Hi neighbors.

For those of you who are not writers, there is a tool in plotting called foreshadowing. Foreshadowing means inserting markers in a story that form the groundwork for some event that will happen later on in the plot. If you do this right, the reader will recognize the trail when he reaches the destination.

This causes that, "now why didn't I see this coming" moment all readers so enjoy.

Many times we all wonder just what the plot and story line of our own lives is turning out to be.

Unlike works of fiction, our life stories are the only ones we write as we go along. More often than not, our own story has a very loose plot line.

Still if we look back now and then, we can see that somehow there have been those foreshadowing events thrown in through the years that make the plot clearer in hindsight.

Lately I've been pondering the ways we craft foreshadowing events into our lives as we get older.

Do we add them as insights into the greater mystery of the main plot, or as red herrings along the way? I lost a hair in the shower the other day and it formed a perfect capital "R" on the side of the tub.

When I was a teen I would have thought that odd event indicated one of the initials of the name of the man I would soon meet and fall in love with. Now it just reminds me of that product for women facing hair loss.

Is it just me, or do we start thinking negatively as we get older? Do we write in too many false leads that detract from the main plot?

Isn't negativity just one of those loose ends that slow down the story line for now good reason?

Do you remember when "road trip" meant a spontaneous jumping in the vehicle and taking out for parts unknown just for the fun of it?

When did it start to involve schedule adjustments, pre-requisite car tune-ups, tire rotations, calls to check weather and road conditions, emergency number lookups, route mapping, packing the trunk with enough equipment to start an auto repair garage, towing service and homeless shelter? Instead of looking forward to the adventure, we start anticipating trouble on the trip. When did we replace "have fun" with "be prepared for the worse?"

In life's big journey, how often do we decide not to leave the driveway to avoid the problems of the open road?

Do we look at the trip as a fun jaunt, a vacation, or a required work commute? When my 3-year-old granddaughter gets up in the morning, she runs to the window to see if it's going to be a sunshiny or rainy wonderful day.

As we get older, we get up in the morning and wonder if the day will be full of productivity or disaster with little regard to whether the sun is shining or not.

Maybe we just need to watch more Disney movies and spend less time watching with the news channels.

No matter how many plot twists there are in a Disney movie or children's book, usually the story ends with a "happily ever after."

Of course, the closer one gets to the "ever after" may be the reason the outlook changes as well.

I have always been a firm believer that we can change our lives for the better with large amounts of optimism, hard work, and encouraging friends.

It is just as easy, and much simpler; to look on the bright side of things, to always expect a wonderful day no matter the weather. Each day is a new chapter.

We do co-author our own storylines. We write our own plots and drop our own foreshadowing clues.

Until the next time friends remember; a good life is like a good story.

You have to realize there will be many subplots and anti-climaxes. You may find lesser characters can significantly change the ending.

As the heroes of our own comedy-dramas, we have to resolve our conflicts by our own actions.

Keep your sentences short, write tight, write about what you know and stick to the plot. Most importantly, write every day! Add something to the story every chance you get. Most of us prefer to think we are writing an epic novel instead of a flash fiction story.

But no matter how much you feel you still have to finish on your grand opus, we all have a deadline and ultimately, an editor.