The Broken Christmas Tree - Book

Does God Exist?

November 22, 2014 by DWRigsby

It’s a question many have pondered. I too have dwelled on this very thought. I can say that in my story The Broken Christmas Tree, God is very much present in Danny’s life. My protagonist may not always acknowledge this presence, but he seems to notice the divine to some degree. He’s made aware through various ways, but not always in ways we’d think about such getting what you want all the time because you believe in God. He acknowledges God on his own level of thinking, and understands that there is a dark force just as much as there is a force of light.

If you’ve ever read the beginning of the Bible it talks about how Adam and Eve came into knowing of good and evil just as God does. This statement is intriguing to me. We, as a people, have the same knowledge as God does about these two opposite forces in our universe. So why is that important? What makes knowing both good and evil such a trade secret anyway? If we never understood the difference, I suppose you could surmise that we’d be blissful in our lives. Being ignorant to what we do wrong or what we do right. There would be no wrong or right, it would just be. Whatever action taken would just be an action – and no other thought would weigh in if this was evil or if this was good. It just would not enter the mind.

I am not here to convince anyone on how to think, but only to share how I am thinking. So, Danny is in a struggle, has problems at home, doesn’t know how to interact with God, so at times he may rely on himself more than he ought. In this world he learns that self-reliance is a good thing, and needed, but he also learns he can’t do it alone. All battles cannot be won by his own resourcefulness. It’s a world to live in and to learn, to experience a God he knows little about, and to understand the true meaning behind Christmas.

Sincerely,

D.W. Rigsby

Image Credit: God is here? by f/orme Pet Photography

Keeping Hope Alive

November 11, 2014 by DWRigsby

As I sit here, I ponder the recent release of my book The Broken Christmas Tree. I am somewhat fixated on how it is going. And I am tormented at the same time when I don’t see it going so well. But it’s not real.

Real? What does this word mean?

Real means actually existing as a thing or occurring in fact; not imagined or supposed.

All the facts aren’t visible and that is why I am struggling but it’s not completely true. There are some facts available to me. Several people have commented directly to me about how much my book meant to them. I’ve had family members tell me how much they are enjoying this book. Others have commented on how well I’ve written this book. I’ve had even others tell me how much they’ve enjoyed this book and commented to me how it’s touched their heart.

So what is real? Real is based on facts. What I’m experiencing at times cannot be real as it’s not completely based on fact. If I base what is happening on actual facts – well then, I would need to conclude The Broken Christmas Tree is doing quite well.

But there is more to this story isn’t there? The one thing I failed to mention is my success criteria. What am I basing my success on or what am I measuring it against? Of course I’ll tell you that my main goal is exposure – to reach as many people as I can with this book. But I somehow dismiss the other facts and purely go on this one fact that my book has not reached as many as I’d hoped for yet.

The other element in the picture is time. Time is at work and sometimes it takes readers years to find an author.

I am basing my feelings on facts that have not yet come to light. The fact is there just hasn’t been enough time. I released The Broken Christmas Tree nearly a month ago. My expectations are clearly too high. Therefore I must focus on the facts I have – and those for the time being are positive. Not only have I heard people are enjoying my book, that many are still planning to purchase it, and some even would like my autograph- I am blushing now.

We all do this – don’t we? We set expectations too high and when those expectations aren’t met we dismiss all other facts and consider ourselves a failure.

Take a step back, as I will do. Look at what is happening. Keep the lens in focus for there is movement, it just might not be what you want right now. Keep hope alive – believe and keep going. This is where many find themselves, in this darkened place we call anxiety or worry. This is where we tend to dwell. Don’t stay here. Get out of the shadows, and into the light. See yourself as you truly are and keep hope alive.

I share this with you because it’s on my heart to do so. I share this with you because you are not alone. I share this with you because I am walking out of the shadow, and into the light, and hope is still alive in me.

Sincerely,

D.W. Rigsby

Image Credit: Hope by Shane Gorski

October 22, 2014 – Letter To Danny

October 22, 2014 by DWRigsby

Danny,

As your story started, so shall it end.

