Finding your pearl of great value

  

Some might think that the title of this romance came from the Bible. Well, it could be thought that way, but there is way more to the meaning of pearls than from Scripture.

“As a pearl is formed and its layers grow, a rich iridescence begins to glow. The oyster has taken what was at first an irritation and intrusion and uses it to enrich its value. How can you coat or frame the changes in your life to harvest beauty, brilliance, and wisdom?” – Susan C. Young 

. “Life is made up of a few moments all strung together like pearls. Each moment is a pearl, and it is up to us to pick the ones with the highest luster.” – Joyce Hilfer

“Some give up under pressure, while others rise up and undergo life-transforming experiences. Oyster responds beautifully to external pressure, giving birth to a priceless pearl.” – Mukhtar Aziz 

“A pearl is worthless as long as it’s in its shell.” – Native American Proverb 

These quotes, along with many others, especially the one on the Gospels, speak to what a hidden pearl can mean as well as its value. It also is why it was right for a title in this book. People can seem whole and strong and yet have fought against opening up the hidden part inside themselves. Does that fit romances? I think it very much does as the closest relationships make us face ourselves in ways we won't when not faced with challenges.

 So how does that work with this book? By the way, that sculpture is one of mine. 

 When architect/builder S.T. Taggert returns from a morning run, he finds a call waiting from his Navajo mother. She is concerned that his sister, Shonna, is missing. She asks him to find out if she is okay. This represents a part of his mixed heritage, drunken, white father, and a mother who deserted them to return to her land. Reluctantly, he agrees to see what he can find out about his sister.

Going to his office, S.T. finds something else unwanted. A photojournalist, Christine Talbot, is waiting to do photos of hm, for a series of up and coming young men in Oregon. He doesn't like the idea but finally agrees only because she appeals to the respect he has for those who work.

Christine has another shoot for the series lined up in Roseburg of another man who is making a splash, evangelist, Peter Soul, who has a growing group called Servants of Grace. 

Hence the book begins with conflicts and connections. All will come together, along with S.T.'s search for his missing sister, who had been in the Servants of Grace, with her admiration for Peter Soul, who also wants S.T. to design a larger facility for his growing congregation.

Besides the mystery, the romance, the beauty of Oregon, there is more to explore in this story. One, of course, is what is spiritual truth, how does one find it, is it sometimes corrupted, and if so, how to be aware of that corruption, especially when it might be emotionally very pleasing?

Then there is the question of ancestral heritage. Even if we never lived like modern family members, do we still carry in our DNA their truths? How will that impact our lives if we are living in a very different culture? Is, as this hero believes, there  prejudice against those who carry dual heritages?

It's not like the book presents these questions as some kind of class instruction, but more that the questions are entwined in a heated romance between two very different people, but who find out they have more in common than they thought. Romances can be a lot more than just the basic love story at its heart. How and where do people work out the rest of their lives? More critically, in this book, if there is danger out there, how do they survive it?

To read the blurb, free sample, or buy the book:

Hidden Pearl 

 

 

  

Desert Inferno -- contemporary romance

image we took in 2011 on one of our desert hikes. The rattler is not in the book, but it is a symbol of the danger that is.

 

Next in my series, Romances with an Edge, is a contemporary romance where I wrote the first draft in the 1990's for the sheer satisfaction of creating it. I didn't think whether it was salable as back then, I wrote a lot of my contemporaries because I had read others; then wondered what would I write if I did them.

Desert Inferno broke one cardinal rule I had seen in most romance novels of that time. The hero was not handsome, not in his eyes or in those of many he arrested. Jake Donovan was a border patrolman and worked the desert along the rugged land between Arizona and Mexico to arrest those committing crimes and turn back those with no right to enter the United States. 

Even then, it was not popular with many people, but he had come from a difficult upbringing and chose this as his way to contribute. As backstory, his brother was in prison when this story begins. He chose the other way, and Jake had helped put him there for his crimes.

Back to writing, when the option to be an indie writer arose, the books took some changes to fit the time (communicating had changed a lot in those years. I brought out the first in 2012, it was Desert Inferno, which opens with the heroine, Rachel O'Brian, a successful artist with a career painting Southwest landscapes, many of her works in prestigious galleries.

The reader meets her when she has gone out from her family's ranch on the border, to do a plein air painting-- alone on the desert with her paints and her faithful truck, who she has named Matilda, (I by the way, never have named a vehicle, but I knew some did).

Action begins when she sees movement, believes it might be a person in trouble. She grabs a canteen, her gun, and walks out to see if help is needed.  She does know the dangers of this land. Assistance might have been earlier, but now the man is dying and soon dead. The desert can be deadly for the unaware.

Back at her ranch, she notifies the police that she needs someone to come out. The one who gets the notice is already on the border and shows up to assess what happened. It is Jake Donovan. This is the beginning of a beauty and the beast type story, though she does not see her beast as he sees himself or even as others see him.

Click on the link to get the free sample of how this begins and the flavor or the book.

The problem with this book, once I wanted to bring it out, was a cover. There were simply no male models that fit what I saw Jake as. Easy to get the beauty of the story in an image, but not the kind of man without perfect features and yet who has charisma, power, and the kind of energy that was attractive to many others, especially women.

I finally solved the cover problem with this image that does not show his face, but does that body she admires so much. It hints at the violence with the lightning.

Desert Inferno at Amazon

 With their very different upbringings, figuring out what would work for a relationship, where only one wants it, takes some time. Meanwhile, Jake has an enemy out to destroy him-- an enemy not safe for Rachel either. The ranch she has been raised on with her single father was in earlier historic romances in Winds of Change.

