who flipped out any time we were near heights. After many decades of life, I am slowly…almost…conquering that phobia.

Grandson conquering a Maine mountain

So, I still stay away from edges situated along great heights, but I can now slowly inch closer. And I still cover my eyes when I see photos of snakes and spiders, and avoid both, at all costs, in real life. For example, when I worked in alumni relations at an environmental college, I co-edited the alumni magazine. Part of that duty was editing the entire issue. Undoubtedly, there was always at least one photo in the issue that had a snake in it, as the guy who was the managing editor and put together the magazine loved snakes. In one issue, there was a two-page spread with such a photo. I asked my intern, now a career biologist in Africa (who is NOT afraid of snakes,) to edit that page and then flip it to the next page on my computer, so I could open my eyes. We still keep in touch via FB, and he still teases me about that. Luckily, he now studies birds and I can look at his FB page.

Jonah holding a Blue-breasted Bee-eater in Africa

As for my characters… I like to think I give them things, emotions or responses, that cause them discomfort. But I don’t believe I have ever given them an actual phobia. Their fears / issues are what many people have similar reactions to and can be considered rational or normal.

For example, falling in love can only cause hurt and heartache. These reactions may be the result from past life experiences or insecurities. So, getting to know our character’s past, off the page, before we write them in their present situation is important. One such hurt could be how our characters process and move forward after a bad break-up.

In Holiday Hitchhiker, my most recent book, my heroine, an only child, knows she has disappointed her parents by moving away to go to school to earn a degree in childhood education. They wanted her to go into the family business and run the small town mercantile. Her anxiety comes from desiring her own career dreams at the expense of disappointing her parents.

Strangely, as I write this post, I realize I gave my hero the same anxiety about wanting to carve his own path. He feels guilty that he isn’t home helping run the ranch and is instead working his life’s dream to be a conservation officer. In order to do what he wants, he felt it necessary to also move away to pursue his dream.

The two strangers, stuck together, first in a vehicle and later a log cabin, during a days-long blizzard, end up bonding over their shared experience of feeling as though they disappointed their families. Although one is an only child and feels the burden of her parent’s dream. The other is the youngest of six, and chose a career away from the ranch, in order to be his own person. His angst stems from his mom passing away when he was so young. As a result, he felt abandoned by everyone in his family. His mom doted on him. And his dad and siblings, lost in their own grieving and still trying to function in school and work, seemed to forget about him.

In another book I’m currently editing for release in 2024, Rescuing the Sheriff, the heroine’s phobia is not trusting anyone, especially law enforcement, as she is hunted by her turned rogue police officer, step-brother. She is not sure if her fears are justified, but she suspects he is responsible for her mother’s death and intends to harm her. Her fear is based on evidence, but also on the belief no one will believe her, especially the stern sheriff in the small town where she is hiding.

Fear? or Phobias?

The hero in the story fears not belonging. And has set out his entire life to prove he is good enough for the family who adopted him. He doesn’t believe he deserves their love or anyone else’s. This fear is irrational, but stems from the childhood trauma of losing both his parents. He loves his adoptive family, and most likely has this fear of not belonging because his heritage is different from the rest of the family.

Neither believe they belong, and yet each finds the other. Together, with the help of his loving adoptive family, they each teach the other that they deserve to belong.

So, I wouldn’t call any of these characteristics phobias, but deep fear and feelings of self-doubt that need to be corrected, with help from another person who truly understands, as they too have experienced similar fears.

Do you have fears or phobias? How do you deal with confronting those fears?

The Inn on Gooseneck Lane

Amazon (also in print)

                       Barnes & Noble (also in print)

                      Apple Books (also in print)

            Holiday Hitchhiker

Amazon (also in print)

Books2Read

~ cottages to cabins ~ keep the home fires burning ~

Delsora Lowe writes small town sweet and spicy romances and contemporary westerns, from the mountains of Colorado to the shores of Maine.

Author of the Starlight Grille series, Serenity Harbor Maine novellas, and the Cowboys of Mineral Springs series, Lowe has also authored short romances for Woman’s World magazine. The Love Left Behind is a Hartford Estates, R.I. wedding novella. A Christmas novel (The Inn at Gooseneck Lane) and novella (Holiday Hitchhiker) were released in late fall 2022. Look for book 3 and 4 of the cowboy’s series, as well as book 2 of the Hartford Estates series, in 2024-25.

