Overheard in... Shasta

“We ended up on the scenic route.”

I figured everyone would want to know if our friends ran into any more bad luck on their spring break journey, and for the most part I am happy to say they didn’t… at least not until the drive home when they ended up taking a
wrong turn.

I have made many wrong turns in my life so far, and for the most part they have ended up taking me to places I wouldn’t normally have seen (literally and metaphorically). As recently as this summer, when I travelled in Italy I wrote about my experience becoming lost; and the chance it gave me to drive through the center of Florence during rush hour. I still feel empowered to know that I made it to the hotel without an accident!

Wrong turns can be very empowering depending on how we handle them. When I was younger my ability to handle change wasn’t always the best. I would spend the entire time worrying about how to get back on track. Clearly  flexibility is key, and it has taken the better part of my life to learn how to breathe through my distress and accept a new direction.

While many writers like to plot out their stories from start to finish… it is this ability to be flexible and change direction that I think has made my writing interesting; both for me and for my story. As an example, InBetting Jessica the story was going along pretty much as I had laid it out until Jessica finally met her celebrity. I won’t ruin the ending by saying what happens, but I will say that my original idea of Ian Drake was much different than the person he ended up being. 

And in my second novel (not yet published - but in works), it is only by ending up taking an un-plotted trip to Italy that my character Gabriella is forced to confront her own personal demons.

Perhaps it is motherhood which finally taught me that flexibility is the key to enjoying every experience. From the little things…the route we take on a bike ride, to the big things… the type of child I am given parent, my plans aren’t always the ones that life, or my daughter, hands me.  

And mostly that is okay, because while it may take a little
longer to get home via the scenic route, the beauty I see along the way can make
it all worthwhile.


Of course my friends might have a different perspective on this
having driven the extra two hours through Redding rather than Shasta. I’ll have
to ask them… when they start talking to me again.