There is a lot of the desert in the book because of my love of it, not ignoring the dangers it can present, especially in wilderness. I also called Border office in Nogales, Arizona, to make sure I was keeping that part accurate for its time 2000. Being a painter myself, Rachel's part was easy to write. 

With twists and turns in the story, it kept the book interesting for me to see all this couple went through to get a happily ever after (you know, with romances, that's part of the deal for readers-- unlike how life too often works out...). 

Because I enjoy writing more than a couple, other characters crop up, including family, but always the romance is central-- again part of the deal with this genre. 

Acquiring a Webpage.

 One thing that has worked out amazingly well, was the offer we saw from a company that creates websites; something I have never had out of not knowing how to do it. Well, PI Webworks knows how and did a fantastic job. Some of what they did, I did not realize would be so important. Well, I believe it now. 

The link for this website is alongside here, but I wanted to say more about what has pleased  me so much with their work. At this point, it's not finished but that's not due to them. It's because I wanted new covers for my contemporary romances, which are based in the West of today. When I first brought these books out, they'd been written from the 1970s, up into the 2000s. To make the earliest ones fit modern times , took a year, 2011 to bring them up to date. You only realize how much things had changed during those years, when you edit the way we communicated.

 

I thought it'd be fun to put one of those books, written in the 1970s, here as a demonstration of how books evolve. When I first wrote this story of a rodeo romance set in Pendleton, Oregon, I typed it out with the usual corrections made with white-out. I stuffed it into a box from which paper had come, and never submitted it anywhere.

It was set in 1974, about when I wrote it, because I knew a lot about rodeo then, but practically nothing about it today. Resetting books works with many as it doesn't matter about the main stories. Where it comes to rodeo, rules change, and it changes the stories. It's the only one, aside from historicals where resetting the time would have mattered.

When I got interested in the option of being an independent writer, I dug it out from under the bed. It was all there except the last three or four pages, the climax lol. How could I have lost them? Well, I had to think long and hard what I had originally written. That was just the beginning of writing it all again, this time on a computer, and editing it multiple times in the future. 

As I said, communications have changed so much and maybe will even more. With more edits, the essence of this book stayed the same regarding young love and its pitfalls especially with the drama of rodeo, and two people coming from very different backgrounds. The last time I edited, it, I added an epilogue for how it worked out for those two and where they ended up. Were their dreams fulfilled or lost? That's the fun of writing. 

How to buy it will be in the website if I can get the contemporaries added. For now, it's on Amazon: Luck of the Draw.

Because the contemporaries came out, most of them in 2012, I had no clue how to help readers find them. They have since fallen into Amazon's black hole, to disappear to an average search. I believe in them for their characters and the reason each was written. As I have said, I don't follow popular themes for romances, which might be a mistake in terms of marketing, but I believe in it where it comes to increasing my own creativity.

So, hopefully we can get Romances with an Edge added to the webpage, leaving only the three Diablo Canyon novellas not there. And, of course, the books I have yet to write, the ones churning around in my head.

 Here is the URL for the webpage: Rain Trueax Books to see the creative collaboration that led to a place for potential readers to find the books and maybe increase their own creativity.

 And for those needing a website for many kinds of businesses, check out what  PI Webworks offers. I totally trusted them as Period Images is where I've gotten many of the images for heroes and heroines.  To me, they have always seemed honorable and trying to do a good job for writers.

Diablo Canyon

 Because your question searches for deep meaning, I shall explain in simple words. ---- Dante Alighieri

created by Elena Ray, purchased from Canstock

There were several aspects to what made Diablo Canyon the key to everything that had come before, It was both a place and a goal. It also was part of what this earth and its nature is all about. Of course, also for me, with some changes to the novellas, it became the novel.

For the novel, mysticism was important, but so, was the physical reality of the earth on which we live. Is it really, what we think? We know that it's made up of many chemical aspects (names most of us have never heard). Our flesh, all that is below, and around us is made up of atoms/nucleus and whatever, is beyond that. What holds it together and gives it form is energy. This is the reality of life even though we operate on a physical level as though that what we see and feel, is all there is.

What makes Diablo Canyon important, beyond what I ever intended is the question of  the importance of physical ley lines. Do such energy lines exist? And if they do, how might that impact human life? In the book, the climax uses not only energy, what we see, but the spiritual stories that grew from the beginning of humans collecting them from religion and mythology. Are those stories fiction or might they reflect a reality that a more 'sophisticated population' rejects?

In the ending of Diablo Canyon, is presented a question. How do humans, even those with spiritual powers ,fight evil, that which would destroy or dominate them-- or can they?

The story, of course, depicts all of this, but there is something else. In some ways, the cover is about marketing, but it also can be the heart of the book, inspiration for reader and writer.

For Diablo Canyon, I came to see it needed more than images that would show the romantic couple, but go beyond for how they would fight wrong? Could a cover, one with three couples do that? Or might one couple depict the book's theme?

As usual, when putting together a cover, I looked at a lot of images. Most, I had purchased years earlier with no precise idea of how I could use them. Then, I came across two that worked for what I believed  the book needed.

The hero, of the book, was a 'druid', running a detective agency to solve problems that went beyond the physical. The image had to look like someone who could take charge. The one I found had an expression that looked as though he could deal with whatever was needed. I liked how his hands were tucked into his belt, but fist like. That expression in his eyes said he was looking for how he would use his power. He was in no hurry to rush into action, but would be ready at the instant he knew the time was right.

The heroine, his love interest, had been in the second book. Except there, she was an angel and spirit guide. To deal with what was happening in Diablo Canyon, the powers above, requested she become a human to bring strength to the needed warriors, along with her own, to fight for right. Some humans today think the spirit world has all the powers-- what if they were given the power to use and expected then, to do it. This one-time angel didn't feel she had those abilities, but turned out, she had a lot more going for her than she knew. It's all about ... energy.

