Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Heading West
by Jaye Saylor from Alibis and Amethysts, the first book in the new Crystal Shop Mysteries, by Sharon Pape
Hi
everyone, my name is Jaye Saylor. I own a crystal and gemstone shop in Sedona,
Arizona. Now that's a sentence I'd have bet
would never cross my lips. I owe the big upheaval in my life to my best friend
Sierra. If it had been up to me, I probably would have stayed where I was, teaching
geology at a college on Long Island. It was a nice, stable job with regular
hours, a decent salary and benefits. I hope you're not groaning like Sierra did
when I told her I'd chosen geology for my major. To be honest, her reaction was
predictable. Sierra is one of those free spirits who goes where her spirit
leads her, even though it sometimes leads her, and me, into a mess of trouble
Sierra
and I met as dorm mates in college. No one thought we'd last a month. A few people
didn't even give us a week. I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say
that we were the least likely pair on campus to become best friends. Of course
our relationship had its share of speed bumps. I hate to admit that most of them were my
fault. I was an experienced architect by the time I met Sierra -- an architect
of walls, fortresses and crocodile-filled moats. The fact that we are now as
close as sisters is in no small measure due to Sierra's generous heart and
fundamental belief that all things are possible.
In
any case, I was rolling along contentedly in my daily rut when Sierra called
from Sedona. She was in Arizona visiting a college friend. On a brief side trip
to Sedona, she fell in love with the place. She made the decision on the spot to
move there and open a bakery, even though she didn't know the first thing about
baking. Typical Sierra. She was calling to give me a head's up, because she
wanted me to leave my nice, secure life and follow her off the cliff, lemming
style. "How do you expect me to make a living out there?" I asked,
hoping to trip her up with reality. I
should have known Sierra would have it covered.
"You can open a crystal shop," she
said. "That's related to geology. All you have to do is learn the New Age
properties attributed to the stones and you're in business."
"It's about as related as a pig
to a petunia," I protested. We went on for a while in that vein. The
upshot of it all was that I moved to Sedona and opened a crystal shop. It took
a bit of adjusting for me - okay, a ton of adjusting. But after six months, I was
settled in and loving my new life there. Of course that's when we found the
dead body.
Visit Sharon's website to read an excerpt: www.sharonpape.com
Stop by and say "hi" one Facebook.
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I need a Sierra in my life....one who could point out how my training as a radiologic technologist could be used in a different field and how I could make a good living from that job.
ReplyDeleteYour shop looks beautiful!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the new series, Sharon. Thanks to Jaye for the heads-up!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to visit Sedona and especially your shop. I used to get crystals on a regular basis, but then I'd forget what each one was! Kind of hard to use them for their magical/healing properties when you don't remember what it is!
ReplyDeleteI'll check -- maybe there's a crystal that's good for the memory. I could sure use it myself!
DeleteNext time I'm in Sedona I will stop and say "Hi!". Sedona is so pretty!
ReplyDeleteLike the idea of friends jumping into something new without any particular training. We need more adventure loving folks. Sedona is one of my favorite places.
ReplyDeleteI try to go there once a year at least. It never gets old.
DeleteI love the cover of the book! Really looking forward to this one!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to read this. It sounds to me that Sierra likes a little mischief in her life.
ReplyDeletecannot wait to get my hands on this book!!!
ReplyDeleteJaye I am going to love you and your friend Sierra.
ReplyDeleteI so want to read this book! I do love crystals, and especially Amethyst.
ReplyDeleteAh, college roomates. I first had an impossible one and then got a darling one. The latter and I still keep in touch by mail even though we live in distant towns. Memories...memories....memories.
ReplyDelete