Four Hours of Fright: Hank Phillippi Ryan on Scary Dreams

By - August 23, 2013

We've reached the halfway point in our FOUR HOURS OF FRIGHT segment of this fabulous day to benefit the Leukemia Lymphoma Society, which is a good time to remind you...

 

Now, I'm thrilled to welcome our next guest author, 28-time Emmy Award Winner & Agatha Nominee, Hank Phillippi Ryan!  And don't forget to check out the bottom of this post for details on a giveaway from her fellow International Thriller Writers author Lynne Raimondo.   Without further ado, I'll let Hank take it away with her guest post entitled:

"Such Stuff as Dreams are Made On"

She’d turned seven only two weeks ago, and was still getting used to her big girl status. The other night at dinner, my little next door neighbor, Ella, was seated at the grownups table, next to me. We had filet and horseradish sauce, which she gobbled with delight. She ate her caprese salad. As we waited for dessert—her mother’s birthday cake--we started talking about summer and the impending school year, and then she said, “Aunt Hank, can I tell you about something?”

“Sure,” I said.

“Well,” she said. “Last night I had a really bad dream. It was so scary!”

I shook my head.  “Whoa, that’s difficult,” I said. “Do you remember what it was about?”

“Not really…” she said.  Her voice trailed off.

I couldn’t decide whether she truly couldn’t remember, or if she didn’t want to remember. She’s 7, of course, so who knows.

“And when you woke up,” I said, “Did you still think it was real for a moment?”

Her eyes widened. “Yes, how did you know?”

“Oh,” I said. “We’ve all   been here. But here’s the trick. When you’re in a bad dream, just let your brain understand that you know it’s a dream.”

“What?” She said.

I could tell she was trying to figure this out.

“Yes,” I said. “You just say—in our dream—I know this is a dream! And I want the scary part to go away.”

“Will that really work?”  she asked.

By this time, the birthday cake was coming, but she was still focused on me.

“Yup.”  I nodded. “It may take you a couple of times to do it. But just tell yourself, before you go to sleep, ‘If I have a bad dream I can make it stop. I will make it stop. And I will not be afraid of dreams, because I can control them. And I might even learn from them.’”

“Really?” she said.

“Yup. It’s all in your mind, right? And you can control what’s in your mind, if you just—put your mind to it.”

So we shall see. And Ella then focused on her chocolate cake with mint boiled frosting, dreams forgotten. Or at least tucked away.

 Where would they be on the list of ten things that scare me?

Well, let’s see.

1. The movie THE VANISHING.  The real one, the Dutch one. I wish I could unsee it.
2. Terrible drivers.
3. People who use their phone while driving.
4. The book DRACULA. But that’s scary in a good way.
5. Funny noises at night.
6. Bats.
7. Funny noises on airplanes.
8. Someone who might be around a corner.
9. Fire.
10. Surprise parties.

So I guess bad dreams are not on my list.   But bad dreams are scary, right? (Although, yes, indeed, very interesting and revealing!) How do you deal with them?

Can you control your dreams?

ABOUT HANK:  Award-winning investigative reporter Hank Phillippi Ryan is on the air at Boston's NBC affiliate. Her work has resulted in new laws, people sent to prison, homes removed from foreclosure, and millions of dollars in restitution. Along with her 30 EMMYs, Hank's won dozens of other journalism honors. She's been a radio reporter, a legislative aide in the United States Senate and an editorial assistant at Rolling Stone Magazine.

A best-selling author of six mystery novels, Ryan has won the Mary Higgins Clark,  Anthony, Macavity and two Agatha awards for her crime fiction. She's on the national board of directors of Mystery Writers of America  and is 2013 president of national Sisters in Crime.  Her thriller, the best-selling THE OTHER WOMAN,(now in a third printing) is the first in a new series from Forge Books. It's now listed as a Best Book of 2012 by the Kansas City Star, the Sacramento Bee, Suspense Magazine, and the Boston Globe, won the prestigious Mary Higgins Clark Award and is the only novel nominated for the Agatha, Anthony, Macavity, Shamus and Daphne awards for Best Novel of 2012.. Hank's current thriller THE OTHER WOMAN received starred reviews from Library Journal "..readers who crave mystery and political intrigue will be mesmerized.."  and Booklist ".a perfect thriller. Her newest suspense thriller, THE WRONG GIRL, will be published in September 2013 A starred review from Booklist calls THE WRONG GIRL “Another winner!” and Library Journal says: “Stellar!”  Find out more at http://www.HankPhillippiRyan.com and on Facebook at Hank Phillippi Ryan Ryan Author Page.

 

With An Additional Giveaway From

LYNNE RAIMONDO

 

***One lucky commenter on this post will win an autographed copy of new thriller Dante's Wood by Lynne Raimondo.***

ABOUT DANTE'S WOOD:  In Dante's Wood a troubled psychiatrist turns investigator when a young patient confesses to murder.  "Stunning" and "one of the best mystery debuts since V.I. Warshawsky solved her first case." --  Mystery Scene Magazine.  "A real keeper."  -- Library Journal (starred review).  "Keeps the reader turning the pages." -- Publisher's Weekly.

Find out more at lynneraimondo.com or check out Lynne's Author Page on Facebook.

 

Comment for your chance to win Lynne's giveaway- leave an e-mail address so we can contact you if you win!

 

Which brings us back to Hank's questions:

How do you deal with bad dreams?  Can you control your dreams?