For readers and writers, covers can impact the stories for which they are supposed to represent. I think this one did that for me. The rings in my dream are on it because they represent a love that hovers over a canyon that could lead to destruction or happily ever afters. And the hero and heroine on the cover, depict two ways of dealing with a huge problem. There is the suppressed power as the man waits for that moment where it will be unleashed. Then, the drawing up of spiritual energy by what might seem delicate hands.

 Having three novellas, then a novel with the spice the others didn't have, bothered me, in how I promote them. Four books? Three? One? If someone doesn't read the whole blurb and buys the novellas and then the novel, they might feel they were cheated. The novellas do have one extra feature-- Dante's quotes fit each chapter. What a philosopher/poet he was.

Remember tonight... for it is the beginning of always.     

Dante Alighieri

 

 

  Images purchased from Romance Novel Covers, and Stencil.

 Diablo Canyon

From Where Does it Come?

 

Image from Stencil

 

Before starting to write this blog, I tried to think what was needed. Should I go into what I, myself, have experienced from the other side, leading to deciding to write paranormal stories? Does any reader really care about that but instead just want a good story? If people are interested in mysticism, does it have to be of a religion, for which they are comfortable? Keep in mind that the religions, I know anything about, all have mystical aspects to them. Some probably more than others. But, it's a mysticism that people have grown up thinking is okay.

My mystical books have elements of 'magic' that some might be comfortable with-- if it is in their religion, under authority that makes them comfortable.

So, where did I get the mysticism about which I have written? Some is what I have experienced or been told about from others. In Mystic Shadows, my characters are from the earth or spirit. 

In these books, it is all imaginary for their stories. The first time I wrote a book, that had a spirit connection, was Sky Daughter and likely in the early 90s for its first draft. I had a monster. When I got to where I had to decide if it was to be someone's delusion or was it real, I spent some time deciding?

Because I do a lot of research for my books (all of them), I found books from those who had experienced scary experiences of what they believed had been monsters. They claimed what they saw and had impacted them were real experiences. If someone goes to YouTube today, you can find more such, claimed experiences..

Is what we see, or think we see, all there is out there? You know there are plenty saying even aliens have been and are being impacting human life. No aliens in my books though. 

What Diablo Canyon ends up being is one long book with three romantic couples dealing with a world beyond their expectations. They were each in their own novellas, then secondary characters in the next books.

It was a couple of months later, when I decided I wanted these couples to have the spice, for which the novellas did not have room. Can I complicate my writer life any more? Likely not, but you write what comes to you.

How though do I put one couple on the cover? I think to have all three there would be complicated. How about if I used the couple from the last story? I would say it has one of the more complicated stories, but actually, the first qualifies as that also, given it began with one of my dreams, a very significant dream. More on that later maybe *s* 

The first image from Stencil is the peaceful side of what might be. It is not the only possibility though, as those who delve into the dark side know (from Deposit Photos)..

 

 

 

Spiritual Places -- What if...

 Mural, one of many painted on Tucson walls. Photo ours as are the rest below.

Editing is a large portion of a writer's life, like it or not. Recently, for me, that began with a book I had edited multiple times. The need for this edit was wanting information for the manuscript that I had abandoned when Covid hit. Rereading and considering where it went next, I discovered I needed more information about characters that would inhabit it-- those of spirit and earthly natures. 

So, back to the book ahead of it, which was much longer than I intended the new one to be. They are all part of a series, which I call Mystic Shadows because of its a mix of mysticism, romance along with darkness. 

There are two earlier ones in that series, which are not telling the stories of the Hemstreet/Cordova families. All Mystic Shadows stories go into the personalities on both sides of the spiritual divide.  I enjoy writing those kinds of books, using my imagination for what might be-- or not be.

The Hemstreet series idea came from the time I drove with Ranch Boss through Barrio Viejo again (we'd been through there years earlier, when it was in much different condition). On one of our times, in 1965, it wasn't as safe. It was though very interesting as we'd see older folks, many of diverse races, sitting in doorways smoking or drinking. I have to say that back then, it had its own level of interest. With many of the doors wide open, there likely wasn't much air conditioning back then. The smells of food cooking made their way to the street.

In 2015, it had changed. I saw the potential for characters and a series involving modern witches. The homes in that barrio had been modernized and yet kept the historic nature. Younger, professional people do things like that. 

Two other things, for me, that always had added to the neighborhood's charm, are shrines, one with a history, El Teradito, and one with some spiritual figures in the altar (years earlier it had had a madonna sculpture. (Unfortunately, I can't remember its name). The shrines add to the mystique of that barrio. Do they have power for believers? Some believe so, as el Teradito also is known as the Wishing Shrine. The desert Southwest has a lot of those kinds of places, often tucked into hillsides with no names, and where you'd only see them if you knew to look for them. 

So, this neighborhood of mysticism, history, and modernization seemed a perfect setting for my imaginary witches to live, work, and find love. They are like ordinary people only born with magical powers. Their goal always is to right wrongs for the benefit of a culture that rejects them. 

Finding where these books fit in the novel, genre world has been a challenge. You can give your own books their genre, but others may not agree. What I have found with my current research is my view of spirituality is out there, but not necessarily in fiction books. More, of it, comes from those who share their culture's own spiritual truths. 

My thinking for these books came also from what I grew up thinking as a little girl living at the end of a gravel road on a hill that abutted wilderness. Lots of space for imagination to grow... or to see more than I might have if I had been busy in a town. Mystical thinking yes, but not part of a total fantasy world, rather our world with secrets most of us are not privy to-- unless we go seeking.

