I’ve been doing a lot of traveling over the last couple of years and especially during the April-May months. I travel for writing conferences and for my dental hygiene licensing boards (I’m in Pittsburgh writing this blog at the moment!).  So, a couple of years ago I also decided (for many reasons) to avoid all the newfangled scanning machines that they make you go through at airport security checkpoints, choosing instead the more personal attentions of TSA agents. . . .

AKA the PATDOWN.

I traveled through many airports, some big and some small, from the East Coast to the Midwest and out to the West Coast, spending many minutes, hours?, being legally groped from my head to my toes. by a number of different TSA agents. I tried to be positive about this process, especially since I’d made the choice to do them and so I decided to share my experiences and evaluation of the various airports and screeners.

LOL – I even told them I was going to blog about them!

So. . . what did I learn in undergoing lots of up-close-and-personal-attention?

The first thing I learned is that TSA agents must have undergone more training in late 2011-early 2012 because I found a big change in their whole attitudes in how they took the news that someone was ‘opting-out’. Before that, they seemed ready to argue and tell you why you were being stupid. After that, they seemed to be more zen about it — nodding politely, mentioning only that it would mean a ‘thorough pat-down using their hands to search your body’.

And, their approach–calm, soothing voices, polite instructions–became nicer, too. I had some very interesting conversations as the agent would be skimming her hands over my body parts, using the back of her hands in the ‘sensitive areas like the breasts and groin’. LOL!

Looking back at all the screenings, at all the airports, I would say that the Midwest screeners were just a tiny bit nicer in carrying out their duties. They generally had a nice sense of humor and seemed to try to put me at ease during the sometimes embarassing situation. The screeners at the Grand Rapids airport receive my award for best patdown at an airport!

The worst? Well, I hesitate to say this but I have terrible travel karma at the Orlando airport – yes, the gateway to my favorite place on earth is the airport I’ve had the most trouble traveling through! Clearly, they need some Disney magic or Tinkerbell’s pixie dust applied there!

How about you? Have you experienced the up-close-and-personal screening? Do your travels go smoothly or are you travel-challenged?

  Terri is busy working on her next MacLerie story even while she awaits the release of HIGHLANDERS, an HQN anthology in June. Visit her website or friend her on Facebook to keep in touch with her.

Terri will be presenting a workshop at the Maine RWA chapter retreat – May 17&18 – at the Portland Embassy Suites. FMI – visit here.

Each year, the Washington DC chapter of the Romance Writers of America hosts a weekend retreat that’s called “In The Company of Writers”.

The first two times I attended this retreat, it was held at the historic Hilltop Hotel in Harper’s Ferry WV — a hotel that had been built in sections over decades and left me feeling that I needed to carry breadcrumbs to drop along the way to find my path back! The view from the hotel’s patio and various rooms was spectacular and inspirational – it overlooked the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers and you could, if you wanted, sit and listen to the trains as they passed through the mountain tunnels and across the bridge below.

A couple of years ago, the hotel was closed and the retreat had to find a new location. This year’s was held in Westminster MD

   Throughout the weekend, workshops were interspersed with lots of side conversations and social events and wonderful speakers.  Cathy Maxwell moderated an interesting panel discussion by the editors and agents present and was the ‘closer’, too. Jane Porter spoke several times and I enjoyed her talk “Ten Keys to Success and Survival”.  Diane Gaston spoke about writing historical romances. Kathleen Seidel and Pamela Regis (two academic heavy-hitters!) did an interactive workshop that had us planning, drafting or revising our works-in-progress. I have never been a write-on-demand writer and usually find this type of workshop unappealing, but by the time they finished, I had a Christmas novella planned out! Woohooo!

There are two retreat events that have legendary status — Friday evening’s American Title and Saturday’s Romance Jeopardy game!  American Title features editors and/or agents who listen to ‘cold reads’ – first pages read from anonymous writers and then comment on them. It’s like watching American Idol live! The comments can be positive or negative (though they did all seem to try not to be too negative!) but they are candid and real. At least one was requested on spot!

