rhiannasamuels.com Blog

March 1, 2008

Blogging

Filed under: My Life, The writer — Administrator @ 10:45 pm

I received a lovely note today in the email reminding me that I should blog. I don’t feel that I do a particularly fascinating blog, but I do, at irregular period’s blog. I need the discipline of being more frequent, so here is my lame attempt to be interesting. I’m not.  But, I will try with a tongue drilling in cheek to appear to be someone having an amazing life. (Allow me a moment to stop rolling on the floor laughing.)


  Let me think about this last week. I normally have Wednesdays off at work and this week I had to attend a four hour class on nursing research and evidenced based practice. (Doesn’t sound exciting, does it?)  Wednesdays are for my writing career, writing, promoting or Dr. appointments for my mother or me.  This week was a bust for that. The four hour class turned into an additional two hours writing up an interview with a nurse that was being seen later that day, and yes, they were so glad I happened to come in for something else, so I could take care of that. *shaking head*


 Lately, I’ve been trying to decide on a couple of things. First of all, I am trying to consider what I can do to keep Shaking Off the Dust out there for the reader to trip over as often as possible until they finally say… “well, darn, I should read that book!”  It’s the principle of …if all else fails read the directions…read the book.  I’d like to think that once they read it the rest is easy peasey, now they will remember the author for the next book they write.  This is my theory; based on evidence based practice…I did learn something.
I am going to the Lori Foster Readers and Writers weekend June 6th and I’m trying to figure out what things I can

give out as promo material. I’m hoping you have suggestions. Oh, I’ll bring the usual things, bookmarks and

postcards, but what do people want and will keep that will constantly remind them of the book that doesn’t hit the circular file *trash* after a matter of hours. And consider that it must be something that won’t bankrupt the writer before her book actually goes into print.
You see how fascinating my life is.
 

I started working this week on  “Spilling words”, is about a female that can’t seem to stop form putting her thoughts into other people’s mouths, especially, old sixties and seventies songs. I’m trying to come up with some funny and poignant songs from that era that would burst from coffee house patrons. Send along some fun ones…I’ve got the Supremes covered. I’m thinking of listing a music selection at the end of the story.  It’s one of two ideas I’m toying with right now. The more song selections the better, and if you send me a song, make sure they were popular, no obscure ones the reader won’t have ever heard before.


 I have been bored with TV since the writers strike. Writers do make the world go round. I’m so loving Torchwood, it’s a british import on BBC America, so it’s unaffected by the strike, since it was filmed last year. I kept talking it up to my niece, she’s 21 and in college and she finally started watching this year and is in love with it too. I told her that I wouldn’t steer her wrong. I got them hooked on Dexter last year, so I have a good track record.


 I’m still anxiously awaiting the Sookie Stakehouse (HBO) series from Charlaine Harris books to start. It got postpones by the strike, I think it’s called Blood Ties. I love those books and am particularly fond of the Eric Northman character.  I am at that stage where I am tired of all the ploys to keep them apart, although I understand why.


 I had American idol on the other night with the boys and so I was privileged when that young one did his John Lennon, Imagine song to hear it. Goosebumps chilled along my arms. He is just spectacular. What’s the point in continuing? Even if he was thrown out tomorrow, he will outsell any other person there.
 

Now for the important list of questions I must address. These were sent by one of you. Need to know information.
1.      Toilet paper- do you use white or colors? White says you are a practical, no frills girl. Pink or blue, you are a frilly girly girl and maybe even a wuss. We need to know. :)
They make colored toilet paper?   Not in my town. W H I T E.  Despite the rainbow coalition, my bottom must remain unstained, figuratively and literally. 
 2.      Toilet paper- do you leave the end hanging from the backside or over the top? I must say, from my experience, those that like it hanging from the back side are…weird. They march to their own drum beat. Actually, they are all the way in the back in the Triangle section, really. If you are one of them though, just disregard what I just said. You’re all lovely, lovely people. : )
I don’t even pay attention to how it is hanging on the roller. As long as I can unroll it when it is needed I’m a happy camper. As I have said before, I learned to compromise and take life as it comes. If it matters to me, then it is the way I want it, what matters is having the paper available. I’m so easy sometimes
 
