Happy Holidays by Robin Janney

It's that time of year again.

Turkey's, and deer season, and Christmas lights.

Personally my favorite are the Christmas lights.  When I was younger, and my dad was still alive, all seven of us would pile into the car and Dad would take us cruising around the countryside for no other purpose than to look at the Christmas lights and decorations.  Part of the reason why he liked to go out and look at others' displays was to get ideas for our own home.  Dad was always big on decorating for Christmas, and it's something I really miss.

Some years we would have real trees, chopped down from the farmer's field across the road.  Nothing beats the smell of fresh cut pine.  Sometimes they'd be nice and full, other times more like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree.  A few years we had an artificial tree.  Not as nice, but easier to clean up after and take down.  We always had a mix of homemade ornaments and store bought on our tree.  Pretty normal, I guess.

Dad built his own light forms.  The ones I remember best are the star and the cross.  Nothing fancy, just wooden frames he'd staple the lights on.  One package of lights he didn't even take out of the plastic form because he liked the designs they made as it was.  So he just found a spot and hung them out like that.

Even though Christmas is a few weeks away still, Thanksgiving always makes me think of my dad because every once in a while his birthday (Nov. 23) would land on the big day.  He's been gone for almost 20 years, but there are some things the heart doesn't forget.

I apologize for the lateness of this post.  Between our slip and slide the other day in the nasty weather, Thanksgiving, and pushing to get my second book ready for publication I've been very distracted.  The Kindle version should be going live sometime during the night, I'll edit this post later and share the link once I have it.   In the mean time, my first novel Farmer's Daughter is on sale for a few days at $.99.

I can't begin to relate just how excited I am.  Now I can shift gears and start tearing into the third book in the series.  It'll help keep my brain occupied as I return to work next week.  At least for four hours, but it's a start and I really do kind of hope that my foot can handle it.  The tear in my tendons is still there, and it still hurts, so I'm gonna keep my fingers crossed.

This right here, one of the best holiday cartoons ever

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  I spent the day with my in-laws and it was a good day.  Good company and good food make for an awesome combination!

What are some of your favorite holiday memories and traditions?  Another of mine are the holiday cartoons.  Charlie Brown, Rudolph, Frosty, the Grinch, Garfield...kid stuff maybe, but we're never too old for it.

We're just getting started with the holiday season, so I hope you all have good ones.  And I hope you still find time to read a book or two ;)

Edit as promised.  You can buy the Kindle version of Ring of Fire at this link.  Paperback version also available (Amazon's selling it for $10.35, over a dollar off - I have no control over the price of the paperback on their site - so get it while you can.)

20 years and Then Some by Robin Janney

Time flies when you're living life.  It also flies when you're on RuneScape trying to catch your levels up to your husband's, but that's a different post.

And as we all know, life doesn't even have to be all fun and games for time to slip away from you like sand through your fingers.  Life in general will steal away the years faster than you think. You graduate from high school and either head off to college or jump feet first into the working world.  Bills start coming in, no matter your choice.  Expenses for either college or job start piling up.  Some of us get married and have a family, others don't.  Friendships change, growing deeper or ending.  Some of us die.

All this musing because this summer my graduating class celebrated 20 years out of high school.

Did I just say - 20 years?

No, no, no!  How did that many years pass so quickly?

Some things never change!
L-R: Teresa Herman Allen, Ryan Allen, Mike Zaffrey, and myself

I'm going to be honest.  I don't have a lot of happy memories of school.  I was often teased and bullied.  A subject that came up much to my surprise with one of my classmates that night.  Speaking of me and my siblings about the bus rides to and from school, he said, "You all went through hell every single day."  Yes, we did.  It was a bit of a shock to hear one of my peers acknowledge this, especially since he was one of the ones on the other end of it.  I started too many school days off in tears, and many ended the same.  Even to this day, a little piece of me starts seizing up when I think back to those days.  Which explains why my side of the conversation probably was a bit on the terse side.  I didn't know what to say really.  A lot of the memories have blurred over, but it doesn't take all the sting away.  But that's all it is anymore, a bit of a sting.  A tiny thing in the great scheme of life.

But as I looked around at my classmates, I felt a level of acceptance I'd never felt before. Maybe because I've finally accepted myself, or maybe just the passage of time.  The reason why doesn't really matter.  I had warm fuzzies and I wasn't even drinking alcohol! (I had to drive.)  It was so much fun seeing faces that hadn't changed all that much, while trying to figure out the ones who looked nothing like they did all those years ago.  There was laughter and dancing (curse my aching foot!!)

But I do have some good memories.

How is this the best pic I got of Jennifer Turner Kelly?
She's the one right behind the centerpiece.

In eleventh grade, the main dance was the Prom.  It was the only one we would get as we did something different in our senior year.  I'm not sure whose idea this was, but as far as I know it is still the same in our old alma mater.  Now I came from a financially challenged family.  I wasn't sure if I would be able to go because I lacked funds for a dress.  One day, it must have been late winter or early spring one of my classmates told me that she had an extra dress for prom and I could borrow it for the night if I wanted to.

