Top 5 items on your bucket list:
Number one would have to be finding an agent to represent me and my books. I started writing in 2009 and I know that it’s very, very difficult to find an agent to represent you right now. Agents don’t want to take a chance on a new writer but would rather stick with a “tried and true” author who has an established fan base and has sold a ton of books. But I will not stop sending out query letters and perhaps one day someone will trust my talent enough to offer me a contract.
Number two would be going on a vacation around Martha’s Vineyard. For as long as I can remember, I have been intrigued by that area of the United States and I love reading stories that take place there. I love the beach and have lived on the coast of California my entire life, except for the two years I lived in Corvallis, Oregon, while working for my Master’s degree at Oregon State University. During those two years I could probably count on one hand how many days were not rainy and/or depressingly overcast. Plus I felt claustrophobic living that far inland. It was about thirty minutes to the coast and I felt too landlocked living in Corvallis.
Number three would be (maybe) parachuting out of an airplane. I wanted to do this before I had kids. Then I changed my mind because I didn’t want to take the chance of leaving them without a mother. But now that they’re 18 and 13, maybe someday down the road I’ll try it.
Number four would be seeing how it would feel to take a horse over a few jumps. I own a big, full-bodied almost-draft Friesian horse who would never jump a rail unless he thought a lion was going to eat him. So, I probably couldn’t do it with my own horse. But I’d love to see how it feels do jump over a rail on a horse. I get a thrill every time I ride my horse Maximus. Working with a 1,425-pound animal can be scary yet exciting at the same time.
Number five would be taking a slow, lazy ride on an old-fashioned paddlewheel boat down a river. I don’t like boats that go on the ocean because the waves make me sick. However, I think it might be fun to take a leisurely ride down the river on a boat powered solely by a paddlewheel. I think they might have had one, or still have one, at Disneyland in Southern California that I took a ride on as a kid. But I’m not sure if there are any left.
BLURB:
Following the death of their baby during a difficult birth, Brandy and Weston Chambers are grief-stricken and withdraw from each other, both seeking solace outside of their marriage; however, they vow to work through their painful disloyalty. But when the man Brandy slept with moves back to their hometown, three lives are forever changed by his return..
EXCERPT
“What are you doing? Where are you going? Please, let’s talk about this.”
“I work my ass off in New York while you’re at home screwing other dudes?”
I pulled the sheet around me, ran over and grabbed his arm. “I wasn’t screwing other dudes.” He ripped his arm out of my grasp. “I was the one who was all screwed up. Then you went to New York and all we ever did was argue on the phone. You don’t tell your secretary you’re married and she treats me like crap on the phone...”
By now, he was fully dressed, shoes and jacket on, wallet grabbed off the bureau. His hand hovered above the door knob. His face looked void of emotion, wiped clean of all expression. “I can’t do this,” he mumbled.
I sobbed, knowing I’d hurt him and betrayed his trust. I felt like a slut. “I’m sorry. I made a mistake. But I love you.”
He stood near the door, shaking his head, tears dripping from his chin.
My legs shook. My stomach cramped. I had to make him understand. “I know I’ve hurt you and that wasn’t my intention, but I wasn’t thinking straight. I’ll regret it forever. You don’t deserve this but I’m asking you to forgive me.”
His eyes swam with tears and his chin quivered. His Adam’s apple twitched up and down as he swallowed. “I had sex with Carol Smith.”
About the Author
Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, I attended St. Mary’s College, studied my junior year at the University of Madrid, received my B.A. in Spanish at UC Santa Barbara then went on to get my Master’s degree in Education at Oregon State University. I live with my husband and two teenage children in Alameda, across the bay from San Francisco, along with our two very large chocolate labs, Annabella and her son Jack.
My horse lives in the Oakland hills in a stall with a million dollar view.
14 comments:
I enjoyed reading you bucket list. Though why you would want to jump out of a perfectly good plane is beyond me. The boat down the river sounds lovely.
marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com
Thank you for hosting Patricia today
Hi Marybelle and thanks for following my blog tour. I've seen your name every day, I think! Good question - why would someone want to jump out of an airplane? I guess, as my trainer told me the other day, anyone who rides horses is a bit of an "adrenaline junkie". Maybe I am, though I never thought so before now.
