The ‘C’ Word

by Kristen James

The topic of my last post has been on my mind, and I’ve been thinking about when we want something but stop ourselves from trying for it. I didn’t join any sports until high school when my best friend, who was always a good influence on me, convinced me to join track with her. My coach, Mrs. Taylor, created a new rule that year: if anyone said the C word, they had to do 20 push ups.

I learned two things in a short amount of time after that.

First, I learned I said “I can’t” to a lot of things. Soon I only got as far as “I ca–” and I had to do 20 push ups.

And second, I learned I could really build some muscle. In fact, I joined a weight raining and conditioning class in high school. I worked up to bench pressing my weight and leg pressing 350 lbs.

I suppose I learned a third lesson too. At first the lesson was to never say the C word. If indeed I slipped up, I had to quickly change it to I can. 

You know that saying, you are what you eat? In reality, we may be roughly the same fat content as the foods we eat, but we aren’t turning into fried chicken or a cupcake any time soon. We do, however, turn into what we think. “Whether you think you can’t, or you can, you’re right.” I’ve heard that one quite a bit too, and over the last few years I’ve decided it’s pretty much right on. If you set out on a mission thinking you’ll fail, guess what? You usually fail. It works just as well to expect positive outcomes. It can make an amazing difference simply to outlaw the C word. Now I’m trying to teach that to my kids!

How To Live Your Dreams

by Kristen James

I just read a must-read blog post called “How To Quit Your Job, Move to Paradise and Get Paid to Change the World.”  I’ll wait here while you go read it yourself…..Amazing, right? Jon Morrow is a person who decided to live his dreams and did it, against odds that would stop most people from trying anything. There are so many stories out there along the lines of, “If I can do it, what are you waiting for?” I saw a guy on TV a while back with the slogan, “No arms, no legs, no worries.” He actually has no arms or legs, and he visits schools to encourage kids. Many people live their dream, and it’s not despite/ because of any excuse or special situation. It’s because they decided they could do it. So what are we waiting for?

When I moved out on own my own for college, I had two dreams. Since the fourth grade, I wanted to “be a famous author.” Somewhere around high school I started dreaming about getting married and starting a family, a big family. And, oh boy, I’m living that dream! Now, 14 years since graduation, I have a blended family of 6 kids. As for my writing dreams, I wouldn’t say I’m a famous author, but I’m working toward it every day, I’m writing for a living, and I’m loving it. The part I didn’t understand 14 years ago is that you should love your life at every step, even as you work toward your goals.

That’s why I sometimes stop and ask myself, “Am I living my dream?” I don’t ever want to wake up and realize I stopped evaluating my life and now I’m living something I don’t really want. Part of that question implies, at least for me, “Am I helping people?” It’s hard to be truly happy if you just care about yourself. My small way of giving back is my blog, www.bookpromoting101. I renamed it Book Promoting 501 and I’ve been blogging about tips on book promoting and the publishing industry. I’ve published two nonfiction books, Book Promoting 101 and How To Be A Full Time Writer, and I’m about to publish a third called How To Sell More Kindle eBooks. Writing is my passion, and I’ve learned a lot about making it as a writer, so I hope my knowledge is helping others.

The other part of, “Am I living my dream?” is looking at new dreams. That’s what has been on my mind for a while, and it popped up again when I read Jon Morrow’s blog post. I’ve actually done quite a bit of traveling, and moving across the country at one point, but I have a dream of traveling more, enjoying it more, and taking the kids more. I read about families that take to the road for a year to see the U.S. with their kids, or even sail around the world. There’s books and blogs about how you can stop renting or sell your home, put your stuff in storage, and use your rent or mortgage money to finance your travels. That inspires me to get creative and look at ways to take more trips with my kids, even if we don’t travel the entire U.S. or world right away.Still, I want to take them on one of those trips they’ll remember all their lives.

You would think this dream isn’t that hard to achieve, but I’ve been making all kinds of excuses. I have a job I can do from anywhere, and I set my own hours, but I have kids, and they have school and sports. Well, other families have done year long trips with kids. Then there’s the money issues. But deep down, I know if I want a dream, it just takes planning and work.  I think I’ve been on the cliff, thinking about jumping. I’m not committed to any big or specific goal for a family vacation yet, but I’m researching and I’ve taken little steps. We’ve always gone on short trips around Oregon and some into California, and we have some more planned that branch out a little more. So maybe I’m even wading into the waters.  I just have to remember that reaching dreams means taking steps.

So what about you? Do you feel you have dreams that you’re working toward? Are you researching, planning and dreaming? Are you pausing in life and wondering what you really want?

Sand and surprising sun on the Oregon Coast

by Kristen James

I recently drove over to the coast for the weekend despite a forecast calling for rain. It’s raining here, and usually raining there, so we decided to give it a try. We got so lucky! The sun came out the second day, and we had great weather for spending several hours in the West Coast Game Park, about 7 miles south of Bandon on HWY 101. If you ever visit Bandon, Oregon, you must visit the Game Park! They usually have some kind of babies that you get to pet, and we played with a lion cub and a spotted leopard.

This isn’t zoomed in; my daughter took this at the rail where the handler brought the leopard by everyone for pets and pictures.

 

 

This is the evening sky in Bandon, Oregon. Bandon has the board walk, a variety of seafood restaurants, the Fudge Factory and Cranberry Sweets, which sells all kinds of jellied cranberry and other berry treats along with chocolate galore.

 

 

 

This is the lighthouse you can see from Bandon. There were also seals playing in the water as we watched.

