A Time to Mourn

My dear friend and critique partner, Lisa, lost her father this weekend. As I sit here thinking of what to post, this scripture came to me. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (Complete Jewish Bible)

For everything there is a season, a right time for every intention under heaven--

a time to be born and a time to die

a time to plant and a time to uproot, 

a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones, 

a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to discard, 

a time to tear and a time to sew,

a time to keep silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace. 

The time to die has past. The time to mourn is now. The time to weep and laugh at your memories is always. The time to heal, begins. I pray that your time to dance comes soon.

May your family have love and peace,

Robin

Long time, no post!

I'm back.

I've been dealing with life and the lemons it likes to hand out. I'd make lemonade, but I don't really care for it that much. Maybe I'll make Lemoncello. At least if I drink enough it will kick my ass and I won't care how many lemons have been bestowed upon me.

Lately, it seems like all I do is work or sleep. Right now, I hear my pillow calling me. It's fluffy comfort and my urge to write are waging war as I type. I want to write, I need to write, my muse berates me daily for not writing more.

Enough...enough of the whining and self pity!

I will, once again, make a concerted effort to blog regularly, which,  for me, will be once a week until I win the lotto and can write full time (then I can hire someone to do it for me...kidding). I'm going to aim for Tuesday to be my blog day.

I'm hoping to have a guest author soon, so keep an eye out for that announcement. For now, I am going to do a little revising, get ready for critique tomorrow, and then heed the siren call of my pillow.

Good night!
RG

Note-even though I'm writing this Monday night, I'm scheduling it to post on Tuesday. So, no. I'm not doing another post. See you next Tuesday!

The Spirit of Wayward (book teaser)

Last Wednesday, I woke up to my alarm slightly confused and pensive about the dream I'd been awakened from. The scenario was not complete. It ended before I understood what it was about. 

I dreamed about Wayward. This is strange because Wayward is my novel, it's the conceptual plane that Simon gets pulled into and eventually learns to use. It is, in essence, a character on it's own.

The really interesting thing about this movie of my subconscious is that not only was I in Wayward, but I could hear Simon's voice (the same one that tells me to get it gear and do revisions). I was in an area of Wayward called The Field. It's a place where you can imagine anything you can think of, almost without limit. The only thing I can remember him saying to me is 'look at it, this is your creation.' I think he told me other things, but I can only recall that.

While I scanned the area, The Field appeared as I envisioned it in my book, but when I turned around what I saw was dense rainforest. At this point I was joined by my Aunt Genevieve. She lives in Washington State a place that I have a particular fondness for. She did not say anything. We stood there in silence and then she put her arm around my shoulders and hugged me to her. That's when the alarm went off. I didn't know why she was there. Only that it was peaceful. 

Aunt Gen had recently suffered a stroke, which was complicated by pneumonia. She has been in hospice care for a few weeks now. I learned later in the day that she had slipped into a comatose state. She woke up a couple of days ago and is still weak, but doing better.

I have to wonder, in that rift between life and death, had she visited me? It's a premise in Wayward, the connection of subconscious minds. It segues nicely into the book teaser that I've chosen. I would not have picked this passage had it not been for the dream. So, first a little intro.

Simon has been pulled back into Wayward by his friend Eli Cusack. In this chapter, Simon discovers that he's already able to use Wayward and finds Eli willing to answer some of his questions. Eli's wife, Celeste, has been dead for twelve years, but he's indicated to Simon that she visits him in Wayward. This excerpt introduces us to Eli's character arc. I hope you enjoy it.

RG

After several minutes Eli gets up, stretches, and comes to stand beside me. The pole magically disappears as he gets closer. He sets the beer bottle down. “Pick it up.”

It disappears when I try to grab it. I take my hand away and it reappears.

Eli smiles, “I can see your projections, you can see mine, but we can only interact with our own. However, if you had a straw you could put it in my bottle, but--”

“If I tried to drink it, I’d be sucking air.”

“Exactly.”

“So, projections are physical to a point--manifestations are not.”

“You’re beginning to get this. You’ll figure out all the rules in no time.”

“You say Celeste comes here. Is she a manifestation?”

“Oh, no, she’s real. The dead can visit Wayward. There are rules around that as well. We can’t touch, but we can talk. She, like a manifestation, is not corporeal. She can’t touch anything on this plane.”

“Are you saying she floats, like a ghost?”

He laughs at this, “You could put it that way. She has energy about her that I can feel. It’s as much as I can hope for.” A hint of sadness appears in his eyes, but he recovers quickly.

“Where is she when she’s not here?”

“Our ancestors called it Tir Na Nog, the Land of Youth. The Vikings called it Valhalla, some say limbo, whatever your culture or religion’s name is for it. To pass through to the final destination, the spirit or their loved ones must be ready to let go.”

“Are you keeping her here Eli?”

His face clouds over. “Partly. And part of it is her. We haven’t been able to say our final goodbye.”

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I was doing okay with my posting. I did try to post once a week, but I lapsed. I am bound and determined to get better at this. 


I had to post today. It's St. Patrick's Day! Here in America, everyone can pretend to be Irish for the day, drink green beer (if that's appealing to you...gag), and have an excuse to party.


For me, it's a time to remember my trip to Ireland in 1994 and to honor my ancestry. I decided to post a St. Patrick's Day playlist. There are hundreds of songs to choose from, but I'm only going to post a few of my favorites. I hope you might check some of these out. 


My next post will be soon. The plan is to post another little teaser from my book, Wayward (There are a couple of songs in the playlist that get a mention in the book).


May you have a day filled with sunshine, and good friends!


