Looking ahead in 2016

Celebrating a New Year is a mixed bag for me. I suppose that's because I don't view a day on the calendar as the magic start to a chance for a "do over." January 1, 2016 doesn't dump us out at the same spot January 1, 2105 did. We've moved forward to a different place. There is no "do over." There is only "do." What do I want to do in 2016? More appropriately, what do I want to accomplish in 2016?

Much of the same as in 2015 so it seems. The plan is to keep chipping away at the manuscripts until I can get each of them back out in the world. With any luck, a new story or two will get finished. It's not like I don't have them started.  

I still have the day job to contend with, but I'm counting down the days until I can retire. Six years seems like a long time, but time flies. Case in point is we've just entered 2016. How did that happen? 

This new year may also be the year I do the A to Z Blogging Challenge. I've thought about it several times so maybe it's time. We shall see, come April. 

January 4 marks a year since A Hero's Bargain went out as an indie release. I've always loved this story. Ryder Vaughan doesn't seem to be hero material, but in the end, he reaches within, makes the hard choices, and carries them through. I bought the cover for A Hero's Bargain and it's what convinced me I had to learn to make my own. 

I joined the Insecure Writer's Support Group in 2015. It's a monthly blog hop where writer's share thoughts and experiences. I'm not sure I'm insecure, I rather think it's the opposite, but connecting with other writers is important. I'm pretty sure I'm going to stick with the IWSG through 2016. 

Yes, I do have some things to think about in the New Year. Not to do over, but to continue. There's nothing magic about it from where I sit. It's just life. I'd best be about it and not let a Saturday get away from me. 

Rayne
http://rayneforrest.blogspot.com

IWSG - Christmas multi-tasking

The Insecure Writer’s Support Group

http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com

Silver Bells.

Silent Night.

The Holly & the Ivy.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Christmas Eve and Other Stories.

Christmas is a fun time of year. All the lights, the sparkle, the music (old and new), the hustle and bustle of shopping. The time I have for myself, that is to say time to even think about writing, gets squeezed down to minutes a week. I understand it, but I don’t always like it much. 

Time was, I tried to force everything into a day. The old adage is “write something every day.” That really doesn’t work for me, but oh, I did try. I thought I was the queen of multi-tasking. It didn’t work, except if you call walking away from writing as Rayne Forrest a good thing. It wasn’t.

I gave up on the idea of extreme multi-tasking. I don’t have to work, take care of my partner, parents, friends and write every day. Do I compartmentalize my life? Yes, I do. Is that a good thing? Perhaps not, but it keeps me sane.

With the Christmas season upon us, I know it’s time to concentrate on family and friends. Some of those friends are other writers and readers so I don’t abandon the Internet to be with family, but I do deliberately divide out my time.

When I first deliberately didn’t write, it was mentally difficult. I’d made plans with a friend to go Christmas shopping for the day. It started to snow so we cut our day short. I suddenly had time to write. The thing was, I was tired. I flopped in front of the television. And that’s when the guilt started picking at me.

Long story short, I overcame the guilty feelings and continued to relax. And you know what? The sky didn’t fall and I learned this lesson - I don’t have to cram multiple activities into one short day. There really is time for me to enjoy the holiday season and that’s what I plan to do.

I plan to be deliberate with seeing family and friends. I’ve planned time for baking cookies, decorating, a little shopping, and yes, a little writing - just not all at once. With any luck, by the time Epiphany rolls around, my house and life will be all squared away for the New Year, all without driving myself crazy.

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To all the participants of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group - A very merry Christmas and holiday season! May your traditions bring you comfort and joy.

Rayne

www.rayneforrest.com

http://twentysixkeys.blogspot.com

www.twitter.com/rayneforrest

All Hallow's Eve

All Hallow's Eve. The newest national holiday.

When I was young, so long ago, we had to walk to school in six foot of snow.... oh. Wrong story. That's my grandfather's story.

When I was young, Halloween was always celebrated with Trick or Treat on the Thursday before All Hallow's Eve. Back in those days, the neighborhood was a safe place for us kids. Parents worked together to everyone safe and in line. If we misbehaved, there was no escaping the consequences.

On Trick or Treat night, the parents turned us loose in one big pack. They did this for a singular reason and that was so these so-called adults could sneak out basement doors, hide in the bushes, and scare us kids witless. Those were the days my friends....

Rayne
www.rayneforrest.com
www.twitter.com/rayneforrest

Rain on the Roof - A Blessing in Life

October 10, 2015

October marks two anniversaries at my house. The first pales in significance to the second. We’ve been together for twenty-one years. The second - my beloved has been cancer free for nine years.

Back in 2006, our situation was grim until his oncologist offered a Hail Mary drug. It worked. The tumor suddenly shrunk and the surgeon at Johns Hopkins agreed to take a chance on surgery. Times were bleak, but the rainbow was just ahead.

Eleven days after his surgery, I wrote the following blog. The feeling of appreciation of being alive and together has lasted over the years. We have been greatly blessed.

