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On the Road
2018
November. We’ve arrived back in Virginia for a few months to spend the holidays with family. This week I’ve released The Hiss from Hell Only Women Hear – Is It Truth or Is It Tradition? This latest nonfiction title has been a long time coming. Very excited. Now that it’s available for sale (Amazon and Barnes and Noble), I’ve returned with gusto to Hangtown, the western romance set in gold country, California, in the early 1850s (outlined below). Ken and I visited Hangtown (now called Placerville) in early 2016 so I could research places, people, and events described in the book. It feels good to be involved in the story again. I hope my writing conveys the energy of those days, when California was new and wild and when gold fever changed the course of history. During the story period there were 98 men for every two women in Hangtown—ideal locale for a romance, you think? 😊
Meanwhile, I’ve booked a summer-long reservation at an RV park in Kalispell, Montana for 2019. What a glorious place to research my Montana Christmas romance, which will hit the market next Fall.
July. We have traveled from Newburg, Md. to Missouri, Iowa, South Dakota, and now Montana. At the end of July we we will head for stops in Idaho, Oregon, California, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, and throughout the deep South. I'm finishing up final edits on "The Hiss," and when those are done, I'll return to writing book five, a fictional romance set in the California Gold Rush. Two young sisters are marooned amid a horde of sex-starved miners after a stranger swindles them out of their money.
2017
Washington, N.C.; Paducah, Ky.; Stone Lake, Wisc.; St. Ignace, Mich.; Rangeley, Maine
Mobile Office
Many have asked about the writing trailer and have requested photos. The rolling office is 16 ft long, 7 ft wide. It is equipped with 1" insulation; finished, light reflecting walls; rubber floor for comfort, cushioning, and sound reduction; heat; AC; six outlets; four shop lights; two writing stations; trailer-wide cutting table; custom built-in cabinetry; and multiple pieces of office equipment. It is cramped, especially compared to the big office I gave up to go on the road. See photos below. We caravan around the country, my husband driving the RV and pulling the trailer. I drive the SUV. The most common question I receive about this arrangement: How much for a snow cone? LOL. Actually, what I hear the most is: Do we pay two campground fees? Never. The trailer plugs into the 30 AMP on the power post; the RV plugs into the 50 AMP using a 50/30 step-down adapter. We took this route because we wanted to travel but I refused to give up my office in "retirement." I need a quiet place to write. It has turned out to be a great investment. I have my morning prayer time in the trailer and it gives my husband some quiet in the RV to do paperwork, read, or nap. I don't regret the cost.