Virginia Heath: Life Through a Lens...

The first time I went to Disney was 20 years ago. I will never forget the experience. My two kids were little and totally believed all the characters in those fancy suits were real. It was, as Disney so often promise, magical.

I especially remember the fireworks. All those twinkling patterns set to music, high above Cinderella’s castle. Next to me was a solitary man who watched the whole display through the viewfinder of his video camera, while his children stood next to him. At the time, I thought it was an odd thing to do. Here he was, surrounded by all this atmosphere, his three children filled with awe and wonder, missing the full experience as he recorded it for posterity. It struck me as a waste of a good memory.

Twenty years later, we visited Anaheim again and just had we had that first time, and on numerous visits to different Disneylands around the world since, we found a spot on Main Street and waited patiently for the fireworks. This time though, we were one of the few spectators in that sea of people not holding up our smartphones and watching the spectacle on the screens.

Back home in London a few weeks later, I was sat outside a café on the banks of the River Thames. To my right was the magnificent Tower Bridge. To my left, the wonderful Tower of London. A group of Japanese tourists walked by, and it struck me that they were all holding selfie sticks, viewing those amazing sights on the small screens of their phones rather than experiencing it in the flesh. Since then, I see this all the time. Every event seems to be so meticulously filmed that the people doing the filming are distanced from the great things happening in their own lives.

My point is this, it is Christmas Eve. A time for sharing all the joy of life with those you love. For the next few days, put down your phones people. Live in the moment. Enjoy it. Those memories will be revisited more often than all those hours and hours of video ever will.  

Happy Holidays!

Virginia Heath writes witty, fast-paced romances filled with feisty heroines and mouth-watering heroes she would want to fall in love with.

The Discerning Gentleman's Guide, is out now.

Susan Sands: Writing in My Mind

I would love to say I've been super-productive these last weeks with my writing. But sadly, life has

Fripp Island, South Carolina

wrestled me to the ground and taken control in a way that hasn't left time for the muse, no matter how much I want to put words on the page. By the time I settle in for the evening, I tend to stare cross-eyed at the screen and begin to nod off.

Life, as in losing three hundred pages of edits due to "an unfortunate data loss" as describe by both Apple tech support and Microsoft Word for Mac tech support when referring to the corrupted file that was supposed to be autosaved instead. Life, as in getting fifteen years of stuff stuffed away to make my house "show-ready" for selling. Life, as in heading back to Louisiana and packing up my parents for their second move in three months. This time, they are moving to Georgia to be near me because my dad's Alzheimer's has become an aggressive beast that my mother can't begin to handle on her own, three states away, with no backup. Life, as in family vacation in South Carolina that has been planned, paid for, and highly anticipated for months. The day I return, my parents will arrive from Louisiana permanently.

So, the writing hasn't happened. But the ideas have been coming fast and furious. I've made notes on my phone when I'm not near my computer. I've plotted a whole new series in my head while I've been packing, traveling, and playing on the beach with my family. The fingers might be away from the keyboard, but my brain somehow has found its way to progress despite all the obstacles. I guess even when we shut down the flow of words on paper, they still manage to find an outlet, like a stubborn little flower that sprouts up through a crack in the cement. And I've had some pretty hot, dry cement to contend with lately, y'all.

Hopefully, by the time I get back in front of my computer, I'll be able to write like the wind. It shouldn't be long now.

I hope everyone is having a lovely summer!

Susan Sands