The Kendricks 1300

January 4, 2026

It seems this new year has already brought a milestone. Thirteen hundred posts here at Between the Keys. Never did I imagine, way back in January 2008, that I'd still be blogging on this platform. I wasn't at all sure I would like writing blogs, but here we are at thirteen hundred. 

It's been a while since I posted number twelve hundred in September 2023. So much has happened since then. My beloved Ron passed from this life, and I've settled into retirement on my little manor. Both have been life-altering. My retirement days are much as I envisioned, but losing Ron was like living in a black hole. Enough time has passed and I'm almost back to my "old" self. 

I posted the 2025 Retrospective just two days ago, so I won't repeat everything today. I invite you to go back and check out that post about a look back at the past year. 

This post is a simple one - let's mark the milestone! As I write this post, tomorrow will be Sunday, January 4, 2026, and the last day of the New Year's holiday. This post will go up in the wee hours. I'll enjoy Sunday, because Monday is the big back-to-work day, even for writers. I'll be posting promos for January After Dark on Monday, something I postponed due to the Christmas/New Year's holidays. Along with that, I will resume work on the next story (or two). 

Will there be a Kendricks 1400? I hope so, but if I've learned anything recently, it's that the universe does not respect plans made too far in advance. Knowing that gives me the proper tools to work with going forward. I wonder where I'll actually end up? 

     _*_*_*_*_*_*_

 KC Kendricks

My home on the web- Between the Keys: 

http://kckendricks.blogspot.com

Visit my bookshelf at: 

https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/bookshelf.html

Social media links:

Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com

My country life at The Hideaway/Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com

Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/KCKendricks

twitter.com/kckendricks

facebook.com/kckendricks

KC Kendricks, Rayne Forrest, Between the Keys, milestone, future writings, m/m romance, LGBT gay romance, loss of spouse, planning ahead, rural living, retrospectives, Kindle romances, blogging

The annoying question that will not go away

 June 12, 2025

Well, that was... what? Putting the Rayne Forrest titles on Kindle Unlimited has been a bust. No traction. It's very disappointing to the author side of me. 

A third of my life has been dedicated to writing, and the question I've been grappling with is no closer to a resolution. If I continue to write, how does it fit into my life NOW? 

When I was a newbie, more established authors said to write the story you want to read because you may be the only person to read it. This is true. 

When I was a newbie, more established authors said don't quit your day job because most writers can't live on their royalties. This is true. I made some pocket change but no where near enough to live on. 

When I was a newbie, more established authors said don't look at readers to validate your work. This is true. 

When I was a newbie, I couldn't imagine a time when I'd consider no longer writing. Here I am. 

My late husband fought cancer for twenty-four years, and he fought the good fight. I miss him every day, but we talked. Really talked. What about? About life after he was gone. He gave me a rare gift with his words. 

To say I've "rebuilt" my life is not precisely accurate. I've continued on in the life we built, but I'm adding individual touches in places I'd not anticipated. This is a good thing for me. I love the life we built and shared, and I love what I've added to it. 

These days, writing feels like making a choice between an intellectual practice and living my life. Which one do I feel is more important? 

Is this the question that won't go away, or the question with the answer I don't want to accept? 

 _*_*_*_*_*_*_

KC Kendricks
My home on the web- Between the Keys: 
http://kckendricks.blogspot.com
Visit my bookshelf at: 
https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/bookshelf.html

Social media links:

twitter.com/kckendricks

facebook.com/kckendricks

Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@KCKendricks

Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com

My country life at The Hideaway/Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com

KC Kendricks, Between the Keys, Rayne Forrest, LBGTQ gay romance, m/m romance, questions, romance author, Kindle romance, a writer's life, country living, social media, life decisions, loss of spouse

Updates from the Manor

June 10, 2025

I've been busy. Country living isn't all sipping bourbon on the porch. It's constant movement before it's time to sit on the porch (or patio in my case). The other day, I made a little video to show what's been going on lately and posted it. 

Making videos started years ago as a way to entertain my late husband. As he lost mobility, I videoed walks with the dogs and areas of the Manor he couldn't access with his power chair. He enjoyed it. And I videoed some of his antics on the tractor.  He requested a video of the professional tree trimmers taking down the leaning maple, so we shot that from the safety of the sunroom porch. 

