Back in April I spent a week in Hawaii on the set of the "Flirting with Forty" movie, and for that week I felt like a VIP. As many of my readers know, I live part-time on Oahu, and being on Oahu, on my favorite beach in Waikiki watching them film, blew me away.

In 2004 I started getting a wisp of an idea for the story, an idea that grew into 2005's novel. I fell in love with Hawaii and a surfer, not necessarily in that order, and what I learned at 40 gave life to a book that's now a fabulous holiday movie.

It was a dream come true to have my first novel become a Lifetime movie. I grew up in a small central-California town, far from the glamour of Hollywood, and yet from a young age I loved old black-and-white movies, loved the musicals, loved dramas and comedy. I went to UCLA as a theater arts major, but the writer emerged and I switched majors to focus more on my writing. I've never regretted choosing writing over acting, but the magic of film is still in my blood, and being invited to be on the set in Hawaii was truly fulfilling.

More From "Flirting With Forty"

My favorite memory of the week was sitting in one of the director chairs wearing a headset and listening in during filming. I was breathless all week watching scenes come to life. Those characters ... mine! The setting, the story, the words ... that started with me. I felt pride, but more than that, awe. Someone, somewhere, had loved my story so much they fought to bring it to life, and now my story is everyone's story. It belongs to the readers; it belongs to the Lifetime audience. It belongs to women everywhere.