It's That Time of Year!

Some people get excited about Christmas.  Others really wait and plan for that summer vacation. Personally, I am a fan of Halloween.  I mean, how many holidays encourage you to let your inner child out?  This year, my friend and book promoter/editor/inspiration-when-I'm-not-feeling-the-whole-book-thing, Jackie, and I decided that we had to celebrate the holiday by releasing my vampire-themed book First Bite (also with werewolves, elves, werecats, and more).  That was an adventure all on its own.  While I was pushing to finish the book's corrections and get the formatting down, Jackie was busy making sure her oldest boy was dressed appropriately to be what else but a vampire?  I promised her a shout out for her ingenious cape, and here it is:

However, in recent years, I've found even more reason to be excited by Halloween.  It is the last day of normalcy before the chaos that is NaNoWriMo.  My first endeavor with NaNoWriMo lead me to the fascinating world of Caitiff Academy.  I had always enjoyed a good super hero movie, but I had found myself wondering about the other side of the coin.  After all, a villain is only defined by her choices, and in the mind of a villain, she might be the hero and the hero the villain.  This idea spawned a universe where children of different backgrounds explored just what it meant to do what was right.  I fell in love with Annie Poe, the heart of the series, even as other characters came to life around her. 

This year, I was so busy from the end of July through October that all of my characters were bottled up inside of me.  It hurts to be a writer and have no outlet.  It also hurts to be a rider and be trapped by physical issues to turn a passion into a hobby.  But to have both held from me for three months led to waves of deep, unpleasant introspection with no real way out.  I wouldn't call it full depression, I don't want to take away from those who truly suffer, but I would have moods come upon me where there was nothing but darkness around me.  I was once surrounded by such thoughts all the time in my youth and massively unhappy all the time.  I was a certified pessimist, but somewhere in my seventeenth year, I found a freedom.  I broke free from a lifetime of self imposed expectations and began to take the first steps to becoming the person I was meant to be.  Slowly, I learned to let out my characters - to let them breathe and have lives and adventures all their own.  It took several years of trial and error to be able to let them out when I was able.  Being the quintessential struggling artist does tend to mean one must have a job to pay for life, but my characters didn't always work around my own timetable.  Finally, I reached a compromise to be where I am today.  

When I finally  had the freedom to write in the evenings, I unleashed a story that had been waiting to be told for nearly five years.  My first in the series, The Other Side of the Looking Glass, had been set aside for other characters like Annie and her friends, or the universe of Scarlett in First Bite.  But Nora finally prevailed, and I had a time crunch to complete her second story in two weeks - just in time for today, November 1st, the beginning of NaNoWriMo.  I am so happy to report SUCCESS!!!  As of today, Through a Rabbit Hole is complete in a rough draft.  

Now I can let the accomplishments sink in as I feel my Caitiff characters come back to me.  This year will be a busy one, and I don't just mean juggling's life's expectations with a book in a month.  No, this year is the year of Caitiff Academy: Gemini.  It's time to let the twins out, and it'll be hard to hold them in check for the forty hour work week.  I just hope that the life lessons that have led to this moment mean I'm up to the challenge.

GOOD LUCK to all fellow NaNoWriMo participants.  You can do it!!!!!!!

Break From Routine

With the focus of my life being, for a rare change, about my writing and not my riding, I've decided to have a Throwback Thursday.  Horses are still the number one driving passion in my life, but with three different things wrong with my foot right now, they have to take a back seat for a few weeks more. 

The subject of this week's Throwback is, by necessity of what my computer is willing to load, Merlin.  Merlin, registered name Exit Flight, was a true diamond in the rough.  I picked him up for a meager $250 last spring.   He had some issues, he liked to invade personal space, he had a bit of a limp from the onset of arthritis, and he wasn't too fond of being told what to do.  Now, though, he's the best Thoroughbred gelding I've ever been around.  He is also amazingly tolerant, probably largely from the six weeks we spent together last summer healing a gaping wound in his leg after he got caught up on a horse trailer. He has since gone back to jumping 4 foot oxers and running through Training level cross country courses.  He is, as I said, one of the best, and every day an absolute hoot. So, for those who can appreciate a good laugh I present Merlin dressed up as, well, Merlin.

 

Long Time Gone

I'll admit, I like the Dixie Chicks.  That might have just weeded out any possible reader who happened to stumble upon this blog.  Rest assured, I won't be blogging about them.  It just seemed appropriate to have a shout out with the title and everything.  Anyway, moving on...

I love fall, the weather turns crisp here in Eastern Washington, the leaves start to change color, the garden finally bears fruit, and the horses become woolly.  Just as I can't think of a single thing to detract from the beauty, the weather comes and says hello.  First there was the massive northern wind that killed my poor corn, then there was the deluge of rain (by our standards, which would not hold a candle to Marion, Alabama or Rochester, Washington rain), capped off by that beastly southwestern wind that stripped the trees of their beautiful leaves.  Say hello to winter.

Still, I love October for more than just the leaves.  I love Halloween.  Forget Christmas, and I literally have. (Working for a retail oriented delivery company over the course of four peak seasons made me selectively forget everything from Thanksgiving to New Years all four years).  Halloween is the time of year where we can afford not to take ourselves too seriously.  Okay, maybe I never do, or at least I try not to, but what other holiday lets even the grown ups play dress up and ask for candy?  If you came up with something, chances are its far dirtier than anyone but yourself wants to hear, so do us all a favor and keep it to yourself.  Thank you.  Also being a life long black cat owner, I love that every one of them has thought the holiday was theirs.  Well, and who am I to say no?

So, was there a point?  No, that's why this blog is called Ramblings.  Its what we do.  We like to ramble, and maybe, just maybe, we'll find someone to ramble along with us.  Randomness is always appreciated, and oddities appreciate company just as much, if not more so, than misery.  Keep on keeping on.  We'll keep rambling on.


BlytheLea