Charm Me

Saturday
June 22, 2013
2:30 p.m.

It’s 86° in the shade, and 81° in the house. The central air isn’t working.

Rich brings the motorcycle up to the house, and we get ready to go. I further insulate an insulated cup filled with ice water, grab my mp3 player and my sunglasses, and we’re out the door.

“Where to?” Rich asks.

“Take me to Charm,” I tell him. “I’ve never been to Charm.”

Charm is a small Amish town, and as this is my first time out on the motorcycle this year, I want to ride through some of my favorite country.

It feels wonderful to have the hot sun on my face and the wind whipping through my hair again. Traffic isn’t heavy, and we take our time enjoying the beautiful scenery.

After riding for about an hour and fifteen minutes, we arrive in Charm. We stop and get off the bike at Guggisberg Cheese. We don’t go in to see if there are cheese samples, but we do take a couple of pictures. Rich is armed with an iPhone. I have a little Bloggie in my hand.

Enter here for cheese!

The mailbox for the cheese plant.

My hair isn’t terribly tangled, and I silently thank my cream rinse for doing its job.

A group of motorcycle riders passes us. Not a single person is wearing a helmet. We’ve probably seen over one hundred riders today, and maybe six people were wearing helmets. If we ever have an accident and die because we weren’t wearing ours, you must write in your blogs, “Well, at least they died doing something they loved.”

The Amish are friendly. When we drive through the area in a car, they never look at us or wave. However, when we are on the motorcycle, men nod, boys wave, little girls smile, and even women relaxing in chairs under the shade of a tree will wave and smile as we go by. I wonder why that is? I find it incredibly enjoyable.

There are no ice cream cones or sundaes today, but that doesn’t keep us from having to watch where we step. Horse manure is plentiful in parking lots and along roadways.

By the time we get home, my bum is numb. Maybe we stayed out a little too long on my first day, but it was worth it.

How’s your summer going so far? We’ve had rain, rain, and more rain. Some of it has been in the kitchen and in the basement. A nice man sledgehammered our old cement porch at the back door and hauled it away. Rich is now building a deck for me. A new place to write! I’m woefully behind with reading blogs, but I have been productive by trying to write two books at once: Susan Hunter and her misadventures in Canada – as well as the two sisters and their efforts to solve a murder. Despite the rain, I think summer is coming along just fine.

Help Me Pick My Summer Music

We’ve had a couple of days in the 70s. Warm weather is on the way.

This is our motorcycle that I keep talking about.  It isn’t pink, and it isn’t pretty right now. It’s presently torn apart in my mother’s garage. The seats are off, the covers are off, and I listen patiently as Rich tells me about nuts and bolts and pulleys and something about the alternator, but I daydream about blogging or chocolate while nodding my head and pretending to listen, so I really don’t know what he’s doing.

But I do know it’s almost time to hit the open road, and it’s definitely time to update my mp3 player.

I like to listen to loud music on the bike. Not just volume loud, but upbeat and make me happy loud. No heavy metal though, because I’m not going to bang my head on Rich’s back. I like music that makes me feel good with the sun on my face and the wind in my hair.

So today I’m asking for song recommendations to add to my mp3 player for the upcoming year. To give you a better idea of what I like, here are some of the songs on my player right now:

American Boy by Estelle
Blackout by Breathe Carolina
Club Can’t Handle Me by Flo Rida
Dangerous by Kardinal Offishall
Daylight by Kelly Rowland
DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love by Usher
Dynamite by Taio Cruz
Feel So Close by Calvin Harris
Give It To Me by Timbaland
Hey Baby by Pitbull
How We Do by Rita Ora
Memories by David Guetta
Rocketeer by Far East Movement
Secrets by One Republic
Shake That by Eminem
Shattered by O.A.R.
So Good by B.o.B.
Uprising by Muse
Wild Ones by Flo Rida

As you can see, it’s been a while since I’ve updated my pink mp3 player. (I also have a black mp3 player. It’s full of softer sounds from Van Morrison, Robert Plant, Frank Sinatra, James Last, Bob Dylan, Sting, Harry Connick, Jr.,  etc., but none of that works on the motorcycle.)

Now it’s your turn. What do you think would fit in with the songs I already have? Feel free to link to a YouTube video, so I can see/hear your recommendation(s).

The End of an Era

When I look back on my life, I see blocks of years.

There was the silly, somewhat gawky girl in school who was everybody’s buddy. School was fun and not taken nearly as seriously as it should have been.

Later came a block of years where working for a large music distributor brought about a more confident young woman who met musicians and was on the receiving end of some very cool swag and a ton of fun.

That lifestyle was set aside, and an athlete appeared in the new block of years. Racquetball, softball, and bowling filled the spaces between work and sleep.

Climbing the corporate ladder eventually replaced sports, and the fast-paced world of decision-making, advertising, brainstorming, and training filled nearly every waking minute of every day.

Marriage and a little boy who needed his mommy brought it all to a screeching halt, and a new block emerged.

