Storm Center

Fiorella is totally fascinated by the book-of-the-month type roll-out of Trump tell-alls this year, not only because each one is more sensational than the last, but also because the publishing business is being fueled to overflowing by the antics of a man who doesn't read. The latest expose, Stormy Daniels' book, has Trump by the--uh--short hairs, and he can't deny she's seen "everything" without fully "revealing" himself on a Twitter post, which would get him banned forever.
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As you know, Fiorella's been caught in a downward coil during the past two weeks, but this afternoon has been such a wonderful upturn that she was even able to catch up on her morning exercises--the plies while she counts to ten in Russian, the standing push-ups while she counts to ten in French, the piano practice, which she doesn't count out. She'll start lifting weights again tomorrow if the sunshine stays in her life.
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Fio fell asleep mid-afternoon on the couch and, no doubt inspired by the Stormy Daniels paragraph she'd wriitten earlier in the day, woke up thinking about how nice it would be if some filthy rich guy paid her off, say, about $250,000, for keeping her mouth shut about something she didn't know she knew about. Oh, and she'd like the payoff to be under the table so she wouldn't have to pay taxes on it.

Surprise Phone Call

OMG, as Fio was sitting on the couch working on Phillipa's story, her ophthamologist called to tell her how much she'd enjoyed reading WHAT THE HEART WANTS! And said she's going to read WHERE THE HEART LEADS too! Fiorella is thrilled! What an upper!

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.

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!

Movin' On

Christmas is almost over at Casa Fiorella. Husband kindly packed away the last of the Christmas ornaments yesterday afternoon, and Fio hopes to get his help unwinding the lights from the tree today. Maybe we'll even get the tree disassembled and stuffed into its many containers.

Fiorella loves decorating for Christmas and is always a little sad when her creative efforts have to be banished to the garage shelves till next year, but it's not just that Christmas has a limited shelf life--it's that tax time is just around the corner, which means that Fiorella has to turn her mind to IRS and her dining room table into a processing station.

At the same time, she's trying to rock-line a driveway, learn Spanish, write a book, and pretend to be human.

Respect UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

Black people, do not sneer at Uncle Tom or his creator, Harriet Beecher Stowe.

The 1800s were an era of intense abolitionist fervor in the United States. Half the nation had read about the horrors of slavery, but it took one final spark to light the tinder of the Civil War, and that spark was a book called Uncle Tom's Cabin, published in 1851.  Uncle Tom, as portrayed by Stowe, was not a rebel, but a saint, a Christ figure, an obedient, God-fearing, forgiving man who tried to serve all of his masters well, no matter how cruel they were. Fiorella, who read Uncle Tom's Cabin in her youth, cried when he died at the end of the book and vowed to speak up against racism whenever she encountered it, and so did many readers in the 1800s. As Abraham Lincoln said when he finally met Stowe. "So you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war!"

So Fio repeats--black people of today, do not sneer at Uncle Tom or his creator. They provided the impetus that set you free.

Determination

It's settled. Fiorella will be spending a a fair amount of time tomorrow visiting with friend Paula and attending a physical therapy session one of her doctors signed her up for, but after she gets home, she's going to devote at least two hours to her third book, the one that stopped dead three months ago when "the troubles" began. Maybe even a couple of hours more.

The World According to Fiorella

All  hail the mighty Fio! This last week, she not only turned in her book, but finished off the negotiations for the refinancing of the house.  And today she will (gulp) start cleaning up her office, the most daunting task of all.
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Fiorella has read that Donald Trump's poll figures are unreliable and his audience numbers are exaggerated.  How does he get away with it? By yelling a lot lot, like a spoiled child--he throws a Trumptrum,
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Have you ever noticed that in Doonesbury, no one ever gives birth more than once?

Fio for Christmas

Fio is very happy.  Her blood thinner nurse, her neurologist, and her banker have volunteered that they'll buy copies of her new book to give as Christmas presents this year.

Um, anyone else want to step up to the plate?

Addicted to Writing

Three cheers for Fiorella!  She sent the manuscript in to her editor ten minutes before it was due.

Yes, the monkey is off her back.  She can go eat breakfast.  She can pick up the six-hundred some pages of manuscript (two copies of the book) on the floor of her office and stuff them into trash bags. She can sing, she can dance, she can take her dog on walks, she can visit with her friends, she can pretend to be human again.

She can start another book.

The Book IS Done

Fiorella finished the book at 12:15 last night.  Finished her first draft, that is.  She has two whole days to review and revise before she forwards it to her editor, who will send it back for further revisions in a couple of weeks.  And during those two or whatever weeks, Fio will race around like a demon trying to get everything done that she didn't do while she was writing.

And she will.

Harried

Fiorella is overwhelmed--the book, the taxes, the house, a family business, packing away Christmas, a million other responsibilities.  She stays up late every night and works without ceasing through the day.

Have patience with her.  She's moving as fast as she can.

Happy Dance

Fiorella is dancing, Fiorella is singing, Fiorella is walking on air!  Her cardiologist's nurse read the book and loves it!  In fact, she said she couldn't put it down, that Fio had her from the first "Hello," and she read it straight through!

Fio needed that reassurance because she has no earthly idea whether WHAT THE HEART WANTS is selling or not.  There's probably a way to get that information, but Fiorella wants to dwell in possibility (a fairer house than prose) for a while longer. Besides, she doesn't know of anything further she could do to promote the book.  At some point, it's got to develop its own legs.

And Fio hopes those legs can travel.

Bookmarks of Love

Fio was a little nervous about asking people to give out promotional bookmarks for WHAT THE HEART WANTS.  She couched her request in phrases like "Would you consider ..." or "Would be you be comfortable ..." because she truly didn't want to impose on anyone.

But no one has turned her down. Minnesota Son and wife, Austin Son and wife, Daughter, Brother and wife, Fio's cousins in Ohio, Tennessee, and Georgia, old friends, new friends--everyone has leapt on the bandwagon.

Fiorella is humbled and grateful. Thank you.

Overload

Why is Fiorella always so busy, with a continuing list of commitments and responsibilities?  Why aren't other people trapped in this web of constant activity?  What is their secret--elves, fairies, magic wands?  Where are Fiorella's little helpers?

Well, so much for the gritching.  Got to get back to work, which means finishing my laundry and sending out a chapter of one of my unsold masterpieces for critiquing.  But maybe those two are one and the same.