Tag: travel

Writing and Travel Update: August 20th, 2023

Hello one and all! Welcome to my little slice of the internet in which I share things sporadically with the intention of being consistent.

Writing Update

In my previous update, I mentioned my book Love and Sunsets was to be released on March 23rd. Spoiler: it was actually released March 30th.

Since the release of Love and Sunsets, I have found it difficult to devote chunks of time writing. I did publish a handbook titled RVing Tips which is available in Kindle Unlimited.

Speaking of Kindle Unlimited, once again I tried placing my books into it and once again it was not successful. Maybe it is because I don’t run paid ads, or maybe it is because my romance novels are no typical for romance novels? Either way, I’ve decided to pull all of my books and spread the love, as they say.

I recently updated the covers of my romance series so they all match. I moved away from an illustrated cover and went with photographs of people, but focused on closeups. For example, Love and Lattes focuses on the couple sitting in front of a table with coffee. If you do check out the new covers, please let me know. I am in the process of creating. Es images for my website with the updates covers.

What’s next?

I would very much like to say I know exactly what I am writing and exactly when it will be released. But that is not the case.

I have a rough outline for my next Love in Rockaway Beach series book, but I have not decided on the title yet. I do know I want it to be longer than my typical 30-40k. I also have a series of new titles and their tropes also romance. Finally, I have around 22k of a fantasy adventure novel I have been working on here and there for the past few years. It was inspired from the TV show Xena: Warrior Princess in that the main character goes on adventures and helps people along the way. There is magic, talking animals and even a water dragon in that one.

My goal is to have a book released by the end of the year. Most likely it will be a romance mainly because fantasy novels require a ton of world building and I’m still in the oh crap I need to create a map stage of world building.

Travel Update

In March we were spending time between Washington and Oregon as our oldest daughter was experiencing some mental health issues which required a treatment center for a few months. We were there from February 13th until May 4th. At that point, we simply wanted to get back to warmer weather and more specifically Texas. I did film a series of Vlog style videos about our drive back. If you’re interested be sure to check it out Here

We made it back to Texas just in time for the holiday weekend. We had intended to spend the summer in Texas, but I had made a change in our plans to head to Pennsylvania to check out the Hershey RV show. I am glad I made the change because it’s been unbearably hot this summer in Texas and even back in Oregon where are from has been ridiculously hot as well.

We spent Independence Day in Tennessee and experienced fireworks in a small town nearby. It was a nice day and beat part was the fireworks were in view of a massive county park complete with swings and walking paths. During our stay in Tennessee we spent a day exploring Nashville and it was fun, but also so busy!

Following Tennessee, we spent time in a couple of Thousand Trail parks in North Carolina before finally making it to Virginia. There was a few different parks we won’t come back to due to noise, condition of bath houses or the lack of cell signal. Forest Lake in Advance, NC and the one we are currently at are definite winners for returns.

I plan on doing some campground reviews soon so be sure to check out my travel YouTube channel for those.

What’s next?

In a week we make our way up to Pennsylvania where I will be viewing and a ton of different models as we plan on swapping to a motor home in a couple of years. I will be sharing walk through tours on at least three different ones.

During our time in Pennsylvania, I plan on checking out civil war sites, battle of Gettysburg and of course can’t forget checking Hershey Chocolate Factory.

My husband and I will be celebrating our 8th anniversary of when we first met. How will we celebrate? I found the nation’s oldest brewery I thought we could check out and of course getting Philly Cheesesteak Subs. The only problem is the date lands on a Sunday, so we might have to celebrate a day early.

The plan now is to be back in Texas in time for all the winter holidays. Stay tuned to see if that plan stays the same or changes along the way.

Thanks for sticking around and reading this incredibly long update!

What is a good your state is known for? Let me know in the comments and if we happen to be in the state, I’ll be sure to at least give it a try!

Time Change and Sleep

This weekend in the United States, most of the states changed their clocks to spring ahead an hour. It also means we lost an hour of sleep Saturday night. It is now early Monday morning and I finally feel as though my sleep is caught up, or at least I’m not dragging like I was yesterday.

Writing Things

I am nearly finished with Love and Sunsets with only a closing scene to complete. This book is not your typical novel length, which has been the pattern for me with this series. I am not an over writer, by any means, but more like an under writer.

This week I plan to finish the scene and input the edits, which are not many, then upload it in all the places. This book, Love and Sunsets, will be another short story, which is perfectly fine. Not every book published needs to be a 300 page epic story. But also, I feel like I may be taking a different path for the next book I will be writing, so stay tuned for that news.

Travel Things

In regards to the travel side of life, there isn’t much to talk about. It’s been raining off and on this past week, but I’ll take the rain over snow any day of the week. We probably won’t be traveling away from the Portland area for at least a month. This means I most likely won’t have much to share in regards to travel, but if we go see cool things like the rose garden, or take a visit to the zoo or a historic site then I will definitely talk about it. I’ll even share a picture or two.

