Now and again, I’ll hand someone one of my business cards and remind myself I need to design new ones because my Supersize Life cards (three different iterations), since I first printed them in 2016, say “new content every Monday.” I know I have been quiet the past couple of years. The truth is, it has been a long time since I posted weekly. So, two things today.

I’m going to share a few highlights—the biggies anyway—since I stopped weekly posts and, particularly, stopped posting articles about all things RV and RV life.

Ready? Let’s go!

But First…A Milestone

Let’s start with a milestone. This post, this little life update post, coincidently, is post #299 on the Supersize Life blog. Next week’s post will be #300.

Number 300 Wow! Hitting this milestone represents 600,000 words I’ve written about RV travel, RV life, RV maintenance, adventure, and life on the road.  

That’s crazy. That’s awesome. And a little hard to wrap my head around. But, wait, there’s more. Consider this…

I’ve said before that I am a slow writer. In the first years of RVing and blogging, I spent about 20 hours each week preparing those Monday posts—everything from the writing and posting articles to engaging with readers, taking and editing photos, from maintaining the website to marketing the posts on social media. HERE is an article about the pros and cons of keeping a blog.

I loved all of it. But 20 hours per week on a passion project (since it never materialized as a source of income that I hoped it might when I started) is a lot of time. It’s the primary reason why I scaled back.

During NaNoWriMo 2019 (National Novel Writing Month), I wrote the first draft of my novel. It was published in February 2022. The words I wrote during NaNoWriMo 2019 and NaNoWriMo 2020 (Book Two in my series which I haven’t yet submitted for publication) represent an additional 150,000+ words. Much of it gets edited down as I tend to over write in early drafts.

Then there are pieces and parts of lots of articles I never finished or didn’t post. I could easily write another three dozen articles on RVing just with the notes and article parts I have. Plus I replied to more than 2,000 comments on this blog. In total, I estimate I’ve written near a million words since I started this blog nine years ago. Let’s say that again…

I’ve written near a million words!

Wow. Just Wow.

Speaking of my book…let’s talk about the first of the Two Things.

Two Things: Thing One

Let me start by saying how much I whole-heartedly appreciate the love and support you have shown my little book. In the 41 months since publication, Alaska Shelter has been on the publishers’ Top 10 Bestsellers list multiple times and in 2023 it was the #11 bestseller for the year. Seriously, thank you.

Now, I suspect with that introduction you might be inclined to think I’m announcing the publication of Book Two in the series. Many of you have asked, have said you are waiting for it. (Again, thank you!) Since the NaNoWriMo 2020, Book Two has been 90% done and for whatever reason I cannot seem to get myself to finish it.

But, sadly, no. That is not the one thing. It is something else.

After 25 years, my publisher has decided to go out of business at the end of the year.

Now What?

What does that mean for me and the 250+ other writers housed with Wings E-Press? For the asking, the rights will revert to the author. Wings will give authors the edited version of our books as well as the cover art. Neither of which we have a legal right to so that is nice and it is appreciated.

At this point, there are four options:

1. Self-publish.
2. Look for another publisher.
3. Turn the Page Publishing, a new publisher in the market, has offered to take on the Wings authors of romance novels. Romantic Suspense is one of their categories so my book would fit their catalogue.
4. Let the thing die.

I’ve known for a few months now and I appreciate the time to consider my options. However, sooner than later, Wings wants each of our decisions so they can give us what we need accordingly. Truly, I don’t know which way I’ll go.

If you forced me to say today, honestly, I’m leaning toward option #4. But then I think about Book Two and it being 90% finished. I think about the ideas, notes and characters, and research I have all laid out for Books Three and Four in the series. I may have mentioned my vision has always been a four-book series, each following one of the four brothers. Hence the series name: Cooper Brothers of Alaska. I think about the comments and emails I’ve received from those looking forward to Book Two. And then I’m back to I just don’t know.

What I Mourn

Two things I grieved with this news. First, by having a publisher, I didn’t have to go through all the work of finding one for Books Two, Three and Four. Of course, in the contract, it is stated as the right of first refusal which, technically, means they could choose not to accept it for publication. But I feel confident Wings would have taken the remaining books in the series.

That means consistency in both the editing and the cover art.

The second thing I mourn is the loss of the ISBN number. I know that sounds weird. And, actually, it may not be the number that matters. But when Wings goes out of business on the last day of this year, my book will be taken down from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other selling platforms. When that happens, no matter if I self-publish or use another publisher, losing the ISBN number associated with the book means starting over as if it were a new book.