Should we seek? There can be risks, I think, depending on motivations. But, if you have a curious mind, you already may have looked various places to understand the mysteries of life. Perhaps you found an answer or answers that suited you and you quit right there. Or maybe you are a spiritual seeker. If so, you might like my Mystic Shadows series that combines place, spirits, families, romance, adventure, purpose, with questions of what might be here, IF we looked. 

More coming on these books. If such explorations, which will be in the blogs, makes you uneasy, you, you might drop mine for a while, as I delve into our world and that of the spirit-- not one of any particular religion, but maybe a mix of many. Everyone should do what suits best for their lives. Is there one answer for us all? Maybe... or maybe that truth goes beyond an answer to something bigger. Maybe...

 

Discussions or Arguments

 

Tonto National Monument, Arizona, April 2011

I had some ideas for this blog; then read what is below. I don't know for sure if the person it claims said it (you never do these days), but the words are right on for our times. Don't avoid all difficult discussions, when they are discussions where you can both express your thoughts and when needed, let it go at the end. 

This image of a hanging garden, on the trail down to the natural bridge, seemed apropos about a discussion that bears fruit.

Anyway, here's  who said it (maybe) and the quote.

~~~~~~~~~~

Helen Mirren once said:

Before you argue with someone, ask yourself, is that person even mentally mature enough to grasp the concept of a different perspective. Because if not, there's absolutely no point.

 

Not every argument is worth your energy. Sometimes, no matter how clearly you express yourself, the other person isn’t listening to understand—they’re listening to react. They’re stuck in their own perspective, unwilling to consider another viewpoint, and engaging with them only drains you.

 

There’s a difference between a healthy discussion and a pointless debate. A conversation with someone who is open-minded, who values growth and understanding, can be enlightening—even if you don’t agree. But trying to reason with someone who refuses to see beyond their own beliefs? That’s like talking to a wall. No matter how much logic or truth you present, they will twist, deflect, or dismiss your words, not because you’re wrong, but because they’re unwilling to see another side.

 

Maturity isn’t about who wins an argument—it’s about knowing when an argument isn’t worth having. It’s realizing that your peace is more valuable than proving a point to someone who has already decided they won’t change their mind. Not every battle needs to be fought. Not every person deserves your explanation.

 

Sometimes, the strongest thing you can do is walk away—not because you have nothing to say, but because you recognize that some people aren’t ready to listen. And that’s not your burden to carry.

Dilemma

 

 Since I am editing one of my paranormal, Tucson romances, I should not be paying attention to world news, but it's hard not to check in and then go uh oh, or whatever I end up feeling, with so much of what happens on the world stage impacts us little folks far below it.

My immediate thought, when I awoke one morning this week, was definitely an uh oh. Not so much for what I read but what it meant for the world, little and big countries. After a sip of vodka (never mind that I am off of alcohol). I felt up to writing something about it. Maybe...

The world is not evenly divided. This is not just about wealth but about resources, like water. It never has been from the time humans became humans.

Resources are more than the land and what it holds. It's also the kind of people, who live there and what they can and will do with their own resources. Exactly how the earth worked out that way, who can know.

First of all, with natural resources, when humans first figured out they could exploit such, is that how we settled where we did? Climate probably controlled a lot of it, easy to live there and oh boy. The next thing humans looked around to find what might not be where they lived, but where they could bring usable products to their homes. In short, they wanted what had grown or could be grown above ground-- basically food. They also continued to hunt for animals where their pelts or bodies could be used.

Then came a search for fossil fuels, like coal, iron, oil, etc. Much of the earth was not and still is not as rich with such things. Wars could then be fought to attain what a more powerful tribe or country might want. Humans also wanted slaves as not all of them seemed suitable for such uses. 

Does any of that sound fair? Cross 'fair' out of your vocabulary where humans, of all colors and races, were concerned or are concerned. Humans took what they needed and wanted whether that was desirable minerals, like diamonds, or what would fuel their lives. To the victor went the spoils and to a degree, that still goes on.

Is that bad? Does that mean humans are the bad mammals? Maybe, but again and again, it goes back to that quote-- to the victor go the spoils. It is how it has always gone.

So, for those who find fault with that and try to take it away from the victors, check out how that ends up, where that comes to wealth and yes, that means charitable... supposedly organizations. Do those who run it or support it end up with the funds or does it go where it was intended?

Where does that leave us 'pawns'? What can we do about it in today's supposedly more civilized world?

The future fight and and contests are more likely over what is needed for technology-- rare earth minerals. These are often in places no one had seen of having value. But now, want to use your computer or technology, those minerals are the key. They turn up often in what are seen as poorer countries or regions within a country. If those populations can't exploit that wealth to mine their own 'in-the-ground' wealth, like, lithium, coltan, cobalt, titanium,etc. you can bet others will try to. 

So, poor countries should get wealthy, right? Not how it seems to work out with the human species. Again, are we evil or bad? Not really. Just mammals. 

It is the age of the mammals. Will it stay our age? Not likely given the nature of evolution. Should the mammals who have found the riches, exploit them, then help others that have none? A few claim they should, but they barely do it themselves. If you have two coats, do you give one to someone who doesn't have one. Some do... Very few.

What do we do as humans, who have a compassionate nature (at least how we feel inside)? Donate a few dollars? Feel righteous? Or find a real answer to the imbalance of life on this earth? If the latter is the answer, it doesn't appear to have been the answer, so far. 

Wars have been fought over taking above and in ground resources. Might happen again. We could hope not, but history offers no reassurance. 

The photo at the top gives you a clue how it works in nature-- with no guilt. It's our front yard here in Arizona. For years, to us, the saguaros looked like they were growing equally. Turns out not where it came to the resources they needed. Not fair how it worked out. Is life fair? If you think it is, I do not think you've had much experience. 