Here on the blank pages your story was told, written for all to see Danny. Can you imagine what I’m talking about? Can you see the future from where you are? I hope so Danny. Even as I sit here and type, I can see the future from where I am – where my life is captured digitally as a journal is captured with ink and paper. My life stored for ages to come as your life is stored.

Those in the future will be able to pull my information, peer into my universe long after I’m gone, and they’ll be able to see who I was and how I lived. Families will have living albums that will run for generations, hundreds, thousands of years of a family life captured.

Your lineage will be preserved, your knowledge, your passions, your ideas all captured, and passed down like an heirloom for the next generation to add to the collage of life. It’s truly remarkable.

Music, books, work, skills, photos, videos, experiences, and on and on Danny. Like nothing you ever seen before. It’s within our grasp yet we do not understand what this means yet for our future. But would you Danny? Could you have understood what the future held for you?

It’s wonderful – so many have begun to peer into your world. They are seeing your struggles and they have much to say Danny. I decided to create a page – it’s a sort of like a piece of paper you hold in your hand but it’s stored inside a computer. People can see it from their own computers through a connected network, viewing your world from afar. Here I am putting up this paper for people to post what they thought about you, your life, your story Danny, and your friend Cluster. And I’ll see what I can do to relay some of it back to you. Hang in there, we’ve only just begun.

Sincerely,

D.W. Rigsby

Letter to Danny from The Broken Christmas Tree

Image Credit: Open Book, Blank by Doug Aghassi

October 15, 2014 – Letter To Danny

October 15, 2014 by DWRigsby

Danny,

I’ve found a way for others to see your world finally. It is amazing. You won’t believe what we can do in 2014 with information. I’m about to submit this thing we call a link – hard to explain – but it’s a sort of pathway through connected cables where a computer is located for people to see your world. Imagine a page in front you on your desk, and imagine that others can see your page just as you see it. We also have small mobile devices, like that on Star Trek, to talk to each other across the globe but we can also retrieve information such as that page on your desk and read it.

Yes, very much different than in your time and I know maybe difficult for you to grasp. But today, hundreds, thousands, even millions of people will have a way to see your life, what you are going through, and what you are up against.

You will not be alone – everyone who picks up this link – will be connected to you like nothing you’ve ever seen before and it’s about to happen. It has happened!

Be ready, you might feel a jolt – maybe a shaking in the ground, or an intense burst of wind passing through your town. Whatever you experience – just be prepared as so many are going to go through what you are going through. You will not be alone anymore Danny. Keep your chin up, have hope, and know that we are behind you all the way!

Sincerely,

D.W. Rigsby

Letter to Danny from The Broken Christmas Tree

Image Credit: Interconnected by Steve Johnson

The Human Spirit

October 15, 2014 by DWRigsby Leave a Comment

It’s remarkable how the human spirit will press forward even when the odds are against it.

As an indie writer I’m reading lots of blogs, posts, finding new writers all the time and they are all doing the same thing. They are trying to break out and become known even though the odds are against them, I mean us.

I did some math on the recent release of my first book “The Broken Christmas Tree“. Yes it’s early, but I didn’t want to wait until after Halloween to get it out there for folks to begin to sample or read my book. I’m excited, and hesitate but at the moment I’m getting some really good feedback on it. I figured at least 583 people have seen the release of my book in one form or another through Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin.

Though each day I wake up and I think to myself – how can I reach more people? Well, there is advertising but from what I’ve been reading paid advertising is a hit or miss, more a miss. Are you timing the market right? Are you targeting to the right audience? Is your cover eye catching? Is your tagline also equally catching?

Does my book appeal to anyone? I find myself thinking. I know it does – at least my family and friends. So here is a call for help – if you are reading this I’m asking for your help. Share your experience with others if you read The Broken Christmas Tree, share with your friends that it’s out there as someone else might enjoy it. I’m trying to appeal to those who are following me – because I can’t do it alone. I wish I could but I can’t. Nothing really happens without others being involved. I mean, yes things do happen, but not on a large scale such as getting the word out on a book, product, or event.

