Something unexpected happened while I was walking
Mar 31, 2026 3:13 pm
Now that the weather is finally warming up, I’ve started getting back into one of my favorite rhythms—getting outside and walking every day.
It’s something that’s been part of my life for a while now. Last year, it’s how I lost thirty pounds before walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain in the fall.
And this year… I’m hoping to do it again. (Lose weight, not go to Spain.)
But walking has always been more than just exercise for me.
It used to be where I worked through story ideas… figured out characters… untangled scenes that weren’t quite working yet.
My mind was always busy out there. And then the Camino changed that. Somewhere along those miles, something shifted in a way I didn’t expect.
For the first time in a long time… my mind got quiet.
Not empty in a restless way—but still. Peaceful. Like everything finally settled into place without me having to force it.
It might not sound like much, but it felt like everything.
Especially after writing and publishing six books in thirteen months.
I didn’t realize how much I needed that kind of stillness until I experienced it.
(Of course, you know me… I’m not sure my brain will ever stay quiet for long. 😉)
But something else came out of that journey, too.
I connected with a group of women who have walked the Camino, and they’ve asked me to help share their stories.
And I have to tell you… I’m really excited about it.
There’s something powerful about the way people open up when they step away from their everyday lives and start walking. The stories that come out of that kind of experience are honest in a way that’s hard to find anywhere else.
And—because I can’t seem to help myself—I’ve also started to wonder what kind of love story might unfold along that path.
So we’ll see where that leads. 💛
If the Camino taught me anything, it’s this:
Life is always changing.
And when we choose our path—when we step into it on purpose—it feels very different than when we’re just being carried along by all the noise around us.
So now I’m curious…
Where do you find your quiet?
A Sugar Creek Moment
Snowmelt runs along the edge of the road, clear and impatient. Boots are still needed in the morning, but by afternoon, the sun feels brave. Windows crack open for the first time. Someone says it smells like the earth waking up.
Until next time,
💛 River
Book Shares
She perfected her life. She perfected her marriage. She just forgot to include herself.
After twenty-five years of striving to be the perfect wife in a world where she never quite belonged, Maggie Donovan’s carefully curated life fractures in a hospital hallway — and her escape to the quiet Gulf Coast town of Harmony Bay becomes the first real choice she’s ever made for herself.
For decades, Maggie believed perfection was the price of belonging. A polished marriage. A controlled image. A daughter raised to follow the same rigid path. But inside a small-town music shop tucked between palm trees and ocean breezes, something long buried begins to stir.
Nora Hale, the shop’s warm and intuitive owner, offers presence without pressure. Andrew Hale — steady, kind, and quietly compelling — offers friendship without conditions.
For the first time in years, Maggie isn’t being measured. As she reconnects with music—and the parts of herself she abandoned to survive—she’s forced to confront the truth about the life she built with a man who valued optics over intimacy—and decide whether it’s finally time to choose happiness over fear.
Because starting over isn’t just about leaving. It’s about remembering who you were before the world told you who to be.
💖 The Music Shop is an emotional small-town women’s fiction and sweet, slow-burn romance series about later-in-life self-discovery, second chances, and finding love in a charming coastal community.