It's a Mind Blower...

If you guessed  it's the fact that I'm here blogging, you're right, and I'm sorry I'm such a pitiful blogger. I had good intentions when I began this blog what feels like eons ago, but, well, stuff happens.

No excuses except that I'm lousy at prioritizing and my focus has been split on some pretty exciting things...and some not so exciting. In fact, the not so exciting has been downright depressing. 

THE NOT SO EXCITING
​I won't bore  you with details, except, okay...I will. I really should title this blog "What Happens When You Jump Off a Train in Budapest!" 

Seriously. I did this....and fractured my leg. And I've been dealing with the fallout for almost a whole freaking depressing year. 

THE EXCITING STUFF
It began a year ago as a part of one of the exciting things that's kept me busy. We decided to take our lengthy dream trip of a lifetime and travel by EurRail across Europe, wandering from country to country. Pretty exciting, and when you're a writer, you can do that and still work. Right?

THE TRAIN TO BUDAPEST
Excited travelers, we were, and after England, we were on our way from Prague to Budapest, a city I was dying to experience. We had a train delay of 3 hours, bringing us into Budapest late at night. Okay, we go with the flow, made friends with other travelers and really, who doesn't love waiting on a train platform in Prague.. However, when nearing our destination, the train stopped 20 minutes outside Budapest and we were told to change trains. No problem, except we weren't supposed to change trains and there was no train station and no platform for us to exit the train. And the other train was across 3  sets of train tracks.  Did I mention it was midnight by now and vampire dark and in the middle of nowhere...

THE NOT SO EXCITING
It's a long way down from a train to the tracks when you don't have a platform to land on. But, stalwart travelers that we are, we jumped off the train with our luggage, dragged our bags across the 3 sets of tracks...and eventually made our way to Budapest, arriving at 1 am. My left leg screaming at me all the way.

But I had to see Budapest. And what do you do in Europe? You walk everywhere. For a week in Budapest, my leg protested vociferously and eventually, after X-Rays, we had to cut a few cities and countries from our trip, go back to London and fly home. I came home sitting in the walker/wheelchair I purchased in Vienna. 

THE NOT SO EXCITING, but a little good stuff
On the bright side,  we had travel insurance. Yay! I recommend it highly. You never know. But dealing with a Tibial Plateau Stress Fracture is not fun. I was not allowed to put weight on the leg for at least 8 weeks.  For someone who likes to hike and play tennis, that's depressing. It's worse when it doesn't heal and you spend the next 8 months either in pain, confined to a chair, and/or at the doctor's office.

I have a newfound understanding of the need for more and upgraded handicapped facilities. Bathrooms definitely should change all those heavy doors that open outward. Even the most talented person would have difficulties opening a heavy door and then hold it open while you try to maneuver a wheelchair inside. And why is the handicapped stall  always on the end farthest away? Sheesh!

THE EXCITING STUFF:
Our dream trip was part of my idea to start a TRAVEL BLOG I know!!! I hate blogging. Or I thought I did, but apparently not when it's about travel...my most favorite thing to do when I'm not writing books.  I've written a lot of articles for the travel blog at GoRoamin.com if you want to check it out. I've written little since I fractured my leg, but now that it's healed, I will be updating soon. If you like travel tips, there are some goodies here, and I actually have an interview with a commercial pilot asking him all the questions every flyer wants to know. 

MORE EXCITING STUFF
I'e been writing and revising books! And I have a new book about to be released! RODEO NIGHTS, a contemporary western romance will  be released October 15th and is currently on preorder at a special discounted price. You can pick it up for 99 Cents right now, but the book returns to it's $3.99 price on about October 20th. I love the cover made for me by Dar at WickedSmartDesigns. What do you think? 

RODEO NIGHTS joins COWBOYS DON'T DANCE  as part of my new Cowboy Strong series featuring contemporary western romances set in the beautiful Southwest. I plan to add another book to the series in late November, and hopefully another in December. 

An now that I've discovered I really do like blogging, you can expect to see me here more often. Seriously.  Unless I break a leg. Or...

Cheers,
Linda

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