Name Dump

Fiorella is not happy. She's going to have to rename the heroine of her work-in-progress, the one that's been in progress for more than a year, because she suddenly realized one of her secondary characters has the male version of the same name, and Fio can't change his name because he was a secondary character in book 2. So, as of this very minute, "Phillipa," a name Fio has always liked, is no more.

Complications, complications, complications. Don't you want to be a writer?

Five Happinesses

Fio is happy to report that those boxwoods she and Husband planted a year and a half ago are thriving despite the extraordinarily cold winter. So are the ligustrums and the nandenas, but the bayberries seem to be going into decline again. Com'on guys--you can do better than that!
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She's also happy to tell you that her wonderful yard man is back in business again. He came by a week late in his cousin's truck (his is in the shop) and cut more firewood (mas lenya) for Fio and Husband, who were running out.
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Fio's third happiness is that she's actually had a reply to her letter to the editor about the march she wants to put together in conservative-as-all-get-out Georgetown. That makes at least three of us who will be carrying signs on March 24.
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Number four is that Fiorella is finally getting a handle on putting together the taxes for the accountant. Pray for Fio on that one though.
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Last but not least, Fio has started her 5000th revision of Phillipa's story and it's actually moving along. Good, because she's eager to start on her next story.

Busy Bee

Fiorella and Husband had a wonderful afternoon in Austin with Brother and his wife, first at a very nice restaurant, and then at a clever performance of 17th century art songs.   Not only did Fio enjoy a tasty salmon dinner, but she also got a free dessert because it was her three-month belated birthday celebration. Next came the Early Music Project, hosted by the First Presbyterian Church. Of course, Fio and Brother, who took voice lessons many years ago and had actually sung some of the songs, were in their element.
Fio's singing voice is gone now, but it's all for the best. She's got too many irons in the fire as it is. One of those fires is putting up her Halloween decorations--wrapping the plastic skeleton around the mailbox, arranging her cardboard bats on the window, and sticking paper pumpkins around and about. And, of course, she needs to start on the fifth revision of Phillipa's story, clear the fallen branches and rotten limbs out of the south woods, and plow ahead on Spanish.
Too bad she has so much spare time.

New Beginnings

Good morning to a new day! Fiorella is sequestering herself in her so-called office and working on the book again, which is a little hard after being tied up with everything else in the world for so long. Right now, she's winnowing the best out of eight different versions so that she has one solid story--no line editing along the way.  And, at the same time, she's thinking--there was one other story she had this muliplicity problem with, and she had used the same technique on it, preplanning. It's the way to go, according to romance gurus, but now Fio isn't so sure it's for her. Her former style was to write several pages about the hero and heroine, then get the story started at a spot where they collided, then think "what would logically happen next?" Of course, she always had a vague idea of the plot, and she knew the story would end happily, but she never used calendar charts or any of the other tools many authors live by.

Anyway, to each his own, and Fio is thinking of going back to her beginnings. Yesterday, she read the first chapter of her first published book, which she could never get up the nerve to do before, and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was.  Onward, Fio! Onward and upward!

Writing,Spanish, Rocks, Politics, Art

Fiorella is clearing the deck to finish writing Phillipa's story, but she'll admit she's a little gun shy. Every time she got going on it, life interrupted--the auto accident, Husband's hospitalizations, holidays, the taxes, you name it. Please send good energy this way.
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Fio is concerned that her tenuous Spanish is slipping because she doesn't have a telenovela to watch anymore. She looks at La Piloto every now and then, but can't figure out why Yolanda prefers the drug lord to the ruggedly handsome DEA agent, and she doesn't like it that people are always shooting at each other. Fio prefers more sophisticated murders, like pushing people off balcones or witholding their aspirators.
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Now that Fiorella's wall along the driveway is nearing completion, Fio is spending more time exploring the acreage. She finds good rocks along the way, of course, and stockpiles them in cairns for later pick up.
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Don't think Fio has faded from the poitical scene. She's still infuriated by the things that are going on in DC, but there are so many things that she's a little dazed. How can our so-called president get away with all these shenanigans? How can anybody? On the other hand, she's pleased that forces are zeroing in on the Russian angle. As she has been saying, Putin smiles.
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The church art thing is drawing nearer and Fiorella is trying to decide what to submit. It's a show-off opportunity really, and Fio doubts if anyone ever buys anything, but she's still thinking of a new a painting, maybe of bluebonnets along a split-cedar fence. Or she might just take a portrait she did of Husband when they were newlyweds. We'll see.
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Manic Phase

Watch out, world!  Fiorella feels GOOD today! Two doctor visits yesterday, and both went well. Also, her cockamamie idea of buying a twelve foot long 4x5, having it cut into four-foot lengths so she could handle them and they would  fit into the back seat of Husband's car, then driving then home to use instead of rocks at strategic places along the driveway so the riding mower will have easy access (got all that?) looks like it will work. Also, when she and Husband accidentally locked themselves outside the house, she realized the only way they could get in was by removing the temporary guest-room air conditioner and climbing in the window--and since Husband's arm is still in a sling, she did the job, which was sort of thrilling. Her first break and enter!

Also, she accomplished everything on her lista yesterday (ayer), celebrated with two slices of Starbucks marble pound cake and a pint of Blue Bell without even have a twinge of GERD, slept like a baby all night, woke up today with the beginnings of a marketing plan for Phillipa's story, and feels Tony-the-Tiger G-R-R-R-E-A-T!

Literary Ambition

Fiorella is planning to get going with Phillipa's story again today.  That's the one she put in storage six weeks ago when Husband started his in-and-out-the-window with the hospitals.  Wish her well.

Interconnected Endeavors

Fio is one-third through with her jigsaw puzzle, which is quite exhilarating.  One at a time, the pieces are finding their designated homes--even though Fiorella has yet to locate two straight-edged pieces that make up the outside edge.

And, one sentence at a time, Phillipa' story is coming together too--although Fio has a fair number of XXXXs, which represent missing words, to supply.  To bring you up to date, the hero and heroine have had a couple of near misses and should be hitting the jackpot in the chapter Fio is working on now.

When Fiorella finishes the jigsaw, she will admire it for a couple of days, then put all the pieces in a bag to donate to The Caring Place.  When Fiorella finishes the novella, she will admire it for a couple of days, then ship it off to her agent for consideration.  Or maybe she'll keep it at home and publish it herself.

We'll see.

Literary Research

Fiorella will tell you that the reason she writes contemporary romances is because she doesn't want to bother with research, but don't believe her.  She might not have to research petticoats and bloomers, but she does have to learn about such things as the places her characters live, what they do for a living, what cars are  appropriate for them, and their supposed backgrounds and life experiences.

For Where the Heart Leads, which will come out on November 11, Fio peppered five rancher friends with endless lists  of questions about life among the cows.  She also consulted an architect, a nurse, a firearms expert, two friends with Master's degrees in theater,  a high school principal, a foodie, an expert on Britishisms, a fire builder, and a wine expert.

And tomorrow, for Phillipa's unnamed novella, she's going to sally forth and visit a place that sells landscaping materials, drop by Dairy Queen to check out how a Blizzard and a small ice cream cone would be eaten, and stop at Walgreens to pick up a home pregnancy test.

Don't ask.