Rainbow's End Publishing Expanded Catalog : Driftwood -- Novel and Music Companion (videos, CD and MP3 links, and lyrics) by Beth Mitchum

High Tide: A Sequel to Driftwood

Authored by Beth Mitchum

List Price: $15.95

6" x 9" (15.24 x 22.86 cm)
Black & White on Cream paper
242 pages

ISBN-13: 978-1497334373
ISBN-10: 1497334373
BISAC: Fiction / Lesbian

A sequel to Driftwood, High Tide continues the story of Rita Capri, a dedicated beachcomber who has beached herself on the shores of Cannon Beach, Oregon. After having lost her love after a mere 6 years together, she buries herself in grief and makes an art of it. She loses her father and mother following the death of her lover, and each time has to find a way to deal with grief. Soon after her mother's passing, her departed lover speaks to her, encouraging her to move on and open her heart to love. She then encounters a new and intriguing woman who reminds her of her late partner, although she is connected to Rita in ways Beth never was. After their initial encounter, they find themselves attracted to each other, but are unsure if it is love or infatuation. Neither of them is interested in being hurt again.

Excerpts from High Tide:

Then I cried out loud, “Damnit, Beth, why did you have to leave me? Now I am the only one again!”
In the quiet of the car, I heard her soft voice in my head whispering, “You’re not the only one. I’m still nearby, but it’s time you found someone you can hold at night.” Not having heard her voice in a while, I was startled by this sudden piercing of the veil. “Open your heart again to love, Rita. You need someone to treasure you. I’m still here and always will be, but there’s someone out there for you. Allow her to find you.”
“What do you mean?” I called to the air.
Quietly she repeated. “Allow her to find you. She’s looking for you.”
I slammed my fist down on the steering wheel. “But I want you!”
I felt her quiet denial of this request. Then the silence in my head nearly deafened me. Her palpable physical absence created a vacuum in my mt heart and my arms. I couldn’t even bring myself to fill that void with tears. Then somewhere in the quiet of the car, a spark of hope lit a flame of wonder inside me. She’s looking for me. She’s looking for me. She’s looking for me!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We melted into a soft kiss that grew more frantic and hungry. I knew she’d have to leave soon, but before she did, I wanted to make love to her one more time, this time in my bed, rather than on the hard floor of our desperation. I wanted this love act to flow from a place of knowing, a place of tenderness. When the kiss slowed, I took her hand and led her to my bedroom. Once there, I pulled back the fresh sheets and pulled her shirt up over her head again and began a slow dance of lovemaking that was rapidly melting into a pool of love. Love that was based in understanding. I had an irresistible yearning for something powerful enough to reach in and pry me from this refuge that had been meant to keep at bay the pain of life. My heart was opening again to love and a life that sometimes slammed you against the rocks. I was willing to open up every pore in my body, even if it meant being smashed again.

Driftwood

Authored by Beth Mitchum

List Price: $15.95

6" x 9" (15.24 x 22.86 cm)
Black & White on Cream paper
194 pages

ISBN-13: 978-1438294940
ISBN-10: 1438294948
BISAC: Fiction / Lesbian

Driftwood is a book about transformation. It tells the story of Rita Capri, a woman who feels compelled to set sail into uncharted waters in the midst of her own stormy sea of a life. Leaving a dissatisfying marriage of convenience was only the beginning of her life's journey into more authentic and honest living. She woke up from her life of sleepwalking to find that she had the power to choose how she lived, who she loved, and what she could do to build her own life in a new way. This is a story about one woman, but it offers a glimpse into how each of us can and does make our own decisions about how we live, even if that choice involves acquiescence to societal and cultural expectations rather than chooses based on our own dreams and desires.

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From the Back Cover:

A chance encounter on the beach launches Rita on a journey of introspection and self-exploration. Realizing that there is something missing in her life and in her marriage of convenience, Rita begins to ask honest questions about herself, her husband, and her life choices. Beth, a woman who is quite accustomed to looking past the surface, challenges Rita to look beyond the status quo to find out what it is that she truly wants from life. When she does, Rita is startled to find that very little of what she formerly called her "life" reflects her own desires. She discovers that she has been sleepwalking through her life for years. When Rita awakens suddenly in the midst of her illusory world, she finds that she is virtually a stranger there.