Rayne

PS. The same cat is still waking me up by tickling me with his whiskers.

~ ~ ~ ~ 

October 29, 2006

For these past many months I’ve suffered with insomnia. The inability to sleep, and rest, often has hidden causes. At least I knew what haunted me. My beloved’s battle with cancer has taken a toll on our life together and as individuals. The prolonged use of chemotherapy did its job and the tumor was finally removed. While his long-term prognosis is unclear, we at least have renewed hope. In a time when it seems politically incorrect to do so, my thanks and my praise remain thankfully given to God.

Now I have some breathing (or is it sleeping) room and the last three nights have been blissful. I’ve dropped like a rock before primetime and have barely been able to wake up twelve hours later. Until this morning.

This morning the brush of whiskers on my cheek and the sinking of not-so-tiny claws into my bosom got my attention at the ungodly hour of 4:13 a.m. I love my cat, honest I do, but his early morning demands were a bit much. He wanted to go outside and it was pouring rain. He was unhappy. He wasn’t getting his way with the universe, therefore his slaves needed to be awake and paying attention to him.

Wrong.

I threw him out in the rain. Tossed him right out the door. Call the ASPCA on me. Call PETA. Call a cat rescue. I don’t care. Better yet, you come and get him and let him put puncture wounds in your breast. And besides, he has a little cathouse under the eaves to go curl up in and stay dry. I stumbled back to bed and pulled the covers over my head. That’s when I realized my beloved was awake, too. “Do you know it’s raining?” he asked.

Why, no, dear. I had no idea. I missed the waterfall when I opened the back door and booted the cat out for a swim.

I rolled over and we snuggled up together as best a man with fifty staples tracing the outline of his right ribs can and we listened to the rain. Such a small thing, the sound of rain on the roof, but I don’t think we’ve heard it for two years.

I’ve often wondered why the sound of rain of the roof evokes such emotion in most people. Are we glad to be inside and dry? Do we share some ancient memory of times when our shelters were not quite so cozy? Perhaps. Whatever the reason, we simply enjoyed the moment, and of being alive and together. It was a moment of triumph.

Rayne Forrest
Bookshelf
twitter.com/rayneforrest

Rayne's Ramblings: What camp will you be in?

Blogs are strange beasts, each as individual as the blogger themselves. You can’t run a Google search without finding a blog on your chosen topic. Blogs are freedom of speech at its best – and sometimes, worst.

With Google alerts set on a variety of topics, I’m treated to a handful of new blogs every day. Some days I simply can’t take the time to read any of them, but I generally look at one or two when I have a quiet moment. Lately I’ve noticed an uncomfortable trend in blogs – bashing.

The Internet is populated by only twelve people and eleven of them have a gzillion screen names each.  I wouldn’t kid you about that. It has to be. I must be the only person who represents myself as only the writer and the “real me.” That’s all the multiple personality disorder I can do. The other eleven people are taking over all the bandwidths.

Okay. I’m being silly. My point is that the Internet provides a never before enjoyed anonymity to everyone. So…does our anonymity give us permission to post truly hurtful things about another person? I think not.

Things blogged about today will live on for no one knows how long. The Internet grows new storage every day. Five years. Fifteen? Fifty? It’s anyone’s guess how big the cloud will grow. The dregs of thought and spirit, and the enlightened and wonderful reside side-by-side. In a hundred years, what will future generations decide most realistically reflects those of us blogging today?  The nasty or the delightful?

I can’t speak for you, but I know which camp I want to be in.

Rayne Forrest

http://www.rayneforrest.com

http://www.twitter.com/rayneforrest

I like happy endings

Not being a person with a natural leaning toward politics, some of the goings-on in the world of writing baffle me. I’m confused why a love story can’t just be a love story. You know…a story about two people meeting, discovering each other, and attempting to join their paths on their journey through this life. Must every story make a political statement?

I guess I’m a big disappointment to the folks that answer, ‘yes’. 

I like happy endings. I thought I had one, but maybe I don’t. Fifteen years ago, I was sure I had it, and if I’d ended my life story there, it would have been with the time honored HEA. Would that have made the last decade, with all its trials and tribulations invalid somehow? Does a firm belief in the happily ever after taint my all future tomorrows? Depends on how jaded you are.

To those of us with long-term partners, we’re privileged to see them at their worst. Yes, privileged. When my mate acts like an ass, I see someone no one else ever does. It’s a singular honor bestowed in complete trust that I will not withdraw my love and affection over some meaningless behavior. If you don’t get that about your partner – grow up. You’re not so perfect either.

The stories he could tell on me….but that’s another blog. NOT.

In the quest to write a love story with honest, believable characters, a writer draws on all of life’s experiences. We know shy people who walk around with a chip on their shoulder to cover up the shyness, and people who hide their inner fear, and pain, with outward bravado. And we know kind, caring people with the patience of Job that no amount of stress seems to affect. I bet their partners could tell stories, too. 