3.      If you would write “he then whipped out his lightsaber” would you be talking about Han Solo’s, Luke Skywalker’s, or… something…else? Me, my mind would go straight to the gutter and I would be thinking Darth Vader’s. Yum.
In the dark, I like glow in the dark stuff, though I’m very tactile. I’m not really a sword collector, so conversing about such things usually means it’s a euphemism for something naughty. I did see the original Star Wars at it’s very first showing in Houston, Texas. I’d read a piece on it in Time magazine and was an original fanatic. I am sanguine about it now. I didn’t not care for  the last three as much as the originals three. My very favorite trilogy is Lord Of the Rings. I was a fan of it since reading the books at thirteen.
  The image I think Angels rather than insects or birds, or two dogs facing away from their arguing masters.  Does that make me a freak?
4. When you look at this, what do you see? If you see just an ink blot, which is what this is, you’re boringly normal, and you won’t be able to write all that imaginative stuff I’m afraid. If you see a woman in a dress with no head, with two weird looking elephant birds with legs dancing off the side of her shaking their bums, I do believe you could write a masterpiece!  Me, I always see a pelvic bone. I think it means that I’m practical and down to earth, but I’m sure that some head shrinker would find me a totally whacked psychotic for seeing that though.
 
5.      Do you make your bed in the AM, after you get home, or never? We have to know if you’re a neat freak, a slob, or just plain old normal. These are very important details. LOL
Slob about my bedroom, unless I’m sharing it with someone.
 
6.      Pepsi or Coke? Wait, I know, it’s Mt. Dew. You just have to be different, don’t you!  : )
Diet Coke, or Diet Dr. Pepper or Dew
 
7.      Do you talk to your characters? Or even more interesting, do they talk back to you? It’s OK, you can admit it. We won’t tell anyone. *sealed lips*
I have them talking to each other, or back to me in mirrors. Freakish
 
8.      If you’re walking down the street and you notice people looking at you, do you assume it’s because you’re gorgeous and exude self confidence? Or, do you automatically get paranoid and start checking for a bugger in the nose, smeared lipstick, a smudge on your face, an open blouse/zipper, or toilet paper hanging off your pants or shoes?
I’m older now, so it’s the automatic check for buggies, crumbs on shirt and toilet paper dragging on shoes. In the day, it was …Oh yea… I’m styling.
 
9.      Chocolate or Vanilla? Or maybe you’re just some crazy wild chick who goes for Chunky Monkey topped with Cherry Garcia?  Or even more interesting, maybe you prefer vanilla/chocolate in public, but Chunky Monkey in private? I’m kind of guessing the last option. Don’t ask me why.  : )
It’s vanilla with a thick ribbon of chocolate. Or chocolate with a decent Merlo or Cabernet.
 
10.  A. Leather, B. hemp, C. silk, D.a car seat cover, or E. All of the above? You can think of your own question for your answer. I’m not even going to go there.
Leather with climate control
I’d love for each of you to answer those questions too on the comments. I need some assurance, that I am not that weird.

 

Rhianna

February 16, 2008

I got tagged by Monica Burns – The amazing writer of Mirage

Filed under: My Life — Administrator @ 6:46 am

Monica Burns …at http://www.monicaburns.com/ 

 

Ten Things about Me

 

1.        I often forget how old I am. Some days it feels like I’m still in high school, I’m crushing on a movie star or can’t wait to learn the most current slang words, (see how that dates me). I have to depend on my nephews and nieces for that. I’ve said it before that behaving immature tends convince the people around me that I can’t possibly be as old as I really am. Even my coworkers, that I have worked beside for the last five or six years, are surprised when I mention my age. (not telling)

2.       I am the third child out of six. Two sisters and three brothers. My youngest brother died in a motorcycle accident when he was twenty-eight. He was a good friend to me. He made me laugh. I was nine years nine years older than him, but when he got his engineering degree he moved up where I was and we had some really great times. Our friends still talk about him and it’s been sixteen years since he died. I still smile at some of his pranks. All my family are funny people.

3.       In my twenties I used to sing. One particular job was at a Dixie land Jazz club in Corpus Christie, Texas. Eons ago, when the beaches were white. One of my numbers was “A Good Man Is Hard To Find.” Still love that song. It’s one I can still sing decently.

4.       I had ear surgery about five years ago and went completely deaf in my right ear. I used that in my book. After a lifetime of turning in the right direction of where a voice or noise is coming from, I now always turn to the left. For the first year or two at work they’d laugh when I did that. It is weird not to have some sense of which direction a sound it coming from.