These days making a video is more about a record for myself. Some future me is going to look back and remember that the woman of today did exist. Heck, I need these videos now to prove to my running buddies that THIS WOMAN can really operate a tractor and a chainsaw. 

So I made a little video. Go watch it. Subscribe to my channel and help me out. I'll never sneak into the YT algorithm if you don't. 

KC

KC Kendricks, Between the Keys, YouTube video, LGBTQ gay romance, gardening, making videos, country lifestyle, rural living, Holly Tree Manor, romance author, life updates, new things, m/m romance, loss of spouse, rebuilding life

The door is open

March 28, 2025

A year ago today, my late husband and I shared our final conversation. He died less than two full days later. 

I'm struggling with the fact it's been a year - three hundred sixty five days - and yet the memory is still fresh and clear in my mind. 

Where do I go from here? It's a serious question to which I have no definitive answer. 

I've survived the last year and I'll say it myself because I doubt anyone else will - I've managed it very well. Ron spent the last years of his life preparing me, teaching me, empowering me. He was a good man. He knew what was coming and making sure I was ready was more important than preparing himself for his own passing. Again, he was a good man. 

The door is open. The future invites all of us to step through and see where the path goes, but that first step is daunting. And there is a first step to take in every day. 

I suppose I need to give myself this weekend to reflect and grieve. To acknowledge it has been a year since Ron died is to acknowledge just how real the future without him will be. 

In some ways, I've been waiting for this first anniversary to come and go. It doesn't make absolute sense to me but at the same time it does. It's a completed cycle. It's proof I can manage on my own. It tells me some of the jokes with my girlfriends about not wanting to take on another man are not jokes but fact. I do not want to be a caregiver again, and at my age, it's certain I'd eventually become one. I'm saying no even if it means being on my own for the rest of my days. 

Beyond the open door lies freedom, the kind of which it's time to experience. The only question that needs to be answered now is am I really brave enough to accept the invitation?

 _*_*_*_*_*_*_

KC Kendricks
My home on the web- Between the Keys: 
http://kckendricks.blogspot.com
Visit my bookshelf at: 
https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/bookshelf.html

Social media links:

twitter.com/kckendricks

facebook.com/kckendricks

Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@KCKendricks

Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com

My country life at The Hideaway/Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com

KC Kendricks, Between the Keys, a writer's life, m/m romance, LGBT gay romance, Kindle novels, rural living, loss of spouse, grief, moving forward, contemporary gay romance, erotic romance novels

Another step forward

 

March 16, 2025

So I got a new phone. 

Why is this news? Because it means I finally had Ron's phone disconnected. I will no longer be able to dial his old number and hear his voice. This was hard to do. 

Yes, I paid the extra money to keep his phone active for the past year. My money and my choice. Maybe someday those among you who haven't yet lived through such loss will understand because the big loss will come, be it parent, spouse, child, or sibling. No one gets an exemption. 

I didn't get the best phone on the market. I don't need it. My phone is my PHONE. I talk, text, take pictures and videos (of the dog), and I check the weather. I don't find struggling to read on such a small screen enjoyable. I much prefer the computer for actual work. I do tend to compartmentalize my life, and work is done at my desk with two large monitors. 

Figuring out the new phone has been frustrating. Even YouTube only got me so far. The good news is that I'm getting there. I figured out how to turn the volume and brightness up - yea! The bad news is I ended up setting new passwords all over the place. This did not make me happy, but Google knew it wasn't talking to my old phone and wanted to make sure I'd not been hacked. It was a mess because there is me me and writer me on the same devices. Someone at Google doesn't get it. 

A new phone means a new case for said phone, so off I went to Amazon. There were too many choices and I likely made the wrong one. We'll see later today when Big A arrives. Why they run a truck all the way out here instead of mailing the case I'll never know. Obviously a thin cell phone case would fit in the mailbox. I doesn't make any sense to me since I live waaaaay out in the boondocks. And living waaaaay out here is why I use Amazon instead of driving twenty miles to the nearest shopping center every week. But I digress...

I'm usually pretty hard on myself when decisions involve my emotions. I tell myself it's silly to be sad over a necessary business decision. I know the truth in that. Ron's voice has been gone for almost a year. Letting go of a mechanical facsimile is a logical step, yet grief knows little of logic. 

I went to the cell phone store first thing in the morning and I was exhausted the rest of the day. But this morning, two days later, I picked up the new phone to check the weather forecast and I knew everything on the phone front was okay. 