We are all made unique, thank God. So instead of trying to make political statements with my stories, I choose to make people statements. I hope I portray them with all their bad behaviors, contradictions, and shining moments.  Good side, bad side, and human side. Mature, immature, perfect and imperfect all rolled together into one person. 

Just like you and me. 

Rayne

www.rayneforrest.com

Being Crafty

Years ago I published a monthly newsletter. While it was a lot of work, I enjoyed putting it together and including various writing tidbits, crafts and recipes. Like everything else in life, it ran its course and I let it go. Being a sort of digital hoarder, I kept all the editions. 

This time of year each evening we're spending time on the patio. With the bugs. The kind of bugs that suck your blood. We don't like the bugs. And because we don't like the bugs, we burn a lot of incense, which the bugs don't like. IMHO, keeping them at bay is better than killing them after they've taken a chunk out of one's ankle. 

Back in July 2008, I included an article in my newsletter, Forrest Whispers, on how to make an incense burner out of a wine bottle. Mine is a simple affair, for a simple country girl, but crafty people can get all sorts of ideas on Pinterest on how to create something fancier. 

Here's the entire article from the old newsletter.

= = = = = 

BEING CRAFTY

My honey and I enjoy early summer mornings and lazy summer evenings on our patio. One thing we’ve discovered is that mosquitoes do not like the smoke from incense. Our incense burner is a wine bottle, which looks very cool as it “smokes”. Here’s what you do.

Take an empty, clean wine bottle. How you get the bottle empty is entirely up to you. I know how I do it.

Using a special drill bit for glass, drill a small hole about an inch or so up from the bottom. Ask someone to do this for you if you don’t have the tools. Then find an old metal key ring larger than the opening in the top of the wine bottle to anchor the incense stick.

Slip the base end of the incense stick through sleeve of the key ring, light the incense and drop it into the bottle. The key ring will stand on end and hold the stick in place as it burns.

Wondering how to store the incense sticks close at hand and yet keep them from drawing moisture? Take a clear wine bottle (washed and dried inside, of course), drop in the incense sticks and cork it. Get several fragrances of incense and your storage bottle will be quite a colorful addition to your patio space.

Drill a few bottles and mate with storage bottles for gifts for your friends to take home to their patios.  

= = = = = = 

So there you have it. Some fragrant bug control for backyard living. 

Rayne
www.rayneforrest.com

As the Brain Simmers

There's a saying, and I'm not sure where I read it, that a book is written as the fish eats - in nibbles. The last few days have been like that - nibbles. 

It used to concern me when the words to a story wouldn't come. I'd worry that I was finished. That I had nothing left to say or to create. Now I know it's just the way my brain works. I occasionally need to back off and let the ideas simmer. 

Is there a danger in that? You betcha. Sometimes I can let an idea simmer so long I forget about it. I opened my ideas folder last night and clicked through it. Wow. I really had some high expectations back in the day. 

But there are a few good ideas in the folder, ones I'll bring out and simmer. With the right ingredients, I might have something worth the seasonings. We'll see.

Rayne
http://www.rayneforrest.com

When it rains... go indie

This has been an unusual winter. We expect cold - got it. We expect snow - got it. We expect many days to be breezy but yet sunny - nope. Didn’t happen.

It’s been the topic of conversation in the office for several months. No one remembers being without sunshine for so many days in a row. It’s, well, it’s depressing.

A few years ago a lot was written about the link between the lack of sunshine and depression. While I don’t think I get clinically depressed, I do sort of go into a hibernation mode during the winter. Sleep is preferable to just about anything else.

Somehow this year I survived both the gray, dreary days and the urge to hibernate. I’m not sure how, but I’m not looking this “gift horse” in the mouth. I’m taking it for what it is.

I’ve spent this winter going over manuscripts and learning new things about self-publishing. My account at All Romance eBooks was just approved and I hope to get Mischief at Midnight and To Bed a Spy uploaded with the next few days. After that, it’s time to move on to other outlets.

The ability to have control over my work is exhilarating. It’s not that I think publishers are dishonest, but I do think the writer, on whom this ENTIRE industry depends, is not treated equitably. Without the writer, the publishing industry collapses. Somehow it’s come to be believed the publisher makes the author’s career. Um, no. The ability to tell a good story makes the author. It should be a symbiotic relationship and it is with the really great publishers. 

It's been an eye-opener to discover I can do for myself everything a publisher does, but could I have done this without the experience of being with nine different publishers over the years? Nope. I still think a publisher is a good idea for someone new to the industry. 

Take advantage of the opportunity to learn from publishers and editors. Bite the bullet and commit to a few years of having your work under contract. Remember nothing in this business worth the effort happens overnight. There are no shortcuts. You're either in it for the long haul or you should stop now. And if you're in it for the long run, don't shut off any avenue of forward progress. 

Think about it. 

Rayne
www.rayneforrest.com