Dreamy vacations and the things we do to go.

Dear Reader,

Tomorrow the Foreign Affairs anthology comes out from Turquoise Morning Press. I haven’t had a chance to talk about this one very much because of all the Pricked Party madness and the ramp up to releasing Under His Skin. Thanks to everyone who has droped by and supported that book, it’s really meant a lot to me.

My short story in the anthology is called Dream Vacation, and it allowed me to use a few ideas I’ve been wanting to write, but didn’t fit any of my cuttent projects. I really didn’t have time to write and work on this short story when the call was brought to my attention, but I immediately knew what I wanted to write. It was perfect.!

About a year, maybe year and a half ago now, I wrote my first contemporary romance novel. It was bad, but there were good nuggets in there. The general idea I still like, but would need to be massively rewritten. There were supporting characters that really stuck with me. One of those was Naomi.

You learn a lot about her in the first few paragraphs of the short story, so I won’t talk so much about her, but where I was when I wrote this.

In March I was working on three books at once, and this annoying voice was bugging me, reminding me that I’d told myself that in 2012, I was going to get healther. But there I was, staring at a number on the scale higher than I’d ever seen before, and starting to feel very depressed about this. I’m a pretty consistant self-starter, so I knew what I wanted to do, but it was an issue of getting out of the door and doing it already.

After a little dragging my feet, I joined Jenny Craig in mid-April.

It’s now July and I’m almost fifteen pounds lighter, and I’ve lost over four inches on three body areas, my hips, abdomen and waist. The boobs haven’t gone anywhere, but I can live with a trim waist and decent sized boobs. I still have quite a ways to go before I reach my goal, but the evidence is already aparent, and not just in my appearance. I really do feel better about myself.

The decision to do Jenny Craig happened in March, but with deadlines and work it wasn’t possible to make that decision on top of everything else. But I think this is an example of where fiction imitates life. Or maybe I’m imitating my fiction. As writers, we put a lot of ourselves into books, and in a way I wrote Naomi as where I want to be. I want to have that same kind of success, and chances are there are plenty of other women who want to take control of their bodies out there.

I love talking with people who have done what I want to do. It’s so encouraging to listen to what worked and didn’t for them, trade snack suggestions and debate what exercise works best. I’m in the school of "as little exercise as possible" so I usually lose that one, but I still love talking about it!

So since it’s Teaser Tuesday, here’s a quick share from Dream Vacation:

The melody of the tropical storm followed Naomi as she strolled through the almost deserted resort hallways. Vacationers smarter than her had turned back or gone home before the storm set in, but not her.

She paused at one of the gift shops and admired a red bikini in the window. It was still strange to think that she could fit into that now. She’d counted calories and dropped the pounds, but what was supposed to be a celebratory trip about the new her was officially a wash. A once in a lifetime trip, down the drain.

She should enjoy herself. Just because she couldn’t lie out on the beach or go swimming in the ocean didn’t mean she couldn’t have fun.

Pushing her shoulders back, she took a deep breath and gave herself a little shake. If she could lose over a hundred pounds, she could put on a smile and have the best vacation.

Hands grasped her shoulders and pulled her back against a hard, hot wall of human flesh. Naomi yelped and flailed her arms, the movie Taken flashing through her head.

“Did you come all this way to walk alone, mademoiselle?”