 Social Media Links:

Author website: www.delsoralowe.com
Facebook Author page: https://www.facebook.com/delsoraloweauthor/community/
Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Delsora-Lowe/e/B01M61OM39/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
Books2Read Author page: https://www.books2read.com/ap/8GWm98/Delsora-Lowe
BookBub Author Page: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/delsora-lowe-93c6987f-129d-483d-9f5a-abe603876518
Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16045986.Delsora_Lowe
Instagram: #delsoralowe / https://www.instagram.com/delsoralowe/

Photo Credits:
 
Conquering the Mountain: My grandson, photo taken by my son
Phobias: In My Head - Free phobias, Download Free phobias png images,
Free ClipArts on Clipart Library clipart-library.com)
Blizzard: Photo taken by Delsora Lowe
Bird: Blue-breasted Bee-eater in Africa, permisson to use from Jonah’s FB page

My Phobia by Lynn Lovegreen

According to the 5th edition of the American Heritage Dictionary, a phobia is “a persistent, abnormal, and irrational fear of a specific thing or situation that that compels one to avoid it, despite the awareness and reassurance that it is not dangerous.” Under that definition, I have a phobia for snakes.

I’m not alone in this—check out Indiana Jones, for example.  And I think I have a pretty good excuse. There are no wild snakes in Alaska. My dad moved us to the state courtesy of the U.S. Army when I was six, so I grew up there. Snakes are foreign to me. 

 

I understand intellectually that most snakes are harmless, but I can’t control my reaction to them. When we’re traveling Outside (outside of Alaska) and come across a snake on a hike or in a sunny spot along a building, I’m liable to jump while my heartbeat races as fast as a sports car.  Others will reassure me, but my body doesn’t calm down until the snake is long gone.

 

Where it comes up more often is that I can’t watch snakes on TV shows or movies, either. As soon as something slithers, I have to look away. My husband takes it all in stride, telling me when it’s safe to look again. He’s gotten me through more nature shows and films than we could count. Which gives us a silver lining to the whole phobia: hubby gets to be my knight in shining armor every time. It’s a moment of romance in our lives.

 

Thanks, Darlin’! Maybe this little phobia isn’t so bad after all, if it brings more romance to our lives. 😊

 

Lynn Lovegreen has lived in Alaska for most of her life. After twenty years in the classroom, she retired to make more time for writing. She enjoys her friends and family, reading, and volunteering for her local library. Her young adult historical romance is set in Alaska, a great place for drama, romance, and independent characters. See her website at www.lynnlovegreen.com.

Phobias I have a few!

By: Marcia King-Gamble

www.lovemarcia.com

 October is the month of ghosts, goblins, and all things spooky. My phobia fits right in with this theme. Want to guess what it is?

I’ll tell you. I have the most incredible fear of anything that is dead. Not in the sense of ghosts coming alive, more like a paralyzing fear of anything with blood no longer running through its veins. I simply cannot look at the dead, much less touch them. It’s creepy and scary to me, regardless of how much I loved that person or animal.

How did this all get started?

If you’ve been following me, you know I grew up on a tiny Caribbean Island where superstition and folklore was rampant. After sunset, old wives tales of Rounces, Jumbies and half human creatures were said to come alive. It didn’t help that back then I lived in the main town, and not the country, though truth be told, many of the roads and streets were poorly lit.

It also didn’t help that at the age of eleven, my grandfather died in the home. He had been ailing for a long time and bedridden. I knew immediately something was wrong when I came home and found all the windows wide open, something we seldom did because of the bugs.

Back then, dead bodies were seldom sent to funeral homes. The one existing that I knew of, catered to the very wealthy. Average Joe/Josephine had  the embalmer come in; minimal as his job was and certainly an antiquated process. I will spare you the graphic details.

Because of my grandfather’s death, my usually cool, calm, and collected grandmother,  had many things to do. I was dispatched to run errands. One of my chores was to purchase as much ice as there was. Few people had central air conditioning, not sure if such a thing existed in our world. The ice would be used in combination with fans to keep the home cool. The body would be  displayed in the living room so that friends and family could say their goodbyes.

