Bram and Sabrina

An excerpt from Fiorella's work-in-progress:     

    Bram nodded. “Diego had the portrait made for her Quinceanera, the coming-out party held for Hispanic girls when they turn fifteen.”  His throat tightened. “You’ve probably heard the story. Soleded and her father came down the escalator at DFW at the same time that a couple of terrorists started shooting at nothing in particular. Marco and I were waiting for them. They didn’t have a chance, and he saw it all.”

   “How old was he?”

   “Two. The pediatrician said he remembers what happened but doesn’t know he remembers it. The memory is supposed to dim as he gets older, but for right now, I have to make sure he has access to me at all times. He’s had a flip phone programmed with the land line and my office since he was five.”

   Sabrina looked into the melted-chocolate eyes of the pretty girl with the dark hair and shy smile.

   “I’m so sorry.” 

   It was all she could say. Soledad and her father didn’t deserve to die, Bram didn’t deserve to lose his wife, and Marco didn’t deserve to lose his mother.

   She laid her hand on Bram’s arm to give him comfort.

   Their eyes met, and she shimmered with awareness. What had started as a gesture of sympathy was rapidly becoming something more, but Bram had to make the next move.

   And he did.

   Gently cupping her face in his hands, he brushed her lips with a soft kiss, a sweet kiss, then a long, thorough kiss that made her head swim.

    A kiss that promised more to come.

Exerpt from Lolly's Story, WIP

     Cotton looked around his barren front room. Not very welcoming for a new bride.

     There was a sharp rap on the door. 

     “It’s not locked. Come on in.”

      The door swung open and banged against the wall. 

     “Damned right I will!”

     Cotton studied his visitor.  Male, dark, probably six-five, built like a brick outhouse.

     Lolly’s father.

     Jason Redlander fixed him with a hard stare.  “You the guy who flew my daughter off to Sin City?”

     “Lolly and I were married on Monday.  I’m Cotton Bogart.”  He started to offer his hand, then thought the better of it.

     Redlander looked him up and down. ”What are you—about six feet?”

     “Yeah.”

     “Bud, you’re too big a guy for Lolly.  And how old are you?

     “Thirty-one.” 

    “Goddamn!  You’re almost as old as I am!”  Redlander’s eyes swept the room. “Where’s Lolly?”

     "Picking up her car and her clothes from her friend's house.  She should be back soon.”

    “Quarterback?”

    “What?”  Where the hell had that come from?

    “Were you a quarterback?”  Redlander’s lip curled on the last word.

    “In high school, yes.”

    The big man sneered.  “Bud, I used to eat quarterbacks for breakfast.”

     Cotton hazarded an easy guess.  “Linebacker?   ”

     Redlander nodded.  “Strong-side linebacker--the killing machine.  And I want to talk to my daughter the minute she gets back.”

     “You’re her father, and I respect that, but she’s my wife, and I won’t let you browbeat her.”

     Redlander’s mouth dropped open in obvious surprise. “Me?  Browbeat Lolly?”

     Cotton pressed his advantage. “And, while we’re at it, you aren’t bankrolling her anymore either.  She’s on my credit card from now on.”

     Redlander’s face turned ugly.  “Not so fast, buddy.  Lolly’s got her own money, and she’ll want to fix up this place.”  He glanced around the room.  “My daughter's used to better.”

Romance Writing Update

Speaking of romance writing, Fiorella does not go along with the current trend of writing for word-count in order to turn out book after book in as short a time possible. Fio herself almost fell prey to the turn-them-out-as-quickly-as-you-can contagion that is sweeping through the romance-writing community, but a series of family situations delayed her third Bosque Bend book for two years, and now that sweet little story she'd planned out to garner a quick buck or two  is fleshing out into a full-fledged romance with a strong subtext. Fio wants her books to be profitable, but she also wants them to inspire her readers to help her make the world a better place.

Name Game

Fiorella admits it--she likes to play with her characters' names.  For instance, all three of her Bosque Bend heroes (Jase, Rafe, Bram) have single-syllable names  spelled with an "a."  And, in Where the Heart Leads, she named one character "Marcy Ann," then gave her the nickname of "Rocky,"  which Fio's father, a boxing fan, would have appreciated. Fiorella also listed all of her paternal cousins, aunt and uncle in a crowd scene in that book, and the crazy horse was named "Bella" after a crazy dog Fio and Husband had to have put down.  And in What the Heart Wants, Fio named the pound dog "Hugo" after her own sweet, dear-departed pound dog.

Sometimes Fio pulls names from classical mythology, although she had to  change one character's name from "Isis" to "Astrid" when the political scene heated up.  And did you notice that Vashti's musical daughters were named "Carmen" and "Micaela" after the leads in Bizet's opera?

Yes, name-wise, Fio is shamelessly derivative--enjoy!

+ opera?

Otherwise, Fio gets her names from baby lists according to year of birth, obituaries, and remembrances of classmates from her elementary-school days. And, for no particular reason, her lawyers are always named Charles.