Patti
I need a new bucket list.
The things I put on it years ago have changed.
Publishing was on the original and now I'm close to my first Indie release.
I want to stay in a Scottish castle.
Hmmm. thanks for motivating me on a new list.
Interesting bucket list. One of mine: seeing penguins in Antarctica.
Good luck on your tour!
Love your bucket list. And I think I would even add one or two of them to my own list. For instance, visiting Martha's Vineyard (never been to the New England states) and take a riverboat cruise down the Mississippi River. Some cousins of mine did that several years ago and they said it was the best trip ever!
I would never, ever jump out of an airplane. Or jump out of a helicopter with skis on to ski down a mountain...what is that called? Extreme skiing? Nope, life is too short to waste it that way! But I would like to visit Australia and Antarctica.
Have a great weekend wherever you are. Warm and sunny here in NC.
Like Karen says--it is gorgeour here in NC today! I don't have a bucket list and I don't know if I want one. I think it's more satisfying to have a list of the best things we've DONE, not the things we haven't done.
When it comes to horses...I'd love to ride one the size of your Maximus. THAT would be awesome--and sturdy.
Your book sounds so deep. The loss of a baby is almost unimagineable. I can't imagine the stress it would bring on a marriage.
I'm so glad you could stop by today, Patricia!
I like bucket lists, let's call them life lists! because they order what I want to experience. For instance, EVERYTHING isn't very detailed, is it?!
My goal is to visit, really visit every state in the USA, especially Alaska and Hawaii. Even places like Guam (did you know they don't have sand? The beaches are ground coral).
Great list, Patti. Forget the airplane. I don't even like to get in one of those without the thought of jumping out again. The horse jump is going to knock your socks off. Maybe literally, but I mean more in the unbelievable joy and beauty of it. It's nothing like it looks like it would be, if that makes sense. I'd love to meet your horse. My mare is a fine-boned creature. Not quite on the lines of a thoroughbred, but rather more petite than I like in a horse. But she was still fun to ride, although extremely strong-willed. Nothing like the Paint gelding we had.
Thank you all for commenting. It seems to me that NOBODY wants to jump out of a plane. Everyone agrees on that, I guess! I'll probably never do it.
What I REALLY like is the attitude that we should concentrate on what we've done and not what we haven't done. In my mind I like to think of my life as a glass very full. But there are certainly things that you all mentioned that sound like fun - like seeing the penguins in Antarctica, visiting Australia, staying in a Scottish castle, visiting every state in the U.S.
Thank you for dropping by.
A few years ago I used to live on a farm and ran a horse boarding operation. One of my clients was an RCMP officer and occasionally we rode together along the dyke. The airport was nearby and there were parachutists there nearly every sunny day which in the Vancouver area is not often! She told me her first death she attended was at this airport when someone's parachute didn't open. Ouch! The two of us would ride along looking up at about 10 parachutists descending and say are they ever crazy. Why would they do something so dangerous as to jump out of an airplane. And then we wondered while they were descending if they spotted us horseback riding and said look at those crazy women doing such a dangerous thing - riding horses!
Then there is the time I almost accidentally put my name into a draw for a free parachuting. The fellow stopped me and checked if I wanted to win to parachute or the 60 minute scenic tour in an airplane. I thanked him and said with my luck I would have won the parachute jump and put my ballot into the right tin. The next day I got the call that I had won the scenic airplane tour! Whew! Dodged the bullet on that one!
I'm always amazed that anyone can control a horse...ever!
vitajex(at)aol(dot)com
Dear Cheryl! You were lucky, eh? Didn't have to get in that plane and jump! It's so funny because everyone thinks jumping out of a plane is completely crazy yet I thought people did it all the time for fun! I had no idea people even thought of it as something "dare-devilish". But I sure was wrong. Actually since I have two kids, I won't be doing it any time soon. Too risky. And people STILL do get killed doing it.
Dear Anonymous,
Thank you for following my blog tour. I'm still amazed that I can ride Maximus as well; but I have to remind myself that it's a "mutual" thing. If Maximus didn't want me on top of him he could buck me off in a second. So, I'm actually not controlling him at all. He's decided that me riding him is okay with him and he allows it to happen. He loves me, too, and I think he's the best pony ever...
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