My grandfather laid in state for exactly three days. For a child my age, nights were agony. Neighbors and friends would gather to sing hymns and say prayers. They would exchange stories of seeing the dead live or hearing his footsteps come down the long hallway. I was scared to death every time I had to walk by the coffin on the way to my bedroom. I made sure to keep my eyes straight ahead. At one point, a cousin fell asleep. They wheeled the coffin next to him so that when he woke up, he was staring into my grandfather’s face. His screams are something I will never forget. It’s a   memory I still live with today.  This is where my phobia of the dead began.

Today, I will attend a wake or a funeral, but sit in the back row. It is with difficulty I walk to the front to pay my respects. I’m not being rude or uncaring, more like paralyzed. That embalmed face will haunt me for weeks.

Flash forward, five months ago, I stepped out of my house with my twelve-pound dog on a leash. Out of nowhere comes a pit bull who attacked my dog and killed him. To make a long story short, it was hours before the police would allow me to remove the body from my neighbor’s lawn. By then, I could not look at my dog much less touch him. I had to have someone else remove him.

While some might think of me as selfish, I cannot hold a favorite household pet while they are being euthanized. The thought of Fido going limp in my arms has me breaking out in hives. Believe m,e I want to do the right thing, but if the right thing involves a dead body, I just can’t.

What’s your phobia? What keeps you up at night? How do you deal with your heart-pounding source of fright?

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About Marcia King-Gamble

USA bestselling romance writer, Marcia King-Gamble originally hails from a sunny Caribbean island where the sky and ocean are the same mesmerizing shade of blue. This former travel industry executive has spent most of life in the United States. A National Bestselling author, Marcia has penned over 34 books and 8 novellas. She has contributed to Michael Fiore’s DigitalRomanceInc and served as a moderator on the now defunct eHarmony advice boards. Having witnessed the bad, the ugly, and the not so good in relationships, she still prefers to write about happily ever after. Caring for her animal family keeps her grounded and sane.

Visit Marcia at www.lovemarcia.com or “friend” her on Facebook: http://bit.ly/1MlnrIS

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Overcoming My Snake Phobia

Hi, I’m Judith Ashley, author of The Sacred Women’s Circle series, soul nourishing romantic women’s fiction with light paranormal elements. My stories show you what life could be like if you had a place like The Circle where you are unconditionally accepted, supported and loved. And where, with this support, you make choices to overcome the darkest nights of your life to choose love and light.

As you can see by now, this month’s theme/topic is Phobias: ours or our characters. My characters have their issues but not phobias. So if I’m going to stay on topic, I need to look inward.

In elementary school, a group of boys chased me with a garter snake threatening to put it down my blouse if they caught me. Now at that time I wasn’t exactly terrified of snakes but they did startle me and the idea of a snake down my neck was what was terrifying. As well as being caught and held down by the group of boys.

I ran and sought refuge in the nearest building---a crematorium. The caretaker found me on the lowest floor huddled in a corner. A kind older man, he coaxed me out of my hiding place and made sure I got safely home although I have no memory of how that happened.

I digress: In the 1950’s when boys did things like chasing you, grabbing at your breasts, flipping up your skirt (yes, we had dress codes so no pants except on special days), etc., the standard adult phrase was “Boys will be boys.” “Just ignore them.” Or the worst was “What did you do?” as if we girls wanted this harassment.

From that time on until I was in my 30’s the sight of a snake was terrifying and I’d shriek, throw the book/magazine away from me and often burst into tears. Needless to say over twenty years had not dimmed the terror.

Rather than go into more detail about major traumatic events involving snakes, I want to share with you what fixed me.

NLP and Me: Again, the details are hazy as to time and exact place, a normal aspect of traumatic events. I know I was in my 30’s, probably mid-thirties and was looking at various therapeutic models. I knew some people who were studying NLP, neuro-linguistic programming. I’d read some books and was intrigued with the concept that we are wired in certain ways and if we understand that wiring, we can understand other people (and ourselves) better.

I was invited to a demonstration of how NLP worked. After discussing the theory and showing overheads or maybe it was a video, the presenter asked for volunteers.

I raised my hand.

And, mine was the only hand raised.

I was led through a kind of remote viewing process of that fateful day in elementary school.

Since that day, although I’m not going to the reptile house at zoos, petting snakes, etc. I have a detached curiousness about them.

