Welcome 2018

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year!

Another year has rolled around, and the time has gotten away. I think often of you. Yet, seldom have I reached out to say so.

I miss you, my friend. From the depths of my being, and the bottom of my heart, I miss you.

2017 was intense at times, so-so at others. And now and again, spectacular.

FYI - The highlighted phrases are linked to blog posts on that particular topic, if you would like to read more.

Last winter was difficult, with piles of snow that began accumulating in early December, and never melted until mid-February. This winter has been oh-so-much better.

Then came the fires that ripped through the new growth, as summer stripped the moisture and life from everything, and fouled the air with smoke.

In May, I began using d­oTERRA essential oils. I love the physical, mental, and emotional medicinal properties of the oils. And doTERRA’s supplements, greens, and protein mix are game-changers, giving me the oomph I'd been needing.

In mid-June, I began working part-time for Healthy Family Chiropractic, a group of activator docs. It was odd in the beginning, working for someone else (it’d been 20 years). And while I get paid less than half the amount I would normally make, I show up for work, adjust patients, and the rest is taken care of by my employer.

At June’s end, I celebrated 60. Another decade mark. The hip is still an issue, but with regular chiropractic care, massage, stretching, CBD oil, and doTERRA’s Deep Blue, the pain is manageable.

In August, my sister, bro-in-law, their two Shitzus, and I, went to Livingston, Montana, for a fly show. We detoured through the northern section of Yellowstone on the way up, and through Craters of the Moon coming home.

Yes, I am still writing. Following my bliss. I completed Book One of the AWEN trilogy. And the first draft of Book Two is nearing completion. My self-imposed deadline has come and gone (December 31^st) but I am writing the ending as we speak. Once this draft is a wrap, I will set the manuscript aside for a month or so, and start writing Book Three.

At the beginning of 2017, I sent queries to a few literary agents, seeking representation. As each rejection arrived, my inner-writer withered a little more. I got stuck in limbo. So I decided to stop actively pursuing an agent, at least until I am closer to the end of the trilogy. Assuming I don’t decide to self-publish.

In July 2017, the books' titles changed to: AWEN RISING, AWEN STORM, and AWEN TIDE. Shorter. Snappier. More descriptive. Easier to say. Easier to sell. Easier to remember.

My dual priorities for 2018, are writing Book Three and polishing Book Two. The remainder of the story is coalescing, and ideas are arriving for the finale grand.

By year-end 2018, I plan to have two completed fantasy manuscripts (totaling 220,000 words!), on my way to three.

I know, I know. You want to read them. Well, good news!

I am still in need of Beta Readers. To be a beta, you basically read the manuscript in either MS Word or PDF format, then tell me your thoughts. What worked for you? What didn’t? What would you change? What threads were left dangling? Were the resolutions too contrived? Any unbelievable characters, or events? That sort of thing.

If you would like to beta read, let me know by leaving a comment below, or email me at ojbarreauthor at gmail dot com. I will forward the file for your personal perusal. Book One is ready to send now. Book Two, later this year.

In 2018, we're planning a spring trip to Yachats, on the Oregon coast. A friend from SoCal is coming to Boise in mid-April. Depending on finances, and available time-off, maybe a trip to Ventura. Or Atlanta. Or Orange Beach. And definitely more time exploring the Idaho mountains.

I have also opened to the possibility of relationship. With a like-minded fellow. Time will tell.

Who knows what else 2018 will bring?

I am predicting good fortune, happiness, and joy. May you be blessed with an abundance of all you hold dear, including love, laughter, good health, and cheer. 

Happy 2018, my friends. Never forget that you are loved.

~ That Rebel, Olivia J. Herrell writing as O.J. Barré

P.S. The highlighted phrases are linked to blog posts on that particular topic, if you would like to read more.