Why is this hard for me? Because I worked to get the 50+ reviews I have on Amazon. And 50 is the magic number needed for Amazon to start recommending your book to others who search using your key words (in my case: Alaska, Alaska mystery, etc.).

It’s all been hard news and I have responded by acting like an ostrich. Head in the sand. Procrastinating the decision. But, alas, a decision must be made in the next few months.

Two Things: Thing Two

This is probably not going to be a surprise though I have not yet publicly shared the news. But on June 19, 2024 (yes, a year ago), I sold my Oliver trailer, Quill.

When I started the RV adventure, it was a solution to a problem (more time to write and it served me well) and I had it in my head I would do it until I didn’t want to do it anymore, always believing that would be 5 – 10 years. Maybe COVID and sheltering in place sped up the timeline, I don’t know. But three years ago, I parked the RV in one location. In the first few days of parking Quill, I snapped the feature photo and I always think of the image as “Sunset on Quill and RV Life.”

In total I was a full-time RVer for just over 4 years.

I enjoyed my adventures to the Pacific Northwest, including my time in Portland and Long Beach, Washington. As well as being an interpretive host at Heceta Head Lighthouse on the Oregon coast and Kam Wah Chung and Sumpter Gold Dredge in eastern Oregon.

I arrived in the small retirement beach town of Ocean Shores, Washington, three years ago. Parked the RV and it didn’t move again until I sold it last summer. I took a part-time job in a boutique. And now am at an interpretive center. Talk about full circle, after several stints as an interpreter with Oregon State Parks as a volunteer, I’m doing it again as a paid employee.

Quill’s New People

I sold Quill to an Arizona couple and they were the perfect people to take Quill. I felt confident the trailer was going to good people who would take care of my little home. She’s no longer called Quill and my purple stripes are now gone. But it remains Hull #249. I get regular updates on the upgrades and changes to Quill as well as her new adventures.

The couple didn’t want the fanfare of “sold” photos but I snapped a few of Quill driving away, leaving my life. Here is the story from my vantage point.

Oops! Debbie forgot to give them the keys! Let’s try that again.

Do You Remember Violet?

You probably don’t. But Violet was what I named the van I purchased as my tow vehicle. Together the van and the trailer were the Violet Quill. Like naming my cat Chi, the name Violet never stuck.

The van I purchased was extra long and my reasoning was it would come in handy as additional storage space. In all the decisions I made regarding my RV life set up, it is probably the one most obviously wrong. While the thinking was sound, the reality turned out to be much different. I quickly learned an extra long van doesn’t fit in parallel parking spaces. It doesn’t even fit in tight parking lots.

I’ve been continually irritated at the van, now only known as the Big White Van, since I bought it in 2017.

And…in one ironic twist, the Big White Van continues to irritate me because, even without needing it to tow any longer, I seem to be unable to bring myself to take it to a car dealer and trade it in for something that gets better gas mileage, is more practical and, alas, easily slides into parallel parking spaces.

The Next Big Thing

I might have used a slight click-bait title today as I want to save “the next big thing” for post #300. It has a kind of symmetry that appeals to my analytical perfectionist side.

But, in the meantime, play along with this game: starting tomorrow on the Supersize LIFE Facebook page (please like and follow if you aren’t already, there is a link at the bottom of the page) I’m going to give one hint a day as to what that next big thing is before the big reveal next Thursday, July 17.

It’s big and it’s exciting…at least to me.

Relevant Links to Other Posts You Might Enjoy:

• NaNoWriMo and Stargazing: Two Bucket List Items
• Alaska Shelter: E-Book or Paperback Book?
• Pros and Cons of Writing a Blog
• Portland Oregon: An Overview
• Long Beach, Washington on the Long Beach Peninsula
• Oregon’s Heceta Head Lighthouse
• Tour of Kam Wah Chung Historic Site
• Sumpter Valley Gold Dredge Workamping
• Introducing My New Oliver Travel Trailer

To see products recently purchased by readers or to browse and shop at Amazon, follow either of these links. Huge thanks for your support.

• New Chapter Women’s Multivitamin + Immune Support
• GASPRO 20 Feet Propane Quick Connect Hose for RV to Grill with Safety Shutoff Valve
• Arrid XX Extra Extra Dry Solid Antiperspirant Deodorant, Unscented
• Dehumidifier, Small Dehumidifiers for Home

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