Thanks

Thank you to each and everyone who takes the time to read my posts here. I’m still trying to figure out what to share and when to share it.

Stephanie has long wavy hair and is looking into the camera. She is wearing glasses and is standing in front of a beige wall with words on it. They say: work hard.

March 5th Writing and Travel Update

Many months ago, I decided I would write a blog post to go live every Sunday. For anyone paying attention, I have done a miserable job at fulfilling that self imposed deadline nearly every week. So, this is me trying to start a weekly Sunday update here.

Writing Update

Love and Sunsets, which has been delayed a bit, will be available on March 23rd, 2023. This small town romance is the fifth book in my Love in Rockaway Beach series, but it won’t necessarily be my last book in the series.

I have had fun coming up with characters and their happily ever afters along with different tropes. I do plan on writing a few more in the series, but I’ve learned setting deadlines stresses me out to no end. Which means when I know it is ready then and only then will I announce specific release dates.

Travel Updates

Currently, we are in the rainy state of Washington and will most likely be in the Pacific Northwest for at least another one or two months. We had to travel to this rather cold part of the U.S. due to a family emergency and while it is being addressed, it means we are not in the much warmer state of Texas.

But have no fear! We do plan on being back in the great state of Texas definitely before the middle of summer.

Alright everyone I think that wraps up my update for this past week. Let’s hope I can manage to keep up with my new plan of weekly updates.

Thousand Trails Review: Bend Sunriver Location

Our family hasn’t stayed at a Thousand Trails Campground before and this location wasn’t far from our home base we were leaving behind. I want to start this review about this rv park with a reminder several of the amenities were not available because of closures, but the majority was because of the other reasons.

Let us start by going over a quick rundown of what is typically available and go from there. Bend Sunriver Thousand Trails has close to 200 RV sites which all have water and electric, plus a BBQ pit and a picnic table. There are no asphalt roads, but there are roads with packed gravel. This park does not have sewer hook-ups at any of the sites, but there are two rv dump sites at the park. There is one near the front of Bend Sunriver Thousand Trails and another near the back of the park. The park has six bathrooms with showers throughout the park which makes the no sewer hook up thing much more manageable.

The park has four sets of horseshoes next to a shady gazebo, and the fun and games do not stop there. Bend Sunriver also has a basketball court with two hoops, a mini golf course and tennis courts. Next to the basketball court is a playground area which is composed of a swing set and a climbing apparatus. There are two other playground areas throughout the park, too. This park also has two swimming pools and a hot tub which is located outside.

Now, let’s turn our attention to some minor problems we encountered while at Bend Sunriver Thousand Trails. First, even though the outdoor facilities were open and able to be used, we were told upon check-in their equipment had gone missing and so we would need to provide our own. My husband was even told all the balls for pool had gone missing. I think these were minor because it didn’t deter most of our kids from enjoying the stay. The park has a lending library and a lodge, but they were closed because of the pandemic. But again I don’t feel like these things affected our stay.

The park had bunny rabbits all over the place, and some of them allowed us to feed them. We even saw a variety of birds and a small family of deer. Overall, I feel like this was an enjoyable experience for our first Thousand Trails and we look forward to coming back once things open up again and things are back to normal.

Taking a Break and Exploring the Land

I have written and released three books since October 26th, 2020, and tomorrow will be June 2021. I have realized it is unreasonable of me to keep up the schedule of a new book every three months. If I had kept up with that pace, there would be a new book close to being released next month, but I have needed to take a bit of a break in my writing schedule.

I know what I will call my next book and I know it will hopefully tie up any loose ends and end the series. I also know I cannot end the series with no kind of outline, so I have been outlining this last book in the series and I aim to work on the first draft during the month of June 2021. I have also learned to work with a pre-order isn’t for me. I always seem to find at least to typos after release and I feel it is perhaps the stress of getting the book done before the pre-order release date besides life which makes the entire process very stressful. I am going to release the next book and at this point I would say it will be before Halloween, but as for an exact date, there isn’t one yet. I will announce here on my website and on my other social media accounts when I have a better idea of a date for the next book.

I have other news to share with you all other than my update on my next book. Starting June 1, 2021 my family and I will be adopting the full-time rv lifestyle. We will travel throughout the continental U.S. Living in an RV isn’t new to us as we have been living in one for a while, but starting tomorrow we will travel full-time, coming back to our hometown twice a year as I have specialists here as well as my husband.

What does that mean for me and my writing?

It means I will see different parts of the country and perhaps these areas will play a setting in my writing. It also means I will write about my travels here as well as sharing videos on my travel YouTube channel: Five Find Freedom. It also means I will soak in the sun, breathe in the fresh air and ocean breeze, plus there is always the chance there will be a funny or comical story of what went wrong because no road trip in our family ever goes right.

I won’t be sugar coating the experience and there will be the bad and the ugly alongside the good and the beautiful.

Stay tuned for how our first Thousand Trails RV park experience goes this week.