O.J. Barré is author of the upcoming AWEN trilogy, a rollicking fantasy set in 2042AD, that combines ancient, current, and future history. Book One, AWEN RISING, is complete and in query. The first draft of Book Two, AWEN STORM, is nearing completion, and Book Three, AWEN TIDE, is swirling in the mists of creation.

What Do You Do After Writing Icky Characters?

What do you do to get the ick off after writing a particularly nasty scene in a vile character's voice?

I took a shower. Washed my hair. Put on essential oils of my friend, Karen's, creation called "Clearing".

But I'm still feeling icky. So. I thought I would share a few things with you to feel better.

Over the weekend, I put a link on the Red Dress Club blog to one of my older blog posts "What You See Is Not Always What You Get". I met some new writers, visited some cool blogs and got some great feedback from the readers. One comment in particular, from a woman named Sandra, made my weekend.

I spent much of said weekend playing in the mountains with my friend (and sister-in-law), Carolyn. So I didn't have much time to do any blog reading or writing. Now I'm woefully behind. But, this morning before settling in with my manuscript, I clicked over to Sandra's blog, Absolutely Narcissism, and belly laughed reading her hilarious Beach Day post. Go ahead. Check her out!

In other news, I read an update on Lucille Ball's estate. Her lifetime achievements awards will revert to her daughter, while the widow of Lucille's second husband gets to auction off her love letters. I find that incredibly sad. I hope whoever gets them will treat them with love and respect.

Finally, I'd like to dedicate this old video of Raquel Welch and Cher singing "Woman" to my new friends, the ladies of the Red Dress Club and to all you writers with little kids at home.

But, hey Guys, check it out. Raquel Welch is smokin' and Cher is her quintessential self! 

Pictures from top to bottom: Carolyn; the lake at Vogel State Park, Blairsville, GA

Morning Walk

Today I gave up sugar and bread. Not for lent, obviously, as that ended a couple of days ago. Not even for health reasons, though that is part of the motivation.

Nope. I'm doing it to fit into my clothes. I'm not one of those who keeps clothes of various sizes on hand. When I lose weight, I get rid of the fat clothes. Normally, I don't need them.

 

The traditional Georgia fare is quite different from that of California. Having been away from the south for eleven years, and back here to visit rarely, I missed the food I grew up eating.

So, I've been indulging myself. You know. Pigging out.

Biscuits and gravy. Cornbread. Fried green tomatoes, fried chicken, chicken-fried steak, fried pies, fried burgers, fresh cut french fries, fried anything. Deserts. Sweet sugary gooey stuff, creme horns, caramel cremes.

For three and a half months.

I've gained so much weight, even my panties are tight. And I refuse to go buy bigger panties. I did invest a couple of bucks in the next-size-up jeans a while back. But at the rate I was gaining, even those were getting tight.

So I took the plunge. Back to California food.

Today was also the first of my daily walks. I barely left the house yesterday, choosing instead to work on blog maintenance and other things. So imagine my surprise to discover that between Saturday and Monday, the whole dang countryside changed colors.

On Saturday the pears, plums and cherries, forsythia and quince were blooming. And the maples.

But today, holy smokes.

The trees are all budding  and the countryside is awash with thousands of shades of green.

The violets are in bloom.

Ahhh, violets. Such a simple little flower, and a bane to those inclined to manicured lawns. But being a country girl at heart, violets are one of my favorites. Maybe because, like the daffodil, they are a harbinger of warmer days.

My walk today was a short one, but tomorrow I'll have more time to explore and take in the sights.

It has been eleven years since my last Georgia spring. In Southern California, spring is beautiful. But it's not the dramatic waking from dormancy and nothingness that the plant life experiences in Georgia. Trees transform from sharp, bony angles to soft, round contours and flowers spring up from the dirt.

I am grateful to be here, grateful to smell the freshly tilled earth and the first-mown grass of the season. To hear the streams, swollen from winter rains and watch the mating rituals of the birds. To see the plants and trees burst forth in their finest duds as the landscape comes alive in front of my very eyes.

