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Rachel O'Laughlin

author of the SERENGARD series and other dark meat

Portfolio

Family in the Wildwood

Young Woman and the Sea

January Stills

Train Traveling

A quick summary of my current existence.

I adore strong coffee, The Fray, long drives in the country, and compelling stories about humans. Most of my writings are epic fantasy or historical fiction, but occasionally I get distracted by a thriller or short story project. My most recent novel, Blood of Ashlin (the final installment in the SERENGARD series) is just a little bit gritty with a dose of redemption. I live in Maine with my husband and kids. Together we grow roses and spinach.

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Occasionally I type up deep (or shallow) things and post them. You can be so informed.

The Only Social Media I Update: Insta

Late evening gardening self-portrait. I've been thinking a lot about the things I love to do, how they're a part of me, how I hate to professionalize them because I truly adore the state of being an amateur (from the French amor, which literally means "to love", translated roughly "to do for the love of") and how that has effected my squeamishness in asking for money for anything I do. I reject the diddly phrase "time is money" because the two things are light years from each other, actually. Money is a mathematical substance. You can always multiply and divide money. You can find money sitting around on a sidewalk. Someone can hand you money for no reason at all, or you can hand it to someone who needs it more than you. Time? None of us can add a single hour to our lives. Not even the richest human has been allotted more days. We can buy babysitters and quiet spaces, but all we've done is shuffle around what we're doing with our time; we can never actually purchase it. Getting paid for what I do is not a bad thing, but it runs the risk of cheapening it. I pour my heart into something and then slap a $10 price tag on it? Ick. This is why The Arts have such a messed up value system; because art is a labor and expression of love, and money can't buy you love. Love is always a gift. Money paid for art has to be a gift in return--a simple, "I know that this love cost you in physical form, so here is something that cost me physically to produce as well." There are so many investments we make in life--art is only one of them--that are tangible, valuable, and even virtuous, but can never be measured mathematically.

Volume 2 is dog-eared within a month of arrival. Eldredge boys, we need Volume 3. "ANOTHER!" (in a Thor voice) #AndSonsMagazine #printcomeback #initiation #heart #soul #adventure #podcast

My favorite jobs are the ones we do together. In 9 1/2 years of married life, he has had much pulling him one way, I have had much pulling me another. He is practical and driven. I am artsy and often go the long way around. It can be hard to synchronize. We've worked at it. Worked and worked at it. If every day is ice cream, the days we spend working together are whipped cream, nuts and a cherry.

10-month-old puts a fresh spin on "mudding".

Some things bloom all winter. Other things, like aphids, hibernate all winter and attack the spinach first thing in April. #latergram #fromMarchactually