Category: Amy’s Blog

Enjoy the Journey

Amy Schisler

As Ken and I prepare to drive out to our cabin in Colorado this week, we’re making plans to see good friends, visit interesting places, and enjoy the ride as much as our time at the cabin. Our family has always held the belief that the journey is as important as the destination. No matter where we go, especially if we are driving, we always make the travel as important and fun as the actual vacation. As far as we’re concerned, it’s one and the same.

World's Largest Buffalo

When our girls were little, we drove from the Eastern Shore of Maryland to Southwest Colorado almost every year. It’s a 36 hour drive, and believe me, a journey of that length with three little girls is no picnic, but we found ways to make it not only memorable but downright enjoyable for all. Our girls still talk about the Mitchell Corn Palace and the Giant Concrete Buffalo like they’re the Eiffel Tower. Okay, maybe not quite that, but they were just two of the memorable stops on our travels that we marveled at and smile about today.

There’s nothing like discovering a hidden gem like the Mark Twain Cave in Hannibal, Missouri, or the Medora Music in Medora, North Dakota. While the journey might be long, there’s always something to make it entertaining, even exciting.

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Back to the Beach

Amy Schisler

Many readers have fond memories of Misty of Chincoteague, the beloved tale by Marguerite
Henry about the Beebe siblings and their Chincoteague pony. I still own my paperback copy, now falling apart at the seams. I don’t know how many times I read it, but I know that the book and the island left an imprint on my heart that I wasn’t aware of for many years.

In 2014, I began writing a book about Kate, a young woman who flees her life in the city to start over in a place with no ties to her former life, a place to escape and hide, a place to be reborn. Without giving it a thought, I watched my character pack her car and head to Chincoteague Island off the coast of Virginia.

This wasn’t surprising for me—my characters always do what they want and end up in places and predicaments I never foresaw. What was surprising was how vivid the location and the islanders were in my mind. I’d been to Chincoteague a handful of times, and have family who live on the island, but these images and personalities were so real to me that I began to think of them as friends.

Six years after the publication of the award-winning Island of Miracles, I can honestly say that…

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The Longest Thing You’ll Ever Do

Amy Schisler

In the midst of ongoing world crises–the War in Ukraine, lingering Covid worries, worldwide inflation, and a looming recession–there remains the desire to hope, to celebrate, to live.

The Queen arrives at Buckingham Palace in 2013.

Just look at Great Britain over the past week. Everyone, everywhere stopped to celebrate the seventy-year reign of their beloved queen. They threw parties and held parades and attended services and ceremonies all in honor of a woman whose title and place is ceremonial.

What is it that makes the queen such a beloved figure?

I believe, though they were quite different in many ways, it’s the same thing that endeared Princess Diana to the British people and the world. Both women had/have a remarkable passion for life.

Yes, the queen sticks to strict protocol. Her clothes, her smile, her countenance, her demeanor, and even her wave are carefully executed, groomed from birth to appear dignified and poised at all times. But what a life the queen has lived, and she is loved for the image she presents.

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Life is a Highway

Amy Schisler

“Isn’t it mysterious how so many wonderful things in life come to us seemingly without our planning? We start traveling down one street, and we find ourselves interested in something we never expected on a side street; and as we explore it, the side street becomes the main road for us.” – Fred Rogers

Don’t you love the wisdom of Mr. Rogers? 

How often has this exact thing happened to you? I think it’s the story of my entire adult life! 

It seems that my path has taken so many twists and turns and detours, I’m no longer surprised to see where I’m heading or when or where I will end up.

For example…

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Fixing What Matters

Amy Schisler

It has started once again. The talk about guns and gun control, and the question about whether it’s guns that kill or people that kill, are the topics that plague us over and over in this country. They’re good questions, necessary questions. But the real question we should all be asking is, WHY? What are we missing? What are we not doing? How are we not meeting the needs of others on such a basic level that they feel their only recourse is to mow down innocent people? What can we do to actually, truly, permanently fix this?

There’s a general feeling of dissatisfaction among Americans that goes so deep, it’s becoming imprinted on our souls.

Listening to Bishop Robert Barron this morning, I was struck by something he said. He talked about how we steer our children to be athletes or musicians or any given state of excellence, and we do anything and everything to get the child moving in that direction. He wasn’t saying this as a criticism but as an example of how we get a person to achieve something or be a certain way.

Why don’t we steer our children toward kindness? Toward loving their neighbors? Toward looking out for one another? If we can create in a child the ability to become a star athlete, then why can’t we create in that same child the ability to care for others?

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Coming Soon – Seeking Tranquility

Amy Schisler

My next book, Seeking Tranquility, comes out in just over a month! I loved writing this book. The two sisters are as different as night and day, the two older women are busybodies who genuinely care about everyone, and the scientists on the mainland add humor and spice to everyone’s lives.

Christy MacLane is smart, but in her eyes, not smart enough. She’s in over her head, having to care for Molly–both of them orphans now–trying to figure out how to finish college, working two jobs to make ends meet, and wondering if this is all that life has to hold for her. She’s sure that she will never have a life of her own or find love or have the time to look for either. Of course, life barges in when we least expect it, and love has a way of finding its own way when the time is right.

Molly is a science prodigy–a whiz at math and an expert on space science at the age of ten. She longs to follow in her father’s footsteps and work for NASA, maybe even go into space someday. She just needs to get through the summer before 6th grade first.

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Giving Your Best

Amy Schisler

Shortly before the pandemic, I started doing my daily exercise routines at home instead of going to the Y. It works better with my schedule and saves me time on the road. I’ve bounced around between several different workout videos online, and they’ve all been good, but none of them made me excited about exercising. Not long ago, though, I stumbled upon Daniel from Australia, and my exercise life and outlook have changed dramatically. He and his wife, Alex, have an online program called Team Body Project, and it has allowed me to actually enjoy exercising for the first time in years!

I’m not telling you this so that you run out and exercise or join TBP. What I really want to do here is share something Daniel says in almost every video. During the workout, he constantly reminds the participants that all that matters is giving your best all day long and then waking up the next day and giving your best again.

Yes, we’ve all heard some version of this before, but for some reason, this time, it really struck me.

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My Favorite Place?

Amy Schisler

One of the online groups I belong to poses an ice-breaker question every so often in order for members of the group to get to know each other. This morning’s question got me thinking. The question was, “What’s your favorite place of all the places you’ve travelled?”

That’s an easy one and a difficult one at the same time. Easy because my favorite travels immediately jumped into my mind without hesitation. Difficult because I have more than one favorite for more than one reason.

When I was a librarian, I was often asked what my favorite book is. I answered the way only a librarian could, “That depends. I have many favorites, all according to category!”

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Lessons of the Daughters

Amy Schisler

Not only did we celebrate Easter this past week, we celebrated my baby’s twenty-first birthday. Honestly, I can’t figure out how that happened! I remember April of 2001 like it was yesterday, but in the blink of an eye, it’s been twenty-one years. I think Morgan’s looks have changed over the past 21 years, but her personality has not.

Morgan is my girl who is never afraid to try anything. From horseback riding to parasailing to caring for her grandfather, Morgan always has a can-do attitude. Although I’m the one who is supposed to be teaching my children about life, I’ve learned so much from Morgan. I think she’d be surprised to know…

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