Yesterday's event at The Open Book Topanga in the village of Woodland Hills, CA, was one of reunion and new connections. Twenty-two years ago this month, I drove up from my Hollywood home to Woodland Hills to start my job as an associate editor at Shape, then headquartered in Los Angeles. As we drove the familiar route, I was flooded with memories of my path from magazines to novels.
I was so delighted that dear friends from those important chapters of my career came out to see me. In addition to former Shape staffers, I saw friends I made through Demand Media, Toastmasters, and Historical Novel Society of North America. I connected with a recently discovered cousin thanks to Ancestry and met new readers of my work.
It was a full-circle evening that reminded me how every stop along the way shapes where we ultimately land.