K.R. Gastreich's Blog, page 10

Farewell, 2017

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Fairy Bridge at the Overland Park Arboretum.

Once in a great while, a calendar year comes with a singular message; a lesson that seems to start on or near January 1st and come full circle by the end of December.

If I were to articulate the big lesson of the last 365 days, it would be this:

We must work hard to achieve our dreams, but we must also learn to accept what life gives us.

This is a difficult balance to strike; a terrible contradiction in so many ways. Nothing hurts more – and few things are harder to accept – than lost dreams. The bigger our dreams, the harder we work to achieve them, and the greater the disappointment when we fail.

But not every dream is meant to be realized, and not everything is under our control. Sometimes that’s okay. Sometimes the failure of one dream opens up other options or allows a greater appreciation of the blessings we have. But sometimes failed dreams are just failed dreams, and there’s nothing we can do except face the loss, process it, overcome it, and let it go.

I know this is a lifelong lesson that can never be mastered, but I’m trying to more conscientious about it going forward; to remember to enjoy the life I’ve built and not dwell so much on dreams lost along the way. To never give up and yet, occasionally, to give in. To relax once in a while and enjoy what is, instead of stubbornly forcing circumstances toward what I want them to be.

Not that it’s a bad thing to want, but sometimes I think we could all do a better job of controlling our wants rather than letting our wants control us.

It’s been a good year in so many ways. I’ve made new friends and reconnected with old ones. I’ve had a lot of wonderful time with my family. I’ve traveled to new places and finished publishing a trilogy. I received some great editorial reviews, and I’ve successfully taken on new challenges at work.

At the same time, I had to come to terms with important dreams that didn’t work out or come together as expected. There’ve deep disappointments along the way, and processing them has taken an extraordinary amount of time and energy. Uncertainty has reasserted itself as a constant companion in my life. In past years, uncertainty has been a most unwelcome companion, but in 2017, I started to make peace with it.

Tomorrow is a new day and a New Year, and 2017 has given me the strength to step forward into the unknown. I’m not really sure what lies ahead, but for the first time in a long while, I’m okay with that.

Happy New Year to everyone! Thank you for walking this path with me. I look forward to more adventures with you in 2018. Wishing you and your loved ones all the best!

Publishers Weekly reviews Daughter of Aithne

[image error]I’m very excited to report that this week’s edition of Publishers Weekly includes a review of Daughter of Aithne!

The review caught me a little by surprise. I’d submitted the novel at the beginning of 2017 using BookLife, the independent author platform managed by Publishers Weekly. My hope was to score a PW review in time for the novel’s release in May.

PW reviews are free, but there’s no guarantee they’ll select your novel. So when months went by without any news, I assumed that Daughter of Aithne had been passed over in favor of other books in the slush pile.

Then, about six weeks ago, BookLife informed me my novel had been selected for review. Woohoo!! Imagine my joy – and my angst!

It’s a great privilege to get the attention of PW, but nothing tweaks an author’s nerves like the prospect of an editorial review. I’ve long since learned to let reader reviews wash over me, but editorial reviews matter, because they are guaranteed to be seen by people – librarians, publishers, agents – who could play a significant role in getting your novel out to more readers. Editorial reviews are also critical to building a professional resume as an author.

And this editorial review is a good one.

PW describes Eolyn as a “standout character,” and states, among other positives, that “the best elements of love, war, and plotting” have been retained from my previous novels. The conclusion? “Fans of the trilogy won’t want to miss this hard-hitting finish.”

Did you hear that? My novel is hard-hitting! 

You can read the complete review on Publishers Weekly’s web site. 

This is a very exciting moment for me, and also one of deep satisfaction. I now have a complete set of editorial reviews from two highly respected sources. Both Kirkus and Publishers Weekly have considered all three novels of The Silver Web Trilogy, and both of them have been consistently positive in their analysis.

It’s a nice note to end the year on, and great way to start holidays. The closest feeling I can compare it to is drinking a cold beer at the end of a long days hike. Sure, the hike itself was rewarding, and I don’t really need anything more than that beautiful sunset over a mountain lake to believe the intense pain in my muscles was worth it, but hey, if someone wants to hand me a cold drink to top off the day?

By all means, pass that bottle my way!

It doesn’t get any better than this.

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Let’s talk about sexual harassment

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Anita Hill bears witness to the truth in front of an all white, all male Senate Judiciary Committee.

Like many women I know, I have an extraordinary capacity to internalize anger. Maybe I was born this way; maybe this is how I was trained. As a proponent of the phrase talent gets you nowhere without training, I’m guessing it’s a little of both. 