5.       My family helps me in so many ways. My brother Cliff is my web-mister and designer. He has a very dry sense of humor and when I posted a contest on my blog about naming a character based on the picture posted. My first suggestion was from him, Klyph, god of all men. He’s played more seven letter words in scrabble than any other player I’ve been up against.

     My older sister is my go to girl when I want to bounce ideas; she’s one of those Mensa people who can take a test on anything and score high. My nieces help with ideas to. My older brother is a dear, and I can throw any animal question at him, he’s a veterinarian. And my younger sisters is a medical librarian, I bother her a lot with my day job antics. She’s one of those people who doesn’t read romance, but prefers self help books and non fiction. We a so very different from each other and yet we shared a bedroom for too many years.

6.       My favorite meat is medium rare filet. My favorite seafood is lobster. My favorite deserts are New York style cheesecake and Boston Cream Pie…I guess I’m a fan of east coast food.

7.       My first Star Trek convention was in 1979 in Houston Texas. I was working as a waitress at a hotel and I looked across the lobby and there was a man holding a chain that was wrapped around a planet of the ape’s guy. It was a blast. Since that time I’m only been to about 10, but I love fantasy, science fiction conventions. My last one was Dragon*Con two years ago.

8.       I have found from personal experience that it is easier to be rejected my some one you believe you are in love with, than it is to reject someone who is love with you. 

9.       I tend to be a voyeur when I am with people I don’t know. I am bothered when a group is not inclusive. For instance when you get two are three people with a private joke, who don’t include you in the story behind it or tell you what it means. And truthfully, I don’t know whether that makes me the snob or them.

 

10.   I had a son who was stillborn at full term. His father had his masters in Pottery, so I named him Samuel Clay. I used his name for the main character in my first books, a science fiction series that I may or may not go back to revise and rewrite. I used his first name as part of my pen name. He was my only child. Oddly, I don’t think about him when his birthday comes around, but I do every mother’s day.

February 9, 2008

Humor and Light

Filed under: ER nurse, My Life, The writer — Administrator @ 6:05 pm

For some reason I can’t seem to be one of those daily bloggers. I’m really not that interesting. My life has required so many compromises along that way, that I don’t often get bent over the small stuff, so there’s no hot tempered or snarky response rolling off my tongue every time I read the paper or watch the tv.  Now, that’s not to say that I’m never that way. I have my moments.

 
I can’t resist the pun or humorous comeback. It’s really an illness. Mary, the wonderful woman I share an office with, has to deal with my PUNishing wit and just shakes her head. I know, don’t bother to insult me with the famous quote that puns are the lowest form of humor. That was written by someone who had no talent for it.

 
Puns are only funny when they are a spontaneous part of a conversation and instantly given. If you have that pause to think about it, then it is a groaner. I find humor so attractive. I love the hero’s especially if they are funny, but most of the time, I want the side kick, who has all the best lines in the movies or books. When I write I try to infuse humor where ever possible. And we all know that the funny heroines are in.

 
Where I have worked the day job for the last 16 years, the humor can be dark. To often the situations we deal with are tragedies. You can be overwhelmed by the bad and having a cockeyed view of things makes it better. I did an entire blog on my face last year, because my niece tells me I can have a scary face. It’s the one that is weary and bland, the one you wear to not show your emotions. I’ve tried hard, now that I work in the office more, to relearn how to wear my face.

 
I want to wear a mischievous face that I had as a child. The one when they are bound to get in trouble. I want that face on this old mug. Since, I know all the terrible things that happen to people when they are being naughty, I wear my humor armor. It shields me from the worst of life’s drama, breaks it up and makes it bearable. Reality is just that way. It’s not a joy ride with no consequences. It’s a little bit of joy, a lot of boring and large patches of drama. It’s PUNishing, hence my reaction to most of it is filled with a knowing smile, not a tear.

 
My favorite books have some funny in them. I used to read Georgette Heyer’s historical books in my teens. I would recommend them to anyone, my favorites are Devils Cub, The Unknown Ajax, Reluctant Widow (love this, but it’s hard to find) and Toll Gate. What I loved about her books- she wrote them from the fifties to the seventies- was the slow build up of learning about the characters and describing the clothes and times. Yea, all that was great, but no that wasn’t what I loved so much as the set pieces. At some point in her books, she builds to a scene that is so funny. It’s like she’s playing a chess game and has built everything to that moment of sheer excitement or humor.