We actually saw two different lighthouses on this trip. After visiting Bandon, we drove north to Winchester Bay and Salmon Harbor. From the viewpoint right off HWY 101, we could look down to the Umpqua Lighthouse and where the Umpqua River meets the Pacific Ocean. It’d been raining buckets for some time before our trip, so there was a huge brown cloud extending out into the ocean from the river. We live along the Umpqua River so it’s neat for the kids to see how and where it connects to the ocean.

One of the best parts of visiting the coast is always gazing out at the ocean and feeling how huge it is – even if you go every year. Or more often. It can be very temping to take off for the coast when you see it’s going to be sunny there that day.  Sometimes the best weather is a sunny day in the spring or fall when the winds aren’t as strong as they are in the summer.

 

And finally, the beach.This is where we go most often to play on the beach, although we love quite a few places all along the Oregon coast.There’s just something magical about going to the beach, playing in the waves and sand, and maybe finding treasure. .. or at least some cool shells.

Preview – The Enemy’s Son – Romantic Suspense

by Kristen James

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Cora tapped her nails on the table and glanced at her watch. Other people were laughing and talking over dinner all around her while her temperature rose. She hated waiting for anyone, and this was more irritating because she was worried about her father. He never ran late. Never. She called his cell and office once more and left another message when he didn’t answer.

Jerry was her only living family member and she knew she worried too much about him. He did the same with her. It’s me and you. That’s what they always said.

Usually she found Dad waiting at a table for her, with dinner ordered and the most expensive bottle wine available ready to serve. Because he had lived most of his life with limited resources, he enjoyed splurging on her. Keith Holloway paid him way more than his accounting job required, but that was something she had been grateful for when they desperately needed the money. That was back when she started college. Now she was a top reporter in the area and making her own money.

I should go. She grabbed her purse and threw a twenty on the table, although she hadn’t ordered anything.

Outside, warm June air washed over her as she walked past the blooming rhododendrons lining the building. The soft breeze brought the relief of escape, as silly as that was. Cora filled her lungs and exhaled, trying to send the stress out with her breath. She’d go home and wait for her dad to call. He’d feel horrible for making her worry, and that dissolved any lingering anger.

Summer had exploded into full bloom, turning her home in central Oregon into a paradise. The sweet smell of flowers and freshly cut grass filled the air.

“Cora Evans?” A voice from behind stopped her as she pushed the unlock button for her red Miata. She turned and found a tall man watching her with intense, rich hazel eyes, set in a chiseled face. He was more than handsome with lighter than expected eyes. His dark hair looked almost too long. Almost.

They stared at each other like teenagers going on their first date, both trying not to smile. It was that perfect moment when you catch a stranger’s eye and share a second of blatant appreciation for each other. But this wasn’t a passing look on the street. He wanted something.

A sportscaster? Then again, not everyone worked in her industry. And what did it matter what he did, when he was focusing on her like he’d found the lost city of Atlantis?

She couldn’t look away, either, even while she felt her body temperature rising.

“Miss Evans?” He raised one eyebrow as he waited for her to answer. She managed to pull her eyes away from his face to his striking blue dress shirt long enough to collect herself.

“Yes?” Cora hesitated, looking up again and drowning in his warm hazel eyes. Almost by habit, she took a mental picture of the man, and didn’t mind the chore at all. She kept a detached gaze and took in his surprised eyes, full lips, and bronze complexion.

Oh, he’s a model! He wanted some press.

Strangely enough, he acted as mesmerized as she felt.

“I didn’t expect . . .” He searched for the words to finish his sentence, but by now the pause had grown too long to cover.

“You didn’t expect me?” she asked, amused. The semi-sharp angles on his clean-shaven face gave him a determined, focused look, and those eyes were focused on her like he’d never seen a woman before.

“You’re breathtaking.”

Now he could be amused because his words put a rose blush on her cheeks. She had no idea of how to answer that, unless she wanted to say, “Are you busy tonight?”

Wow. After an hour of staring at each other over dinner, maybe she’d let him steal a kiss. They could take a walk and visit the park where he could gaze into her eyes, tell her how beautiful she was, and ever so slowly lean in for a kiss. He’d pretend to be shy, of course, but knowing. She could picture his bedroom eyes and the unspoken question…

Wait! She needed to figure out where on earth her father had gone.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to embarrass you, or scare you just then, but I needed to let you know your father couldn’t meet you tonight.”

Then why didn’t he call? And who are you?

“You know my father?” she asked out loud. He didn’t answer her question, and Cora wondered if he preferred for her to stare at him and forget she asked. His sure, sweet smile made her want to smile back at him, but she dug down deep for some self control. Something was off here. Finally, she said, “I don’t believe I’ve met you before.”

He flashed a smile, a bright, friendly and sexy-as-all-get-out smile.

“No, you haven’t. I’m Nick.” He extended his hand, and she hesitated, but then shook hands. They didn’t shake, just firmly held on for a quick minute. “I just stopped by to let you know your father’s tied up at work.”

She spent hours interviewing people and practicing active listening and eye contact. So why did this feel so awkward?

“I tried to call him.” How ridiculous. Why did her father send a stranger to relay the message? Anything to do with Jerry’s work and Keith Holloway got questions running through her mind. People throughout the city applauded Keith as a hero for donating money in all the right places, but she just didn’t trust the Holloways.

Her reporter skills kicked in even while she laughed inwardly. Not everything was a scandal waiting to happen.

She asked, “Why didn’t my dad just call me?”

With an overly helpful expression, he said, “He’s busy at the moment.”

He’s lying. But why? Three facts intrigued Cora: the man’s hesitance, his good looks, and the fact that she had never met him or heard her father mention him. Nick… the name didn’t ring a bell at all. She wanted to know more, but at the same time she felt the need to get out of there.

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