Airports are a little like Oz, by Susan Aylworth

Earlier this year, over the span of five weeks, I was in seven different states. Four graduations, a new birth, and other family and friend events took me from Michigan to Hawaii and several points in between. That meant spending time in a number of airports. I have now realized that airports are like the Land of Oz in at least three ways.

1.  Appearances

Nothing in an airport is as it seems. In the Las Vegas airport, I purchased what was described as barbeque with pork, cabbage slaw, a pickle, and a brioche bun. I'd eaten barbeque in an airport before and $18.33 seemed a fair price for a plate, so I placed my order. What I got was a sandwich four inches across with a couple of tablespoons of pork bbq (the edges dried to crispy), two more tablespoons of chopped cabbage, and a couple of pickle slices. It had sat so long on a warming table that the sandwich bottom rang when I thumped it with my fingernail. The only attendant had disappeared, so there was no one to hear my complaint. Since it was midday and I hadn't eaten, I choked down my bbq. It was my own fault, after all. I've been in other airports. I should have known.

2.  Who's in charge here?

As in Oz, there is somewhere a wizard, a "man behind the curtain," who makes decisions that affect dozens or hundreds of travelers at a time. Was your flight delayed, and delayed again, and then finally canceled? Some faceless, nameless soul made that choice. Was your gate changed at the last minute requiring you to run like mad, swinging your carryon, as you moved from an A gate to a C gate or even to a different terminal and a possible second trip through security? Whose decision was that? I picture someone in a booth watching the camera images of that mad dash and chuckling maniacally. 

3.  Arrivals and departures

You can sit down next to a person you've never seen before. The two of you are waiting for the same delayed flight and both have time on your hands. You may learn all about that person's recent divorce, the wedding they're traveling to, the funeral they're returning from, or when the doctor wants to operate on their failing knees. A few minutes later, you're on the plane in different rows and you'll never see that traveler again except, perhaps, at baggage claim. As Dorothy said, "People come and go so quickly here."

Yes, in a few ways, an airport is much like the Land of Oz. Though I see the problems, I plan to travel more and I expect to be in many more airports. What amazes me more than anything is the engineering and organizational brilliance that keeps such places running. Given the numbers of airlines, airplanes, flights, and travelers who are accommodated every single day in airports all around the world, it's astonishing that so many of us get where we intend to go and arrive more or less when we expect to be there. Hats off to the man, or the woman, behind that curtain.

Susan Aylworth is the author of 25 published novels including two small-town sweet romance series set in and near the Navajo Nation and in the Sierra Nevada foothills. as well as five books in the Christmas Town series. Susan lives near Utah's Rocky Mountains. Watch for more books coming this summer and fall in both the Rainbow Rock and Christmas Town series.  ALWAYS A RAINBOW, Book 7 in the Rainbow Rock series, released on Mother's Day. Book 8, THE PROMISE OF RAINBOWS, released last month. Book 9,  ONCE IN A RAINBOW, is available for pre-order and will release August 12. 

Susan loves to hear from readers. Contact her at her website: susanaylworthauthor.com,  or via susan.aylworth.author@gmail.com, also @SusanAylworth. Susan loves travel, music, her large and scattered family, perfect raspberry jam, and hearing from you. 

Solo Travel: Florida in February by @MagdalenaScott

Have you read about the recent increase in solo travel? It's becoming more prevalent, especially with women. I've read quite a bit about it. Now I'm getting a taste of it first-hand.

I love to see new places, and life keeps turning me into a person who is on her own. I realized I can either stay home all the time or take the plunge into solo travel.

So far this year I've taken a small plunge (a weekend at one of our lovely Indiana state park inns while attending a traditional music festival), and a big one:

Ten Glorious, (mostly) Sun-Drenched Days

From February 15th through 24th, I was on a motorcoach tour from Louisville, KY all the way to Key West, FL, and back--over 2,000 miles. We relaxed at St. Pete Beach and did the tourist thing in Fort Myers. We rode an airboat in the Everglades! We had two nights in Key Largo and saw the sunset at Key West. We were buffeted by cold wind at Kennedy Space Center (oh well, can't always have great weather, and it was 17 degrees back home!) and explored our country's oldest city, St. Augustine.

Since the coach was big but the group was small, everyone had plenty of room to stretch out and be comfortable. Most of my fellow travelers were married couples or pairs of friends or relatives sharing the trip and the expense. I was traveling solo--my first big trip on my own. Two other ladies were doing the same. (I'm very proud of us!)