I wonder if I’m wrong for asking. I figure it’s better to ask then not to ask at all. So, I’m asking all of you who read this post. Share with others, help to get the word out. Let others figure out if they want to read this book or not, there are sample pages so don’t worry if you are afraid to recommend this book and it turns out to be a stinker. Your friends can figure that out before they buy it. 🙂

I’ve gotten some great reviews to date, not many but the ones that have come in are strong. This is a good sign to me. I’m not going to stop believing in the power of the human spirit. It’s really what makes us all who we are, gives us fuel and carries us along. Each day I’ll wake, I’ll think to myself I can reach more people and I’ll find a way to do it, but I equally know I can’t do it alone.

The Broken Christmas Tree

Respectfully,

D.W. Rigsby

Image Credit: rays of light by glasseyes view

October 8, 2014 – Letter To Danny

October 9, 2014 by DWRigsby

Danny,

Oh, I’m so tried my eyes can barely hold themselves open any longer. I think I need some time to rest, to get away from it all, just for a little while.

I wanted to try and describe your town to you. Using some of the information you’ve sent me. So bare with me on this bit of writing here.

New Weston is surrounded by hills that interconnect with one another to form a vast expanse of the foothills of the Northern Appalachians. The hills here represent the timelessness between man and nature, how the two are intertwined like rope strands. The people live on one strand, while nature lives on another, their lives twisting together, connecting at some points while never touching at others.

The hills continue upward hundreds of feet to the peak and are covered with maple, ash, walnut, oak, and more buckeye trees. They’re all bunched up together to create a beautiful canopy of green in the spring and summer, and lush yellows, reds, browns, and oranges in the fall. Barren branches outstretch to overlap one another in the winter.

The buckeye tree is a symbol of the area, one that has a long history and lore surrounding it.

A single buckeye is about the size of a walnut, though looks nothing like one. The buckeyes are encased in a flexible yet durable sack that’s rough on the outside and smooth on the inside. They grow in groups of three or four, and when the leaves turn brown, the buckeyes fall to the ground and make sounds like small explosions that echo off the encircling hills when the sacks pop open to release their contents. To hear them fall it sounds like a firefight where the battle wages on until the last of the buckeyes stop falling

There are times when the clouds are high above and beams of sunlight pass through as spotted rays of gold; other times the clouds hang low just above the peaks and create a glorious white halo. Then there are times in the mornings when the clouds sit in the valley below to create a dense fog that one must pass through while traveling on the road.

In the morning it’s still, silent, like a crystal-clear lake where nothing stirs. At sunrise the cock crows and wakes the neighborhood. The hound dogs cry for their breakfast and for a chance to go on a hunt.

In the afternoon Blackberry Street is busy with people walking up and down it. Cars rumble by one at a time, as the road isn’t wide enough for two to pass side by side. The road itself is barely together, covered in a layer of broken asphalt with potholes patched with loose gravel.

Houses line the road. The side where Danny lives is a hill that runs parallel to Blackberry Street. It jets up high above the shrunken houses. These houses were built nearly a hundred years ago; most of the homes have held up, but time has taken its toll on the now-tilted foundations of many others. Some yards are kept up, but most are not. There are toys, tools, even garbage scattered about, often sprawling over into neighboring yards. This street is unlike many of the newer developments in the valley. Most of those homes are larger and kept up to present a fine appearance.

Blackberry Street starts at the bottom, flat, where it connects to Bowman Street. From there it inclines sharply for a hundred yards and continues up past Danny’s home, where it curves to the left at the bend in the road. Take the road another hundred yards, and that’s where Cluster lives on an open, large lot of land that spans his entire hill, which is perpendicular to Danny’s hill and meets at the center where Buckeye Hollow forms.

Legend says the buckeye brings good luck. And when you get a chance. Send me a buckeye!