To the victor go the spoils. That doesn't require wars. It's just who is strongest, and empathy doesn't appear to weigh in-- sad as that might be to say. Is that fair? If a greater power intervenes, guess who ends up with that desired wealth. The only real thing we can count on is that life is not all physical. There may be spiritual consequences. Not very comforting for those suffering in the here and now.

Upping Your Game

image from Stencil

One place, where for me, my life comes together with fiction is in writing. My books are, of course, total fiction for the characters, what happens to them, but it blends together my beliefs on life as I have lived it. I have seen what works, not only for me, but for others. How could that not influence my writing? Likely does for all those who write fiction. Of course, those who write non-fiction claim their books are true-- even if some will see it more as how they want it to be, than how it is.

It leads to this blog and its subject, which is on the title. It's how, I believe, we benefit most from life. Some get somewhere and they are stuck there. Maybe not stuck but figure they made it except made it to what?  I was talking about this with my husband and later my brother, who have worked all their lives in what I'd call expertises. 

In Ranch Boss's case, it was as an engineer, a technician, someone who figures out problems to fix. Following is one good example of how it worked for him. In the corporation where he worked, a technical problem arose, maybe more a breakthrough than a problem. He didn't know much about it. What then did he do? He studied with reading a lot of technical books in that area and then took an online class to refine what he knew and could use. He upped his game. He actually did that many times in his career and even now when retired.

Then with my brother, who is a mechanic with a gift. He ran into a new problem with engines. He could have sat back and expected someone else to take care of it. Or said, it's just how life goes today. Instead, he got books and studied what it would take to fix that new problem. He upped his game

Upping my game recently where it comes to my writing, one of my novellas (27,000 words) seemed finished. Fine story as it was, maybe even more popular where folks like shorter reads. The thing was that I had the opportunity to upgrade it to more story, more character development, and I went for it. This one ended up 82,000+ words. Now, it's a full novel, or will be when it comes out maybe in May or June. I upped its game and mine. 

I didn't know if readers would like delving into the deeper more challenging aspects of a relationship, as well as more action. Well, it's what this book now offers. 

When you bring two people together, who come from different worlds, it can take some doing to make it believable that it will yield a happy ending. I saw the extended potential with these two characters and wanted to have the enjoyment of writing about it. In different ways, they each had to up their games. They didn't do it to entice the other person, but because the relationship allowed them to see who they truly wanted to be.

It is not changing to fit, but upping your game. Upping your game is being more of who you actually are. To me, upping your game is to feel proud of yourself, not because you have to. While, it could work out that you got a better job because the boss saw you upping your game and admired that quality of worker. Could be, but I don't think it's why it's part of a satisfying life. You do it for yourself.  In most every type of work, there are ways to up your game to feel better about what you're doing.

If you are out in the world and have to look good, upping your game might mean going to used stores to improve your wardrobe, when you can't afford new. I know about that as I had a very stylish aunt who taught me. I needed to up my game in my high school as a lot of the girls dressed really well. I couldn't afford what they probably spent, but used worked and who knew the difference. Kind of fun to bargain shop too.

I see a lot of folks who get somewhere in life and expect it to hold them there, until the end of their time. Some could get to thinking-- that boss is mean and does not deserve me to improve myself. Well, the job might still stay there, life could indeed go on, but a culture is better off when more folks up their games. There even is a New Testament scripture that fits this scenario: Matthew 25:14-30. I know not all look to the Bible for wisdom, but I'll bet you can find similar beliefs in other scriptures regarded as holy.

It is rewarding to look around for new answers and ask the question-- what would it take? It is good for our own body, brain and emotions, rather than being like Scrooge in the novella, A Christmas Story, where he wants to hold onto what he thinks he has. He found out otherwise for true joy in his life.

Guess what! And you know this one. We actually have nothing material from earth that we take with us when we go... just our souls and what we have done with them. So, up your game.

 February 23, 2025 -- Nikon CoolPix P900 camera -- photo by Ranch Boss

Writing and Emotions

 

While the world has gone on with many issues impacting many lives, mine stays much the same. It's one of the advantages of being old maybe. Some panic regarding that too, of course. Will Social Security continue, Medicare, investments, pensions, how about bank accounts? And the always reliable thing to fret over-- will crime hit my street or my family? 

For a writer, it's not hard to escape into other worlds, ones we created, and have some control over. If a black swan hits my characters, I am there to deal with it. Of course, there is the nervousness that always goes with-- what will be the next sentence or did that make sense for the characters to do? At least though it's something I have some control over... kind of. It takes me into an imaginary world and out of the one so many people are flipping out over.

With the books I have written (30 at this point), most are novel length with a few exceptions that were novellas. With one series, eight Arizona western historicals, set between 1883 and 1905, I ran into trouble with changing their titles one too many times. I have earlier written how that happened due to not reading Amazon's emails with new rules regarding title changing. Oops.

What I hadn't realized then was that when Amazon pulled my books or I did, they would also disappear from readers' devices. Ack!  I have notified those who had earlier purchased these books, that I'd send them the new versions, when they came out, at no cost to them. 

Except for it doing that to readers, there was an advantage for me. I could edit and improve the stories, adding more scenes that I saw would be beneficial. I was in no hurry to bring them back out after having all eight to do. I still didn't know better ways to promote them. Another drawback was I lost all their reviews. Nothing I could do about that. Getting new reviews has been difficult to impossible as they came out. Many readers don't like to do reviews. 

Today, with the five I now have out, with their new series name, Winds of Change, I still have had no idea how to promote. Marketing is not something I am good at. With the new versions, their titles were either totally changed or tweaked to satisfy Amazon rules. Never again not reading emails from Amazon.

I actually enjoyed the editing and had them also edited by Ranch Boss, who is good at looking to the masculine side of what happens. Men are an important part of my stories and usually have a point of view. Ranch Boss also does the technical side of publishing and running the few ads we run for books, some of which have never had an ad, hence the Amazon black hole is their fate. 

