The Big "It"

I'm feeling a little bit proud today--and a lotta bit sore. Yesterday I ran the U.S. Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC along with about 30,000 other like-minded folks (that's folks, not fools). It was my third marathon, my second Marine Corps Marathon, and overall just a lovely fall day.

Oh, by the way, yes, I did finish. :)

My time, 4:22, isn't record-setting, but it is respectable. Despite spotty training and a pre-race fall up some concrete steps crossing U.S. Route 50 to the Start point, I shaved off a minute or two from my time thirteen years ago--a particular point-of-pride because well, Girlfriend's not getting any younger. ;)

Though the wonderful spirit of the event is alive and well, a lot of other things have changed since my first marathon. Back in 1994 there were no cell phones on the course. Hooking up with cheering family members and friends at the various mile markers, and yes, finish line, required more ingenuity and a goodly dose of luck. There was also no GPS tracking based on a clever little clicker affixed to one's shoelaces. Today thanks to technology each runner receives his or her true finish time, no need to guestimate the minutes lost waiting to cross the Start line--and yes, with thousands of runners, you don't all cross when the gun goes off.

There were a few wheelchair entrants back in '94, mostly graying Vietnam vets with shorn off legs, massive arm muscles, and shoulders as wide as the proverbial football field. Yesterday, there were a lot more, beautiful young men and women from the current conflict with legs missing but hearts whole. Everytime my aching body suggested it might be okay for me to slow down, to if not quit at least walk it in, one of those brave former soldiers invariably came into my view (when Marines call out "make a hole," I now know to get to the right or left--fast!), and I knew being a slacker simply wasn't an option.

Today I'm sore. No, not pleasantly sore, but sore-sore, hopped up on Motrin "as we speak" but in a good mood nonetheless. The pride of accomplishing my goal more than makes up for some stiff limbs and blistered feet. If running 26.2 miles was easy, then everybody would be doing it, right?

What's your big "It" with a capital "I"? Whether your It is completing your first marathon or one-miler, typing The End on your first manuscript or your fiftieth, wracking up yet another milestone for success or picking yourself up and trying again after the Universe has dealt you that really big, brutal Boot in the Face, if you haven't already done so, take a moment to brag on yourself, even if the voice saying "You go, girl" is silent except for inside your head.

And in the words of my STROKES OF MIDNIGHT heroine, Becky Stone, here's wishing you an autumn filled with "fresh starts and dazzling opportunities."

Hope

Travel Whirlwind

Hi Everyone,

Since my last post, I've been in a travel whirlwind, not the violent force of nature sort of "whirlwind" that brings to mind the tornado that landed poor Dorothy out of Kansas and smack into Oz (though I've had my moments) but rather the fun albeit hectic kind that brings new friends met, old friends reunited, and myriad new creative sparks well... sparking.

A few weeks ago I made my first visit to Toronto, Canada, where one of my wonderful publishers, Harlequin Enterprises is headquartered. It was a thrill to tour the HQ offices and meet the amazing publishing pros who literally make it happen, including Publisher and CEO, Donna Hayes. My traveling buddy was fellow Blaze author, Cara Summers who was working on edits for her twenty-eighth novel. Way to go Cara!

This past weekend I was an invited speaker at James Rivers Writers' annual conference in Richmond, Virginia. Held at the Library of Virginia, the conference took "Electrify Your Writing" as this year's theme. Not only did I leave electrified--I was flat out star struck. Fellow panelists included Pullitzer winning poet Claudia Emerson ("Late Wife"), internationally bestselling author Eric Van Lustbader (selected to continue Robert Ludlum's beloved Jason Bourne series), and bestselling romance author, Sabrina Jeffries. Small wonder I'm still seeing stars.

On Wednesday I head to Florida for the Amelia Island Book Festival. This year's four-day long festival will be located in the heart of downtown Fernandino Beach. Featured programs will include "Rock n' Roll Readings," (how cool is that!) and a Meet the Author luncheon on a local cruise ship. Yours Truly will be participating as a speaker on a number of panels, including one where I'll get to dish on one of my favorite soap box topics--pets in books!

Anybody else traveling this fall?

