I usually forget my REM the moment I open my eyes: CLICK, and the dream is gone But this morning it lingered with me and I know enough about dream analysis to figure out what's going on. Years ago I took a couple of courses in Jungian dream analysis and joined a dream group (four people including me) for a while, to help me get on with my life after my husband's death. My dreams at that time all boiled down to obstacle courses, presented in many different ways. The mind is a basic punster. Yes, I know all about Nobel Laureate Crick (double helix) who denigrated dream analysis and stated the obvious fact that dreams are just a clearing out of the detritus of the day. But there's still something there that sometimes has to be dealt with or at least recognized.

I dreamed I was taking care of a baby (lots of preamble, including a celebratory church (possibly ) service. I had to change it before a party after the ceremonies. It had a full load and I had to get it cleaned up and back before the festivities started. But I was in a hotel room and the toilet had stopped up- water all over the floor. I threw down towels to sop up the mess, but I had no water to clean the infant - and I had a plane to catch. I think the father was Tom Selleck or looked like him, possibly my lover, not sure of that. Anyway, I left him at the party. I was about to call room service for a pail and more towels when I woke up and didn't click off. I was a bit vague about what I was doing for a few minutes, looking for a pail.

Okay. I remember babies mean new work, a new project. That's my book. The full load is my product, something I have to work on to clean up. The plane to catch, of course, is not only the deadline for my book I must finish but also for the trip. And the difficulties are my activities right now. I'm doing too much other stuff. I'm cooking for people (today, a high tea birthday party for a friend) and doing too many other things when I should be writing that new chapter.

"Oh for a holiday in a complete vac-u- um!" Remember that line from The Lady's Not For Burning? Well, today will be no vacuum for me.

How is your day?

My grandson and his wife are coming to dinner to give me some advice. I am so blessed. They are both writers, but not like me. If I were starting out today to hang my shingle as a "writer", I'm sure I wouldn't make it. I'd be selling craft jewellery and kitschy stuff at a gift shoppe. Even in my time, it was accepted wisdom not to attempt to make one's living as a writer. "Don't quit yer day job,"i was told. (I didn't have a day job.) I began to realize I was setting a precedent when journalism students started calling me for my story and the Canadian Authors' Association asked me to speak, as the Canadian widow tells all, and following that, McMillan Publishing offered me a contract to write a book on How to .Succeed as a Writer in Canada, when I hadn't even sent them a pitch.

There are more outlets for one's writing today. Free platforms abound, but the markets are tougher. I have lived so long that I have outlived, not only my doctors, but more importantly, my agents and my contacts in both the publishing and theatre fields. So, as I am finishing my new book, I'm looking around for a market, especially in e-books and self-published books. Enter my talented grandson and grand-daughter-in-law. I have to find out how to establish an online presence so I can sell myself, and my book. I've been writing my blog for about a year now and I have about three devoted readers. I need more than that, no offence intended.

Not that I want to go viral. That looks awful. I'm certainly not trying to compete with a Grumpy Cat or a homeless man playing the piano. (That's the extent of my knowledge of going viral.) I just want to enlarge my audience and sell a few books. I'm hoping the next generation will tell me how to do it.

I'm planning a nice dinner.