Rod Raglin

This blog will touch on the experiences I have as a writer (not to be mistaken for my experience as a writer, i.e. how many books I've written, etc); the pleasure and the pain, the joy and the grief, the satisfaction and the frustration, the magic and the reality - have I left anything out, oh yeah, the rejection, rejection and more rejection,  the humiliation and the embarrassment, the jealousy and the resentment - that pretty much covers it, except for why I do it which perhaps I'll realize along the way. Are you totally confused? Good, let's begin.

The inception of The Widower – my 6th novel

Ever think about who you really are, who you’d really like to be?

 

When we start out in life we have a pretty good idea of what we want to be. When I was five I wanted to be a cowboy just like Roy Rodgers (yes, I’m that old). By the time I was thirteen I wanted to be a writer. That stuck.

 

Life can be a dream killer - sometimes it’s our own fault, sometimes it’s circumstances beyond our control, sometimes the dreams aren’t realistic. Whatever the reason, not too many people I know are living their dreams.

 

I wanted to explore this in a novel not so much because I thought it would appeal to readers, but more for myself. Where do dreams go when life happens? And, given the opportunity years later, can those dreams be revived?

 

The Widower, my sixth novel, is about a guy that’s living his dream. At twenty-seven he’s a successful poet lauded by the literary establishment and revered by his contemporaries, the disenfranchised and rebellious youth of the sixties.

 

Then tragedy strikes and to recover he abandons the dream and chooses a new direction significantly different from the old one.

 

Thirty-four years later there’s another tragedy that releases him from the life he’s been living. He has one last chance to revive the dream he abandoned.

You can imagine after thirty-four years he’s accumulated a lot of baggage. Will that baggage, in the form of family, friends and financial obligations allow him to walk away to try to revive the dream he was living when he was a young man?

 

They only recognize him by the roles and responsibilities he’s assumed – a husband, a father, a grandfather, a friend, a neighbour, a mentor, a valued employee and a prospective lover. But do these roles represent the real him and once they're no longer valid or necessary who will he be?

 

Are you defined by the roles you assumed? Who are you really?

 

I had some preconceived notions of where I wanted this to go, but like all my other novels within a short time I was the merely the conduit of the characters, some of whom took on a far greater role than anticipated.

 

I told my protagonist’s story from other people’s point of view, not his own. I wanted others to comment on his changes and how they affected them. I wanted it to take place in real time, like a commentator telling you what’s happening, in some cases multiple POV’s commenting on the same scene.

 

It’s time for the story to rest, to purge it from my consciousness and let it ripen in my subconscious. When I resurrect it I’ll be in need of beta readers so if you’re interested send me an email.

 

Stay calm, be brave, watch for the signs

 

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Video book reviews of self-published authors now at

Not Your Family, Not Your Friend Video Book Reviews: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH45n8K4BVmT248LBTpfARQ

 

My new novels, FOREST – Love, Loss, Legend and The BIG PICTURE – A Camera, A Young Woman, An Uncompromising Ethic are available on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU and as e-books at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/raglin

 

Read Reviews https://readersfavorite.com:book-review:39014

 

Visit my publisher’s website for excerpts from, and buy links to my Eco-Fi series ECO-WARRIORS, that includes Spirit Bear, Eagleridge Bluffs, and Not Wonder More – Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients http://www.devinedestinies.com/?route=product%2Fauthor&author_id=92

 

More of my original photographs can be viewed, purchased, and shipped to you as GREETING CARDS; matted, laminated, mounted, framed, or canvas PRINTS; and POSTERS. Go to: http://www.redbubble.com/people/rodraglin

 

View my flickr photostream at https://www.flickr.com/photos/78791029@N04/

 

Or, My YouTube channel if you prefer photo videos accompanied by classical music

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsQVBxJZ7eXkvZmxCm2wRYA