The historical novels ran 80,000+ to 100,000+ words. They have improved covers to fit their new titles. I had esited five of them last spring. Because of our being in no hurry to bring them back out, I was in no hurry to edit the next three. 

The two novellas, which I had originally seen as being better if shorter, because so many readers today like fast reads. Except, as I edited them, I was dissatisfied with the length of their stories, felt there was more to tell. I had the same feeling regarding their covers. They were pretty enough, but I wanted the lovers on the covers. 

That presented a problem, in the main sites I have been using, there are very few images of middle-aged or older people. The sites mostly go for younger models. Fortunately, several sites, which I had first bought into, did have older faces possible to use. I won't go into details here, as that's not what the blog about, but I got my couples, the first one below here. It's now a book long enough to be a novel, but not as long as the other novels in this series. I though was able to bring to the book the additions that added to my interest in writing it-- and hope it will for readers, whenever we figure out how to let them know. *s*

The images on the cover came from one of ours and others I had purchased. On the title page, credit is always given as to from where the pieces have come.

When enlarging a book, I had earlier published as a novella, I ran into an aspect of writing, that readers might also experience. How the scenes, the chapters and their emotions can impact our own lives. I don't always have that happen when I create characters, but maybe because these were older, I related more to their issues.

For me, the hardest emotionally can be when I need to have a very nice, even beloved, character die. i might know it would happen, even should, to feel right for the story, but it's still hard. The most satisfying, emotionally, is when love works out, maybe a wedding, but more important is when the couple commit themselves to each other. 

One thing I never do is kill off a pet or a horse/donkey/mule. I don't even like to read books or watch films that do that. Yes, it also happens in life, but emotionally, I don't want to live with the pathos. If I have to accept a beloved animal has died of old age, it will happen between books. I'm not saying it makes for superior writing. It's just how the emotions work for me-- positive and negative.

Next blog, I'll write about the second enlarged, novella. These two couples do know each other but their romances are five years apart. There are important differences despite similar ages. The cultural times are similar, but the four characters have different economic levels and pasts. 

For this one, Rose's Gifts, both hero and heroine had been in the three books ahead of theirs. They were not, at least in my thinking, a couple that others might expect to fall in love. That's the fun of being a writer, who is open to such possibilities. I've written before about the enjoyment for me of writing a series and that all came to play with this book, more a "relationship novel' probably than a generic romance for the issues that arose.

For more about Rose's Gifts, check out the link for the blurb and the free sample. I especially like the cover now, as bringing an older couple to a story was a challenge but also fun. Their experiences and expectations, through lifetimes, were woven into the plot.

This link is to Amazon, but alongside here are the Universal Links, for those who prefer to buy from other sites.

Rose's Gifts for Kindle 

 

 

 

THE PILING-ON PHENOMENA

  Cairns can be seen across the American SW to mark the way of a path. Most not are not piled as elaborately as this one, acquired through my Stencil membership

Two things before I pile on... as in, discuss what piling-on is. These aren't one more important than the other, but one has to go first. 

I have no interest in changing reader's minds. I want to lay out what I think and why, but if someone disagrees, sees it the opposite, I will not fight to the last round to convince them they are wrong. I have a philosophy of not only live and let live, but also that while I do believe in what I do, I could be wrong. Many people do not share that view. They are convinced not only they are right, but I am wrong. I am not one of those people. 

I go by what I have lived, what I have read and heard, and finally what to me seems like commonsense. I don't have to convince other people that, for instance, "I am not a racist". I don't really care what they believe as few of them know me at all. I know me. I know racial prejudice is not in my DNA based on experience. I have known too many people of various races and beliefs for me to think they were inferior/superior based on anything but their actions and the things they say. 

So, when I've written a blog, it's not to convince you to think like I do. It's to tell you why I think as I do; then let the chips fall where they may. I can agree to disagree and do it without insulting others. That is also in my DNA.

Let's see, where was I, oh yeah, the second point or perhaps secondteenth by now. I am not by nature a follower. It might be why I am not into sports. Who would I root for or bet on? It's just not my thing as a non-follower. Same is true of celebrities whether of movies or music. 

These days I would be lucky to even know their names, but back in my younger years, I had one crush on a celebrity, except he was not a real person. He was a character. (I do not btw get crushes on my book characters either.) Actually there were two crushes as a kid and I mean early teens or before. Cheyenne and Spin. Look them up if you want, but the crushes didn't last, as I got old enough to have crushes on real guys. lol

Finally, I am to my point for this blog. Piling-on is one of those things that (forget its dictionary meaning) can go positive or negative. People tend to follow what others think. Now, that's not everybody, but a certain group of people.

Where it comes to me, at my age, I sometimes have a general understanding of what is being talked about but mostly I know little about sports or the celebrity world of today. I know a bit more about political leaders, like where'd they accumulate that wealth on their salaries? I only know about their personal lives what I read, which means media is determining it, whether news or social. 

What I've seen recently for the piling-on has all been negative whether movie, music, or sports stars. Lose a game and the world turns against you as it's 'the' thing to do and a way to be part of the group. To not pile-on is to be suspect. You must be one of 'them.' These can lead to riots or big demonstrations to depict power. Piling-on is about being part of power.

Politically speaking, I've read (often they can be from anonymous or false sources) to make every day January 6, 2021 in terms of disrupting government working. Earlier it was claimed those piling-on should interrupt those, who work for the 'wrong' person/party, should go where they go out to dinner, to movies, and at their homes and yell insults or carefully worded threats (don't wanta get arrested do ya). 