The point is, I let things wash over me. The daily affronts of being a woman – what I’ve experienced myself and what I’ve seen happen to friends and family, what I read in history and what I watch on the news – get buried under an instinctive resistance to open complaint. After all, why would I want to upset anyone with my opinion? So my anger is kept deep inside, where it is processed and transformed into fuel for an internal oven that keeps me working quietly – though never meekly – toward a better world.

Once in a while, something happens that triggers an overload inside that system. Heat builds and bursts out like a solar flare, and I find I’m no longer able to ignore my anger or hide it from anyone else. I am compelled to speak and to make others listen.

One of my earliest experiences of this sort of conscientious anger was in 1991, when Anita Hill testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the harassment she suffered under Clarence Thomas. I was appalled at how Anita Hill was treated, appalled that so many chose not to believe her – or more cynically, tore down a testimony they knew to be true out of political expedience. Because those senators chose to be complicit in a culture of sexual harassment, we now have a sexual offender sitting on the Supreme Court and deciding on the constitutional rights of all women.

Among my most recent experiences of conscientious anger – and there have been many the past couple years – was the November 2016 election. During that long and torturous campaign, I found no shortage of reasons not to support the Republican nominee for president. But to see sexual harassment come up again – and be ignored again – was particularly infuriating. Now, thanks to every single voter who chose to be complicit in our culture of harassment, we have a sexual predator sitting in the White House and wreaking havoc on our nation.

In recent weeks, we have confronted a multitude of allegations that expose – not for the first time – the environment of harassment that characterizes congress, including a pedophile who may be elected senator in the not-so-distant future. While members of Congress cynically cut investment in education, healthcare and other important public programs, they use our tax dollars to settle claims of sexual harassment.

Concurrent with this, a rash of sexual harassment accusations have rocked the entertainment industry. With each new story that has emerged, murmurings have ranged from “Yup, I figured” to “What? I’m shocked!” peppered by the occasional, “Don’t let this turn into a witch hunt!” I’m sure you can guess, and have even observed, how these comments tend sort out among gender lines.

By the way, if you are at all fuzzy on the difference between a witch hunt and an accusation of sexual harassment, I invite you to read Lucy Huber’s wonderful essay on the topic.

There’s also been a fair amount of teeth gnashing and weeping over whether we can continue to admire the work of an artist once we know the awful things he has done. For examples of that discussion, check here and here. For my part, I’m not troubled by this question. I have plenty of artists to admire without digging to the bottom of the barrel and giving my hard-earned money and valuable attention to sexual predators.

But for those struggling with what to do about the artists you once considered heroes,  remember this debate is not only about where we’ve been, it’s about where we are going.

We are all victims to and participants in a perverse system that for too long has favored this kind of behavior on all levels. It is on us to set the past aside and look forward to a new standard, one of zero tolerance that we all honor and enforce.

The ability to treat every single person – women and men, young and old, of every race, ethnicity, and creed – with respect and dignity should be a point of departure, not an afterthought, in defining the career of an individual. To argue anything else is to cling to a perverse ideology; one that has hurt too many people for too long and in so doing, has undermined our society as a whole.

To reach our full potential in every aspect of the human endeavor, we must support the women at the forefront of this battle. We must make certain sexual offenders meet with justice, and we must put an end to sexual harassment now and for generations to come.

Season of Thanksgiving

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Cuba was one extraordinary destination in an all-around extraordinary year.

Well, when I said I was going to check out for a while, I meant it! Last time I posted, the trees Kansas City were just beginning to turn. Now, the holidays are upon us!

It’s been an extraordinary year, on all levels. I feel at once emptied out and renewed – as if the landscape of my heart has been cleared, the earth turned over and everything drenched with rain. Somewhere along the way, seeds were planted, but what they will yield – if they will yield anything – remains a mystery.  

I’ve battled some terrible demons in 2017, and been visited by some true angels. Reflection has been an enduring theme, along with family, friendship, and travel. The road has not been easy, but I think I’ve come away a better person because of it. More confident in my instincts, less inclined to call certain turning points “mistakes.”

Just over a month ago, around the time I checked out of my on-line journal, I began putting thought into how to finish 2017. I want to let go of the old year and bring in the new with a sense of companionship, gratitude, and celebration.

 

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Looking forward to making more holiday memories with my nieces.

Now, with December just around the corner, I can say I have a plan. My plan spans a few weeks across Christmas and New Years, and – as befits 2017 – involves family, friends, and a little bit of travel. I’m very excited about this holiday season. Much like 2017 as a whole, I anticipate the next few weeks will be a time of reflection, joy, some pain, and much healing.

