Vicky Haynes, you win! Please contact me at susan @ susan crosby dot com to choose a book.
I love my job. I just got back from a 3-day research trip to an organic/humane cattle ranch, a glorious lavender farm and an organic orchard in northern California, near the Oregon border. It was a 7-hour drive, one way, but I took along a girlfriend and we jawzercised the whole time, so the road trip flew by. Researching is a perk of my job. I enjoy doing one-on-one interviews with people. They love to share information and stories about their work, and for me it adds flavor and reality to my novels.
This trip also amounted to being my vacation for this summer. Although it was for my job, it was more fun than work. My head is still buzzing with all I learned, which will show up in my next three books, a series about two cattle ranching families. A Fortunes of Texas book that I recently turned in featured a confectioner heroine, and oh, it was so hard to research that. I had to spend a whole morning in a candy shop learning about, well, candy! And truffles. And swirling your own cotton candy. Best vacation ever.
So, what will vacation be for you? Do you ever combine work and play?
I’ll randomly choose a winner who comments for a free book.
Susan
Hi Susan,
Vacation for us was a trip to Wisconsin Dells. We had a blast. It was ridiculously hot, so we spent most of the time in the water. The morning of the first day, my sons drove go carts and did the roller coaster thing with my husband. I sat in the shade and read. The afternoon and the rest of the days were spent in the wave pools and on water rides. Okay, I didn’t do any water rides unless the lazy river counts.
The day we left we stopped at a candy shop and bought a ton of candy. That made the ride home more enjoyable.
Kathleen
Oh, I’ve heard of the Dells. Except for the weather, it sounds perfect. Not sure about the candy on the way home–or maybe by the time you got home
.
Susan
Originally we were going to the beach. Now I’m going to be recuperating from surgery.
Bummer, Julie. Hang a picture of the beach nearby and listen to wave sounds. I grew up at the beach in southern California, and I miss it, even after all these years of being gone. I wish you a speedy recovery.
Susan
oh my goodness…i havent taken a summer vacation in about 10 years when i took a month off from work and went to vegas with my parents via almost every southwestern state there was lol. but the last vacation was aout 7 years ago at christmas time when my husbands grandparents invites all the grandchildren to gatlinburg to stay in one of there time shares for up to a week.. id love to go back
“…went to Las Vegas vis almost every southwestern state there was…” Wow! A whole month of travel. I’m good for about 10 days, but have stayed 14 when I’ve gone a long distance and know I won’t go back. I think a month would do me in! Good for you!
Susan
lol i was in the back seat of my dads ford f150, the trailer behind us. and i slept most of the way lol i was about 25 when we did it. but i wouldnt trade nothing for it
Susan–
You’re trip sounds wonderful! And good for you for one on one interviews. (I always feel a little shy about that and tend to do more research on-line.)
I’m getting ready to leave for the RWA conference next week. It’s always a fun trip, but I do consider it more of a working vacation.
I had planned to take a full-on vacation up to Northern California, probably not too far from where you went, but the plans fell through.
I’m really hoping to reschedule that trip at some point. If it doesn’t happen this year, then RWA might be my only vacation.
You should try to get over your shyness. One on one is so much fun. I talked to a DEA agent once who kept saying, “You promise not to put my name in your book, right?” at least ten times. It was cool. A rancher and his wife in Arizona invited me to visit their ranch a few years back, as their guest, when I was researching for a book. It was an awesome experience. I hope you get a vacation!
Susan
A reader in Harlequin Community in the Special Edition blog was wondering if there was going to be another Fortunes continuity. She’ll be glad to know there will be.
I NEVER combine work and play! Wait, maybe I do – when I write it’s work and fun too.
Hey, MarcieR–
Yes, early in 2013, The Southern Invasion, it’s called.
I understand about writing being work and fun. And that’s the way it SHOULD be for anyone’s work, I think.
Susan
Beautiful post, Susan. Sounds like a fabulous trip. I’m sorta having a vacation right now. A staycation with my younger son at home. We’re going to do all kinds of Portlandy things….
Portlandy things. I can’t wait to experience that myself!
Susan
Don’t think will be going anywhere. Finances are too tight. Just give me a good book and a quiet corner and I will escape.
Ahh. Also my kind of vacation. I get to travel all sorts of places and meet all kinds of interesting people.
Susan
Cool vacation Susan …
Just got back from a road trip to Niagara falls … Long ride … but the falls were awesome …
Hey, Kim! I went to Niagara Falls when I was about 4. I’ve been wanting to go back. I plan to see more of America in the next few years. There’s so much to see.
