Mary, Mary ...

Mary Teak has struggled with relationships for years. When one date ends in a rather humiliating manner, her friend Brenna sets a plan in motion that will allow Mary to figure out once and for all the reason behind her contrariness. Here's a tiny snippet from "How Does Your Garden Grow?" Book 2 in the Bedtime Stories series:

Mary wasn’t certain what may have passed across her face, but this felt like an invitation for more than “girl time”. Her heart beat quickened at the intensity with which Brenna watched her. Her skin tingled and flushed with excitement, but she said what came to mind. “Girls night in?” 

“Yeah, something like that.” Brenna dug into the next treat — crème brûlée — and offered it to Mary, who opened her lips without hesitation this time. No lingering essence of Brenna’s mouth remained, but Mary could pretend it did.

“So are you simply foregoing the date and getting right to the good part?”

“I’ve never hidden the fact that I’m gay.” Brenna perused the desserts, then leveled her gaze at Mary. “I’m simply expediting you along the path to realizing that you are.”

Mary sat back. She opened her mouth briefly, then closed it without a word. No, she didn’t deny it, but she needed to ponder this for a moment. Or longer.

Oh, yes ... Mary does need to ponder. And Brenna will be a gentle guide as Mary embraces her true self.

This story is truly a joy to write, as so many are not living the lives we are meant to be living. Of course not all of us will discover that we are gay, but there are other discoveries that are just as life-altering. Careers change. Lives change. People change and grow. Embrace those changes or they will destroy you.

Branching out ...

It's been nearly sixteen years since a trip to the ER landed me in the hospital with a diagnosis to an illness no one could even pronounce:

Guillain-Barre Syndrome.

A Long Crawl: My Journey Through Guillain-Barre Syndrome was written in the months following my diagnosis and is now available for download in various formats and from several online sources:
Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo to name a few.


Happy reading! ~ rg

AGAIN!!!

I HATE YAHOO!!

My yahoo mail account has been hacked ... AGAIN! So sick of that account! I apologize again for having sent out a crap-load of spam emails to all of my contacts.

Pillow hair ...

Okay that was just a teaser, this isn't really about pillow hair ... though it is about waking up. I recently came across a Chinese proverb:

When sleeping women wake, mountains move.

My heart quickened at the truth found within this simple phrase. I've read and heard many, many quotes throughout my life (some of which are written on the walls of my home), but don't recall ever hearing this one. Maybe I had heard it, but wasn't ready to listen to its meaning. I have been asleep for a long time.

I'm awake now ... and ready to move some mountains.

There's a scene in the movie Thelma and Louise where Thelma says to Louise:
"Are you awake?"
Louise responds, "I guess you can call it that ... my eyes are open."
Thelma says, "Me too. I feel awake.Wide awake. I don't remember ever feeling this awake. Know what I mean? Everything looks different."

This woman has been roused. I hope you're ready.

Sweating my ass off

and I mean that literally!

Soooo ... I've been talking about getting back into yoga. I should mention that my experience with yoga, while limited, is also quite intense. If you've heard of the P90X program, you know that YogaX is one of the hardest 90 minutes you will ever endure ... and I wasn't able to endure it many times. Forty-five minutes on my hands was killer for the wrists and pretty much eliminated the ability to complete the rest of it. I swapped out the YogaX for the XStretch while doing that routine. With all that being said, I did not do that version of yoga tonight, because honestly ... *shaking my head* I simply can't do that program again.

Anyway, my holiday stocking contained Jillian Michael's "Yoga Meltdown" (I have a photo, but for an unknown reason, Blogger won't let me post it ... bastards) and I just did it for the first time this evening.

Of course I cranked the heat up -- to I don't know ... Dante's Inferno! -- because it's winter here in Michigan! Just the thought of stripping out of my usual three layers of clothing to don yoga pants and top and NO WOOL SOCKS made me shiver. It turns out, upping the thermostat was completely unnecessary.

This DVD contains two 30-minute workouts and I went with Level 1. All I can say is, yes, the moves are traditional yoga poses ... but that's about it. This is a cardio workout and it kicked my butt. My hair was soaked and sticking to me. I was also slightly nauseous at the end, but that could have been from having my face buried in my filthy carpet. As I type this, my arms are still trembling. I loved it.

Not sure if I'll be able to do it again tomorrow, but the goal is every other day. Hell, it's a half an hour! It takes me longer than that to eat a decent meal. I've made bigger life-style changes than moving my body in ways that will improve my strength, flexibility, and mental well-being. I can do this for myself.

*rolling shoulders* Christ though ... my arms (and probably every other major muscle) are gonna be sore. *grin* I love it!!