 
As a writer in today’s market we’ve all been brought up with instant gratification from TV and movies. We’ve cut out the character building to a degree that it’s difficult to believe a character could be found in reality. We like them because they are alpha’s, larger than life and over the top. As adults we come as we are, but the building of the relationship between the characters is what grounds the reader to fall into the world they are reading.
I’ve been doing another stream of consciousness blog, sorry. It’s like a long dinner conversation that starts on being late and ends with you favorite recipes.

 
I like to always end with a question, hoping for comments and suggestions from those poor wondering souls that have found their way to my blog. How important is humor in your life? What percentage of your life is filled with amusement and joy? I think a strong 15-19% of my daily life ends in a smile or a laugh. It’s one of the reasons my tag line, such as it is reads…”Let your laughter be bright and you love incandescent.”  Laughter is a close second to love, they both LIGHTen our lives burdens.

Rhianna

December 12, 2007

The Holidays are upon us

Filed under: My Life, The writer — Administrator @ 1:05 am

Christmas. But I also believe the amount to which you enjoy the holidays is in direct proportion to the cover art Shaking Off the Dustamount in your bank account. When I am poor, which is more often then not lately, the idea of the holidays no longer has the effect of excitement.
I love being the cool aunt. It’s a great concept, but the cool aunt is the one showing everyone a good time and giving cool gifts. This year the coolness factor will be built on my ability to converse on interesting subject matter. Most of my nieces and nephews are now old enough to understand the concept of working for a living. That’s a big plus.
Should I consider myself selfish because this last year and this next year I am spending a lot of money going to conventions such as RT/Booklovers convention?  I will meet the reading public, Booksellers and other writers. It is a networking experience that can be invaluable to my writing career. I tell myself it’s well worth it. The people I meet are fascinating and readers give me input as to what they like and dislike.
But the cost becomes cumbersome. And what I spend on these networking trips often comes out of the Christmas club account. What do you think?  Is the Cool Aunt a more important moniker than well know Author?  I have to admit, I have a blast at my conventions and I love meeting the diversity of people who are there. A part of me has to admit it is a pleasure to go to conventions and I don’t always feel like it’s just for networking.
Rhianna Samuels

December 6, 2007

Filed under: My Life — Administrator @ 2:50 am

The ladies over at Book Binge are hosting a holiday contest and the prize is an eBookwise eReader!

 

Christmas Meme:

1. What is your favorite Christmas romance to re-read each year?

I don’t have a Christmas romance to re-read each year. There are movies, but not books unless you consider the Anita Blake series book where she buys Christmas gifts for several of her initial loves.

2. What is your favorite Christmas movie/show?

White Christmas and Scrooged

3. What is your favorite Christmas cookie?

The one with the Hershey kiss on top

4. When do you start Christmas shopping?

After thansgiving

5. Do you re-gift?

I have, but it’s usually gift cards that I recieve through my job, so I consider it income.

6. What is your favorite Christmas song?

The little drummer boy

7. When do you get your Christmas tree?

Gone to artificial after 25 years of live, right after thanksgiving

8. Wrapping presents: Love it or hate it?

Hate it, but I do it and I try to make them nice and interesting.

9. Who is the hardest person to buy for?

My mother

10. Christmas tree: Real or artificial?

Now it’s artificial. I’ve gotten older, less thrilled with the pine needles

Rhianna

 

 

November 22, 2007

I Blame the Turkey

Filed under: My Life — Administrator @ 10:33 pm

This afternoon, after stuffing ourselves with turkey, dressings and gravy we sat down in various chairs and couches and made the mistake of closing our eyes. The tryptophan high kicked in and the need to siesta clawed at consciousness. Having slept well the night before I refused to give in to the pull of oblivion and continued to talk, frustrated with my sleepy compatriot’s occasional mumbled comments it was inevitable that my eyes would slowly droop.

 
 It’s a waste of a perfectly good holiday when you nap through half of it. What good is having relatives drive in, if you listen to them snore, instead of catching up on what is happening in their life. I adore my niece. She is now in her twenties and I rarely get a chance to talk with her, and yet we spoke only a few times before nap time interfered.