Susan
Since I’m retired, every day’s a bit of a vacation …no day starts before 10 am…I can read as late as I want! Last week was a ” World Tour” as I spent 3 days @ the World Choir Games in Cincinnati. Blessed to hear choirs from Indonesia, Croatia, Russia, Germany, South Africa, & from all over the US. Fabulous break from the “norm.”
You have the perfect life! I’m jealous
.
Susan
That’s awesome! I would definitely set all my books in Italy and Australia and exotic fun places that way I’d have an excuse to go and spend money on the vacation- research! Our next vacation will be on a cruise in September. It’s exciting because it’s the first time the whole family will be together besides Thanksgiving and Christmas. Time goes by so fast during the year so it’s special that we were all able to correlate our schedules to take a vacation together!
I know exactly what you mean about those family holiday vacations. On the cruise you’ll have time for some one on one. Those will make great memories. Have a great trip!
Susan
Since we retired in 2006/07 we have taken our 5th wheel and gone to Montana and Colorado twice, for 10 weeks each. We have been to national parks, Olympic summer training facilities in Colorado Springs, Pikes Peak, etc. We have been to FL twice. Saw the launching of Discovery. In September we are going to D.C. We want to see the Discovery. From there we are going to Williamsburg, our son’s family in NC and then to Myrtle Beach for a week or two. Our 5th wheel spends the winter in storage in Myrtle Beach.
Wow! You DO travel. It sounds heavenly. You’ve seen a lot of the places I want to see. My in-laws visited every state capital and most national parks. I liked that they had goals to reach.
Susan
I tend to write my stories after vacation. Last year I went to Wyoming for a couple weeks, so now I start a cowboy story set there. This year we travelled to the Southwest but came up through Colorado on the way home and the seeds of a story have been planted about a firefighter after seeing one of them sacked out in the laundry room of the hotel we stayed at one night.
We were planning on going to our cabin near Mt. Shasta for Labor Day, but it’s rented. We usually go up several times a year, but our kids’ sports are taking up more of our time. It is beautiful up there, worth the four hour drive for us.
I am sadly not going to RWA this year. I’ve only been a member two years and this year it’s close enough to drive, I’m sure I’d get in plenty of “jawsercise” if I carpooled with a fellow SVRer.
The image of the firefighters is perfect for a story, for sure. My late husband fought the big Yellowstone fire, and he told stories of napping on the bumper grids of the engines when they could find time. He was exhausted when he got home, but happy he could help out.
Kids’ sports do control the calendar, don’t they? You’re fortunate to have a cabin in that area. It’s gorgeous.
Susan
Normally I favor a vacation that is a VACATION (as in leave all your worries behind, go and have fun.) But we did do a ‘working vacation’ a couple of years ago that was amazing. We had the opportunity to go to Germany and staff a Boy Scout Camp there. We took one week to visit Bavaria and then spent the next 4 weeks dealing with all the ups and downs that come with camp which is even more interesting when you do it in a foreign country. Try finding 500′ of rope on a Sunday in a country that shuts down almost all business on that day!
I ran the Trading Post and we accepted both American money and Euros. It made making change interesting. NOTE: there are no American pennies in Europe. Everything is rounded up to the next nickel. It’s too expensive to ship pennies over so they have done away with them (even on U.S. military bases).
How fascinating, Vicky. What an experience to remember forever. That was a big job!
Susan
We usually have stay-cation more than anything, but when we do go somewhere it is usually to northwest Mississippi to visit my husband’s family.
Most of our vacations for a very long time were to visit parents on both sides. I always figure vacation is a change of scenery, so I’m happy just to get away, even if I end up cooking, as if I were at home
.
Susan
We had planned to go to Ohio but heat has been too excessive and daughter is pregnant. Also she is living with Mother-in-law so decided to wait until Thanksgiving. We did get to see her at my brother-in-law’s funeral.
Being pregnant in this heat must be miserable. I hope you have a wonderful reunion at Thanksgiving. Looks like you’ll have something special to be thankful for!
Susan
I’m off to Boulder, CO next week for a teaching conference. Since I will have my afternoons free and I will be sans family, it is my own mini-me vacation.
That’s cool! I love business trips like that! Have fun.
Susan
No vacation, vacation. Next week we are spending four days tenting at one of our fav lakes. That’s the most time the others can get off from work. When we go mid week, we have the campground to ourselves. Thankfully, it rained today, so no campfire ban.
Camping is a lot of work but oh so much fun! I love being outdoors by the fire, telling stories. And if someone brings a guitar, all the better. Have a wonderful trip!
Susan
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