Welcome, Visitors and Friends!
Life is good, don’t you think?
For me right now, life’s a travel adventure. I’m experimenting with creating a mobile, productive, satisfying lifestyle—and one that’s also fun at least 90% of the time.
My modus operandi? I house sit for people who live in places that interest me.
I’m also a writer, a retired high-school teacher, an amateur photographer, a global nomad, a former Camino de Santiago pilgrim, and a grandmother.
Since 2012, I’ve loved the freedom, flexibility, and novelty this lifestyle provides. If there’s wifi available, I can write, photograph, work on projects, and stay in contact with those I love from almost anywhere. And if there’s no wifi (which happens in places like rural Spain), well, I’ve discovered that’s a great reason to walk, make friends, catch up on reading, meditate, and still write.
Because I get questions about how this house-sitting lifestyle works—how I find places and people, how it feels to move around a lot, what I take with me, how I handle solitude and lonliness, what I do if I don’t have a house sit scheduled—I’m currently revising and expanding my successful ebook on the topic.
So if you want more adventure and travel in your life, and if you want to check out my “template” for creating that, hang on. My new book on house sitting will be out soon.
In the meantime, in my blog here, I enjoy posting occasional pieces and photo essays about places, people, books, trips, and art I like. Sometimes I write about challenges I have as a writer, or questions I’m mulling over. Please follow me by entering your email address in the box on the right so you’ll be notified when I make a new post.
Please know I’d love to hear from you, to have a written conversation, but please use the Contact form to reach me. Because of spam, my settings don’t allow comments. You can unsubscribe at any time and FYI, I’m not informed about who subscribes.
Announcing WALK! Soon to Be Published!
My first novel, WALK: Jamie Bacon’s Secret Mission on the Camino de Santiago is in preparation for publication. I can hardly wait for that!
To be notified of when it’s available, please enter your email address here. No spam. Promise.
You know how in airports they often warn passengers over the PA system not accept packages from people they don’t know? Well, that sort of idea plays out in WALK.
WALK is a middle grade (age 8-13) travel tale about the mishaps and adventures of 11-year-old Jamie as he hikes the famous 500-mile Camino de Santiago pilgrimage.
Jamie is walking the Camino with sister Lily, 13, and their home-school teacher, Mom. But things get complicated for Jamie the first night they’re on the actual trail, when he secretly promises two young men to deliver a lumpy envelope, unopened, in their destination city, Santiago de Compostela.
Jamie has no clue what he’s carrying, yet he’s determined to keep his promise (and hide it from Mom) until ….
The purpose of literature is to teach and to delight. WALK, I’m pretty sure, does both. Along with the typical trials of pilgrims like blisters and bedbugs, Jamie, Lily, and Mom (and eventually, Dad) survive accidents, charging bulls, getting lost, and way more. They meet the wise and the eccentric. They explore castles, cathedrals, and caves. There’s plenty of sweat and a few tears, but no blood. Plus, plodding along that long, long, long trail, there’s story after story about medieval history and life. And, as I’m sure you can guess, in the end, Jamie’s a hero.
Writing WALK took me three times, so far, to Spain and the Camino with my backpack and boots.
A pretty Spanish town that Jamie and Lily pass through in WALK.
The next stage of WALK’s pilgrimage is the publishing process. Stay tuned. You can be one of the first to be notified when it’s available for sale by just adding your email address on the next tab on this site. Click WALKBook in the bar above.