Sunset Beach

Sunset Beach, CA

Just as I’ve settled into a comfortable routine and am feeling startlingly at home here – able to navigate Hwy 1 on and off ramps in a single bound, it’s time to leave tomorrow. Either that or I will have to put an offer in on the kids’ house. That’s tempting. My own little beach pad.

I had a productive morning writing once I quit distracting myself following website trails. A friend called at noon and asked me if I’d like to meet at Sunset Beach for a walk so I altered my plans a bit and drove out Larkin Ave through the strawberry fields. We walked for about two hours and then had an early dinner at Sanderlings at Seascape resort. It’s a warm, clear evening. Beach traffic has been light which has upped the relaxation factor.


Joel tells me the coast is clear to come home, he’s about finished the annual on the airplane and it’s looking good for our trip where we once again will part ways – he and his buddy will drop me in Iowa City and then peel off for Oshkosh. My route home will take me through Traverse City, MI and Bainbridge Isl, WA and his will take him to Mountain View, Arkansas and Branson and St. Louis, MO. We meet up in August in Sacramento.

Slowly, my focus is changing as I spend time with these people whose lives are spilling out onto the pages I create in the mornings. I’ve gotten closer to them in the past few days, and that was the point. Now I understand why writers with perfectly good houses seek space in other people’s houses where they can hole up relatively undisturbed. I use that caveat because if no one else disturbs me I am perfectly capable of disturbing myself.

If you are going to spend time in someone else’s head, though, it’s best to keep disturbance at a minimum. Even so, when I went out for a walk, I did leave my character sitting on a dock in the bay not knowing where his next meal is coming from, and I don’t know either. Not going to solve that one tonight.