 

I hope this holiday season will bring you what you most need. If you’re worried it won’t, take a few moments in the next couple of days to imagine things differently. Then, once you’ve decided what you really want, dare to create the holiday season that would be best for you.

Just remember – what you think might be best for you isn’t necessarily so. But that’s okay. If there’s one thing I’ve learned after all these years, it’s this: when you reach for what you want, you almost always find what you need.

Peace and joy in this holiday season, to you and all your loved ones.

~*~

While I’ve been absent from this blog, I haven’t been away from internet. My Goddess Fish Name Before the Masses tour is ongoing. Here are the links to some of my recent posts. Remember each visit earns you a chance to win a $15 B&N/Amazon gift certificate!

October 25 – Author Interview at Christine Young

Nov 1 – Women in History Who Inspired The Silver Web Trilogy, at Books Chatter

Nov 8 – Ten Real-Life Creatures that Inspired the Magical Beasts of Eolyn’s World

Nov 15 – Five Reasons You Must Read Daughter of Aithne, on Fabulous and Brunette

Nov 22 – Interview at Independent Authors

Also, to kick off the holiday season, Daughter of Aithne is now available as part of Amazon’s Kindle Countdown deals. Starting today, you can download Daughter of Aithne for just $0.99! The price will go up a little bit every day for the next week, so the longer you wait to buy, the more you’ll have pay. This is a great deal on a fabulous book, so take advantage of it now! If you already own Daughter of Aithne, share the magic by spreading the word!

Checking In to Check Out

 

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Costa Brava, Spain. Wish I were still there!

While I was in Barcelona last summer, I made a concerted effort to stay off-line and away from social media.

 

I feel myself being tugged that direction again, so I’m stopping in today to let you know you may not hear from me for a few weeks. I have friends who have done this sort of thing as well, and I cannot recommend it highly enough: sometimes the best thing you can do for your emotional health and personal well-being is to get away from the internet’s dizzying virtual reality and dive back into the organic, gritty, and all-around-beautiful place we call real life.

Of course, I do have a few commitments that will keep me coming back. My Name Before the Masses Tour with Goddess Fish Promotions is ongoing. This week, I’m over at Sharing Links and Wisdom, where I talk about what makes a good villain. As part of that discussion, you’ll meet the three antagonists of The Silver Web: the wizard Tzeremond, Prince Mechnes of the Syrnte, and Princess Taesara of Roenfyn.

Next week, if you just can’t do without me, stop by Long and Short Reviews on October 18 and check out my lively discussion on how to handle negative criticism. You may be surprised by some of my advice!

Last but not least, I’ll have a guest interview at Christine Young Romance Writer on October 25. Maybe by then, I’ll be back here as well – but no guarantees!

As with all my stops with Goddess Fish Promotions, each post provides you a chance to win a $15 Amazon/B&N gift certificate.

Take care and I look forward to seeing you on the other side of my break!

 

The Never Ending Storm

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Nate makes its debut in Costa Rica.

Blog writing has been a challenge this season. All the things I usually write about seem trivial in the face of recent world events.

Those affected by hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria are facing a long and difficult recovery. I’d like to urge everyone to donate to relief efforts, if you haven’t already. Every little bit counts, and there are many excellent organizations to choose from when deciding where to invest your contribution.

Also, if you have recommendations for volunteer opportunities, I invite you to share them here in the comments. For now, I’ve registered with Puerto Rico VOAD in hopes of joining reconstruction efforts sometime in the spring. That may sound a long ways away, but the damage is extensive, and recovery efforts will extend over months and years. In other words, if you can’t volunteer right now, consider planning to volunteer six or twelve months from now. It’s guaranteed your help will still be needed.

On top of all this, tropical storm Nate is gathering steam over the Gulf of Mexico and will hit the southern U.S. coast as a full-fledged hurricane in the coming days. Nate has already ravaged my beloved Costa Rica with devastating floods and landslides, killing at least 15 people. It breaks my heart to see the pictures and stories coming out of this beautiful country, which was my happy home for so many years and is still home to many of my good friends and colleagues.

And then there’s Las Vegas. I have a lot to say about that, but no real desire to tackle it now. Unfortunately, our morbid love affair with guns and violence will not end anytime soon, so I’m confident I’ll have another chance to broach this topic later.