Deciding to homeschool our son was a big decision, and I went from the boardroom to the schoolroom. A five-year-old became the person I conversed with most. I traded suits and heels for jeans and tennis shoes. I became a kid again.

A few years later, we bought a computer. We were on the internet. We found eBay! Our home business was born.

We started traveling all over NE Ohio to library book sales where we purchased used children’s books for resale on our own website and on eBay. eBay was in its infancy, and you could see all of the books for sale, in all genres, on just a page or two. Today, there are over one million books for sale on eBay.

Our living room when it was full of industrial shelves and books.

For sixteen years, we’ve shopped, we’ve sold, we’ve packed, and we’ve hauled heavy boxes of books to the post office. It has been worth it, but it’s been harder work than you might think. I’ve often thought I needed to quit because the heavy lifting is taking such a toll on my back and arms.

Two weeks ago, I was working on an update to our site by adding another 400 books to the pages. I was looking forward to the income an update would generate, but I was not looking forward to pulling orders and packing boxes.

Before I was finished with the typing, an email arrived from a family who was placing an order for 135 books already listed on the site. Rich came home from work the next day while I was pulling the order. When I told him about it, he asked, “Why don’t you make her an offer to buy all of your inventory, and then you can finally be done with book selling?”

Really? Was he serious?

We estimated the number of boxes and the weight to ship everything at once, and then he checked shipping quotes. I sent an email back to her with an offer she couldn’t refuse, and she didn’t!

So now we are in the process of packing for the last time. We’ll take all of the boxes to Rich’s work where they will be put on a pallet, wrapped, and shipped across the country.

I am so excited to rid my house of boxes, styrofoam peanuts, packing material, tape, and paperwork! My bookshelves will once again hold my hardcover books. The kitchen table won’t be stacked sky high with books. We will no longer be walking around stacks of books on the floor. Our house will be a home again.

Now that our son is moved out and on his own, and now that my used book business will soon be shipped out of my life, and with only one Susan Hunter book left to write … I can’t help but wonder what the next block of years will bring.

Maybe I should buy a Harley.

Please Remain Seated Until the Ride Comes to a Complete Stop

I hate roller coasters. They scare me like crazy, and I’m lucky I was never sick on one.

Many years ago, I went to Myrtle Beach with three of my girlfriends. We ended up at an amusement park. I didn’t want to ride the roller coaster, but I also didn’t want them to know I was afraid, so, of course, I hopped on.

The first turn was made at the top, and as we leveled out, all I could see was the ocean ahead of me. The feeling of flying down the first hill was that of plunging into the ocean. I don’t remember much else other than a sick feeling. I was so relieved to get off of that roller coaster.

I’ve said before that if I only ever wrote my books to entertain my mother and my sister, it would have been worth it. Although I’ve hoped for more, that statement has always been true. I’ve been wondering why I’ve had so much unease lately. Last Saturday night, I had a light bulb moment. I realized the unease was coming from the emotional roller coaster I was still riding – and I wanted off!

Downloads, no downloads. Sales, no sales. Reviews, no reviews. Up and down and up and down and up and down. Whether I realized it or not, the ride was constantly running in the back of my mind.

I allowed the car to pull into the station, come to a complete stop … and I got off.

Last July, when I realized I had made total royalties of $74.72, Rich said to me, “Honey, $74.72 is more than you ever thought you’d make. You’re way ahead of the game.” He was right then, and he’s still right now.

I’ve accomplished more than I ever dreamed I would when I sat down to write my first story. I’m happy with the success I’ve achieved, and I’m not getting back on that roller coaster.

We will soon be out riding the motorcycle again, and I’m relieved I’ll be riding without nagging worries riding along with me. I already feel lighter, and I’ll be sure to report all of the crazy things Rich and I get into this summer while we’re out. In the meantime, I’m going to set my mind to working harder on Maple Leaf Hunter. I have a few fans waiting for it.

Tune Out the Noise

Yesterday, my husband and I took a two-hour ride through Amish country on the motorcycle. The day was sunny and 86 degrees; the route was full of sweeping curves and rolling hills. We left during the hottest part of the afternoon. It’s my favorite time to ride.

I listen to my mp3 player on the loudest setting. I tend to listen to top 40 with a little hip-hop thrown in. Before we left, I added Rita Ora’s new song, How We Do (Party), to my list.  Wild Ones by Flo Rida is another recent addition, and a ride isn’t complete without playing Uprising by Muse as we head back into town.

I don’t know what it is about listening to loud music on the motorcycle, but I think about my writing at the same time and ideas just keep coming. Yesterday, I worked out a short story from beginning to end. I don’t have time to write it yet, so I jotted down notes for later.

I know I’m a Type A personality, and I’ve always been a little hyper. When I worked in an office setting, I worked best under pressure. I tend to do everything a bit like a whirlwind. It’s not uncommon for my husband to find me at my desk with music blaring while I’m working on my book. But then, I grew up with four siblings. There was a lot of noise in our household. If you wanted to read or do homework, you learned to tune out the noise.

I can’t write when it’s quiet. The silence is deafening.