Gettinig Away - NJRW Put Your Heart in a Book Conference

I read in a blog this week that David Pride, one of our contributors, tries to go to cities that are bigger than where he lives at least once or twice a year. It’s an interesting proposition. 
 

There is a sense of freedom when one hits the open road headed out of town. I love coming home, but at times, seeing it in the rearview mirror gives me a thrill that there is more out there to experience, new fodder for stories yet to be written. 

This past weekend, I did just that, I took a roadtrip with three of my author friends and we went to a conference in New Jersey. The following are my observations in no particular order…until the end.

Observation 1: There are a lot more cars in New Jersey. If we waited until there were no cars coming…we were never getting on Route 1.

Observation 2: Spending time with likeminded individuals is motivating and makes one feel like an adult.

Observation 3: There is more to life than shuttling the kids back and forth to soccer, hockey, baseball, ballet…there’s a whole world out there where adults sit at dinner for hours talking, sharing and experience the food that someone else cooked. 

Observation 4: When you forget medication at home and you’re four states away…there is not an easy way to get a prescription refilled. I hear that it happens all the time, but coordinating between the pharmacy, the doctor and the ride in New Jersey is why people take pills in the first place.  

Observation 5: I love to write. I love to talk about writing. I love to learn about what everyone who writes does to become successful. 

Observation 6: When you’re a published author at the New Jersey Romance Writers conference, you get chocolate covered pretzels and wine. And share it with other, often more successful, authors. 

Observation 7: By day three of the conference, everyone is exhausted. The seven or eight hour ride home seems Tolstoy long and if someone else is driving…it’s a good thing.

Observation 8: Arriving home is familiar and comforting.

Observation 9: There’s nothing like a hug from the child who wants to know “What’s for dinner?” ten seconds after you want into the room.

Observation 10: News happened while I was away, but my fabulous reporters were out there covering stories and they didn’t miss me at all.

Entitled humanity

When someone crosses a road, be it in a crosswalk or jaywalking, it’s nice to look up at the driver in the car who stopped for you and give a nod or wave. I’m not saying they should make a fool of themselves in the crosswalk, but just a “yeah, I see you and thanks for stopping” look. 
 

Where has our sense of entitlement come from? Even though it’s the law to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks, how many times have you seen people drive on through? If the walker is not looking then he’s going to get squished. 

Engage people. This past weekend, I volunteered with Boy Scout Troop 805 at the Maine Marathon which started in Portland. I was put 100 yards away from the finish line to direct runners and let them know they were close to the end of their journey. 

These people, who have just run a marathon, 26.2 miles, or a half-marathon, still a grueling 13.1 miles, took a second to tell the woman yelling at them that they were 100 yards from the finish line “Thank you.” “Thank you for volunteering today.” (Then there was that one man who said, “Don’t lie to me.” But that’s a different story about keeping a sense of humor.) Anyway, these runners had spent five hours running through many towns and at the end of their journey they took a second to thank me for being there, when some people can’t acknowledge that I didn’t run them over while they crossed the street.

With only a little nod, people will know they have done a good deed for the day. A small pat on the back that says, “I appreciate you.”