Rita's transformation leads her to places she never expected to go, towards a love and a life she never thought she'd find. Her journey has inspired readers to take their own journeys towards their true selves. You hold a book in your hand that will leave you changed in some way. Embrace transformation and allow the journey to take you where it will. Caterpillars don't try to change into butterflies; it just happens on its own accord when the right time arrives. While our journeys may be different, we all follow the same types of paths to get to where we need to be--to find our way back to our core being and our life's purpose.

From the Author:

"I knew from the moment I spotted her on the beach that my life would never be the same. I don't know what it was exactly that drew my attention to her. Yet I knew instinctively that she was it--the catalyst. I was forever changed before the first 'hello.'"

This 1st paragraph of the story is critical to understanding that the protagonist, Rita, was already preparing herself for metamorphosis. She was ready for her life to be different than it had been up to this moment in time. What that difference would entail, she had no idea, but she knew that it was tied to the woman she meets on the beach.

Driftwood is a story with its own story behind it. The seed of the story was planted one day when I was walking on the Oregon Coast (just north of Cannon Beach, the setting for the novel). On this particular weekend trip to the beach, I picked up a well-tumbled small piece of driftwood. It was smooth and had interesting bends and twists in it. It had a story to tell me. Driftwood is that story.

Since it was first published in 2000, I've been contacted by people around the globe telling me that the story touched them deeply. People from all walks of life have been helped through their particular time of transition by reading this book. It has even launched a few people on their own journey of self-discovery.

Driftwood is a story about transformation. As humans, we all change and grow. If we don't grow, we wither and die. The consequences of changing are not always easy, and the ways in which we grow and change are infinite, but change is part of the human condition. Embracing life changes is what allows each of us to be transformed into the beautiful butterfly we are meant to be.

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Fly Me Away

Fly me away to another galaxy

Follow the path of a shooting star

Give me a ride on the back of a comet's tail

Take me to wherever you are

Glide on the wind of a timeless solar flare

Play among drops of the milky away

Circle the edge of a black hole mystery

Take me to a better day

Swoop in on times that have come and gone again

Visit the king of the sword and stone

Leap on ahead to the future's alternatives

Take me to a time of my own

I'll never fit in this age or this universe

The person I am just can't conform

Just give me a time and a place where I can live

True to the soul who was born

Fly me away to another galaxy

Follow the path of a shooting star

Give me a ride on the back of a comet's tail

Take me to wherever you are

Suddenly Unearthed

What do I see in you?

I felt it the moment you entered the room.

What is this power, this magical pull

that draws me close to you?

Close to you

I want to be close to you

Close to you

I want to be close to you

You're not an ethereal character

escaped from the pages of fantasy.

You're solid and real and very near,

so near I can almost touch you,

but I don't even know your name.

You're a stranger and yet, we must've met

in a dream that I dreamed one night.

Oh, in a dream I dreamed one night.

Oh, in a dream I dreamed one night

You're not from this world, or maybe you are

before I saw you, I was so sure

That this life was all there was to live

But now I don't know, I don't know

Whispers in the Night

You speak so tenderly to me

Oh, your love whispers in the night

You speak so tenderly

Your love, until the morning light

When my memories overwhelm me

and weave a web of tangled emotions

my heart is eclipsed with yearning

to rush headlong into the night

But you speak so tenderly to me

Oh, your love whispers in the night

You speak so tenderly

Your love, until the morning light

When that subtle sower of confusion

finds its way into the furrows of my heart,

my mind absorbs its tales artfully spun

until I stumble into the darkness of night

But you speak so tenderly to me

Oh, your love whispers in the night

You speak so tenderly

Your love, until the morning light

You speak so tenderly to me

I hear you calling me

You’re gonna see me through the night

You speak so tenderly

Don’t you know I hear you calling me?

You’re gonna see me through this darkest night

Special Touch

You're a mystery to me

You're the wonder in my mind

I'm yearning to reach for the key.

Yet I'm afraid of what I'll find.

Will you be the beauty of a flower in bloom?

Or will you be the solitude of a special room?

Oh, I wish I had the time and chance

to make you take a second glance.

I wish I had that special touch

to let you know you mean so much to me.

You're a secret locked away

You're the falter when I speak

I'm longing to make you stay

until I find what I seek

Will you be the ocean wave that washes my mind?

Or will you the rhythm harmonizing with my rhyme?

