I live a mile from the beach, and I love sitting there—in the shade of course. I love the soothing rhythm of the waves, the gentle caress of the beach, the sounds of the gulls and pelicans. It’s peaceful to sit in the sand, feet buried, as I stare out at the rolling, cresting waves, getting lost in my thoughts as I allow the ocean to heal my hectic soul. I don’t utilize it as often as I should.
In the beginning of my writing, I used the beach in quite a few of my books—The Harper Twins, Best of Both Worlds, The Rutherford Series, The Billionaire Brat Pack. However, over the past several years, I have drifted more toward the mountains. I think this has a lot to do with our desire to move up there. We visit as much as we can, and were actually just up there a month ago. Sitting out on a wooden back porch, staring out at the majestic trees with the mountains in the background is just as peaceful as sitting on the beach. I don’t hear the same rolling cadence of the waves, but the mountains have the same soothing…silence to them.
The mountains possess a calmness to them if you take a moment to stand still and surrender to it. The whispering breeze through the trees, the way they bend, the leaves being tousled. The winding two-lane roads, the deep ravines and valleys, the slow small-town life. Where we were in Georgia, there was no quick trip to the store. It was forty minutes away, which, to be honest, was fine with me. Big city life gets…noisy.
I love using my travels in my writing, the smells, the sounds, the sights. And I love traveling to new places to discover new settings to bring to you. While some of my towns are fictional, their descriptions are not. They’re places I’ve seen and experienced. Some of the characters are people I’ve met. I hope you enjoyed them, and if you have, leave me a note, telling me. I could always use the encouragement boost.
Until next time, happy reading!