It has also meant trying to kill and sometimes succeeding. With those who didn't do it, piling-on by saying they wish that person had succeeded or were glad for what they did. Piling-on can mean trying to disrupt the economy as punishment; thus, so many phone calls that the one they hate cannot function. Destroying businesses by fires or breaking in (businesses unrelated to the current piling-on cause). And on it goes right up to and including violent protests that block roads for those on the way to work, when they again had nothing to do with what the piling-on person is angry about.

Of course, there can be a seemingly positive side to piling-on. You then become part of fandom. You follow someone and accept whatever they do must be right. This works fairly well for politicians and entertainers until they do something to upset those piling-on, then watch out. It can encourage people to support causes, music or movies because it's popular, not because they even like them or know much about what they mean.

The power of piling-in is how one sports figure just said that the whole experience can 'shoot you to the moon.'  Well, it can also bury you in darkness when it turns if the person depended on it. Here is how it can work: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/10/v-fluence-pesticide-critics

Obviously, I am no fan of piling-on negatively or positively. Decide what you think or like based on what you believe and have experienced yourself. I see there is energy there, but it can turn on you just as fast. 

I don't generally use cartoons, but I thought a humorous approach to this subject, considering how angry things can be right now, could be fun to put together. The three images were found and purchased from Deposit Photos. The images represent the two ways of piling-on and the energy behind it all.

 

Images... ?

 Image from my Stencil membership

Over my lifetime, whether on the television or theater, I think I've seen most John Wayne films. On DVD, we own quite a few, my favorites being Hondo and Red River. They have all the important ingredients for me-- love, discussions of the importance of honesty, courage, a clear depiction of the need sometimes to change, stirring soundtracks, big sky, desert landscapes, often humor; and of course, John Wayne as a powerful figure for right-- at least eventually.

 

Also, as did a lot of his films, there were strong female counter punchers to him (love that in the books I write also). Although today, there are some counter punchers to claim these were not good films, and he was not a good hero. 

 

The thing was in those films, you never had to worry if the good guy will win. Mostly when they are over, they leave the viewer a satisfied feeling. Did we think they really happened? Not likely. It's the emotional uplift that they provided versus too often a world without any feel good about what has happened-- no happily ever after or it all working out as we might wish.

There are also some problems with them if you look deeper. One is that we can mistake image for reality. John Wayne walked or rode onto the screen and instantly you knew he could not only be trusted to be who he said he was but that he could take care of whatever had gone wrong. Might take him some time, but he'd get you there. This is great for entertainment but what happens when you take it into real life?

Politically you can end up with the need for politicians to have an image that people vote for more than the actual person. Some is due to the need for instant sound bites and, at least these days, people's lack of patience with serious messages. We want to feel good and a lengthy discussion of policy isn't going to cut it. 

 

So, we can get a guy, who looks good in a tuxedo, can deliver a rousing speech, maybe written for him, but who cares. Maybe it's a woman in a designer suit, with a big smile, good makeup, and a promise of joy without much discussion of issues for either.

 

Or maybe the image wears a Stetson,  cowboy boots, buys himself a ranch, rides around in a pickup, cuts brush (never mind if it would've been better off not being cut), and you got a cowboy. It doesn't matter if he doesn't have a cow, has no idea which side of the horse to mount from. He presents the image, and what does cowboy mean to Americans?  To a lot of us, especially elders, it can mean John Wayne.

 

The John Wayne image worked, with his stories set in the West, righting wrongs, a code of ethics, a man of his word. Did the candidate with the image have any of those qualities? Most likely they don't have to have them. It's the illusion, male or female. Voters don't go deep enough in past records to find out if what is being presented is all image, that they may never have lived up to. Research and policy papers take too long and aren't fun. People, including reporters, get carried away with image. It satisfies something in us.

 

Images have long been with us, but are more easily portrayed with social media, which spreads those images. This one is ugly and fat. Even if they are not, the insults travel with them. That one is lovely and slickly dressed. Does that relate to anything but image?

Some politicians try to create an image that they don't really fit. They're a war hero, though maybe never in a war. That approach doesn't always lead to success with Americans if the real life doesn't fit it. But sometimes, connecting with these politicians seems to matter more with Americans than their actual policies. Would you like a beer with him or her, is the key and usually about an image.

This goes beyond politics to who we trust in our personal lives. A young woman goes to a bar, a guy has a square jaw, is cute, seems nice and she trusts him. What he truly is she has no idea as she barely knows him. It's all about image, and Ted Bundy projected a good looking guy until he got the girl in his power when what he truly was became obvious, and it was too late.

 

Another problem with images is when we get caught up in them for ourselves. Do we have to fit an image, created by the culture, that is not who we truly are? That can mean how we dress, wear our hair, jobs, hobbies, friends we choose, books we read, etc. Images might seem like a short cut, but are they to a real life?

Another problem with some of the John Wayne films (much as I love 'em) is that they too often present a simplistic solution to problems-- either a fistfight or guns (if it's an uppity lady, spanking will do). It is fun to watch those films, and I wait for the action like everybody else; but if we buy into that as a real solution, we will not only damage our personal lives (could end up in jail) but also get talked into wars that have no real purpose beyond looking like we are at least doing something.

 

As a writer, I come up against the image problem in writing my books. Did I buy into an image for the hero or heroine, which doesn't match real life? Most readers are looking for some escapism in the choices for books, but if a character comes across as cardboard, that doesn't satisfy the rest of their need in reading, which is inspiration.

What's the answer to the image thing where it comes to our lives, voting, choosing of partners? I think mainly it's recognizing image when we see it and understanding it is superficial and an illusion which may or may not have substance behind it. Real heroes and villains don't come so conveniently packaged.

Beauty Standards... ?

