May 22, 2018

It has been a while since I’ve blogged but if you follow me on Facebook, you know my husband, Wayne, and I have been travelling the past six weeks.

I take advantage of every moment in time and mentally record all that is around me. Whether it is at home, in the air, or on the road. Anywhere.

This week, we are in Myrtle Beach. We will visit the Atlantic Ocean but because of my fair skin, I am not a beach person. Besides, I just heard that sharks had been spotted drifting along the coast line.

Wayne and I prefer to see the people, environment and night life. Yesterday was a full one with two movies – Book Club (hilarious, highly recommend it) and Avengers (good, but the ending is confusing). We had a late lunch of burgers and fries at Wahlburgers, a restaurant owned by the Wahlberg brothers. The food was delicious, service excellent and atmosphere very welcoming.

I digress. My real reason for this blog is to share how my vacations influence my writing. I am currently working on Going Home, a story about Cilla who is travelling across the country to visit her ailing grandmother. She meets up with Jake, a childhood friend that broke her heart. Jake is also going home to visit Cilla’s grandmother and what should be a simple trek turns into a long, scary voyage of crazy drivers, hurricane-like weather and renewal of feelings.

Anyone that lives on the East Coast knows that we have had some crazy, rainy weather lately. Driving alone through a storm that appeared out of nowhere, I found myself making mental notes of my tension as I gripped the steering wheel, drove slowly or coasted through pockets of high water, my eyes focused on the blinking emergency lights of the car ahead of me. It was a hairy ride on a road close to home, but I was reminded how Cilla would react under the same conditions on a major highway.

As we drove South on our way to Myrtle Beach, I filled a notebook with observations of other drivers and the terrain of the roads Cilla and Jake travel in Going Home.

Our room backs up to a pond with a fountain in the center and a gazebo and swings spaced along the edges. Last night, Wayne and I decided to enjoy the peace and quiet with some wine. The fountain became brighter as the sun set and I realized that this was what I had in mind for Cilla and Jake in Going Home. I heard the quietness and splashing water as it shot up, then fell into the pond. I felt the balmy coolness and hypnotizing calmness of the beautiful fountain. I remember thinking, “this is it. This is the scene I want for Cilla and Jake.”

If you’d like to see how the weather and fountain play into the story, I plan to release Going Home in July.