Over the years, I had heard from many friends that Toby Tours does a great job, so I was confident that the trip would be fun and well-organized. Sure enough, the driver and tour director were terrific, and everyone on the coach was fun to be with. When you travel with a group, you have to follow the prescribed schedule, but this trip also allowed some free time. Two favorite memories were made when I struck out on my own: a lazy day and meandering stroll along St. Pete Beach, and days later, a brisk walk to St. Augustine Lighthouse.

I was fortunate to get a delicious dose of sunshine before coming back home to skies that are as gray and rainy as when I left.

Would I take another motor coach tour? Yes. I'd also like to try a solo trip by rail.

But since Selina missed me terribly, she and I have been discussing the possibility of an RV. That way she could come along on my next adventure.

For now, she's glad to have me home, and I'm thankful for the memories made.

Florida in February was just about perfect.

Is solo travel something you have done, or would be interested in trying?

USA Today Bestselling Author Magdalena Scott is a practicing minimalist, having downsized from a 3,000 square foot house to a studio apartment, where her Giant Closet continues to resist taming. When not writing at home or spending time with family and friends, she loves to travel–carry-on baggage only–and is always pleasantly surprised at the kindness of strangers.


Website: https://magdalenascott.com/

#Expectancy - by Magdalena Scott

Hi! I'm baaaaack.

What? You didn't notice I was gone? Yep - I was on hiatus for a few months while dealing with some personal issues. 

I struggled in 2019. And - oh yeah, there was also that rough patch I sometimes refer to as 2018.

But hey, we all have troubles, don't we?

I'm really hopeful for 2020. Because of the topic of a devotion I read several weeks ago, I've chosen expectancy as my word for this year.

Gratitude Helps

I try to always be grateful, reminding myself throughout each day of the many blessings I enjoy. I aim for contentment with what I have. My minimalist lifestyle makes it a bit easier to find that kind of peace. Spending as little time as possible on social media, or any other type of media, and more time in person with folks in my small hometown, also benefits my mental and emotional health.

Imagine a Rosy Future

I need to be present, healthy, and able to function as a helper and encourager to those who depend on me. But I've learned that facing hardships with stubborn gratitude works even better alongside occasional contemplation of happier times. 

So while doing the best I can in the here and now, I'm also looking ahead. I've made plans for work (new books!) and play (making music, spending time with loved ones, traveling!) I'm feeling more hopeful and upbeat, which is a better place from which to write sweet romance.

I look forward to sharing more about all those positive outcomes as they unfold this year.

#Expectancy2020. Maybe I should put it on a t-shirt. Perhaps printed backward, so I can read it in a mirror?

What are you looking forward to this year?

USA Today Bestselling Author Magdalena Scott is a practicing minimalist, having downsized from a 3,000 square foot house to a studio apartment, where her Giant Closet continues to resist taming. When not writing at home or spending time with family and friends, she loves to travel–carry-on baggage only–and is always pleasantly surprised at the kindness of strangers.


Website: https://magdalenascott.com/

Have Stories Will Travel by Merrillee Whren

The photo above was taken in Marienplatz, a square in Munich, Germany. In the past ten years, I've been fortunate enough to visit most of the countries in western Europe. Travel opens up a person's  imagination as well as revealing history and current events.

After seeing all these new places, I wanted to incorporate some of my experiences into one of my books. I wondered how I could possibly do that when all of my books are set in the United States. The book I'm working on now is the sixth book in my Front Porch Promises series, and it is set in Tennessee. How could I possibly get my characters to some place in Europe? I came up with a plan.

 My hero and heroine, Jeremy and Whitney, work for a company that is mostly internet based. Think Amazon on a small scale, run from a little town in Tennessee. The head of the company wants to expand to Europe, and he is sending the two of them to Germany, Belgium, and The Netherlands to negotiate some deals. Most of the book takes place in the US, but it is fun letting my characters experience something new.

Jeremy and Whitney do well on their adventure to those three European countries and come back home with some great deals for their company, but a surprise twist takes them back to one of those countries. I can hardly wait to write that part. I'm what we writers call a pantser, because, for the most part, I have no idea what is going to happen next as I write. But in this unusual case, I'm writing toward this big twist that popped into my mind as I was writing an earlier part of the book.

Here are some of the sites my characters will see.

A Maypole in Viktualienmarkt, a market area in Munich.

 

A golden carriage in the museum at the Nymphenburg Palace near Munich.

 

The Grand Place, a central square in Brussels, Belgium

 

Working windmills in a small town near Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

 

Do you like to learn about faraway places when you read fiction? Do you have a place you've read about that you would like to visit?

Merrillee Whren is the winner of the 2003 Golden Heart Award presented by Romance Writers of American. She is married to her own personal hero, her husband of forty-plus years, and has two grown daughters. Connect with her on her Facebook page and sign up for her newsletter.