If all of this has you down too, consider going for some lighter reading: I have an author interview over on Jennifer Macaire’s blog. This is the second stop on my Name Before the Masses tour with Goddess Fish Promotions. As always, a visit to the site can earn you a chance to win a $15 Amazon/B&N gift certificate. Nothing like book money to lift one’s mood!

Speaking of lifting one’s mood, today is apparently international hug day. As a result, I’ve received a lot of hugs from all over, and given out a few myself. Hugging might very well be the most important thing we can do for each other this week (and beyond), so here’s one for you to have and share:

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Wishing you clear skies and brighter horizons.

Caught by Surprise

[image error]I had it in my head that my book tour with Goddess Fish was starting Thursday of this week, but – whoops! – it started yesterday!

The tour is part of an ongoing celebration of the release of Daughter of Aithne, Book 3 of The Silver Web. My first stop is an author interview at Lisa Haselton’s blog. Stop by to find out what inspired me to write a women-centered fantasy novel. At this and all other stops on the tour, you’ll have the opportunity to enter a giveaway for a $15 Amazon/B&N certificate.

I’ve had my mind on Puerto Rico and the Caribbean this week, and I hope you do, too! Between Harvey, Irma, and Maria, we have a long road of recovery ahead of us. Please give generously in any way you can. The PBS News Hour as well as other media outlets have put forward many suggestions for what you can do.

That’s all for now. I wish you a great weekend, and many thanks for stopping by!

Equinox

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The most important thing I did this summer was spend time with my nieces and nephews.

Lately, I’ve been making an effort to record the most important thing I do each day in my journal. It’s been an interesting exercise; I’ve generally found “the most important thing” has no relationship to the things that cause me stress.

Here are some examples from recent entries:

Spent the evening with good friends.
Held a baby’s hand.
Enjoyed dinner with Mom and Dad.
Reviewed a student’s research proposal.
Ordered a book I’m very excited to read.

As a result of this periodic reflection, I’ve found myself looking forward to the day in a somewhat different way. When I wake up, I’m more aware that in the next 12 hours or so, I’m going to do something important. And when I come across that something, I’m more likely to focus on the moment – because this is the most important thing I’ll do all day – as opposed to my usual habit of letting my worries distract me.

It’s been a good exercise for centering, for focusing on things that really matter. I put it out there in case it’s useful for you because today is fall equinox, and equinox is all about equilibrium.

With the official start of autumn, I also have some news to share. Next week, I’m launching a Names Before the Masses tour with Goddess Fish Promotions. In the past, I’ve always done the 2-4 week intensive blog tour, with multiple stops per week. Now, I’ve decided to take a calmer pace (equilibrium!) with a tour that will last longer (about 4 months), but involve fewer stops per week (1 or 2 at most). I’m looking forward to it and also curious to see how it works out, in terms of both sales and general sanity.

Official start date for the Goddess Fish tour is September 27. Between now and then, I’ll activate my Appearances page with a full list of stops. I’ll also include links in my weekly blog posts. Like all Goddess Fish tours, there will be a giveaway for an Amazon/B&N gift certificate. The more stops you visit, the greater your chance to win!

Speaking of giveaways, with Halloween just around the corner, I’ve listed a Goodreads Giveaway for the darkest of the three Silver Web novels: Sword of Shadows. Lands ravaged! Dreams destroyed! Demons set loose upon the earth! In short, everything you most want to read about during the Halloween season is in this book! Five signed copies are up for grabs, and the giveaway ends on October 31st.

If you’re a member of Goodreads, you can enter using the link below. If you’re not a member, it’s easy (and free!) to join. Visit Goodreads for more information.

Happy Fall Equinox! No matter what challenges come your way, I hope your autumn days are filled with the quiet joy of important things.

Goodreads Book Giveaway


Sword of Shadows
by Karin Rita Gastreich

Giveaway ends October 31, 2017.

See the giveaway details

at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

 

Laughter

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The trick lies in not taking yourself too seriously. Photo by Wendy Donnell.

Not to long ago, Avila held its annual student activity fair and picnic on our central quad. The day was clear and sunny, and the temperature just right for eating outdoors.

The activity fair has always been a nice opportunity to meet new students. That day, a couple first-year students sat next to me for lunch. During our conversation, it came up that I had spent many years living and working in Costa Rica before returning to Kansas City to accept my current position at Avila. One of the students asked me, “What do you miss the most about Costa Rica?”

I haven’t been asked this question in a long time, but my answer was automatic: “The people.”

Then I added: “They are so friendly and generous.”

After a little more thought, I finished with: “They laugh more than we do.”

I’d never really thought about this before: That what I miss most about Costa Rica is the laughter.

