One Month Until Launch

2021 is here. (Finally.)

My book launches next month! (Ahhhh!!!)

I have been writing, re-writing, editing, and designing my first book for two years and dreaming about it for thirty. 2021 is coming in like a toddler barrelling at my chest.

Two years ago, I started Passports and Pacifiers while in Scandinavia with my four small kids. That trip started off rough with two missed ferries, tears, and some bumpy waters. After our second day, in my Helsinki hotel room that night, I wrote the first lines. I didn’t know at the time what it would become, but I did know that, as ridiculous as our day had been, what we were doing was special. And manageable. I also quickly learned that those lines I typed into my cell phone when my kids were falling asleep were the beginnings of a book.

Here's the first twenty minutes of our first day:

“We’re late!” I yelled into the hotel phone to AJ in a room at the other side of the hotel. I threw on my clothes, then Sienna’s, while I put my son on the toilet. The girls arrived dressed with their dad (thank goodness I’m so absurd about laying everything out the night before), then let AJ dress Lucas while I brushed my teeth. I felt for our passports and closed our laptop into the safe. I strapped Sienna onto my back, and AJ loaded the diaper bag onto his. He grabbed Lucas’s hand and we ran out the hotel door in an astonishing twenty minutes, high-fiving in the elevator, for the ferry to Tallinn, Estonia.

Spoiler alert, we didn't make that ferry. Perhaps my need to grab the all-inclusive breakfast impacted our timing.

However, I saw that the world we were showing our kids was also teaching me a lot.

When I wrote my first stories in grade school, the main characters were my classmates. The main character would be one of my best friends and the love interest would be whatever boy I was crushing on that week. (How’s that for a twist?) I never made it much beyond the second or third chapter since although I had fantastic characters, I got bored partway through and never probably developed the plot.

Fast forward thirty years and I still have great characters; the boy I’m crushing on, my favorite fourth grade girl, and three other fun kids. Now, I’ve got a great plot with adventures from all over the world.

I've always enjoyed reading non-fiction and now I'm writing it. I design detailed itineraries before our travels and always keep a journal during the trip. Plus, I have fantastic recall for feelings and events. (Names, not so much.) I love reading about other people, experiencing new places, and learning new skills. Although, being married to AJ, there has been a glut of running books in the house so they are my most read sub-genre.*

February will be here soon. The Amazon pre-sale Kindle is coming next week and the paperback will be available at launch. If you're interested in me signing your copy, shoot me a message and we can sort something out. I'm ordering some copies for myself soon.

* Not a complete list but includes:

Born to Run by Chris McDougall

The Rise of the Ultra Runners: A Journey to the Edge of Human Endurance by Adharanand Finn, along with Running with the Kenyans

Let your Mind Run: A Memoir of Thinking my Way to Victory by Deena Kastor

Incomplete Book of Running by Peter Sagal

My Life on the Run: The Wit, Wisdom, and Insights of a Road Racing Icon by Bart Yasso

North: Finding my Way While Running the Appalachian Trail by Scott Jurek

Running on Empty: An Ultramarathoner’s Story of Love, Loss, and a Record-Setting Run Across America by Marshall Ulrich

Running to the Edge: A Band of Misfits and the Guru who Unlocked the Secrets of Speed by Matthew Futterman

The Perfect Mile: Three Athletes, One Goal, and Less than Four Minutes to Achieve It by Neal Bascomb

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

Once a Runner by John Parker Jr. (fiction but quite good)

The End of the World Running Club by Adrian Walker (okay, this is fiction but definitely running!)

Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner by Dean Karnazes

I set up an Amazon link since I’ll need it when my book goes live. As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. (Appreciate you all letting me post this to test it out!)