Time for a Break!

It's been a long, long time since I've blogged here. I've posted blogs and promotional stuff for other authors, but it seems I haven't participated in Sweet Saturday Samples to share works-in-progress (or any other work) and I haven't shared pictures of any projects. I'm not sure why. I could use the "Life Gets In The Way" excuse, but life also happened when I was posting regularly. I have been writing – I signed up for Winter Nano with my writers group and I'm twenty-three thousand words into another Stitching Post novel.

Maybe it's time management. Maybe it's burn-out. Maybe it's boredom. It could be that nothing blog-worthy has happened in my life. I kind of doubt it, seeing I've got all kinds of pictures to put in my scrapbook. It could be a combination of all the above. But in any event, I haven't shared any of my life events or thoughts.

So I'm going to do what any self-respecting writer does. I'm going to change things up. I'm getting a change of scenery for a while. Getting some new experiences. It's spring break at the college where I teach, and I am going to fly across the country. My cousin lives there, and I haven't seen her in a long time. And I've never seen the west coast. So this afternoon my daughter and I are taking off.

Will this result in a new story? Possibly. That would be very nice. A trip to Greece resulted in Aegean Intrigue. Going to England made me a little more more assured about writing Partridge. While I was in Japan I did some research for Samurai's Garden. And my trip to Paris inspired a sequel for Aegean Intrigue. New ideas are always nice, especially if a great plot accompanies them. So California, here I come!

Regret, or Rejoice?

I’m writing this in July, but hopefully this is appearing during week three of my trip.

I'm probably winding down, getting ready for the trip home. And if this trip is going the way things usually go, there are probably some regrets. One regret going into the trip is that I didn't review my Japanese language lessons at all, so communication is a problem. Poor mom. Here are some others:

1. I probably bought something I shouldn't have, or haven't bought something I should have.

2. I'm sure I forgot to thank someone for something they've done for me.

3. I should have gotten up an hour earlier or stayed up an hour later each day so I could experience one more thing.

4. I should have been saving up sooner so I could have come more often and built a relationship with my cousins.

That's enough of the negative. How about some plusses?

1. I've got a wonderful warm family on both sides of the world.

2. I've got my health and can get around fairly well, so there's no reason I can't come again.

3. I'm enjoying this experience with my mom and my daughter and son-in-law. How great is that?

4. If I didn't have something to learn, life would be boring. I'm having so much fun learning about my extended family and their way of life.

As with most things, the good far outweighs the bad. So I should just ignore the regrets and be thankful this trip has happened at all.

If only this place weren't so far away.

The Next Great Adventure

I've lived long enough to have had lots of major milestones and turning points. I'm lucky in that the vast majority of them have turned out well for me. I had a good education, a great marriage, fantastic children, a challenging career, and now a busy retirement. And one of the benefits of being "retired" - I use the term loosely, since those of you who know me have seen that I'm busier than ever - is that I have the flexibility to travel. Since retiring from my full-time teaching job five years ago, I've been to London, Mexico, and Greece, as well as various attractions in the United States. And next Tuesday I leave for Japan.

I've been to Japan. I was actually born there, but since I was only a year old when we moved to America I have no memories of that time. I went with my mom twenty-five years ago, along with my toddler daughter. It was wonderful to introduce her to my grandmother. They had a great time playing together, and I had a good time with my cousins.

So now I'm going again. I'm excited. A little nervous, but mostly excited. This time I have a little bit of background. One, I've been there. Two, I've got two years of Japanese language instruction behind me. Three, the internet and travel guides have endless amounts of information and I can get answers to most questions with a few clicks of the mouse.

There are a few worries, of course. One, there's always a risk in traveling. Two, I'm going with mom again, and international travel can be a challenge when you're seventy-six years old. Three, though I can get the gist of a conversation in Japanese, I'm in no way fluent - and the kanji is still a mystery to me so I can't read signs (which makes me look like an idiot). And four, my daughter and her husband will join us - and they speak and read even less Japanese than I do!

Whenever I'm excited about a new undertaking, I don't sleep. I imagine I'm not going to sleep much for the next few days. There are endless details to see to. Hopefully none will be major. All I can do is dive in and trust God to make this a relatively smooth adventure.

He's never let me down before.