Romance Jeopardy (aka The Game Is Not Fair!) is played by teams, sometimes dressed in thematic costumes, that includes lots of confusion, yelling, whining, sometimes singing, and possibly alcohol consumption! It’s played like the real Jeopardy game but all the questions focus on romance novels or authors. The funniest thing is when the question refers to a WRW member author who is playing the game…and who gets the question WRONG! Diane Gaston did that this year – LOL!  And this year, the theme was Scottish and each team did it in their own fashion. My favorite was this one:

When the judges came around to count teams to make sure they had the acceptable number of members, this team had one too many. When they were told this, they explained that the sheep was not a person so they didn’t count! Since the game is not fair, the sheep was allowed to remain on the team!

I have to say – I came home feeling rejuvenated, refreshed and ready to write. The Christmas novella idea is almost fleshed out in a synopsis that I plan to finish ASAP. I met up with friends, made some news ones and can’t wait for 2014′s retreat.

Gotta say – it’s events like this one that make me glad to be a writer!

So, how about you? Do you like attending events like conferences or retreats? Are you comfortable in large groups or do you prefer small ones? Interactive workshops or ones where you just take notes? Readers – do you attend signings or other author events?  Post a comment and I’ll share some of the books I brought home with some of those who do! 

Terri is working on her next MacLerie Clan historical romance and awaiting the release of her HQN anthology HIGHLANDERS, which arrives in digital formats in June! Visit her website for lots more info and some exciting news!

The winners of a copy of Terri’s new release – AT THE HIGHLANDER’S MERCY – are:

— Alane

and

— Polly!!

Please contact me at terri@terribrisbin.com so I can send it to you!

. . . that time of year again!   And, indeed, it is that busy time of year when I will be out of town more than I’ll be in. Between writing events and dental board assignments, I’ll be traveling from NC to MD to MA to NJ to PA to ME and back again between now and mid-May.

Spring and traveling have gone together for me for years — April and May are my busiest months of the year and, frankly, I love it. After the cold and dark of Winter, the sun is up longer, the weather is warming and I’m going all over the place to meet people, talk writing and administering dental hygiene licensing boards.

As I approach getting ready for all the traveling, I realize I must be more like my mother than I usually admit — for years, she kept a suitcase packed by the door in case she was asked to travel! LOL! She never turned down a chance to go with friends or her senior group. So, I’m searching for my travel accoutrements, charging up my electronic devices and getting ready to head out.

    How about you? How is your Spring looking so far? Will you be staying put or heading out like me? Spring cleaning ahead? Are you thrilled to see Winter end or lamenting a lack of snow as I am?  Since I have a new book out, I’ll pick out two commentors and give them a copy of my latest – AT THE HIGHLANDER’S MERCY!

Terri ‘s stepping in as Keynote Speaker at the New England Chapter Conference this weekend at the Boston Burlington Mariott Hotel. She’ll also be signing at an open-to-the-public bookfair will be held on April 27. FMI – visit here.

   I have to say that I really, really don’t like the tv networks habit lately of putting series into hiatus. Some take a few weeks at a time off – Once Upon a Time, for example, is off now until April 21st. Others are off for longer – Revolution disappeared from tvs for FOUR WHOLE MONTHS! Long enough for viewers to: 1) forget their storylines and characters, and 2)find other shows they like better.

Some cable shows simply have shorter seasons with 8-10 episodes before they go off for months (or almost a year!) — like GAME OF THRONES, TRUE BLOOD, BOARDWALK EMPIRE, etc. So they’re just long enough to get me interested and then they leave for extended time – not fair either!

I tend to find new shows….and sometimes lose the old ones — I think I’ve given up on REVOLUTION due to the hiatus. I found THE BORGIAS after THE TUDORS ended and plan on finding DAVINCI’S DEMONS soon,  too.  I am so looking forward to GAME OF THRONES return this weekend. Sometimes, I have discovered a show while it’s on break and that’s given me time to catch up — I did not begin watching DOWNTON ABBEY until just before the second season – and I spent Christmas week 2011 watching season 1 in preparation for season 2.