 
 I can’t blame them. I blame the turkey!  If ever we were to be invaded by aliens, they should choose thanksgiving, because we will be out our most sleepy. It’s like spiking the water system.  I’m still fighting off the fatigue, my eyes at half mast. NO TURKEY FOR CHRISTMAS!
Rhianna Samuels
Rhiannasamuels.com
http://samhainpublishing.com/coming/shaking-off-the-dust

November 18, 2007

Bull Headed Brother

Filed under: My Life, The writer — Administrator @ 7:10 pm

 The holidays are upon us, and I love holidays. I’m not in love with spending all the money that holidays now cost, but I love the excuse for parties, celebration and family to gather. If you check the blog at Samhain Publishing you can read how I go on about my family and our fun cut throat Scrabble competition. Aw, but that is another blog and so this one takes a different direction. 

The festive air is alive and excitement is a contagion. The Doc’s at my ER have the party scheduled for December 1st.  It gets earlier and earlier every year. I’m skipping the party this year, but I usually show up and keep my smart mouth running. My table companions enjoy, and I try not to say anything to telling.

My brother and his wife are coming in from New Orleans on Sunday and head back on Thursday morning. Rick is a gem and a veterinarian. During Katrina, Rick and several of his partners kept their small animal hospital open in Metairie, La with nearly three hundred animals. They had their own generator and were prepared. A day or so after, they checked another clinic and discovered hundreds of animals left unattended and brought them to their hospital.

After days of waiting, they watched army trucks drive in each morning full of equipment for road repair and leave empty. The next the day they made arrangements to have all their animals transported by the trucks on the way out to Baton Rouge and the university.  I have so much respect for him and the kind of thinking that took, to utilize what was available, contact the reserve and to do the right thing. He’s funny and warm and would do anything for anyone. You can tell him I said that.

Thing is he’s one of those male readers, who won’t read a book if it is from the female point of view. I am hoping he might read my book, but I doubt it. What it that with men? For decades my brother and I have swapped science fiction and fantasy books, so I know he likes the same kind of books I do. Heck, we love the same action and mystery movies, why do you suppose I would recommend a book that he’d hate. No, old bull head, just doesn’t feel it from the females’ POV. It would be amusing if it didn’t skew book buying for authors who write from the female perspective; because I know he is only the tip of the iceberg.

Aside from this flaw, he’s a wonderful person. I thank God each day for my family, even the bull headed ones.

Hope you all have a great holiday.

They’ve posted an excerpt up at Samhain Publishing for my book, “Shaking Off the Dust”

http://samhainpublishing.com/excerpt/shaking-off-the-dust

October 22, 2007

13 things I enjoy

Filed under: My Life — Administrator @ 1:51 am

I have to admit I don’t know a lot about my fellow bloggers.  So, in the interest of getting to know each other better, decided I would put together a 13 things I enjoy.  It a potpourri of guilty pleasures.

 

1.       Lord of the Rings is my favorite book. I read it the first time when I was 13, and by the time I was 20, I’d read it 30 times. I still pull it out every couple of years and read it.  (I told a friend in college how many times I’d read LOTR and he responded with, “I got it the first time.”  I loved that comeback.)

 

2.       I love Star Trek, in all it’s many inceptions. I will be the first one in line for the new JJ Abrams version too.

 

3.       My favorite historical author is Georgette Heyer. Jane Austin’s good too, but not as prolific. I do like the fact there is more sex in the modern versions though.

 

4.       I love smooth Jazz.  Trumpet playing slow and bluesy just does it for me. Chris Botti and Rick Braun are two of my favorites. I prefer the songs that have only trumpet and maybe a guitar or piano, no percussion.

 

5.       I love science fiction, been reading it longer than LOTR. I read everything on the shelves until about ten years ago and then I got disappointed. I still read it a lot. I give props to A.C. Crispin, because I took her writing class at Dragon*Con two years ago and she critiqued Shaking Off the Dust and recommended I start sending it out. She admitted paranormal romance wasn’t her genre, but encouraged me.  So Thanks Ann!

 

6.       Okay, I’m hooked on urban fantasy.  Anita Blake, Dark Hunters, Sookie Stackhouse, Riley Jensen…there’s a ton that I am already hooked on and more that I read every year.  (The sexier , the better.)

