Oh Happy Day!

I didn’t think it was ever going to happen! After several months of “everything that can go wrong going wrong” (with the exception of a hurricane, but the season’s not over yet), I now own a vacation home–a two-bedroom oceanfront condo on my beloved Topsail Island! It’s hard to believe I’d never even heard of Topsail until about five years ago. I was invited to participate in an event on the Island sponsored by Quarter Moon Books, and instantly fell in love with it. I chose it as the setting for my last two books, Before the Storm and Secrets She Left Behind, and the more research I did into the area, the stronger the pull. I met so many lovely people down there during my research trips, most notably one of my brave male commenters here on the blog, Glen Pierce. Glen introduced me to many other people, and before you could say “Topsail is actually pronounced Top-sul,” I was looking at real estate.

I do wish I’d kept a journal during this process, because I’ve lost track of all the stumbling blocks I encountered. At times, I felt as though I was living inside one of my novels with its twists and turns. Every morning, I’d get up and wonder “What’s going to go wrong today?” Buying real estate these days is not for the faint of heart.

I’ll be going down in a few weeks to explore my new home away from home. Believe it or not, I’ve only spent about five minutes in it and I’m anxious (in all meanings of the word) to truly check it out. I know from pictures that it’s lovely, but I also know I want to make it mine, with some new decor and two framed bookcovers (can you guess which ones?) on the wall. My friend, interior designer Elizabeth Samuels, who also has a place on the Island, is going to help me out, because while I can write, I can’t decorate. We all have our gifts! I’ll post more pictures once I’m there. In the meantime, join me in this chant: No hurricanes. No hurricanes. . .