Flying by Merrillee Whren

When I fly on an airplane, I like a window seat so I can look out. Viewing the earth from 35,000 feet is often spectacular. When I look down, I try to figure out where I am. I often take photos while I'm flying. I'm going to share a few of my flying photos today.

Here's one of my favorites. It's a photo of Mt. Hood in Oregon sticking out above the clouds as my flight left Portland on my way to Spokane for one of my first book signings.

Here's an interesting photo I took on my way to an RWA Conference in NYC a couple of years ago. It's the shoreline of one of the Great Lakes looking into Canada. 

I love to look at the clouds while I fly. These are some amazing clouds formations.

More clouds and one of the engines that was keeping us up in the air.

Here's the coastline of Europe as we flew from Spain to England.

If you look in the left hand side of the photo below, you can see the White Cliffs of Dover on the coast of England. I barely got my camera ready before we flew past them.

I not only like to fly to visit places, but I like to fly when I write. I fly by the seat of my pants. I know something about my characters and the situation that starts the story, but the rest is as much an adventure as looking out the window on a flight from the beginning to the end.

Do you like to fly?

I'm giving away a copy of the first book in my Front Porch Promises series to one person who leaves a comment. I'll draw the winning name on Father's Day, June 18, 2017 at 9PM MST. 

Merrillee Whren is the winner of the 2003 Golden Heart Award presented by Romance Writers of American. She is married to her own personal hero, her husband of forty-plus years, and has two grown daughters. Connect with her on her Facebook page and sign up for her newsletter.

 

Have you signed up for the

Sweet Romance Reads Newsletter?

From chemistry in the lab to chemistry between people.

Welcome to the new authors who recently joined Sweet Romance Reads, a fantastic group. 

Let me explain how my life shifted from chemistry in the lab to chemistry between people.

I grew up in a house cluttered with books, so many books in bookcases, drawers, under the beds in boxes. My mother built tables with columns of books covered with a nice red tablecloth adorned with a vase of artificial flowers. Yet my father, a literature professor and writer, repeated that writing books never fed a man and insisted that his daughters should seek scientific careers. And we did. But I never imagined that hazardous waste analysis would lead me to write novels. 

When my Ph.D. and work in chemistry landed me contracts to refurbish laboratories in foreign countries, I traveled to more than fifty countries on business or vacation. To relax from my hectic schedule, I avidly read romance and mentally plotted my own novels. Eventually, I left my high-pressure scientific career to share with readers the many stories brewing in my head. 

While struggling on the first draft of my first novel, I sent emails to Debbie Macomber and Stephanie Laurence, my two favorite authors at the time. They both answered with encouragement and Debbie advised me to join RWA and my local chapter. I received my first contract during a Florida Romance Writers conference in 2007 and published six books in the next three years.

Self-publishing my novels was the best thing I ever did for my publishing career. In 2012, my books landed on the Amazon bestseller list for contemporary romance and medical romance. Amazon translated Babies in the Bargain in German and French, and later Right Name, Wrong Man in German. I was walking on cloud nine when Amazon posted my name in the 100 most Popular Authors in Romance list for several months.

Filled with energy and enthusiasm, I hid in my writing cave and wrote for days and nights, stopping only to walk on the beach or exercise at the gym. I tried my hand at creating series like Holiday Babies Series that garnered over hundred reviews. When the sales decreased, I coordinated boxed anthologies with other authors. Together, we formatted, uploaded on various platforms and promoted non-stop, and reached the USA Today bestseller lists (8 times) and the New York Times bestseller list. 

I was delighted to receive an Outstanding Achiever Award from Affaire de Coeur Magazine; a two-time Best Contemporary Romance of the Year from Readers Favorite; a Best Romance Novel of the Year from Preditors & Editors Readers Poll; and an EPIC Award finalist.

I write contemporary romance, sweet romance, romantic suspense, medical romance, and paranormal fantasy. Sprinkled with a good dose of humor, my stories are set in the fascinating places I visited, from exotic Belarus, historical France, touristic Spain, and lively Italy to the beaches of Greece, the monuments of Egypt and the mysterious Islands of Seychelles—or more simply in Ohio, Florida, Boston and Washington, DC.

If you like to travel and love to read, come and enjoy my international romances. Meet the spirited heroines and the alpha heroes who share irresistible chemistry in stories that simmer with emotion.

Join my Newsletter or meet me at: 

Website  Twitter  Facebook  Amazon Page

 Here are my latest sweet romance novels published in December 2016 and January 2017

Holly Jolly Christmas: 

Prequel to the series.

On Christmas Eve:

We want a mommy for Christmas.