 

7.       Romance in every genre, whispers sweetly to me as I walk by the book shelves. I switched form buying Sci Fi  to Romance.  I go to the bookstore every Tuesday and see what books are put out in romance, then I buzz through sci fi and horror.

 

8.       I’m a candy ass about watching horror movies.  I don’t read Stephen King, because he scares the bejessus  out of me.  But, I can watch the movies made from his books. Not at the actual theatre though. I have to have the stop, pause and skip over buttons at my fingertips.

 

9.       I love rock and roll. Country if I’m at a country bar, but not just playing on the radio. Hate fusion Jazz. Did disco in my earlier life. Mellow is good. Give James Taylor singing anything and I will be there.  Into female singers-Imagen Heap rocks-.  Will not be buying Britney Spears.

 

10.   Of all the paranormals,  I still love Vampires the best.  Two favorite vampires in books are Jean Claude,  from Anita Blake books, and Eric Northman from The southern Vampire series. (can’t wait to see what Alan Bell does with that series on HBO this next year. Way to go Charlaine!)

 

11.   Don’t care much for reality TV.  I suppose that’s because I get too much reality at my day job.  I cringe when people are insulted or treated like poo in front of millions of people.  I will watch American Idol, but only after the tryouts.  Listening to bad singers beg for another chance doesn’t draw me back.  Once the competition begins, I watch.

 

12.     I like chocolate mixed with other things. Not a fan of dark chocolate.  I want to cut the chocolate with something milder.

 

13.   What are my current favorite shows.

 

Torchwood (on BBC America), Dr. Who, House, Dexter, Heros, Stargate Atlantis (got hooked with the original), Chuck, Earl, Life, NCIS, Moonlight, Men in Trees, Monk

 

Rhianna Samuels

13 things I enjoy

Filed under: My Life — Administrator @ 1:51 am

I have to admit I don’t know a lot about my fellow bloggers.  So, in the interest of getting to know each other better, decided I would put together a 13 things I enjoy.  It a potpourri of guilty pleasures.

 

1.       Lord of the Rings is my favorite book. I read it the first time when I was 13, and by the time I was 20, I’d read it 30 times. I still pull it out every couple of years and read it.  (I told a friend in college how many times I’d read LOTR and he responded with, “I got it the first time.”  I loved that comeback.)

 

2.       I love Star Trek, in all it’s many inceptions. I will be the first one in line for the new JJ Abrams version too.

 

3.       My favorite historical author is Georgette Heyer. Jane Austin’s good too, but not as prolific. I do like the fact there is more sex in the modern versions though.

 

4.       I love smooth Jazz.  Trumpet playing slow and bluesy just does it for me. Chris Botti and Rick Braun are two of my favorites. I prefer the songs that have only trumpet and maybe a guitar or piano, no percussion.

 

5.       I love science fiction, been reading it longer than LOTR. I read everything on the shelves until about ten years ago and then I got disappointed. I still read it a lot. I give props to A.C. Crispin, because I took her writing class at Dragon*Con two years ago and she critiqued Shaking Off the Dust and recommended I start sending it out. She admitted paranormal romance wasn’t her genre, but encouraged me.  So Thanks Ann!

 

6.       Okay, I’m hooked on urban fantasy.  Anita Blake, Dark Hunters, Sookie Stackhouse, Riley Jensen…there’s a ton that I am already hooked on and more that I read every year.  (The sexier , the better.)

 

7.       Romance in every genre, whispers sweetly to me as I walk by the book shelves. I switched form buying Sci Fi  to Romance.  I go to the bookstore every Tuesday and see what books are put out in romance, then I buzz through sci fi and horror.

 

8.       I’m a candy ass about watching horror movies.  I don’t read Stephen King, because he scares the bejessus  out of me.  But, I can watch the movies made from his books. Not at the actual theatre though. I have to have the stop, pause and skip over buttons at my fingertips.

 

9.       I love rock and roll. Country if I’m at a country bar, but not just playing on the radio. Hate fusion Jazz. Did disco in my earlier life. Mellow is good. Give James Taylor singing anything and I will be there.  Into female singers-Imagen Heap rocks-.  Will not be buying Britney Spears.

 

10.   Of all the paranormals,  I still love Vampires the best.  Two favorite vampires in books are Jean Claude,  from Anita Blake books, and Eric Northman from The southern Vampire series. (can’t wait to see what Alan Bell does with that series on HBO this next year. Way to go Charlaine!)