So one night I rode the bus out to Jen's home and tried it on.  Being a large girl, trying things on was a must.  It was a little tight, but I decided that if I lost a few pounds between then and Prom, then it would work.  I don't remember the details of the food dieting I must have done, but I do remember walking.  Faithfully, every day.  I'd walk 30 minutes in one direction then turn around and walk back to my departure point.  Needless to say, I achieved my goal and wore my borrowed dress to the Prom and had a good night.  Although I miraculously needed to go to the bathroom when they started playing the chicken  dance.  I've always been grateful for her willingness to share.

Johndee Perry and Mike Zaffrey

And then there was the time in middle school - oh my God now we're talking about lots more than 20 years.  Anyway, in gym class we always had to do certain exercises and have them timed or counted or both.  I forget what they were called, probably the Physical Fitness Test.

Needless to say, I struggled with every test.  I always gave it my best, but my best was never good enough.  I was too heavy and apparently I didn't play outside enough and just didn't have the stamina.

Well, this one year in middle school, I ended up with my own personal cheerleader.  Mike got to sit out of the tests for some reason, but when it got down to the end and I was way behind and the last one running, Mike followed me around the parking lot cheering me on.  "Come on Robin, you can do it!  Keep running Robin."  He stayed with me by my side until I crossed the finish line.

I doubt Mike and I ever shared more than a few words throughout our entire schooling, before or after this event.  But I have never forgotten this act of encouragement.  We all need people in our lives who will stay with us and cheer us on when we're flagging.

Senior Class Trip 1994

Liz Teribury Watson

If you looked closely at the group picture above, in the front row you'll see the same girl on each end. The photo was taken with an old fashioned camera, which required the photographer to slowly sweep the camera from left to right.  He had this tradition for each picture he took for class trips like ours.  He liked to include one person twice.  When he gave the "GO", the person on the left end of the line was to dart behind the rest of the row to the other end.  Well, Liz must have zigged when she should have zagged because the first time we did it there was a shadow from her somewhere in the lineup.  She nailed it the second time.

Jeff Hurley and Matt Weaver

This picture to the right is quite possible my second favorite one from the night.  I had already snapped one of Jeff and Matt, but Jeff caught me and posed so I snapped again.  At one point in the evening Jeff encouraged me to switch side of the tables so I could take part in the conversation better because to him it felt like I was off sitting in my own little world.  I told him that was normal, and not much of a change from high school.  I do tend to live in my own little world...makes for some great creative writing, but can cause other interpersonal issues sometimes.  But I followed Jeff's advice and enjoyed myself even more.

Lynette Sterling, myself, Tonya Austin

Now this picture to the left is my favorite from the night, even though the lightning turned us into fuzzies.  Our smiles still shine right through!  I have no words for these two.  They make me smile, and I hope I return that favor.

It was a great night to remember.

Though we are separated by miles and sometimes death, we are still close at heart.  Greater memories are yet to come, Troy Class of 1994.

Okay, that's it for the mushy stuff.

Real Life Romance vs. Fiction

A replica of our cake from a year ago the 3rd...

When I first released my novel last summer, one question that I was kind of expecting was: Is it autobiographical at all?  I got this a lot from local acquaintances.  To which I always reply, "No."

My novel is pure fiction.  Sort of.  The only thing that I pulled from my real life was the large family the main character came from, and while I didn't realize it at the time, struggles with mental illness and my own religious/spiritual issues.  For starters, I am one of ten children; born of the same father but different mothers.  I didn't give either of my characters this many siblings, but both the Carman's and the Moore's have large extended families.  It's the kind of chaos I am familiar with.

And when it comes to the romance of the novel, while there are a few similarities it was written long before I ever met Mr. Janney.  There are far more differences than anything else.

Since I was also recently asked how I met my husband, by a Facebook friend who's an "imaginary friend" I've never met because she lives on the other side of the world, I thought I would share that story for those of you who don't know me and relate some of the similarities and differences.  Largely because it is 2am as I'm working on this first draft and I can't sleep because my mind keeps working on it and technically at this hour it is our anniversary already!

#1 - Like Craig and Angela in my novel (Farmer's Daughter) there is a ten year age difference between Mr. Janney and I.  However, in the novel, Craig is the older one and in real life...I'm the older one!  It caused far more drama in the beginning of our relationship in real life than it ever did in the novel, probably because it is still more socially acceptable for the male to be the older in the relationship.  Craig was worried about the age difference because of his past abuse; Mr. Janney's family had issues with it because what could an older woman want with a younger man other than sex?  Oh well.  We all got over it!

#2 - Craig and Angela met at work, just like Mr. Janney and I did!  However, neither of us were lucky enough to be the owner of a store or anything fancy like that.  We are just two hardworking American peeps who developed a friendship that turned into something more.  I had been working at the press facility of a local newspaper for almost 2 years when Mr. Janney was hired, and he had been there about 6 months when sparks flew.  Truthfully, we owe a lot of our relationship to our one supervisor who gave us a good push towards each other.  Our supervisor was privy to the fact that I had a crush on him, and when she was feeling him out to see if it might be returned, she told me how his face got this big dopey grin on it.  "Age is just a number," she said.