Thank you, Higher Power, for allowing me to witness this miracle, this magnificent affirmation of life.

Oh wait! I almost forgot the memorial on the side of New Hope Road.

No doubt, for a child whose life ended too young, in the spring of life. It seemed fitting to include it here. For death precedes the rebirth, and thus, is an essential, however difficult, part of life. For each of us. I include the picture here as my own little memorial. To Jessica. And those who loved her.

These pictures were taken on the east end of New Hope Road in Dawsonville, GA, from top to bottom: close-up of Red Maple seeds (the flowers were just as spectacular); henbit (considered a weed, but I think they're pretty); Vanhoutte Spirea with a blanket of violets underneath; forsythia in full bloom and beginning to leaf with a branch of the adjacent Redbud tree seen on the right; violets; field of violets; Wild Cherry tree in leaf with flower buds not yet opened; memorial for Jessica Spears.

DON'T POKE THE MAMA BEAR!

I love that God has a sense of humor. Last night I prayed for an answer to a looming decision - which of two actions is the best for me to take? This time my answer wasn't sent via dream.

It appeared in the guise of a horoscope.

Don't poke the Mama Bear.

I didn't. I promise. I let her have her way.

But first, I made a list of all that needed doing, with the intent of following-though later in the day.

Well hoo hoo hah. Guess what?

This morning, Mama Bear got her way. But, less than three hours into the afternoon's work session, she roared. Loudly.

via GIPHY

Granted, the last two hours had been a bust, and the simple task no nearer completion.Shutting my laptop in extreme frustration, I came outside to regain some balance.

Now I pause to wonder. Do I really want to waste another minute keeping his fly-tying website with DonO's old provider?

Bluehost has a $2.95 a month special for the first year. How 'bout we pick up and go there for our hosting needs? The Bluehost I remember gives excellent customer service. Their system, while formidable to a dilettante geek like me, is at least doable. And did I say, their tech support is superb?

Done. Sold. No more debacles with ITX. Mama Bear says so.

But, she's still poked. Only a few things are marked off our to-do list. Which means weekend work. Until it's all done. Then Mama Bear can go back to being happy.

Want a peek at my list?

1. Set goals for June.
2. Write a blog post for That Rebel. Another for Dr. O.
3. Transfer DonO's new Fantasy Flies website from Wordpress.com to .org.
4. Attend/watch a webinar re: Essential Oils certification, plus my doTERRA gameplan.
5. Call Dr. G re: Position.
6. Take care of Mama Bear.

Seriously. Only Mama Bear was first. Else, NOTHING would get done.

And yes, beside the website transfer, and the Dr. O blog post, the rest of my list is complete!

Do you have a Mama Bear? Care to share? What happens when your Mama Bear gets poked?

~ That Rebel, Olivia J. Herrell, writing as O.J. Barré

P.S. When O.J.'s not writing, Mama Bear lives in a mildly-poked state, so I'm hoping this post helps calm her.

P.P.S. My Mama Bear is me.

O.J. Barré is author of the upcoming BLESSED ARE THE PEACE MAKERS trilogy. Book One, COMING HOME, is complete and in query. The first draft of Book Two, COMING TO, is nearing completion, and Book Three, COMING FULL CIRCLE, is swirling in the mists of creation.

Scenes from an Unsettled Mind

I dream in vivid colors and bold action, multiple vignettes that fade on waking. Left behind are bits and snatches, impressions of the endless parade through my mind.

This morning, left behind was a sense of frustration. Of pushing and pulling, cajoling, trying, vying. Doing what was in front of me to do, only to find I’d made the wrong choice. Wrong place, wrong time. Wrong decision, wrong action. Wrong world, wrong life.

Rising did nothing to quiet the frustration, bringing it forward in to my morning.

The weather outside matches my mood, dark gray clouds raining drops all around. Scooping green tea leaves in to a strainer, I immerse them in the mug I bought last year in Solana Beach where I’d run away to escape from my perplexing life.

