Reese Ryan

Music Monday 1 – Love is Complicated

March 25, 2013 by ReeseRyan

I’ve been watching on the sidelines for a few weeks and today I was inspired to jump onto the Music Monday Blog Hop hosted by Meg at the Book Asylum. Music Monday is a blog hop that showcases songs which remind us of specific books.

The inspiration for my first Monday Music pick struck when I heard Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated” while riding in the car the other day. I still love this song, and haven’t been able to get it out of my head for the past three days.

Complicated – Avril Lavigne

Makes me think of . . .

I love me some Mary J. And while this isn’t my fave Mary J. Blige song, I think she expresses a sentiment with which many can identify in “Mr. Wrong.”

Mr. Wrong – Mary J. Blige

Makes me think of . . .

So Music Monday #1 has revealed my current Jami Alden addiction. The woman has sexy contemporary romance on a string. Seriously.

So What About You?

Do either of these songs make you think of a specific book? Or do any of these books make you think of other songs? I’d love to hear what you think in the comments below.

Phenomenal Woman – That’s Me

February 21, 2013 by ReeseRyan

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.

~ Sam Levenson

I’ll admit with a bowed head that I haven’t given as much attention to poetry, as a genre, as I should. Yet there are a few poems that were so inspiring that they’ve stayed with me and I often draw strength from them. One such poem is the powerful ode to women written by Maya Angelou, “Phenomenal Woman.” It is a gorgeous, lyrical poem that celebrates what makes a woman truly beautiful. When I heard about the Beauty of a Woman Blogfest, via writer Misty Dietz, I knew I had to be part of it.

The Beauty of a Woman Blogfest, hosted by August McLaughlin, is designed to celebrate our vastly diverse definitions of what makes a woman beautiful. The blogfest is inspired by a poem by Sam Levenson of the same name, with which I wasn’t familiar, but is now among my favorites. My focus for this post is Levenson’s words above.

We can all appreciate the outer beauty of a woman who is pleasing to the eye because she meets the “traditional” standard of beauty. However, while people are drawn to a pretty face, it isn’t enough to make them hang around. Rather, it is a beauty that resides much deeper within that draws us to people and makes us want to stick to them, love them, and support them. A beauty of spirit.

I’ve been fortunate to know many amazing women in my life who are truly, and deeply beautiful. Women who offer to hop a plane and support me through an emotional crisis, even when doing so creates a hardship for her. Women who don’t except my dutiful responses to tough questions, and support me even when they don’t like my honest answer. Women who see what is truly amazing about me, even when I’ve lost sight of it myself.

That is what makes a woman–a girlfriend, a sister, a mother, a fellow writer–truly beautiful.

Having such beautiful women in my life makes me a better person, one who wants to support other women in the same way. So thank you to all of the phenomenal women in my life, and to those who support women everywhere.

As for Maya Angelou’s poem, “Phenomenal Woman,” no-one could render her words quite like the woman herself. Enjoy!

Starting to Feel Real

September 18, 2012 by ReeseRyan

I’ve been walking around suspended somewhere between joy and disbelief, as if waiting to be awakened from my dream. It’s a bad habit that simply refuses to die.

So whenever someone says, “You must be thrilled about getting published,” I nod and force a smile while holding my breath. But recently, I finally released that breath and grinned. It suddenly became very real. A member of one of my online writing groups forwarded me a copy of the acquisition announcement from Publishers Lunch:

[Reese Ryan’s] TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, in which a woman’s new job means she must return to her Cleveland hometown, where she finds herself torn between the philanthropist whose secret past she may not be able to overcome, and the ex-bad boy from her hometown, who’s newly single and may be her only chance at saving her career, to Angela James of Carina Press, in a two-book deal, for publication in 2013 (world). September 17, 2012.

Then I saw this awesome tweet by Angela James:

[blackbirdpie url=”https://mobile.twitter.com/angelajames/statuses/248151606242197504″]

(RaleighRoxStar is my old Twitter handle.)

Yep, things are starting to feel pretty real. Feels good.