Bidelspach, Here Comes Fiorella!

Fio will submit WHERE THE HEART LEADS to Michele Bidelspach, editor extraordinaire, tomorrow, probably around noon.  The manuscript is not as perfect as Fio could make it, but that would take forever--literally.  Fio is never quite satisfied with anything she writes--or does--and circles back from time to time on voyages of improvement.

Besides, Fio is wiser about the role of editors now than the first time around.  They don't just point out stupid mistakes and accidental repeats--they provide a fresh viewpoint of the story, a viewpoint which can help the author make his/her theme more effective.

And reaching the reader is what we all want to do.

IT'S REAL!

Happy times are here again!  Fiorella is working with Friend Cheryl on her website, and Editor Michele has sent Fio copies of her tentative covers.  Both the website and the covers will have Fio's name in BIG LETTERS across the top, which gives Fio's ever-flagging ego a tremendous boost.

IT'S REAL!  IT'S REAL!  IT'S REAL!

Keep on Chuggin' Along

Slept well last night and woke up late
Which mean right now I'm feelin' great
Hope to finish revisions today
Then send them on their merry way
And while Michele is taking a look
I'll start in on writing another book

Back Cover!

Here is what my wonderful editor, Michele Bidelspach,  has written for the back cover of  WHAT THE HEART WANTS

 The love he left behind . . .

Laurel Harlow was once the princess of Bosque Bend, Texas: every door was open to the only daughter of the beloved minister and his well-bred wife. Then scandal rocked their family—and those same doors slammed shut. Now preparing the family mansion for sale, Laurel wants nothing more than to put the past behind her and move on. But when Jase Redlander appears on her doorstep, ten years after he left her heartbroken, she can’t turn him away…especially when he needs her help.

. . . is the only thing worth coming home for

Jase never intended to come back to this one-horse town. But then his teenage daughter runs away, headed straight for Bosque Bend and the woman he once loved.  The moment Jase sees Laurel again, he knows he never should have left all those years ago. There’s a secret she’s keeping from him, though­—he’s certain of it.  Over the course of sunny days and sultry nights, Jase aims to find out what it is. And this time he’ll show Laurel that this bad boy can be the man of her dreams . . . if she’ll let him.

How Fio's Writerly Mind Works

After working four days solid on the final(?) edit of WHAT THE HEART WANTS, Fiorella emailed it to Michele Bidelspach on Monday.  Now Fio writhes in agony, imagining what Michele might ask her to change, which would be hard because Fio falls in love with her characters and thinks of them as real people.  And she thinks of her stories as real too, and doesn't want to change them because that's what "really happened."

Onion

Let's make one thing clear. Fiorella doesn't write in one steady flow.  Instead, she jots down ideas and dialogue, tries to put everything in a logical order, then rewrites and rewrites and rewrites, paying special attention to notes written in caps to BE SURE THE BASEBALL IS MENTIONED EARLIER or whatever.  Her manuscripts grow layer by layer, like an onion.  Kinkaid House, complete at 90,000 words when Fio originally submitted it to the Divine Liza, had been fleshed out to 95,000 words by the time it reached the desk of editor Michele.  If Fio has further access, it probably will reach 100,000.

And, by the way, when the book comes out, Fio expects all you readers out there in Eastern Europe to gobble it up and send her to the top of the New York Times best seller list.