 

11.   Don’t care much for reality TV.  I suppose that’s because I get too much reality at my day job.  I cringe when people are insulted or treated like poo in front of millions of people.  I will watch American Idol, but only after the tryouts.  Listening to bad singers beg for another chance doesn’t draw me back.  Once the competition begins, I watch.

 

12.     I like chocolate mixed with other things. Not a fan of dark chocolate.  I want to cut the chocolate with something milder.

 

13.   What are my current favorite shows.

 

Torchwood (on BBC America), Dr. Who, House, Dexter, Heros, Stargate Atlantis (got hooked with the original), Chuck, Earl, Life, NCIS, Moonlight, Men in Trees, Monk

 

Rhianna Samuels

June 30, 2007

Today I did both of my jobs…

Filed under: ER nurse, My Life, The writer — Administrator @ 4:37 pm

Some days I love my job. Yes, I tell myself that everyday, just as a reminder. And if you think about it I have two jobs. One is the day job, the one everyone tells you not to give up until you have at least three best sellers. The other is the one where I write and wait impatiently to see it published.

 

Today, almost as soon as I reached my office, the night charge nurse came in smiling and content with life. He has several new nurses on his shift and was bragging about them. (The new nurses fall under my job description.) For half an hour and within just an hour of the day shift crowd being there, it all went to hell. He had four patients suddenly going critical at the same time.

 

One was crashing as his blood pressure tried to reach zero, one having an allergic reaction that tried very hard to close off his throat, one rushing to surgery. 

 

The fourth was a young girl, who when she entered the ED was complaining of abdominal pain and missed her period a month before. Trouble was when the nurse examined her she was as near to crowning as you can get without the head popping out. (You know the scene in Knocked Up.)

 

The doctor came and did a quick exam and sent three nurses up with her to reach L&D while the doc stayed with the other patients in the ED. They called to warn L&D(labor and delievery) and rushed to get her there in time. Trouble was there was not an obstetrician on the floor. He said he could hear the page over head. Three ER nurses and a couple of L&D nurses delivered this little girl.

 

He was feeling pretty good. Saved some lives and brought a new one into the world. He was smiling as he told me that he had so wanted to simple push aside the L&D nurse and deliver the baby himself. It was a tantalizing idea to be the first to hold her as she was born. The baby was early, but not that early. The other patients all made it without complications and all was right with his world.

 

I wasn’t with them while they showed the gold. After more than 15 years in the emergency room it was a thrill to see the nurses that I helped orient and encourage, gain the knowledge and skill to shine when it all seemed dark for a time.  

 

I know how he felt. We bear witness to tragedy so much of the time in the emergency room. We see the miscarriages, not the deliveries. We see the first golden hour of traumatic events when everything you do can make a difference, not the day they walk home. We hear the death wails of family members as they are allowed in the room to watch as we try to save their husband, wife, brother or father, not the sweet remembrances.

 

It requires a very special individual to do that job. We don’t have the hours or days of getting to know our patients, instead we a short window of time save the emergent patient or diagnose and treat the less emergent. We are the way station on their way home, the hospital room upstairs or to their maker. There’s always someone else waiting for us to get to them. So this nurse would go home today weary from life, with the knowledge he and five other nurses made a difference in the lives of everyone they cared for that night. Some days at the end of your shift that feeling is not there, because you feel only the weary. It was a good day for him and I was glad.

 

So today I did both my jobs. I bore witness to his story and then I wrote about it. In my life I don’t have to come up with outrageous tales, I can just tell you about my day or one of the many I remember.  When I write I always see the happy ending, even if it is not part of the real story. That’s why I write fiction.

 

Rhianna Samuels/story teller/ER nurse

June 23, 2007

The Secret O’ Life

Filed under: My Life, The writer — Administrator @ 4:51 am

 

I don’t know all the secrets of the great writers. But I know the secret of life. James Taylor sings about it in the song the Secret of Life. What is the secret but to enjoy the moment you’re in this instant.  


You are probably thinking, just as I have, “but I’m not really enjoying this minute in my dentists’ chair.” I do know that I have spent great pieces of my life dreaming of what the future will bring, instead of living in the now. The memories I recall are those times that I was fully engaged and enjoying, or not enjoying, but I was in the moment.


