Writing and living raw...with a raw heart

Writers are the most passionate people in the world.  Romance writers have a passion that is so raw.....When I coined the phrase "write raw" it also means "live raw" and "love raw".

My mother used to take us every Sunday to the Catholic Church.  She always had two quarters in her purse.  She always gave one to the poor...someone poorer than her....and used the second with a dime to buy gas to go home.  My mother was amazing....

My Granny and my mother taught me what real women are like.  They are not women in perfect suits (though it is great if you can be that woman), holding themselves back from what they are....not even women with necessarily an education (though I encourage girls to go to college and be all they can be), or be in a top job.  Real women live by special gifts and rules...those are rules of the heart.  They know what it is to live by the heart.  My mother said to me countless times.....you stand up for what is right...no matter the price. 

Real women can get coffee for men and like it....it might be fun. It might make you feel like a woman.  Or if not getting coffee then cooking or laundry or whatever for those we love...or like...whatever.  Be you.  Always. There is nothing wrong with being a girl...whatever that means to you.

I made a number of promises to my mother who died when I was 16.  I promised her I would live every moment (which means live raw).  I promised her I would not compromise on anything that truly mattered.  I realize now that was an easy promise as I'd not do it any other way anyway. 

I also promised her I would live the life that she never had the chance to live (raw).  I've stayed true and always will, to those promises. 

Promises have to do with love and passion.  In this amazing season....whether your are a Christian or not, everyone can agree that a baby was born and he forever changed the world because of his deep passion, love for the world and many ideas....things that people had not even thought of in those days...like reaching out to the less fortunate, forgiving others for doing bad things...he introduced ideas we take for granted...He was amazing. 

He was a person that believed in something so much he would sacrifice himself.  He even cared for those that betrayed him.  It is an amazing story even if you don't get in the loop of religion....or hope by believing that there is a reward.  What he did stands alone with its passion, sacrifice and most of all, love. 

I often say to my intellectual friends (much smarter than me obviously) that God keeps sending us people to tell us how to live and how to love.  What do we do?  We kill them off every time.  Not just in big ways like Aristotle, Plato and Jesus...but in small ways...when we hurt a minor person for some selfish reason....like...when we are scared or jealous or....there is some other agenda... we hurt people.  People hurt us. 

So, my blog message for this beautiful season is to not do that to anyone.  Don't mock the person who doesn't quite get things...that person who is a nerd....or the one that is a  little different...perhaps more passionate and offering a heart and idea...who knows????...it might be a gift for you if you look deep enough.  You could find something and will find a golden nugget of great beauty in every single person.  I do.  Always. 

Aristotle said before his death, "You think you are something, when you are nothing."  He could have stayed the hand of what was to happen to him, however, he would not compromise.  He realized in passion that some things are worse than death.

Of course there is Joan of Arc and so many others...those people who are amazing because they show a path of transcending the smallness of the world sometimes. 

If you live by your heart, that is where you find the truth of everything.  Sure, people will mock you sometimes, betray you, or call out your passion, because it is out of the ordinary. Some simply do not understand.  Perhaps they wish they could feel things that deeply....it is a beautiful thing...sometimes painfully beautiful, but beautiful all the same.  Not everyone has that gift.

Living up to your heart, being passionate about what you believe, being unwavering and uncompromising when it matters....and doing what you believe is truly right and good....which means thinking outside of self....that....that...that is living raw...that is loving raw....that is being the master of your own fate and being the captain of your soul. 

So tomorrow....I am going to live and write raw....listen to amazing Christmas music... And send my heartfelt Blessings to Christians and non-Christians...

It was the act.  It was the sacrifice for something bigger than self, that was the key to Jesus.  It was the passion.  Those are the things that change the world. Some religions believe Jesus is just a profit.  I am not smart enough to know for certain, I only know what I believe.

What I know and believe and can argue is that he sacrificed everything for ideals, he was passionate and he had a message that changed the world.   If everyone lived by his humble messages....does it really matter if you think he was who you think or he wasn't?  It was the message that mattered. That message was to love one another and do what is right no matter what.

Differences mean just occupying sacred space differently...but we should all move to the good.  We should all move to making the world better, bringing freedom, justice and love (of course lots of passion) to the world. 

When you fall down or someone pushes you...remember what Jesus said,  "Forgive them Lord, for they know not what they do."  Then pick yourself back up and keep moving to the good. 

Above all else, keep your passion.  Always live and love with that passion.

So...Merry Christmas to my worldwide fans!!!....Yes...Brazil now my biggest followers besides the mid-east...thank you! 

Blessings to everyone and my sincere thanks for yet another amazing month for my books.  No matter your religion, we are all moving in the same direction...it is just a matter of how we chose to occupy "Sacred space" and tradition.

Thank you friends, fans, followers and family.  I will continue to always write raw.

It is my most amazing year ever with my books....thank you so much. 

Blessing to the world. 

Sincere Regards,

Rebecca