Z is for Zest

It’s the last day of 2016 A to Z Blogging Challenge! It’s been great fun to bring Rayne Forrest to the challenge, and I come to this last day quite pleased I’ve completed it as both Rayne and KC, every day on time. But I will admit I'm also looking forward to a bit of a blogging break. 

While I had this entry up at a different blog a few years ago, it's still appropriate for today and for a new audience. 

I appreciate meeting so many new people through both blogs. Each person brings something to my life even if it’s just a fleeting comment on the blog. It’s still a connection to someone else’s world and that’s the point of all. 

Now on to ZEST.

Zest: a noun

1. lively excitement : a feeling of enjoyment and enthusiasm

2. a lively quality that increases enjoyment, excitement, or energy

3. small pieces of the skin of a lemon, orange, or lime that are used to flavor food

A new acquaintance once asked me if my apparent zest for life was for real. A deeper friendship with this person never developed, which is a shame. When we encounter each other we always speak, but her world has too many gray corners for us to be bosom buddies. I fear she’d suck the zest out of me if I let her in too far.

I do have a certain amount of zest for life. The small things around me are a source of enjoyment, and often wonder. Every year I eagerly await the first green tips of the bulbs breaking ground. It’s a ‘wow’ moment when I realize the mountain has taken on a reddish blush as the maples prepare to bring forth their leaves. I feel the energy of the changing seasons on a molecular level. It’s who I am.

My late grandfather lived every day until a month prior to his death with a zest for life. He was born on the cusp of WWI and lived through WWII and the Great Depression. He buried his wife, his parents and all his younger siblings. And yet, until his eyesight failed, this man lived every day and looked forward to tomorrow. This was my shining example of having a zest for life. I hope I learned well the lessons he so lovingly taught. 

I wish for all of you reading this that you also may have a zest for life. I wish that you experience joy, no matter how small, no matter from what source, in every day of your life.

Thanks for being a part of my world in the 2016 A to Z Blogging Challenge.

Rayne
http://kckendricks.com/RayneForrest_bookshelf.html

http://rayneforrest.blogspot.com

www.twitter.com/rayneforrest

V is for Variety

 Someone once said, and has now been quoted endlessly, that “variety is the spice of life.” That may be true, but sometimes one can have a bit too much spice in the dish and muddle the flavors. Variety, to the writer, can be a double-edged sword.

Most writers excel at a particular type of story but that doesn’t mean they don’t yearn to expand into other genres. As Rayne Forrest, I write contemporary romance, romance set in the near future, and sci-fi romance. Yes, I touched the fringes of the paranormal with A Hidden Heaven, but I don’t go there often. At least not yet. I think I’d like to visit the genre. My alter ego did quite well with the Sundown saga.

So here’s a question I ponder. How much variety is just enough? How much variety is too much? One of the accepted rules of writing is if you want to write in a variety of genres, you need more than one pen name.

I certainly agree with this IF you want to write traditional heterosexual romance AND gay romance AND something like inspirational stories. Some things don’t mix well. That could be just a wee bit too much variety. And since I write both het and m/m, it's under different names using something we writers call "branding." 

It's enough variety to keep the creative needs of this writer happy.

Rayne
http://kckendricks.com/RayneForrest_bookshelf.html

http://rayneforrest.blogspot.com

www.twitter.com/rayneforrest

K is for K-cup Koffee

We’ve made it to the halfway point of the A to Z Blogging Challenge! And we’ll need more K-cups to make it to the end.

It’s only in the last decade or so I’ve become a coffee devotee. Sure, I’d have a cup now and then. I’d occasionally stop at the local convenience store in the mornings, but I rarely brewed a pot at home even though I only had a 4-cup brewer. All that changed when I was introduced to the K-cup.

A perfect individual cup of coffee or tea on demand? What’s not to like? It’s not the motor oil my parent’s generation drank, that’s for sure. Having each and every cup brewed fresh is a modern day miracle.

Now I know those individual cups can get expensive so I reuse them. I hear you saying not possible, but oh yes you can. Just peel the top off, fill it, and put the whole thing inside the auxiliary pod. I can get four or five brews from one k-cup before the filter gives out.

So K is for K-cups. Everyone needs at least one vice. The K-cup is mine.

Rayne

http://rayneforrest.blogspot.com

www.twitter.com/rayneforrest
http://kckendricks.com/RayneForrest_bookshelf.html

H is for Hello/Goodbye (2016 A to Z Blogging Challenge)

Today marks the completion of one-third of the 2016 A to Z Challenge. I wasn’t sure how “Rayne” would do in the challenge, but so far so good. Plan the work and work the plan, or some such saying.

One of the things I find most odd about authors online is the “hello/goodbye” relationships that are formed. With no hard feelings, I must firmly stress. Whenever our paths cross, stranger or not, there’s the shared experience of being a writer. We blunder into each other, chat like good friends, and then move on without animosity. It’s fascinating and I love it.

Hello, goodbye. Thanks for stepping into my world today.

Rayne

http://rayneforrest.blogspot.com

www.twitter.com/rayneforrest

http://kckendricks.com/RayneForrest_bookshelf.html