Whether your feet are firmly planted at the home hearth or on the teeny tiny foot space of a plane carrying you to some exotic locale, here's wishing you an October as refreshingly delicious as that first bite into a Golden Delicious apple purchased from a roadside stand...

Hope

Celebrating a Life Well-Lived

Last night my friend, Barbara, passed away. I say "passed away," not died, because it's my personal belief that energy never really dies but instead changes forms. And hers is a big spirit, huge. Something so wild and beautiful and free doesn't ever die. It just doesn't.

I'd say Barbara was my best friend, but I'm not in the habit of ranking my relationships. Suffice it to say we were tight. She wasn't only a girlfriend in the peer sense. She was--and is--a mentor, a soul mate, and yes, my very dear friend.

When I got The Call from her son, also my friend, it was creeping up on one AM. I was still up, though, if not wide awake then certainly wired, writing. Because the manuscript for my next book, UNTAMED, the finale to my Men of Roxbury House series is late. Not egregiously late or shockingly late, not the kind of writer's blocked lateness that results in pushed up pub dates and editor frenzy, but a week late. And at the moment, I don't really care.

I shut off the computer and met a small group of my friends at a local bar still open in our otherwise roll-up-the-sidewalks early-to-bed small town. We had a drink, a drink for Barbara, and then we went back to our friend Tim's house and had another round in the timeless quiet of his 1800's living room.

But mainly we talked. Barbara's three adult children who have been her round-the-clock caretakers for the past three weeks shared something of what that had been like, including some of the moments of dark humor involved in physical dying. But mostly we celebrated life, Barbara's life, and the profound ways she had touched us as parent, mentor, lover, and friend. In the course of the next two hours, her one musician son shared the song he'd written for her and then our musician friend, Tim sang the one he'd written, too. We cried some but we laughed even more as well as smiled at all the many memories. Above all we celebrated a life, Barbara's life. A Life Well Lived.

Sitting there last night amongst dear friends, it struck me that it's not the deadlines met or missed, the bestseller list rankings, the contest wins or losses, the sales numbers on our latest release or the sundry other successes and failures that define a life. All the must-do's and should-haves that fill and sometimes clutter our days aren't what we remember or even care about. In the so-called end, it's how our lives touched others, how their lives touched ours, that matters--period.

Bon Voyage, Barbara. Congratulations on a Life Well Lived and deepest thanks for all you've done to teach me how to better live mine.

Love,

Hope

Got...ENSLAVED? Countdown to contest closing.

Hi Folks,

We're counting down to the finish on my end-of-summer Got...ENSLAVED contest. Just six more days before the contest closes on 9/1, so if you've seen ENSLAVED out and about, or elsewhere online, please email in.

"Alert readers" continue to email me their ENSLAVED sightings, including readers from other countries. Recently added to the list of early release sightings are Chapters book store in downtown Montreal and online at The Book Depository (www.bookdepository.co.uk).

:-) Hope

Latest ENSLAVED sighting...

Multiple copies of ENSLAVED (turned face-out, no less!) were sighted in the romance aisle of a Books-A-Million in Pensacola, Florida as of August 14th. Many thanks to Lucile for reporting in. Good luck, Lucile, in the end-of-summer Got...ENSLAVED Contest.

:) Hope

Got...ENSLAVED Contest Closes 9/1

With temperatures soaring, at least here in Virginia, it's hard to believe fall is right around the corner but it is. Soon school bells will once again be ringing and back packs will be filled with crisp new textbooks to be cracked open--and closed.

Along with those harbingers of autumn, my summer "Got...ENSLAVED? Contest" closes on 9/1. So, if you've happened upon one of the advance copies of the book, don't forget to drop me an email with "Got...ENSLAVED?" in the subject header to make things nice and simple. I'll add the location to my growing list and enter your name in the contest pool.

Hope

Got...ENSLAVED? Latest Sighting

Copies of ENSLAVED have been sighted most recently at the Barnes & Noble in Daytona Beach, Florida. Thanks to Lucile F for emailing the info. Lucile, good luck in the "Got...ENSLAVED?" summer contest.

Hope