Moving. Is it a Dirty Word or a New Adventure?

By: Sharon Hamilton

We are the sum of the parts of many broken and misplaced things. How we put ourselves together is the art form we call life. Isn't that what we call romance too?

I took a deep breath when my husband said, “I'm retiring, and we're going to sell our home.” I'm not a good one for change, as most of you lovely readers know. I hang on to the bitter end sometimes. Most of the time, it has served me well.

But the reality of our aging bodies, and the toll working on the huge house and many acres of garden and land has come to greet me at last. My fantasy world will not give up on this dream of living here, so I'll be able to take some of it with me forever. Not to worry. But the real world has tapped me on the shoulder and told me, “It's time.”

The room is huge without my old furniture, but that's the idea! Globe needs to be hung over dining table. Carpets are being cleaned. Windows to wash.

We can embrace change in any number of ways. I like to say Change (or circumstance) doesn't make a person, it reveals a person. I'm wanting to kick that particular “ism” all around the bedroom, get it to get dirty with the dust bunnies hiding under my bed. But all that does is mask the knowledge that I have to make lists, and I have to pack from now to oblivion, it seems.

But I've done it! It doesn't matter how many times I think about my husband's decision, it won't help me get into action. I can ruminate about it all after we're done. Right now, we're in purge, staging and beautifying mode. I'm learning to revel in that, and what a surprise, it's not so bad! I have new lawn, new planting boxes. Part of the strategy is protecting and packing away a lot of me in this house, and revealing a lot more about the house, the structure, the land and the gardens. So, in a way, all my lovelies are safely stored, all my personal things I prize are gone and hidden away. All they are going to see are a few selective things that might elicit a smile or warm feeling about the home and the lovely grounds on which it sits.

Lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers like their new home.

Part of my consternation was, “Where are we going to go?” I'm looking at lots of places. Franklin, Tennessee, is top of my list, mainly because I could create a nice lifestyle there with a quarter of the funds. But my heart has grown to feel at home there now that I've visited it, and visited Tennessee several times. I have lots of writer friends and other dear friends in the area, and nearby.

But staying in California is also an option, or moving East nearer to our other son. There's the beach in Florida calling me, perhaps North Carolina or Virginia. My husband likes Oregon so he can be close to his brother. I'd like to do all of it, but it all depends on what we get for the property.

Adding more flowers to accentuate the rock walls and the built-in bench

Just like so many things in our lives, it is up to someone else. As much as we plan and strategize, the truth is that a new buyer we accept will determine where and how we live in the future. I've always been lucky with decisions we've made. I can write anywhere. But finding a place I will love living in is most important. Being close to my children and grandchildren is also important. I've cast those nets out into the universe, and something will happen that will allow me to do most of what I want.

Indian flower boats bookshelves waiting for a new home – a random whimsey

So, it's interesting how I'm coping with the change. I'm getting up, checking my lists, putting on my work clothes, planting flowers in the garden like I'll be here for years to enjoy them come up year after year. Planting vegetables perhaps that will be edible after we move. It doesn't matter, does it? None of us know how long we'll be anywhere in life. As my son said recently in the most beautiful letter I've received from any of my children, “Mom, in your case, if life gave you lemons, you'd make lemon meringue pie!” That's what I'm going to think about.

I haven't been writing for a month. And, for the first time, I'm not sure what I feel like writing next. But I know a good book is in me, waiting to be born. Another love story, that will help heal the little wounds that sometimes come up.

Until then, I'm enjoying the treasures of looking at things I possess I haven't looked at in a long time. I found some baby teeth. Someone's awful wisdom teeth! Found a piece of pottery my daughter made in kindergarten. Found a Parchessi board I had written on when I was about five. We all do that, don't we? Save things for our future selves to enjoy, right? And that has made the packing and path toward this major relocation all the more sparkly. Not the shininess of my tears!

Now's your turn. Where is your favorite place to live if you could live anywhere, and why? I'd love to hear it!

Loving My Bone Frogs

Launching May 1

By Sharon Hamilton

I've gotten a lot of feedback that readers love older guys (silver-haired guys, guys not in their 20's). And the girls that are not Barbie Dolls.

When I first started out writing my SEAL Brotherhood Series some 7 years ago, I used to write a novella, and then follow it up with a full length novel later on. It helped to flesh out the couple beforehand, and then have them progress in a later book. I really got the chemistry right that way.

I took a detour for several years, starting new series in my larger SEAL Brotherhood Series, creating the Band of Bachelors, Bad Boys of SEAL Team 3, and Nashville SEAL, Fredo Series and the True Navy Blue series. This way I got to incorporate all the other secondary characters. But all my books are mostly on SEAL Team 3, active duty guys.

This is the first time I've written an older SEAL who wants to re-join his comrades. And this actually happens on SEAL Teams, too. I spent part of my Monday with my buddy Mike, who owns a tattoo parlour in San Diego, down the range from Coronado, and who ran 10 years with the Teams in Vietnam, then did a stint with bikers and followed that up with another 10 years as a SEAL all over again.

My character in the May 1 release has followed a similar path, without the bikers in the middle. I explored his character and the chemistry with him and his lady, Brandy, a plus-sized gal with long mahogany hair. Just so happens Tucker loves big-busted and big booty. Brandy has never had a serious relationship. Tucker, plain and simple, who at first looks like Shrek to Brandy, blooms under his touch.

I love stories like that. Sort of a Beauty and the Beast, except Belle is a plus-sized gal, and the Beast stays big and doesn't morph into a handsome prince. He always was the handsome prince.

