Hilton Head Still in My Head

About a month ago, I finally had the opportunity to make it to Hilton Head Island, SC.  Hearing about it many times from friends and co-workers made it sound enticing enough for me to check out.  Wow, what a relaxing beautiful beach.  Not overly crowded, but that may have been because I was there in April.  But, the water was already warm.

So what makes this beach town any different from the others?  One word or two, its simplicity and beauty.  Oh, and may I add another?  Eco-friendly.  Which is why the first thing I noticed was the stores, or for what I thought as I drove across the bridge into the island that there weren’t any.  But, there were.  Not shouting at you like most strip malls, malls, or stand-alones as you drive down the road.  These stores were recessed from the highway behind beautiful greenery and signage low to the ground, their logos almost indistinctively blending into the environment. There were no tall signs announcing a Target over here, or a commonly identifiable CVS over there.   Instead, if you were looking for one of your familiar stores, you had to really look or you would pass it quickly.  Did I have a problem with that?  No way.  It was a nice change from being blasted in the face with advertisements, not even one billboard. The stores blended into nice beach muted colors, low-level buildings that were all the same but still a tad bit distinctive.  The McDonalds didn’t look like the McDonalds we are used to seeing.  But, you get the picture.

Hilton Head Island was a lush, soothing environment.  Just being there gives you pause to breathe.  Like most beach towns, there is so much to do.  At the same time, so much to not do if you are like me, who finds lying on the beach enjoying the sound of the ocean and the sound of the seagulls as the “thing to do.”  However, this grand little island had long green bike trails, golf courses, shops, restaurants, boats, fishing, and did I mention food?  I’m not going to laud any of the restaurants.  The food was good, but not exceptional.  I am told I missed the exceptional restaurants.  So I will have to go back.  As an aside, breakfast was great at the hotel, but it is at most of those chains. 

I did enjoy my adventure to Hilton Head Island.  It was a peaceful, healing place with lots of friendly faces.  So guess what?  I’ll Be Back!!!

Achieve Any Goal

Why Do Women Stay?

I'm doing a little research.  Would love your help.  If you have ever stayed in a relationship, and have asked yourself “why did I stay?”  Please let me know.  If you have read the first novel in The Sperling Chronicles, Dreams Thrown Away.  I’m sure you asked that question, and maybe even have an answer for Kali Sperling.  Do you?  I’m compiling scenarios, but won’t use your name.  Any insight would be great.  In exchange, I will give you a FREE DOWNLOAD of Dreams Thrown Away on Kindle or Nook.

 I can’t wait to hear your stories.  And no, it doesn’t have to be a current relationship.  You can share something from the past.  If you don’t have a story, but know someone who does, please ask them to share with me.

Happy Memorial Day!!!

Though we look forward to this weekend as a time to relax, throw some meat on the grill, and enjoy friends and family. It is also a time when we should reflect and be thankful for the millions of men and women who have served in the military to protect us. And, let us not forget those who serve us locally and federally: the policemen, the sheriffs, the firemen, the agents from the state bureaus of investigation, the border patrolmen, the marshals, all of whom lay their lives on the line to ensure our freedom and safety.

As a daughter of a proud Montford Point Marine until the day he died, the relative of Tuskegee Airmen, and a citizen who knows many individuals of all races and creeds who have served in all facets of the services named above,
I THANK YOU!

The Perfect Mother's Day Gift

Moms love a little titillating suspense, too.  Introduce her to The Sperling Chronicles novels for Mother’s Day!  And don’t be surprised if she falls in love with Ashton and his roguish charms and devious ways.  

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR

Be careful what you ask for, you might just get it.  It’s funny how “almost” everything I have wanted keeps coming my way, just not in the form that I expected or thought I had asked for.  For years, I said over and over that I wanted to write for a living.  Then I landed in the medical services profession in hospital settings for close to twenty years.  Most of the time spent in this profession was sitting in meetings, taking minutes filled with a lot of medical jargon followed by writing policies filled with dry legislative and accreditation regulations.  In addition to that, my job responsibilities included writing training manuals and developing guidelines (writing them).  After many years, I finally realized I was earning a living as a writer.  That is what I had asked for, right?

So to clarify what I wanted, my mantra became I want to write for a living and I want to work from home doing it.  A little later, I added travel to that mantra.  I wrote my wish in journals, spouted it to friends or to anyone who would listen, and I thought about it all the time.  I do believe that thoughts become things.  I wanted a writing career to earn a living, writing from home, and writing while traveling to become a reality.  And it did, somewhat.  I have written two suspense novels, and I am no longer the queen of minutes though policies are still a big focus.  I work full-time outside of the hospital setting now where meetings no longer permeate my entire day that included insanely early morning and maniacally late night schedules coupled with a long arduous commute through Atlanta traffic, congested no matter what time of day. 

Thank God I moved from hospital to managed care, which now fills my day with hundreds of emails, instant messages, and more policies to write or tweak.  The electronic conversations alone comprise more than enough words to write numerous books.  Though management is something that wasn't in the plan, I went from managing a staff of two to eight to twenty-six, most of them remotely from their homes.  I, too, work remotely on occasion and soon will be working from home, that’s right, full-time. And travel, right now it's mostly done for my employer.  Over the last two years, I have traveled across country, across regions, and most recently back and forth to Nashville so many times, I sometimes drive there in my dreams. 

Isn’t that what I wanted?  Remember, I wanted to work from home to write for a living and travel.  Oops, need clarification again of what I am asking for; so far I haven’t gotten what I truly wanted. So the mantra has changed to writing novels from home or from wherever I am and to traveling for fun or to promote my novels so that I can become a consistent New York Times or Amazon best selling author. And I have added, to turn those novels into movie scripts and television scripts and write non-fiction books on how to get what you want.   Is that clear enough?  I hope so.  I will keep you posted.

In the meantime, remember this secret which is not really a secret.  “Ask and it shall be given unto you.  Seek and you shall find.  Knock and the door shall be open unto you.”  But, don’t forget, “Be careful of what you ask for, you may just get it.”

Dilsa Saunders Bailey is the author of two hot, sensual suspense novels called The Sperling Chronicles.  She shares her random thoughts in her blog at simplydilsa.    Like her on Facebook’s page - The Sperling Chronicles and join her on Twitter at simplydilsa.