How about you? Any tv shows you are waiting for? Any you miss and/or can’t remember because it’s been too long since you saw it?

 Terri is thrilled that her latest release – AT THE HIGHLANDER’S MERCY – has hit the shelves in print and will be available in digital formats on April 1. Visit her website for lots more info.

Serials have been around forever — both in writing/publishing and even on radio and tv.  Telling a story in small segments over a period of time entranced and intrigued readers (or viewers or listeners) and drew large audiences.  More recently Stephen King tried it (unsuccessfully) and some publishers are presenting online serials – chapter by chapter – from either one author or a variety of them.

Last year a group of Harlequin and Mills&Boon Historical authors got together and planned out a historical serial romance – Lady Ambleforth’s Afternoon Adventure - a Regency romance told in serial format.  About 6 authors planned out the story and told it by posting a chapter a day on the Harlequin Historical Authors blog. They all said it was a lot of fun to do, working out each day so that there would be a cliffhanger-of-sorts to draw the reader along.

    So, this year a larger group decided to try it again, this time with a time-travel serial so that the authors could use the time periods they liked the most – no surprise to most of you that I chose Scottish Highlanders in medieval times! We planned out our basic storyline (in a process that was kind of like herding cats!) and then each moved the plot and romance (s!) along until we reached a happily-ever-after.

Now, we are sharing the story with you! We’ve called it “Lost in Time: The Lady in Green” and it’s 21 chapters long, running all through March over on the Harlequin Historicals Authors‘ blog…. please stop by!

Have you ever read a serialized romance or other fiction? Do you like reading stories in little bits at a time?  I’d love to hear what you think of our newest adventure – which will be available in one volume (much like the original Victorian serials were!) in digital formats next month!

Terri is thrilled that AT THE HIGHLANDER’S MERCY  will be ‘on the shelves’ in print next week and available in digital on April 1st!  And she’s now working on another MacLerie Clan romance that will follow November’s THE HIGHLANDER’S DANGEROUS TEMPTATION sometime in 2014! Love those MacLeries! Visit her website for lots more information!

Mozette and Jo’s Daughter!!

Please email me at terri@terribrisbin.com and give me your mailing info so I can send out the copies!

Thanks to everyone who commented……

Terri

 Stress – we all have it in our lives. Some stress can be good, it can push us to move and change. Lots of it can be bad and cause physical illnesses. I tell my dental patients that stress is a killer – it causes toxic chemicals to be spilled into our bodies and can destroy our immune system. Some stress can be a great motivator.

Stress was actually what started me writing romance novels. I was on our local school board, president of it, and we were involved in some very stressful contract negotiations that caused many long, late meetings. When I would get home, my story ideas seemed to swirl in my brain stronger than ever, preventing me from sleeping until I sorted them out and wrote them down. Writing helped me process what had happened during the meetings and spurred me on to write my first novel.

So, that’s what I call good stress.

Now, stress comes in the form of my deadline-binges-o-writing, pushing me to write, write, write and forcing the ideas and words out of my brain and onto the page.

And in neither of those situations did I ever feel that the stress is out of control. So, that’s good stress to me.

I could list the bad stressful situations in my life, but we all have them and you know what causes you stress. It’s made worse sometimes by our reactions.  Instead of dealing with it in a productive or effective manner, emotions go into overdrive and cause even more stress…. A vicious circle.

Lately, I’ve been taking some classes in Mindfulness Meditation and learning how to stop reacting to stressful situations. I have a long way to go though! LOL! It has been interesting, though a struggle sometimes to stay awake once I’ve begun practicing!

How about you? How do you deal with stress in your life? How do you relax? Reading a good romance novel? Share a stress-reduction tip and I’ll choose two to receive a hot-off-the-presses, not-even-on-sale copy of my April release – AT THE HIGHLANDER’S MERCY.