Prose to Poetry

Here is the first page of WHERE THE HEART LEADS in iambic pentameter:

In autumn, when the leave were turning brown,
Moira drove her aging car to town
And parked it in a lot across the street
From a museum where she'd finally meet
With her employers, a civic theater guild
Who'd hired Moira, sight unseen, to build
Their fledgling act into a point of pride
For Bosque Bend and all the countryside.

Full Steam Ahead!

Take notes.  Fiorella has set her writing path for the next six months, first finishing off Lolly's story, then writing up the final Bosque Bend story saga, Carmen's story.  After that, she wants to work out Sarah's story, maybe in the meantime revising her Minnesota story, her Austin story, and her vampire story.

In the meantime, enjoy this passage from WHAT THE HEART WANTS:

"When he'd taken her hand, he'd wanted to hold it forever.  What would she have done if he'd brought it to his lips and touched her palm with the tip of his tongue?"

Paralysis

Fiorella has the urge to write, but she can't decide which path to follow.  Should she finish up Lolly's story, the half-written romance that readers liked but her agent and editor vetoed?  How about her third Bosque Bend idea--which could also be written as a novella?  Or Leah's story, which she's written a couple of pages of?  Or a revision of one of those old contest winners? Every time Fio makes a decision, she rethinks herself and end up closing the computer,

Show-off!

Friend Jeanell is writing lyrics for her characters to sing in the musical adaptation of "Gift of the Magi,"  which the heroine in WHERE THE HEART LEADS is directing for the Bosque Bend Theater Guild. (Got all that?)

Anyway, Jeanell is particularly proud of the song she came up with for Della, the wife who sells her hair to buy a watch fob for her husband.

Ta-da:

What would I be if I weren't me?
Maybe a pirate sailing the sea
Maybe a princess, maybe a queen
Maybe an actress on the silver screen
Or maybe I'd be like Nellie Bly
And amuse, amaze, and edify--
But whatever happens, whatever may be
I have you so I'm glad I'm me

Hi-ho, Hi-ho, It's Off to Work Fio Goes

As it has turned out, La Muse is flirting with Fio, flitting in and out regarding the Christmas poem, but coming on full strength for the new book, Moira's story. ("Where do you get these names?" Husband asks.)

Anyway, Moira is set to be a holiday story.  She shows up in Bosque Bend in October, celebrates Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas there, then gets married to a hunky local guy in the New Year.  Or something like that.  Fio's a little muddy on the details.

After Fio has fulfilled the two-book contract, she'll try to slip Lolly's story into publication.  The way she figures it, Susan Elizabeth and Linda H. wrote stories involving some of the same shenanigans that got poor Lolly shelved, so once Fio hits it big, Lolly will be absolved.

Kill-off

Greetings, friends and followers.  Fiorella is trying to figure out how Colin Sanger died.  Colin was an A-list movie star, and now that he's dead, Moira Farrar, his widow, is so far down Hollywood's alphabet list that she's had to hire out to Bosque Bend's fledgling civic theater group--where she runs up against strapping hunk Jon McAlister.  Need Fio say more?

But, back to the topic, how did Colin die?  Stabbed by a rabid fan? Auto-erotic accidental suicide? Overdose? Swiped by a low-flying 'copter?  Poison poured in his ear?  Ah, the possibilities are endless.

Literary Update

The ever-fertile brain of Fiorella is at it again.  Her new publisher wants two more books set in Bosque Bend, but Fio planned the remaining books in the trilogy being Lolly's story and Sarah's story, both of which are set in Austin.  What to do?  The Divine Liza asked Fio to think about it.

Ah, the seeds of Satan---now Fio can't STOP thinking about it, and she really likes the Bosque Bend story she's come up with.  But, again, like all her stories, it's going to be a tough sell to the publisher, and maybe to Liza too.  It's the story of a woman whose late husband was controlling to the point of abusive and a man who likes to run the show.  In other words, it's Fio's answer to to Sixty Shades. 

But for now, she's focusing on finishing off Lolly's story. 

Catching Up with Fio

The relationship in the comic strip Luann between Luann and Quill is too good to last.  Fiorella is steeling herself for his plane to crash into the ocean, for the whole adventure to have been an Australian reality show in which Quill was challenged to make a "Yank" fall in love with him, or for everything to have been a dream sequence, with Luann waking up as a high school freshman again.
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Back on the farm in her own life, Fiorella had her first physical therapy session for kyphosis and everything looks good to go.  Her neck has not been irreparably ruined by hunching over her laptop for the past several years after all, and she still retains the ability to stand up STRAIGHT, although the necessary muscles need strengthening.  What a relief--her grandmother had such a bad case of kyphosis that the family said she could see around corners.
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On the literary front, Fiorella's agent has suggested she write more stories set in Bosque Bend.  Fiorella was at a total loss for about two days as her ever-fertile brain mulled over the challenge.  Then, yesterday morning, Fio's pop-up toaster function spat out three different scenarios.  Yes, your Fio seems fixated by trilogies.