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.
www.twitter.com/rayneforrest
Across Time is a great story, if I do say so myself. Actually, good reviews and a Recommended Read say it, so maybe I'm just seconding the motion. 
What do you want to accomplish as a writer? What mark, if
any, do you want to leave on the publishing world? There are as many responses
to the questions as writers. It doesn’t matter if no one else is privy to your
reply. This question is just for you. For a lot of people, myself included, one
easy answer won’t suffice, and I can only speak for me.
Work is a four-letter word. I’ve been working for someone
else since I was sixteen. It’s not always fun, but I’ve decided it’s not all
that difficult to get out of bed and go to work when I get paid to show
up. 
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.