So much has changed since then, I live in a different home on the opposite coast, have a different partner, different car. Yet, nothing essential has changed.

My life has been a marathon; running to, running from, running in place.

There are times when I feel I’m living out an episode of The Twilight Zone. When, in the quiet, still places of my mind, I have a sense of the world and it’s a lonely, frightful place, not at all what I’ve been trained (or want) to believe.

I look out the window and the dark clouds and rain have been scuttled by a brisk, cold wind from the south. It’s now sunny, with blue skies, but still unsettled; a perfect match for my insides.

What lies before me is an office to create, a partner to consult, paint colors to decide, a sign-maker to rouse, paperwork to fill out, licenses to obtain, insurance to buy, patients to find. Yet, here I sit, in the Twilight Zone, feeling like a hamster on a wheel and that none of that matters.

In these times, my mind strays, uninvited, to thoughts of Armageddon and warnings of 2012. To visions I’ve had of being a mighty warrior, wielding the sword of truth and might. Of being, not the peacemaker as I’ve been most of my life, but one on the frontline of chaos and terror.

Why so melancholy? It’s the dreams. And the visions. They haunt me, making it increasingly harder to put one foot in front of the other. How must Columbus have felt, knowing in his heart that the world was round? Or Lincoln, standing on the precipice of a world gone mad?

My internet is down. Must be the wind. Next door a dog bays, reminding me of the beagle we’d found and taken in. Yesterday, on the way to Valentine’s brunch, we saw a sign declaring ‘Lost Beagle’, and called. Her owners came in the afternoon and, while Bugsy, my cat, is happy, there is a small hole in my heart.

Speaking of Bugsy, he just fell off the table. He was lying here, soaking up the warmth of the sun, then stretched, lazily, a little too far, and fell off. I scrambled out of my chair and grabbed him up, holding him gently in a loving embrace. He purred, my eyes watered, and I remembered, once again: this is all that matters.

Love.

Whether life goes on for days, weeks or years, for minutes or for eons, love is the glue that binds us to it. Love is the spark that powers our hearts, and holds us together to live one more day and to dream one more night.

Have you had similar visions? Dreams? Knowings? Do you wake up in the morning unsettled? Do you cling to love, as I?

Scenes from an Unsettled Mind Redux

Scenes from an Unsettled Mind was originally published on February 15, 2010.

I dream in vivid colors and bold action, multiple vignettes that fade on waking. Left behind are bits and snatches, impressions of the endless parade through my mind.

This morning, left behind was a sense of frustration. Of pushing and pulling, cajoling, trying, vying. Doing what was in front of me to do, only to find I’d made the wrong choice. Wrong place, wrong time. Wrong decision, wrong action. Wrong world, wrong life.

Nampa, Idaho, March 2017

Rising did nothing to quiet the frustration, bringing it forward in to my morning.

The weather outside matches my mood, dark gray clouds raining drops all around. Scooping green tea leaves in to a strainer, I immerse them in the mug I bought last year in Solana Beach where I’d run away to escape from my perplexing life.

So much has changed since then, I live in a different home on the opposite coast, have a different partner, different car. Yet, nothing essential has changed.

My life has been a marathon; running to, running from, running in place.

There are times when I feel I’m living out an episode of The Twilight Zone. When, in the quiet, still places of my mind, I have a sense of the world and it’s a lonely, frightful place, not at all what I’ve been trained (or want) to believe.

Click here to read the remainder of Scenes From an Unsettled Mind, originally published on February 15, 2010.

That Rebel, Olivia J. Herrell, writing as O.J. Barré

O.J. Barré is author of the upcoming BLESSED ARE THE PEACE MAKERS trilogy. Book One, COMING HOME, is complete and in query. The first draft of Book Two, COMING TO, is nearing completion, and Book Three, COMING FULL CIRCLE, is swirling in the mists of creation.