Month: April 2013

 

Samantha Hoffman‘s debut novel, What More Could You Wish For, is a delightful, friendly read that tells a story that will be familiar to so many of us of a certain (middle) age. With aging parents, lives filled with responsibilities and long-standing friendships, and the nagging suspicion that maybe there might be something we’ve missed, we baby boomers have hard choices ahead and behind us–just as Libby Carson, WMCYWF’s tough-yet-vulnerable narrator, does. So we (and she) go for a run, eat and drink well, work too hard, and look for solace and escape on the internet. This touching story could be one told to you by a friend; and indeed, you will feel as though Libby Carson is your friend once you’ve spent time with her. And now our friend Samantha Hoffman invites us into her writing space.

Samantha: Here’s where I write. And procrastinate, and write, and think, and write, and plot, and check eBay auctions, and write. It’s where I find a million diversions (excuses) for not writing.

Could someone just please disable my Internet connection? If only…I’d have finished my new book, The Ones You Left Behind by now. 

Writer’s block? Nothing a glass of wine can’t cure.

What More Could You Wish For -an excerpt

He kissed me fully on the lips, a long, lingering, head-spinning kiss that made me feel seventeen. I felt the color rise to my cheeks. It reminded me of the excitement I’d felt when he kissed me so many years ago. It had made me tingle with the rightness of it. There was promise in the air back then, a promise unfulfilled. Maybe that was a little of what I was feeling now, even though I knew there was a huge chance it wouldn’t work this time around either. But you never knew, did you?

His hand caressed my cheek as if it were made of the most delicate glass. “Come on,” he said taking the handle of my rolling bag in one hand and draping his other arm across my shoulder. “I promised you soft shell crabs and drinks with umbrellas in them.”

“On the beach?”

“Absolutely.”

There would be waves lapping at the shore and the setting sun painting the sky with shades of orange and red. We would toast to whatever this would be. Right this minute it felt so easy and right, like being on a picnic or playing catch in the backyard. But that could change in an instant. If I hadn’t come to see him, though, I’d never know. And the thing is there’s no rewind button in life. If you don’t take advantage of the opportunities when they present themselves they’re lost to you forever.

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→You can find Chicago writer Samantha Hoffman all over the place: www.samanthahoffman.com; https://www.facebook.com/SamanthaHoffman.Author; https://twitter.com/samanthahoffman. And look for her new book on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/samantha0402/my-next-book/. Oh, and if you are reading this today, April 2, you should send Samantha a birthday wish. Happy birthday, Samantha! And thanks for this. And thanks to everyone–as always–for reading. -PMc←