Oh, I wish I had the time and chance

to make you take a second glance.

I wish I had that special touch

to let you know you mean so much to me.

You're a frightened little child.

You're the longing in my heart.

I'll be searching for awhile

to know just how and where to start

Will you be the mountainside that finally sets me free?

Or will you be the gentle hand that strums the melody?

Oh, I wish I had the time and chance

to make you take a second glance.

I wish I had that special touch

to let you know you mean so much to me.

You’ve just got to know

that you mean so much to me

Choices

Things have changed; I've lost my way.

Skies I used to see have faded into gray.

Day by day, I've fallen back.

Memories of my yesteryear have thrown me off the track.

Looking ahead to the morning sun.

Trying to stop myself from being on the run.

Life is not as I wanted it to be.

I've become someone who is not even me.

Choices are simple, as long as they're not mine.

Answers are easy, but changing takes up time.

I can never face tomorrow from the standpoint of today.

Goals I want to reach are a million miles away.

Letting go of the days gone by.

Praying that the veil will fall from my eyes.

I'm going to find that road again.

It may take time, and just a little bit of pain.

Choices are simple, as long as they're not mine.

Answers are easy, but changing takes up time.

I can never face tomorrow from the standpoint of today.

Goals I want to reach are a million miles away.

Caught in a Nightmare

I'm running out of breath; and my pen's running out of ink

I don't know where to go, I cannot even think

I've been searching for something, but I don't know what

I act as though I'm free, yet I know I'm caught

Caught in a nightmare and I can't wake up

I'm locked in a room that is gonna blow up

Running from myself, running from this dream

Running from the city with its glitter and gleam

If there is an answer then it better come quickly

I need an overdose of reality

I thought that getting high would surely set me free

But, now the walls are moving, darkness is closing in on me

Caught in a nightmare and I can't wake up

I'm locked in a room that is gonna blow up

Running from myself, running from this dream

Running from the city with its glitter and gleam

Crying in the Night

Sometimes it gets so lonely

living in this big old house of mine

It seems like such a shame

Living in the city isn't

what people told me it would be

No one knows my name

I met a man and married

when I was just nineteen years old

I thought I was in love

I don't know what happened

He tells me that he loves me,

but it's just not enough

And here I am once again

crying in the night

Here I am once again

waiting for morning light

I met a woman last week,

and though I barely knew her name

We talked most of the night

She seemed to understand

the deepest feelings within me

as I thought she might

So unexpectedly,

I felt myself falling in love

Could it be true?

If only I could be sure,

then I would give myself to her,

if I only knew

And here I am once again

crying in the night

Here I am once again

waiting for morning light

Pieces

Pieces and pieces

All fit together

They form a lifetime

Weighed with the feather

Pieces of poetry

Pieces of pie

Floating like driftwood

Down from the sky

Pieces and pieces

All so elusive

Part of the puzzle

They know what they give

Pieces of poetry

Pieces of pie

Floating like driftwood

Down from the sky

Pieces and pieces

Words of the sages

Yielding the same truth

Throughout the ages

Pieces of poetry

Pieces of pie

All fit together

The day we die

Never Be the Same

You changed me in an instant

When you made me look your way

I haven't gotten over you

Ever since that fateful day

I knew you in a moment

And that I'd loved you before

Now that I've found you again

I love you even more

Well, I know it wasn't easy

And it's so hard to explain

The way you reached out to me

And were patient with my pain

You waited long for me to heal

You stayed beside me all the while

You held me every time I cried

And you often made me smile

Like a moth drawn to the flame

I found myself calling your name

Cupid drew his arrow

Cupid took his aim

He sent a shaft right through my heart

Now I'll never be the same

Now I never want to leave you

I want to stay right by your side

My fears of love are vanquished

And I never need to hide

With you right beside me

We will journey throughout time

You will be my rhythm

And I will be your rhyme

Like a moth drawn to the flame

I found myself calling your name

Cupid drew his arrow

Cupid took his aim

He sent a shaft right through my heart

Now I'll never be the same

No Surprise

You wonder if I could love you for the rest of my life

Somehow I don't think you understand

I look into your eyes; they're filled with tears

Oh, how I want to touch your hand

You're asking for something that you already have

Something that is right before your eyes

It's always been there, but you just couldn't see

My love should come as no surprise

No surprise, no surprise