La Fheile Padraig Shona!


Eireann                      Afro Celt Sound System
Drunken Lullabies            Flogging Molly
The Broad Majestic Shannon   The Pogues
I'll Tell Me Ma              The Young Dubliners
What's Left of the Flag      Flogging Molly
Dunford's Fancy              The Waterboys
The Kilburn High Road        Flogging Molly
The Foggy Dew                The Young Dubliners
Shanne Bradley               The Pogues
The Paddy Set                Seven Nations
(No More) Paddy's Lament     Flogging Molly
I'm Shipping off to Boston   Dropkick Murphys
The Irish Rover              The Pogues
Black Friday Rule            Flogging Molly
The Battle March (Medley)    The Pogues
Soft Gator Girl              Seven Nations
The Stolen Child             The Waterboys
The Seven Deadly Sins        Flogging Molly
The Rocky Road to Dublin     The Young Dubliners
Grace O'Malley               The Dreadnoughts


ENJOY!

My Amazing Progeny!

I'm feeling the need to brag about my children. They are, in my opinion, fantastic!

Dillon  is 25 and Cassidy  just turned 22. They both graduated, with honors, from Dakota Ridge High School. Dillon in 2004 and Cassidy in 2008.

Dillon graduated from University of Colorado Boulder in 2010 with a BA in English and a minor in Technology, Arts and Media. Cassidy is a senior at University of Wyoming and will graduate in May 2012 with a BFA in Theatre & Dance - Technical Theatre, concentration Lighting Design.

Both are talented in the arts. Dillon in graphic design and art in other media. Cassidy with her eye for color and light, is also a musician playing classical guitar.

They are hard working kids. Dillon uses his talents working for Modern Distribution Management (MDM) creating graphics for their website with other duties as assigned. He also works for Starbuck's (has since high school) where he has distinguished himself as a shift supervisor and brew master, as well as an artist. Cassidy works in the electrics shop for the theatre department and as a caregiver at ARK on the weekends. She balances that with classes, homework and shows.

Both are beautiful, unique individuals. They are growing to be responsible adults. I have much to be proud of with these two!

I love you both infinitely!
Mom

Reading is Fundamental

I've been told that one of the best things a writer can do is read. And, I do. Not as fast as I used to, but I still knock off 2-3 books a month.

I would like to share my thoughts on three of the books I've read over the last couple of months. These are recommendations, not reviews, although I will comment on each.

The first is 11/22/63 by Stephen King. I always enjoy a good King. Wait--that doesn't sound right. I enjoy reading a good Stephen King novel. This one was particularly interesting to me because of the setting. I was raised in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area (or Ft. Worth/Dallas area depending on your affiliation), I grew up in the era depicted and his description of Texas is spot on.

This is not scary King, it's suspenseful, fantasy, time travel King. It has to do with the Kennedy assassination, but I will go no further than that. You have to read it to find out the details. He still manages to throw in a few creep factor things that give you that 'something's not quite right feeling.'

11/22/63 gets four out of five stars. The only reason it's not five is because of the length. I am not averse to reading long tomes, but I know the average reader might balk at it's 842 page length.

(I'll let you in on a secret. Before I started revisions on my book, it was well over that. Suffice it to say, I am cutting).

The next book is The Help by Kathryn Stockett. This is a great read, and again it's the era I grew up in. It's set in pre-integration Mississippi and is written from the perspective of three women, two black maids and a young, white journalist/wannabe novelist. Their collaboration makes a powerful, poignant, funny, entertaining read about women and how they overcome their fear, make discoveries about themselves, and form a bond, regardless of race, in a time of unrest in the South.

If you're not a reader, see the movie. It follows the book well enough. This one I give 5 stars for a heartfelt story, and characters who became my friends.

The last one is The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. This is my genre! If you love paranormal fantasy, this is a must read!

A circus that only opens after dusk and closes with the coming of dawn (and it's not about vampires). It's existence based on a wager made by two rival magicians. The book is richly dark and sensual. It brings to my mind a marriage of Something Wicked This Way Comes, Wuthering Heights, with a little Cirque du Soleil thrown in.

I read this book on my iPhone. Yes--I said iPhone. I think that speaks volumes that I was willing to continue to read it in that format and not stop long enough to buy the physical book. Of course, I now would like to have a copy in my library.

Absolutely 5 stars for this one. Entertaining, exotic, sensual, mystical, imaginative and just an engaging read all around (a book tailor made for Tim Burton's directing--just sayin').

Thank you for indulging me in my opinions. I hope that they might encourage you to pick up one or all of these books and that you enjoy them as much as I did.

R.G.

A Peek into Wayward

Finally! I make good on my word to bring a little tidbit of my novel, Wayward.

It's just a little taste, but hopefully enough to whet the appetite. My protagonist's name is Simon Farrell and he's just been through something weird and unsettling with more to come. 

Go ahead, you know you're just itching to get into Wayward, even if we don't visit this time. Read this snippet and let me know what you think. 

Regards,

Robin

WAYWARD - CHAPTER ONE

I’m going to land hard, and there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s as if my soul is being sucked back into my body at high velocity. The impact is so abrupt I slam my head into the headboard. A second of blinding white flashes behind my eyes.

“Aw shit,”

I grab my head and wince in pain. My heart hammers in my chest, I gasp for air as though I’ve run a marathon. Sweat drips from my face and runs down my neck.

Just minutes ago, my father chased me out of Cusack’s Shack. Then everything disappeared, went pitch black. A magnetic sensation took over, and I sped through darkness until I could see myself hurtling toward myself. It makes no sense and yet, it does.