Sincerely,

D.W. Rigsby

Letter to Danny from The Broken Christmas Tree

Image Credit: buckeyes by laura_kelley

October 1, 2014 – Letter To Danny

October 2, 2014 by DWRigsby

Danny,

I’m having problems with my contraption which started smoking again. I wonder how much longer it will last or if my letters will continue to get to you from my year of 2014 to your year of 1983. I’ll keep sending and hope you will reply.

The other day something amazing happened to me. I am writing this book, The Broken Christmas Tree, and I sent it off for edits and the strangest thing occurred. The editor wrote me back a note and said that she had experienced a similar traumatic event as you did at the age of three. I believe she was only two years and six months old but close enough. It truly is an amazing insight to what is happening around all of us. How things just seem to fall into place with no real explanation.

I don’t think she sees shadowlings like yourself but she never said she didn’t either. I am left to ponder this thought. I have no direct communications with her as the company’s policy won’t allow it. But I’ve given it thought to see about hiring her again for my next book. I don’t know what I’ll write yet, maybe something of science fiction with a twist or I could just keep my options open for now.

Your friend, Cluster, sounds every bit the good story teller from what I’ve heard from you. He sounds larger than life, a great friend to have no doubt. Natural story tellers are the best I think at keeping everyone’s attention on the rise, and giving them either a good scare or a good laugh on the fall. Art is such an expressive way of getting our feelings out into the open don’t you think? Oh, I’m sending you the cover of my new book. I hope to have it out soon for others to read in the next few weeks. A lot depends on my final reviews of the book this coming weekend. Anyway, I’ll keep writing for a while longer if you don’t mind and keep me posted on your adventures. Maybe I can use those as inspiration for my next book.

Sincerely,

D.W. Rigsby

Letter to Danny from The Broken Christmas Tree

The Broken Christmas Tree – HMMM…

September 27, 2014 by DWRigsby

I was worried what I might find when I received final edits back on The Broken Christmas Tree. Would the critique come back as “hey this is okay stuff but you need more work”, or “hmm – I’m not sure what you did here but you probably need to rethink this scene again.” Also there was the fear that “this is an overall nice story.” I don’t think any author wants to hear “nice story”. We strive for a much more in our work.

Over seven years and I’m finally about to release my first novel and the pressure is there on the tip of my finger, ready to click the mouse to download my feedback.

I clicked the download link and waited, pondering what I might read.

As the letter opened I wanted to delay the inevitable, but my eyes had caught the words all ready.

I was astonished by what I read. It threw my back in my seat, not literally, but as I read the words I couldn’t believe what Angela, the editor, was telling me.

The words were there, on the page, and I read them over again to be certain of what she was trying communicate to me. She said I was a skilled writer, that she couldn’t put the book down, that it was a page turner and she felt honored to have been the one to edit this book. All great things but the final words on the page really stood out.

Something more than words was coming through the pages.

I will summarize what she said in her last paragraph to me – out of some coincidence what happened to Danny (the main protagonist) at the age of three happened to her at nearly the same age, around the same time, in the same room, near the same object, left with the same reminder, and she was born nearly the same year as the main character.

She said that she must have been destined to edit this book. Wow! I do find this an interesting thing that has happened.

I don’t want to give away too much as many have not read this book, and you won’t know what I’m talking about

The coincidence is truly astounding. I’m sure once people read the first part of the book they’ll know exactly what i”m talking about when I refer to what happened to Danny at the age of three.

I’m very humbled by the feedback I received. The editor, Angela, did a wonderful job on the story critique and the line edits. This was my second round through Create Space, outside of other edits done by Lydia Rigsby, my wife, and by Kristen James. I had been through several rounds of edits on my own and with each pass made changes, worked out the kinks before sending for final edits.

Create Space editors never speak to the authors – there is no direct way to contact them. You can only upload your manuscript for the editor, who downloads, makes edits, then uploads when completed for the author.

I leave it to you to ponder now, to wonder how the main character, Danny, in The Broken Christmas Tree, and a Create Space editor could experience the same thing, around the same year, and nearly at the same age, in the same room, near the same object, and be left with the same reminder.

Image Credit: Pondering by anutjojo