• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to footer

Rhonda Zatezalo

Author. Dreamer. Designer.

  • home
  • about
  • blog
  • Become a Patron!
  • Fiction
  • Vargen Universe
  • Non-Fiction
  • All work

Uncategorized

On Hats & Quitting

September 27, 2020 By Rhonda Zatezalo Leave a Comment

Wear all your hats.

One of my previous jobs was located on the construction site for large commercial buildings. During the summer of 1999 the job site was the  world headquarters building of a bank, a project with a 75 million dollar budget. The place was huge. Our foreman, a fun guy with a serious work ethic received the news that some tradespeople were having trouble working through differences. He placed the hardhat on his head and said, “Not just a hardhat, also a mediators hat.” Of course, being 1999 and a rough construction site, the words were a bit less refined and probably included a cuss word, but we’ll leave the quote as is. Everyone knows the concept of wearing different hats in a job. But when does “being a hat rack” interfere with our main work?

I’ve always been a curious person and as such, I’ve worn a LOT of hats. I don’t know if I was that kid that always asked why, but I was the kid in the library, the workshop, running around outside poking my nose into every ditch or burrow. I wanted to know all the things. I’d read everything I could. At one point I could name almost every horse breed, their typical purpose, and recognize them on sight. 

Often, once my curiosity was sated I’d move on to something new. This frustrated my mom to no end. She saw it as quitting, but how could I know what life was like if I didn’t try it all out?

This sampling of life hasn’t changed much through the years. It’s led me through many different jobs and a few careers. I’ve been a horse wrangler at a boy’s camp, an oil change technician, an accounts payable clerk, a seller of candles, office clerk/coordinator for that commercial construction company, web designer, graphic designer, marketing person and writer of both non-fiction and fiction. And for hobbies, I’m a gardener, a jewelry maker, a gamer, a painter, and the person who fixes all and sundry around the house. The list is almost exhausting! I like fixing or building things. It’s one of my happy places.

If something interests me, I research it until that itch is scratched. We live in the perfect age for this. Oh, me and the Dewey Decimal System and the card catalog used to be buds, but Google’s my new BFF. The funny thing is, the more I learn, the more I can’t UNlearn.

I’m a graphic designer by trade. I went to school, even got good grades. I love graphic design and enjoy creating beautiful things that communicate ideas. However, this training makes doing something simple like updating my published articles on this website a much longer process. I need to find just the right photo, have them all look uniform, then make sure the code lets them all line up properly. I can’t stop being a designer because I now make my living writing. And I can’t not tweak the code just because I’m the end user, not the coder. 

It’s a funny thing to have worn so many identities through the years. And to have gotten to an age where they compete with each other when I try to finish something. How do I tell Designer-Me to shut up and just get the info on the page? How do I tell Coder-Me that I don’t NEED to relearn PSP and the newest WordPress to get things to align properly? And for that matter, how do I tell Writer-Me that the typo in my social media post isn’t THAT big a deal? 

(By the way, I’ve never claimed to be a typist. Never learned, and still look at the keyboard more than half the time.) #funfact? 

There are a lot of negative words to describe someone with my breadth of experience. Quitter. Dilettante. Dabbler. That first one used to really hurt me. Quitter. But the thing is, it’s GOOD to quit things that are bad for you. Smoking, realtionships, habits. That means quitting isn’t all bad. I think it’s important to remember that trying something new is good. And wisdom tells me it isn’t bad to move on to something else if the first doesn’t fit. So instead of those other labels, I’ve chosen Curiosity Junkie. Junkie has it’s own bad connotations which might trigger some people and I’m sorry for that. But it works for me. If it really bugs you let me know. I can use just “Curious.” Or maybe suggest an alternative label. My worlds are an inclusive place. I never want people to feel like they aren’t safe here. 

Now I have to go fight with my designer-self to get these articles updated. I’ve a years worth to add. What’s that saying? The cobbler’s kid always goes barefoot? 

What past jobs either hinder or help your current work or hobbies? I’d love to hear about them and how you deal with it. 