Order Here

I wrote New Year's SEAL Dream in early January as a novella, introducing these two people. It didn't take long before I knew I'd be loving the full book I'm launching May l: SEALed At The Altar.

We all age and worry about being vital as we age. But something else happens as we run around caring for families, taking kids to soccer practice and ballet, while we're paying bills and looking for houses, or gardening. Perhaps we get worn down a little bit? We get tired as we age. That's only natural.

But for an adrenaline-junkie male, taking a break from the Teams, can be a very difficult experience. I've talked to former SEALs who readily admit they miss the Band of Brothers backing them up, jumping out of airplanes and doing things others cannot do. My hero has stayed fit and is in peak physical condition at 39 years of age. But he's never had a family. He's been damaged by a wife who left him for another Team Guy. That happens too, on the Teams.

I was gratified by the response to my two other releases this year, both with older heroes. What about you? Do you love older, silver-haired heroes?

And what do you think of my new tattoo? Next visit to FSG on Coronado I'm going to enhance it with hearts and flowers to give her a little glam. She has to compete with the hippy frog on my other shoulder, and that's just not fair!

Nashville But Definitely Not Naughty and Other Tales

Most of you know of my love for Nashville, and of course that wouldn't be complete without the story of my friendship with my narrator, Mr. J.D. Hart. He's "performed" all of my audio books, now nearing 30 in number.

J.D. and I kind of grew up together on the romance book narration collaboration. We'd not worked together before, I'd never created an audio book and J.D. had never narrated a romance book. His past as country-western recording artist, voiceover talent and actor made him a wonderful choice as a partner in this process - but I learned about all this after we got started.

Yes, you can say our friendship and collaboration was written in the stars.

We both come from different parts of the country - I knew nothing about Tennessee, or the music scene, what Being Southern was like, and he knew only a little about California from his travels here, and knew not much of my beloved Wine Country in Northern California.

Now, a trip to Nashville would not be complete without a wandering down Broadway, looking into the history of the area, and this visit, a visit to Franklin, Tennessee, where I hope to own a home some day. It's the kind of small town feel that I love.

I came out for the Naughty Nashville book signing, and J.D. sat with me during the event, also signing pictures and talking to readers about audio books and even singing with some ladies who knew more words to country music than I ever will know. J.D. knows all the oldies and, in my opinion, still sings professionally and could do so if he chose.

There is something about a place that has 8 kinds of biscuits, with 3 additional items, on their breakfast menu. Some of these would be a sacrilege in California. It's the kind of place where people look you in the eye, and money or wealth isn't readily displayed or even well thought-of. I can sit and eat a breakfast of cheese grits, pancakes, bacon and sausage, eggs and cold processed coffee, and of course biscuits, and actually feel good about myself! Had to buy the Tee shirt from Pucketts.

I wandered down Printer's Alley, found a neat bed and breakfast I'll try out next time, felt the ghosts of entertainment past. I didn't even mind my ears ringing from the evening before when J.D. and I did some tooling down Broadway. I sat under the picture of Crystal Gayle (my husband's buddies used to call me that when we were first married because I had long hair I could sit on), and sipped my fresh squeezed orange juice and listened to a great band at Tootsies at 9 AM. Now, that's living.

I've taken a little break this summer, so it's nice to get back to my heroes that haunt my fantasies and keep me warm with memories I'll have with me forever. But this trip was just as special as it usually is. And I get to spend time with my best friend.

When all is said and done, friendship is the most important gift I possess. Things come and go. But the gift of a connection to a new place, and a friendship borne of respect and admiration in all the right ways, is truly a miracle.

Oh yes, and here's the link the most recent novella we completed:  Love Me Tender, Love You Hard. Enjoy!

I'M LOST ON AN ISLAND IN THE CARIBBEAN!

Hello fellow travelers. I'm Sharon Hamilton.

I had no idea I'd be doing so many beautiful blue and white sandy covers, but this seems to be the year for islands and the tropics. The irony is that this year I won't be visiting any beautiful places like that, except for a trip to St. Petersburg for a writer's conference and one to Orlando (fingers crossed) for a reader event this Fall.

I'm finishing my book as I write this: Paradise: In Search of Love. I love the premise here:

Investment Broker SEAN Harper's settled life begins to come unraveled when a new client walks into his Manhattan office bringing tales of a secret island in the Caribbean, ten million dollars in cash and a girl in a thatched hut on a white sandy beach. Even his former SEAL training cannot prepare him for what's to come.

Here's a snippet from Chapter One with the words and buttery voice of my awesome narrator, J.D. Hart. It brings chills to me every time I listen and can't wait to have it in audio format. Soon, my darlings. Soon!

You can listen to this snippet here!

J.D. and I have become great friends through the twenty-something audio books we've worked on together. We often dream about this story. Most of my days are filled with creating a fantasy life for myself and my readers. So fun to have someone else to play with.

So, Paradise will release June 13. My next tropical treat will be Tropical Tryst, part of a 25-author anthology coming out 8/1/17.  My novella will be called SEAL My Love, about two people headed for a tropical vacation, determined to enjoy being single after their failed romances back home. I'll be expanding this into a full-length novel later on early next year.

So, forgive me if I sail away in the middle of the day to Antigua, looking for that perfect cheeseburger in paradise, and that white beach and the caper of my lifetime. It's true, with a good book, I can go anywhere and be anyone I want.

We all should get away more often, don't you think?