I know I’m not the only one who can get home and realize I don’t remember the drive there. I was zoned out. (What does that mean?) I wasn’t paying attention. I wasn’t there. I’d tell you if I remembered.


When I write it requires that I be fully engaged in the process, even if the moment is surreal, as if I am plugged into some other place. I remember writing SOTD in long hand. My sister had surgery and I was there with her for the several days she spent in the hospital. For two days straight she couldn’t stand the light in her room. So I sat in a chair next to her bed with only one tiny sliver of light. I maneuvered until it let me see what I was writing. The story was ready to fall out of my brain and through the pen. In the first four or five days I wrote the majority of that book. I can remember being confined, and yet completely attentive to the story. (And my sister)


And what of reading? Is it a false moment?  I have read books that will stay in my memories until I die. Novels with characters and stories so real that are told to us in words as opposed to events to which we bear witness. In reading a book are we neglecting life. Am I not engaged in my life because I am engaged in a world between two covers?


I don’t know the absolute answer to that, because it is a question for each individual. I was talking to a friend at work today, who was telling me about not being able to read anything until summer was over. She said it took her a long time to read a book, because she only had time while the laundry was in the dryer. It seemed so odd to me, because I can read a book in a few short or long hours, depending on the length. The idea of waiting weeks or even months to know the end of the story was a foreign thought for me, not if the ending id at the end of the pages I have in my hand.  


Is she totally engaged in her life and I am a poor pathetic creature who lives vicariously through words on a page?  Probably. I also enjoy many things in my life. I think I finally grew up when I could enjoy the silence and being alone without feeling like I needed someone else there to share the experience.  She is totally involved in the lives of her young children, she is engaged as a parent. I hope when her children are older, that she finds the time to enjoy a book, and the silence.


I like to take the time to savor the coffee, scent the rain filled air and feel the rug between my toes. And if I can have a good conversation with someone I love in the process then I am very happy and content. I enjoy reading and writing. I am in the moment, whatever I am doing in that particular moment.

Tell me being in your moments.


Rhianna


 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

June 12, 2007

The fine line between staying young and being immature

Filed under: My Life — Administrator @ 1:49 am

+ In some ways I haven’t changed the way I see the world. Well, yes, of course I have aged and seen too many things up close. I don’t refer to my time in the nursing field, working an emergency room, but I mean living. I spent much of my twenties as that person who always thought it would be better somewhere else, hoping I would find what I was looking for in another city. Trouble was I never knew what I was looking for, without that I could never find it. After literally going from one coast to coast, living six months to years in a multitude of states and cities I made the discovery that a town or city is what you make it.

Don’t get me wrong, I had a blast in the process. After changing my major more often than a prom queen changes her clothing, I finally dropped out. I waited tables and then bartended for a long time. I could go from one place to another and always find work. I even had insurance most of the time. I met thousands of people in my travels, almost as many as I have met working in the same emergency room for over 15 years. Hell, I walk through the mall nowadays and everyone looks familiar.

I have had roommates galore and my share of love interests.  I learned to live alone and enjoy that time, without feeling like I had to have someone entertain me.   My only child was stillborn at full term. That makes me a mom, but not. I finally went back to school and took my degree in nursing. Even as an ICU nurse I traveled.

My head feels young.  My head thinks even the young boys are cute. I love to learn the most current slang, I have to laugh, because I almost said cant. (I’m working on a historical romance.) I love music of all kinds and I usually end up lending out my music to my nephews and nieces.  My head is full of ideas and thoughts that are young and I don’t understand how anyone can think I’m older, even when I’m putting on my hair color to cover the gray.

I tell my friends that the way to stay young is to be immature. When someone tries to pin you down; when they define you to the point that they can put you in the proverbial box and label it, then you have been aged. My foundation is rock solid, but my views change with life and every new experience.  I am still open to fresh ideas and my POV can change if you are very compelling in you argument.

What keeps me young?  Interacting with the real world can age you or keep you young. Reading keeps me young. I can be as young or as old as I want. Sure I want books about people my age, but I love books about women in their twenties and thirties too. I love being on board space ships or sparring words with Were creatures. I love to read. I love to write. I am never embarrassed by what I read. As an adult I have responsibilities to many people. I have a responsibility to be me, and keeping my mind in the now and new keeps me young. In my own head anyway.

What keeps you young?

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