Currently, due to tragedy after tragedy in the United States, some from before Trump and some after, with people throwing out anger every which direction to blame someone, it might seem strange that I'd write about this. Well, this is always with us and the other things come and go. They are maybe more important than how we see beauty but they are also very 'flame throwing.'  I had written this earlier and said I'd bring it out. Here it is. Whether later, I get into the blame game, I don't know, but I do have one more that will be political for next week. I myself am concentrating more on one of my older historic books, which I am enlarging from a novella to a novel (or so goes my plans) because there is more story to tell. For me, writing is a good break, since I have no real solutions for my country given we just voted... And, many want exactly what is being done. So, here comes something that is more for how we see each other- does beauty matter? Should it matter?

12 years old school picture

After years of having mixed feelings about how I looked (more on that below), when I turned 80, when I looked in the mirror-- oh my gosh how did that happen? Ithink because of my skin type, I hadn't earlier needed moisturizers, etc. Except, did ignoring all of that end up where I was in that mirror.

To be honest, I had been told most of my life that I looked pretty good. You know how that can be-- others say one thing about your looks, but you see another. As a child, well, that photo at the top was me in 7th grade where I had no idea how to dress, wear my hair, or do makeup. There are more awkward photos from childhood years.

By the time I got into high school, the toughness of my school for kids dressing well, I had to work on caring and accomplished a lot of it through second-hand stores. If children wear makeup too early or sexy clothes, it's not good to many. But to have no clue what is attractive, that also is not good. Plus, there were so many standards back then for length of hems, and you absolutely could not wear pants to school.

Here I am today, when I began to not only think--- eek, but also what am I trying to do here? Look younger? I was definitely not at my best at 18. I used to say most women reach their best at 35, but now I think it's in their 50s, when they have maturity added to their features. This though again, is for women who have interest in such and many do not. Bless them!

As for this business of surgery, it's definitely about trying to look younger. Frankly, it doesn't work for most. They just look plastic. They lose out on what mature beauty might appear to be. Can we let go of a youthful look and find other ways to feel good about our physical looks? 

I don't even know what hairstyle is supposed to be youthful. It's been a long time since I've cared. When I was in my mid20s, I was at a stylist to have my hair trimmed and he said no woman should wear it long ... past 30. 

Over my many years, I've varied the length of mine but never short since high school.  Pixies look cute on some women. I don't think they would so much on me but it's not the reason I wear mine so long.

To begin, I let mine grow long in my 70s-80s, was curiosity. I wondered if I could. I enjoy the feel of long hair on my back, I cut it myself with long layers. I have gone to salons for perms but frankly, retired as we are, cost is a factor in not doing it. I've never had a pedicure or manicure, but that's personal preference to not liking my nails colored because, if you are an active woman, they constantly require maintenance. I used to do some polish at home before my tremors got so bad. Like, how many places to I want that color to end up???

Another thing, a woman whose blog I read, said one of her commenters said she should not wear jeans. That is just ridiculous to me-- wear the clothes that suit your interest as why do most of us have a reason to be high-styling, even if we could afford it. Does that make someone seem more attractive? I can give a few names where it doesn't in the celeb world, but I won't. 

After I saw some recent photos of me, most taken with bad lighting, too many shadows, and bright sun (that's an excuse but not a good enough one) I got interested in some simple things to try and improve my elderly skin, things that are not that expensive or invasive; since I am not trying to turn back time. Still, keeping my skin healthy looking with less droopiness, bags, or big lines, well, I am into that. If you see me making weird faces, they are facial exercises :). which help a lot to keep a chin and neck from losing it.

Some of what I am trying are like facial peels, which is supposed to encourage  the skin layers and encourage collagen development . Exercises help with the muscles under the skin. Everything I use can be in the home. I don't have the money or interest in expensive answers.

To me, the big thing is being able to see someone is old, but that they still have beauty. The alternative is surgery or maybe Botox, which I don't trust any more than I would Ozempic for weight loss. Humans always seem to want the easy answer. I suspect, given side effects, there is no easy answer for any of it.

Just had a ton of photos taken by Ranch Boss to get my Passport renewed with a current picture, but it kept getting refused for an online renewal. The one they finally accepted was an eyeopener for saying-- I don't care. By the time, we had success, smiling was no longer happening, and frankly, smiles improve looks a lot!

When you see that many photos of yourself, necessarily without photo-shop (Passport claims they can tell), it really makes you SEE yourself and in ways you'd rather not, generally speaking. It led to my interest in having beauty be a topic here. Why do we care about it? Should we care about it? Worse though, to me, is should we care about youthful looks? That one I know we should not but how to get past it in a world that makes so much of it? It's all up to us in our own lives. I know that much as the celeb and advertising worlds won't let go of it.

Repeating-- here's the thing I'd like to have Americans and really people around the world be able to see-- women,who look old, can at the same time appear lovely to us. And not just to be polite, but genuinely see the two things can go together. As it is, all the goals to increase beauty appear to try to send it back to the woman's 20s, which by the way, are not women's most attractive years, at least for most of us. Cute works better for me where it comes to young women.  It takes some maturity to create what I consider beautiful in a woman. 

As a writer, what was frustrating is the need to create a cover with a beautiful older woman. It takes a lot of searching. I like writing about elders showing that romance can still happen. but there need to be more images available to buy if there are to be people on those covers. I finally did it by finding a head one place and an historical garment another for a new creation. Fun to do actually, but I'd love it if some of these models, as they age, could continue being out there. The world is not just made up of young people doing things. 

As I said in the earlier blog, this appears a bit easier for men to be considered old but still good looking-- although I also had to buy one man's head and another body for one of the covers. Of course, maybe the companies know only the young ones get bought. This whole thing might be more a thing of society than in ourselves. Looking old should not be negative but rather just part of a long-lived life, and it should not require surgery...