Plenty of Surprises

When I wrote my second award-winning novel – Plenty, I never guessed that I would
move to three states during the course of thirteen months.  Somewhere along the road from a ranch in
Texas to the California central coast to Nevada, my perspective changed.  In 2016, searching for and finding my laptop
in the kitchen sink best summarizes the year.

Perhaps, living for months with only the contents of my
purse and a small suitcase, stocked with four shirts, four pants and important
documents, made me realize that finding joy amongst the disorganized chaos –
easier than I would’ve imagined. A favorite blue shirt and pair of cushy strappy
rainbow colored high-heels that I wore two months ago – still exist somewhere
in Texas, California or Nevada.  My birth
certificate and passport will be at my fingertips once again. I’ll find the car
titles and fragile family crystal collectibles somewhere, undamaged, within the
fencing of sixty boxes that surrounds me like the can’t be breeched fortress
walls.  And it’s all ok.

Perhaps, living with a Danube blue ocean view isn’t all that
I hoped it would be.  Perhaps, living
with July heat in Nevada – easier than I would imagine. As someone once said,
“Home is where the heart is.” Having downsized from a 45 acre working horse ranch
to a suitcase, I have to add –“ Home is where the heart is which is anywhere with a healthy happy family.” Despite
the upheaval and a hard landing in Vegas, as long as my family and furry
friends thrive, I can… relax and easily find comfort and joy.

Oh and along the way, I gathered a lot of material for my
third book. But returning to Plenty. Plenty reflects my love for riveting suspense and what-the-hell twists
and turns. Like Beautiful Evil
Winter, Plenty has emerged an award winner, and so did I despite the
bureaucratic headaches, the mistakes made – a horrible unethical stable, near
San Luis Obispo Airport, the lack of
air conditioning, the inability to enjoy a backyard with my dogs, having to
share a much smaller bed with a snoring husband for a year, a strong sense of
displacement from my home state, friends and neighbors.

In ways I hadn’t envisioned, Plenty serves as a
reminder that even with the thundering chilling avalanche of change that
gratitude for the simple moments can lead to a mind-bending adventure and a
unyielding galvanized sense of poise and peace. Never would’ve guessed, only
hoped that I would pen two
award-winning novels, learn to be more meditative, more reflective and more
calm as a result of layers of migraine-inducing experiences.  Here’s wishing you calm and vision in the wake
of life’s stormy challenges. Oh, and that laptop – someone stashed it in the
linen closet under a stack of sheets.