I went on to explain to the students that Costa Ricans are just as passionate and concerned as we are about all the same serious things: politics, social justice, peace, economic prosperity, and so forth. But they don’t seem to take themselves quite as seriously as we do, and sometimes I think that’s a healthier way of living.

That conversation came back to me a few days later, when I was sharing an inside joke with a colleague on campus.  It struck me that as much as I sometimes feel a lack of laughter in American culture, the fact of the matter is we laugh a lot where I work, even when we’re feeling frustrated and annoyed. Actually, the more frustrated we get, the more we tend to laugh. Laughter breaks tension surrounding the challenges we face, allowing us to rest before getting back into the fray, and making us more effective – I think – at addressing the challenges at hand. This is one of the things I most enjoy about my workplace: the ability of my colleagues to laugh.

I’m not sure where I’m going with this, except for a vague sense that more laughter would probably do most of us a lot of good right now. And not just any laughter, but a shared laughter directed at ourselves and at the situations we face. This is a different quality of laughter than the laughter that arises from making fun of or cutting down the Other (something that I think Americans are very good at, but that on the whole, is not nearly as healthy).

At its best, laughter connects us to each other with a shared appreciation of just how ridiculous life can be, and how silly we can get when we tie ourselves up in knots over it. Laughter gives us a break from the toxic habit of taking ourselves to seriously. It won’t make our problems and worries go away, but it blunts the edges of our stress and helps us move forward with a positive energy that’s more likely to see us through difficult times.

So the next time you feel yourself getting too serious, try turning the situation upside down and making yourself laugh. Even better: Laugh with someone else.

The Hogwarts equivalent, of course, was to point your wand at whatever was worrying you and shout, “RIDDIKULUS!”

It worked for Harry Potter and friends. It can work for us, too.

Are we listening yet?

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Sentinel satellite captures the moment the Behemoth iceberg broke off the Larsen Shelf in July of this year.

The devastating impact of Harvey has brought into sharp relief, once again, the lottery game we are playing with our planet.

As Texas confronts catastrophic flooding, another tragedy unfolds in India: more than 1200 people are reported dead in the wake of the worst monsoon in 15 years.

This on the heels of record summer storms and flooding in the Midwest, including my hometown of Kansas City.

Meanwhile, at the southern tip of our planet, the Larsen Ice Shelf lost 10% of its surface area. The behemoth iceberg, after years of rift formation, broke off the shelf this summer and began drifting out over the sea. The loss of this 6000-square kilometers of ice, containing as much water as Lake Ontario, has forever changed the landscape of the Antarctic Peninsula. As behemoth disperses over the ocean, it will likely contribute to the ongoing rise in sea levels across the planet.

And as if all that weren’t enough, now a new hurricane, Irma, forms over the Atlantic, achieving category 3 status in record time…

The list goes on and on.

As an ecologist, I began watching the story of global warming decades ago, long before it was fashionable – much less controversial – to do so. Many of my friends and colleagues have, through rigorous scientific research, contributed to our understanding of how carbon dioxide and methane emissions affect climate. These scientists have also done tedious, meticulous work in their study of the effects of climate change on our life support systems. Their conclusions, based on massive amounts of data collected from all over the planet, are cause for concern.

Over the years, I have read the research published by these scientists. I have watched their presentations at professional meetings, and I’ve spoken to many of them in person. I know who they are and what they have sacrificed in their effort to quantify climate change and communicate their results to the public at large.

At the same time, as a resident of the Midwest I know many people who – despite having no background in science – cultivate the illusion that they know more about climate than any climatologist, ecologist, or environmental scientist ever could. I find these attitudes insulting. I don’t get why anyone would belittle the men and women who have sacrificed so much to assemble one of the most impressive data sets in the history of science. Their effort to understand one of the most important and complex challenges of our time has been extraordinary, and they deserve our respect.

As Neil de Grasse Tyson has famously said, the great thing about science is that whether or not you believe it, it’s real. The numbers are real. The trends they indicate are real. And the predictions based on those trends are, whether we like it or not, playing out pretty much as everyone in the scientific community expected.

Like every other scientist who’s been watching this for the past several decades, I wish all those climatologists, ecologists, and environmental scientists had been wrong. But they were right, and because of our inaction in the face of their alarm calls, the suffering has started – and will continue to rise.

If you haven’t been listening to any of this yet, then now is the moment to put your ear to the ground. Earth has gone beyond whispering to the scientists and is now speaking loud and clear to all of us. Her call to action comes in one simple message: Time is running out.