Living After Midnight BLOG — Trevann Rogers, Author

These Words #MFRWAuthor

When I hear the phrase “words to live by” I think of Facebook memes and quotes at the end of writing exercises. But they are more than that. Often they’re a shorthand for someone’s philosophy toward a particular thing or life in general (Don’t sweat the small stuff), or an emotion. Speaking of which, I am not sure where “Bless her heart” became a “fuck you”. That is not how it’s used in the South, rumors to the contrary.

I can think of three phrases I use often and the reasons behind all of them. I fall back on “everything happens for a reason” to help cope with minor disappointment. An example would be the events of one evening when we had tickets for a concert two hours away. First my partner had an appointment she had to keep so I was to meet her. Being pathologically early, I left home in plenty of time. Along the way I realized I had forgotten the tickets and had to return home. I’d never taken this exit before, ended up wandering around the back streets of a city and being totally lost. (This was before GPS). When I did finally get back on the road I ran into traffic that was literally stopped. Basically I was in a parking lot for nearly an hour. When I picked up my partner we decided that something was telling us not to make this trip so we went home, convinced that we would have been in an accident or something had we continued.

“I can do anything for 15 minutes” is another I use often to make myself start something I don't want to do. It isn’t always true of course, but it does usually urge me to action. I try to use it when scheduling big tasks, and setting goals I am resistant to, even though I know I must (for instance, physical therapy exercises).

One I remind myself of (although sometimes don’t listen to myself), is “don’t love anything that doesn’t love your back”. This includes jobs, possessions, and toxic people. Sometimes that even includes a story that won’t let itself be written and causes too much stress.

My favorite is “life is short”. Sometimes I’m so busy working on one thing to another that I forget to stop and enjoy my life. Then I remember another favorite,  “Life isn’t a rehearsal”. These words to live by remind me how to live.


'Tis Always the Season

I have friends who say they would like nothing better than to have static seasons, preferably in a warm climate. I can't imagine being happy with that. There are things I don't like about each season but why deprive myself of the good parts? It will be difficult to limit myself to the best part of each season as there are so many. As we head into Autumn I'm excited to be able to go outside again. The temperature is cool and nature is putting on a show of amazing colors. The beach is deserted, and the amusements, while on a shorter schedule, are still operating. And the holiday season of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas gives us something to celebrate.

Then there is winter. I love snow. I love watching it snow. I love playing in the snow with my partner and our dogs. I even like shoveling snow unless it is the 3 footers we sometimes get. The earth is beautiful, quiet, and serene.

My favorite part of Spring are the colors on the mountains of home. The tender greens mix with redbuds and dogwoods painting a picture no mere human could create.

And finally, summer. The best part of summer is that my partner works less so is home more. We manage to take the occasional vacation and day trips if we watch the weather carefully. Too hot? Too humid? Too much. We use those sweaty days to go to the movies or the bookstore.

I used to be the type of person who complains about the weather constantly. One day I realized I was missing out on a lot of great stuff being so grumpy. In every season there's a reason to smile.


The Way to My Heart is--Hold on, I'm Not That Easy #MFRWAuthor

I admit it. In some regards I'm a tough nut to crack. I don't impress easily and I surely do not trust easily. However, there are a few traits that I find appealing, characteristics that will touch my heart immediately and lower my guard. Probably the easiest way to my heart is showing gentleness and compassion for animals. Watching a man romp with his pit bull is nice, but there is something about big men with little dogs that makes me smile. A photo of Seth Rollins, a WWE Superstar, playing with his Pomeranian simply melts me. Roman Reigns (WWE Superstar and #manofmydreams) surrounded by chihuahua’s in Santa garb make me swoon.

The internet is full of videos of ordinary men who who take extraordinary risk to their safety and sometimes their lives to rescue trapped or abused animals, or, as we've seen recently, rescue abandoned animals in hurricanes.These are true alpha males, in my opinion.

Which I suppose leads into another trait—competence.  Men who excel at what they do and have confidence in their abilities are sexy as hell. Sometimes, these men come across as arrogant, but a bit of arrogance can be forgiven when the expertise is indisputable. Case in point: #theartistforeverknownasPrince

On the other hand, taking everything, including oneself, too seriously is a total turn off. I'm drawn to folks with a sense of humor.  Like the Rock. He's smart, gorgeous, and has the body of a god. If anyone would have a right to be over the top arrogant, it's him. But he doesn't come across that way. Didn't he once play the tooth fairy, tutu and all? 

Finally, I'm drawn to those who are adventurous. No one wants to do the same thing all the time, no matter how much you might like that thing. The world is too large and too varied. That being said, I never tire of music and going to concerts. Give me an talented musician with a sense of humor and a love for animals and I'm a happy, happy girl. 

 

 


The Only Love There Is

As a writer of Urban Fantasy,  I live to tell stories that transport you to a super- natural world, one that intrigues you, touches your heart, and entices you to return over and over again. I also hope to give you something to think about.  The characters you meet are a motley bunch of beings: humans, Weres, vampires, incubis and wraiths. More than that, they’re diverse in terms of race, culture, gender, sexual orientation, gender expression, and power bases. Conflict in these worlds  occurs due to differing goals. Or crazy family drama. What they come to understand is that the path to peace is intention. You have to want it, and commit to creating it.

As for real life, we live in a challenging time- if one can define challenging as racist, sexist, homophobic, and divisive. Conflict, often violent,  occurs simply because we’re different (apparently too different to coexist as equals). Fortunately, the resolution is the same. The road out of this horror begins with wanting out, and committing  to change the conditions that created it.

And then we must take action. Create peace by being peaceful. Sow the seeds of acceptance by being accepting. Foster love by being loving.

The Beatles told us love is all you need. Prince told us the only love there is, is the love we make.

Let’s intend to love each other.