It's official! Have begun transfer

It's official!
Have begun transfer of online "fake me" to real me. *;) Stay tuned - need to tweak some things before launch....

It's Official

Have begun transfer of online "fake me" to real me. *;) Stay tuned - need to tweak some things before launch....

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What Would You Do?

...if you met the love of your life, after you already thought you had? Yep. I'm talking about the age-old construct, the love triangle. For some reason, it's been fascinating me, fiction-wise.

Stephanie Plum? Die-hard Morelli fan.

Kate Connor? Gotta be Stuart. (Sorry, there's just something wrong with David.)

Archie? Veronica. 'nuf said.

And yes, a love triangle does show up in Dead. Sort of. Not sure where I'm going with it, but it's an interesting exploration. What would it be like, to love two people? I mean really, truly love them, not just have a crush or be in lust. To think you found your soul mate, and then... to actually find them.

Talk about conflict. Tough decisions. Angst.

Okay, so I'm not a big "angst" person. And at heart, I have a BIG problem with love triangles (real ones, not fiction), in the same way I do with people who have affairs. I mean, a person I would want to commit to, would never (a) cheat, or (b) dump their committed relationship without some SERIOUS thought, even if they suddenly found their "real" soul mate after all.

But in a book... in my book... it's interesting to look at. To see how two different people can bring out such different qualities and facets of a third. To wonder, after 20 years, what it would be like, even just to date someone other than my husband. (Hell, I wonder what it would be like to date him — it's been awhile since we did anything more exciting than crash in front of the TV...!)

Ahem. Anyway.

Plus, as a writer, I get to invent two really HOT guys, who both want the heroine, in spite of all her flaws. Let's just say, as a 40-year-old mother of two, I still have my fantasies. *;?)

Happy writing!

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Ruminating on poor sad AK

Ruminating on poor sad AK story. Think I can do it, but not as a romance. Current life events giving lots o' fodder, good & bad.

Pride & Prejudice, Twitter-Style

OMFG — long, but SO worth it:

Pride & Twitterverse

Sample tweet:

MrsB:
@LizzyB @MaryBsaphorisms @KittyB @LydiaB One of u MUST marry yr cousin, MrCollins. The PC, both laptops & the wireless are entailed to him.

Happy tweeting!

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Did this work?? Mobile posting

Did this work?? Mobile posting from Mill Creek. About what I expected. :(

If I Can Write About It, I Can Live With It. Maybe.

Last fall, DH's father went to bed feeling tired and never woke up again. Three weeks ago, a girl from the kids' old school, a second grader — a twin, no less — caught a virus, which attacked her organs, and ten days later, she died. And in the next week or so, my BFF's husband is going to die, of liver failure, although the underlying cause of that is pancreatic cancer. He's 55, she's 40, they have a seven-year-old son, and he has adult children from a previous marriage.

Death is everywhere. A coworker's sister just found out her breast cancer is back. DH's stepmother died of breast cancer 10 years ago. Death is, pretty much, inescapable.

If that's not a horrifying, scary, depressing thought, I don't know what is. And in my saner moments, I am scared by it. The thought of facing what my friend's husband had to — leaving his family to go on without him — is only eclipsed by knowing what she has to face: losing her life partner and becoming a single mother at the age of 40. The hospice nurse said "at most" two weeks, but it may be sooner. He now sleeps 95% of the time, and soon won't be able to walk to the bathroom, even with help. When he's awake, he's confused — a sign of the liver failure, or possibly, that the cancer spread to his brain. It doesn't really matter, because the liver failure is what will kill him first, anyway.

Awful, horrible, unthinkable.

And yet, my current WIP is all about Death. In the midst of all this, I'm writing and writing and writing, about death, and dying, and dead people, and where they do or don't go, and when.

It's fiction, sure. And probably ought to be too morbid even for the best shrinks out there. But hey — it seems to be working for me. So far. Ask me after this weekend. I'm going up there tomorrow, to help in any way I can. Who knows what will happen, or when, I just know I need to be there for her.

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Names

Speaking of names (see Friday's post), I had a fun thing happen. I've been pretty much pantsing Dead, like I did with my first completed romance, but not like I did with the last two. I have a synopsis and a basic idea where I'm going, but other than that, the Girls Downstairs are pretty much doing my work for me.

Enter my Mother's Day trip to the amazing Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens in Woodland, WA. While there, I happened across a variety of lilac called Nadezhda. For some reason, that name stuck with me, and I decided I needed to have a character with that name. I had no idea who she'd be, or what function she'd serve, but I wrote the name down and moved on. That was last Sunday.

Enter my week of editing the first half of Dead, mulling over some points, strengthening others, but not doing anything new, per se, until Friday, when I sat down and realized several things.

First, I needed to move one of the dates in the book to September 6, which is an important feast day in the Eastern Orthodox church. Second, I needed someone to explain to my heroine what the feast day is all about. Third, one of my main characters is wounded (sort of — it's more complicated than that, but I can't explain further or I'd have to.... never mind....), and my heroine doesn't know what to do for him, but he tells her at one point that she gives him hope. (BTW, this isn't a romance, but I never said I wouldn't have romance in it. *;?)) And.... Well, there's actually a bunch more, but this was the start.

Here's where the Girls Downstairs get their Grand Entrance. Nadezhda is a Russian name (ahem; Eastern Orthodox church anyone??). It means "Hope." Ahem. And, well, it just sounds like someone who would be a guide or a mentor or.... Exactly what I didn't know I needed.

Like I said, there's more, but hey, that's good for now. Look at me, Ma — blogging two days in one weekend! Squee! *;?)
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