The Universe Has A Sense of Humor Add to that when I went through a ceremony to identify my totem animal, snake was one of them.

Although none of my characters have phobias, they all do have power animals although no one has snake or snowy owl (my second totem animal). You can learn more about power animals, totems and the earth-based spirituality in my books.

You can find my books at your favorite e-book vendor as well as through my website and Windtree Press. 

Print books are available at Jan’s Paperbacks in Beaverton, OR and Arte Soleil in Portland, OR. You can get the street addresses from my website. 

And be sure to ask your library if you’d prefer to read my books through that resource.

Learn more about Judith's The Sacred Women’s Circle series at JudithAshley.net

Check out Judith’s Windtree Press author page.

You can also find Judith on FB! 

© 2023 Judith Ashley

PHOBIAS - The Writer's (and Reader's) Best Friend

By Robin Weaver

Inspired by Ann Chaney

Have you ever written (or read about) a character who was simply too perfect? And let’s be honest… too perfect is simply a big ole yawn.

So what to do about Mr. (or Ms.) Too Boring to Live? Give him a phobia. Or two.

Nothing spices up a character like an irrational fear. Remember the TV character Monk? The brilliant man could envision the crime scene in a way that enable him to always catcht his crook. Without his OCD though, all that brilliance would have equated to whole lotta arrogance. And worse, a lotta sleep inducement.

Upon reading my first draft of Styrofoam Corpse, I realized Sheriff Casey Randolph, was just a bit too—well just too. The hunka-hunka needed a flaw. More important, he needed to stand out among all the other sheriffs in all those other small town whodunnit books. So I gave him a phobia about blood.  The sight of the red stuff had the man swooning like a Victorian heroine who’s lost her smelling salts. Which wasn’t a problem until he came across the first dead body in a formerly quiet little town. Then, the good sheriff not only had to solve a crime, he had to do so while hiding what he perceived as a sissy affliction.

Since phobias give characters depth and interest, I wondered what other weirdo fears I could give heroes and heroines. So… You guessed it. Google Time.

Yikes, now I’m thinking…Hammer time.  You can’t touch this... Can’t touch the crack in the sidewalk, banana peel, raindrop, or frog.

If you don’t remember M.C. Hammer, you’re thinking I’m a rather nutso.  Even so, all the things you can’t touch above are actual phobias. With actual long names—triskaidekaphobia, cibophobia, ombrophobia, and ranidaphobia. Thank you, Google.

Here’s some of the other bizarre phobias Google identified that I may include in future novels:

Eisoptrophobia – Fear of Mirrors.  Hmm, this happens to me every time I have a bad hair day. Sometimes even on a good hair day. Maybe this fear isn’t so irrational.

Myrmecophobia – Fear of Ants. Wait a sec. Anyone who’s ever encountered a fire ant bed would agree this fear isn’t irrational at all.

Ephebiphobia—Fear of Teenagers. Say what? Those of us who’ve survived post-puberty offspring could agree this horror is most rational.

Aerophobia – Fear of Fresh Air. According to my research blowing or fanning air on a person with this ailment causes muscle spasms and intense startled reactions. Not sure why this is a fear of “fresh” air.  If I’d named it, I might call this blowophobia.

Nomophobia – Fear of Being without a Smartphone.  Wow, I think everyone under the age of 25 has this affliction, and many who were born before Y2K are also affected. Who knew the ailment had a name? 

Alektophobia – Fear of Chickens.  Wow, just wow.  Chickens, especially hens guarding fertile eggs are quite vicious. As a kid, I suffered this—I will have to revive my chicken story in a future blog.

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia – Fear of Long Words. I kid you not, this is a real thing. ‘Nuff said.

Globophobia – Fear of Balloons. I am sooo going to use this one. {Evil Grin}. So much better than a fear of clowns, don’t cha think?

RobinDubbedOphobia – Fear of people who give weird names to phobias or even perfectly rational fears. Okay, I totally made this one up.  Still, don’t you worry about the folks who named these phobias?  What other plots are hatching in their crazy brains?

Whatever irrational fears you have—and I suspect we all have one, or twenty… Like being touched by a foot… with a toenail fungus.   Anyway, fear not! You are not alone. Your phobia simply makes you interesting.

Have a great fall. Unless you’re afraid of pumpkins…in that case, have a safe autumn.

Robin

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