Filed Under: random, Uncategorized

Alignment of Focus

July 3, 2020 By Rhonda Zatezalo

It’s July 2020.  Wait, what?

My last blog said something about 2018 and now we’re halfway done with this year. Yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve been in touch. I had solid plans for 2019 with lots of focus on fiction, and less focus on non-fiction. Turns out, life presented opportunities to focus on non-fiction and it was a good decision

Flash forward to now and guess what? I’ve been able to focus on my fiction and have new work ready to show you.

So, how do you get your hands on the new stories? Patreon!

Cover image showing Boston street in 1919

Many people don’t know what Patreon is or why an author would use it. (I know, they’ve asked.) So I’m going to try and answer those questions now.

Patreon is a platform that creators of all types can use to deliver content directly to their fans. Patrons (aka readers) set up an account and receive early access, exclusive stories, and behind the scenes content for as a little as a dollar a month.

Why Patreon instead of selling stories on Amazon? (or Nook, Kobo, etc.)

Right now, the stories I’m ready to share aren’t book length. Some are flash fiction, some are short stories, and others are still works in progress. Short fiction doesn’t sell well on the ebook market, and you certainly can’t sell unfinished work.

I want to provide finished stories to my fans and get some feedback on the unfinished stuff. This is where Patreon shines. It offers features you can’t find anywhere else. As a Patron, you get direct access to creators. You can customize your experience to get involved as much—or as little—as you want. Like to give feedback on stories? Great! You can. Want to just read content? You can do that too.

The benefits to creators are awesome too. One of my main goals is to be published by a large publishing house. Publishing houses and magazines have specific rules for unpublished work vs. reprints. By keeping everything behind the Patreon wall, anything I share there is still considered “unpublished.” Which makes it more enticing to publishers.

I’ve finished a new Vargen story, complete with hand-drawn cover art. It’s a fun tale that follows a Vargen traveler to the city of Boston in 1919. What should have been a simple information exchange, becomes a sticky ordeal after an explosion floods the North End. This story will be part of an upcoming Vargen anthology, but in July you can get it through Patreon. 

So what do you get as my Patron? New stories every month in a variety of genres that you help choose, the ability to provide feedback, a monthly hangout with me, and a look behind the scenes into a writer’s life. I’d love for you to join me on this journey.

Become a Patron!

Filed Under: Fiction, News, Uncategorized

Short Story Update

January 26, 2017 By Rhonda Zatezalo Leave a Comment

Whew! The first draft of my Vargen short story is finished and I’m slogging through edits, making the story deeper, the world more entrancing – I hope! I wrote this story to fit the theme of an anthology coming out in August this year. (Crossing my fingers it will be selected for publication!) It was fun to write and I got to know some new characters in my world. In fact, I like them enough that I’m sure they’ll be showing up in the trilogy. The timing of this story is current day, which is about 16 Earth years before the events in book one. That’s just over 5 years on Vargen. The time difference between the worlds is a driving force of this story. So what’s it about?

On Earth – Loren, a small girl on summer vacation in the national parks, disappears from a remote campsite. Park services team up with local law enforcement to find the missing girl.
On Vargen – Cheyaron, a shepherd of the forest, finds an odd girl in the woods and rescues her from a dangerous creature. Since the girl only speaks gibberish, Chey brings her to the council for help. A stranger tells Chey he can help the girl if Cheyaron agrees to show him where she was found immediately. The trio must hurry to get her home before she is stuck in their world. Along the way Chey puts the pieces together to discover there is more to his world than he ever dreamed.
Will Loren get home? Will Chey be able to keep his knowledge?

I can’t wait for you to find out!

I’ll keep you updated on this short story’s journey to publication. As always, thanks for reading. I appreciate you!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Footer

with gratitude

Writing is an exercise of creation, but publishing is one of vulnerability. I am profoundly grateful to my friends, family and fans for their support and feedback. I’m also grateful to the critics–you help me stay humble and strive for better work.

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets

Stay in touch!



Copyright © 2023 · Crearies · Log in

 

Loading Comments...