#3 - Quick trip to the altar.  Sort of.

• Craig and Angela were married roughly 6 months after they met, Mr. Janney dumped me roughly 7 months after we started dating.  That lasted little over a week, because he did it for all the wrong reasons.  Later, after we got back together, I left for work early to surprise him by picking him up for work only to meet him on the road...riding his bicycle and trying to call me, not realizing all he had to do was look up!  He later told me how he had been asking God for a sign, at which point I reminded him of this incident and asked him how bigger of a sign he needed!  Unplanned and unaware of each other's intention, we were both trying to get a hold of each other just because we wanted to spend time with each other.
  
  
• Once Craig asked Angela to marry him, not that long after admitting that they were indeed a "couple", they were married before 24 hours had passed.  I had him whisk her out to Vegas for that.  Mr. Janney never really asked me to marry him.  We had been discussing it with his parents after his great-grandmother's funeral, and two days later (Monday) he let me know that he had purchased wedding rings.  Oh, ok!!  Two days after that (Wednesday) after my birthday dinner, we had enough money for either the marriage license or a birthday cake.  He left it up to me and I chose the piece of paper.  Here in PA, we have a 72 hour waiting period before we can use it and then we have a month after that to tie the knot.  Well, at this point we had been a couple for five years, close enough, so I didn't see any reason to piddlefart around and we were married at a Justice of the Peace the first day the paper could be acted upon (Saturday).
  
  
• Small wedding  Craig and Angela had only their closest friends stand with them.  We had our parents; both of his, and my mother.
  
  
• Neither of us had a true honeymoon; Craig and Angela had a short stay in Vegas before coming home to Angela's kidnapping and coma; Mr Janney and I both had to be back to work on Monday.  I got a bit of ribbing for coming back from my vacation a married woman when I had been single when I left, but I had no idea what was coming when my week long vacation started!  Surprise!
  

Me posting by the new/pre-owned truck
that was a gift to my husband and I
from his parents.

So sometimes art imitates life, and sometimes life imitates art.  In my case, life often feels like abstract art.  But then I can take something simple and straight forward and twist my perspective just right and come up with something...well, abstract!

Granted, a writer draws from their life experiences, which is probably why there is a lot of naivety to the characters in my first novel.  In a lot of ways, I was writing about experiences I hadn't had yet. Okay, some I've never had - like being kidnapped or in a coma.  (knock on wood)  But that's where imagination comes in (and a passing knowledge of some basic psychology).  Google makes research so much easier than it used to be, so long as you find the right sights.

There will never be a perfect lineup of similarities between real life and fiction.  And that's the way it should be.  Just enough to let us know that the story isn't all that far-fetched.  After a story, we should be left thinking, "That could happen to me."

Because you know, it sometimes does.  (See pic of truck -- speechless!)

There are probably more comparisons I could make between my story and my real life relationship, because every relationship has different sides to it.  Differents shades of grey, different chapters.  Real or imaginary.  Just like no two books are alike, even on the same subject, so it is with relationships.

Never stop believing in the fairy tale moments of real life.

Memory Lane by Robin Janney

I'm going to keep this short, because sadly I'm still living without internet. It's very inconvenient in more than one way, but I'm dealing...I have no choice!!  Sadly I don't have pictures to post today. 

Tuesday evening as the thunderstorms raged in my area and the lights couldn't decide whether they were staying on or off, I was going through an old plastic bin. Hubby and I have been trying to clean and reorganize our home. Needless to say, I took a pleasant trip down memory lane while he was at work. 

I found my high school diploma. Which reminded me that twenty years have passed since June 17th of 1994. Not that big of a reminder as the reunion notices have been circulating Facebook for a while now.  My graduation night was highly emotional for me, for reasons I won't delve into.  And they weren't as string as the good memories. 

I enjoyed looking at the year books I found too, mostly reading all the messages fellow students wrote me.  A lot told me not to change and I was to aim high in life.  I might do a blog post about that later.

I found a couple packs of older pics, probably about ten years old. How much younger we all looked!!  There were even pics of some of our furry family members that aren't with us anymore.  Yes I'm one of those people who take pictures of their animals.   I promise I'll do a story about them later and post their pics.

The one part that struck me the most was the old journal I found from 2004.  My oh my...how my life has changed since then!!  My entire thinking process has changed.  My location has changed, as well as my marital status.  I'm a published author.  I'm not in the same church.  What was important then isn't necessarily important now.

I haven't found anything as interesting since that night, but I still have a few spots to dig through.  A few days before this I was going through some old computer disks and found an old story, but not the one I was looking for!  I hope I come across my other disks on this reorganization!!!

What about you?  What's the most interesting thing you've come across while reorganizing and cleaning??