We move forward step by step, and it seems I've taken a few more. 

     _*_*_*_*_*_*_

 KC Kendricks

My home on the web- Between the Keys: 

http://kckendricks.blogspot.com

Visit my bookshelf at: 

https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/bookshelf.html

Social media links:

Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com

My country life at The Hideaway/Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com

Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@KCKendricks

twitter.com/kckendricks

facebook.com/kckendricks

KC Kendricks, Between the Keys, a writer's life, loss of spouse, LGBT gay romance, m/m romance, Kindle gay romance, rural living, cell phone, country lifestyle, writers on writing, life changes

Forward progress!

June 4, 2024

Forward progress was made today! I was determined to accomplish two things and both of them worked out great. I incorporated an idea into one of the WIPs and I fleshed out the premise and character bios for an idea I've been kicking around for a fourth story set in Centerville. I'm calling it a WIN!. 

Maybe it was a reflection of the decal I put up above the patio doors this morning. "She believed she could so she did." It was an impulse purchase but it's something I need to remember. I need to set my mind to a task and do it. And maybe  blogging yesterday about my unrest helped bring what I want into better focus. 

Since Ron passed, I've been procrastinating on a lot of fronts. I've handled those things that were urgent, but let other things, like the writing, slide. It's been bothering me which is why I'm blogging about it again. I don't like procrastination. I don't like that I fell into that trap. And yet I know I need to allow myself some leeway. The death of a spouse changes everything. 

Ron encouraged me to write. He was amazed, and a bit envious, that I could write not one story, but over seventy stories. In the early writing years, he sent me to the computer while he put the dinner dishes in the dishwasher. Times change but the memory of the ways he supported me remain. Now I need to remember his voice saying, "don't you have a book to finish?'

Yes, Ron, I believe I do. It may still take a while, but at least for tonight, I believe I'll actually get it finished. 

    _*_*_*_*_*_*_

 KC Kendricks

My home on the web- Between the Keys: 

http://kckendricks.blogspot.com

Visit my bookshelf at: 

https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/bookshelf.html

Social media links:

Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com

My country life at The Hideaway/Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com

Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the Keys

twitter.com/kckendricks

facebook.com/kckendricks

KC Kendricks, Between the Keys, contemporary gay romance, m/m romance, romance for Kindle, writers on writing, loss of spouse, procrastination, gaining focus, character bios, LGBT romance

Privilege and burden

April 6, 2024

One week. It seems a lot longer.

There is a hole in my life that RC inhabited. It may never seal over, but I see signs it will close. I've put down an area rug so Deuce can be more comfortable on the hardwood floor. I've rearranged the furniture now that I don't need to allow for RC's mobility limitations. Rearranging the furniture allowed me to bring my grandmother's Eastlake rocker back to the living room. 

It feels strange that such a small thing as having my grandmother's rocker back in my living space would have such a big impact. Being in the house with just Deuce and Loki has me reflecting on how much RC's health impacted the way we lived. Should I lie and say I feel no satisfaction in moving everything to where I want it? No, I will not. 

I was twenty-six when my father died. The hospital called and told Mom she should come in "right away." Dad was gone when we arrived. My mother uttered these words: "I'm free."  It shocked my young self but now I understand. No matter how much you love your spouse, caring for them through illness and end of life is both privilege and burden. 

I don't regret the thirty years we spent together. We had good times before he had the first cancer. After that, we did the best we could do. 

Will I be lonely? I have been lonely. Everywhere I went, I went alone because it was so difficult for him to get in and out of a vehicle. That will not change. 

Will I work harder around the house and yard? I was already doing everything. That will not change. 

But there will still be a hole in my life. His steadying presence is gone. His knowledge is gone, although I learned a lot from him. 

Like my mother, I'm free, and that, too, is both privilege and burden. 

_*_*_*_*_*_*_

KC Kendricks
My home on the web- Between the Keys: 
http://kckendricks.blogspot.com
Visit my bookshelf at: 
https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/bookshelf.html

Social media links:

twitter.com/kckendricks

pinterest.com/kckendricks/boards

instagram.com/kc_kendricks

facebook.com/kckendricks

Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the Keys

Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com

My country life at The Hideaway/Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com

KC Kendricks, Between the Keys, loss of spouse, Kindle romance, life changes, Rayne Forrest, rural living, Eastlake, living alone