Music, Music, Music

Fustrated by have to write and rewrite her musical compositions, Fio at some time started working on a plan for a music typewriter. There must be a market for something like this, but Fiorella can't quite decipher her scribblings.
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Did Fiorella ever tell you that at one time she taught music to children, voice to adults, soloed in church and at a few weddings, and directed a women's chorus?
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Older son's godmother was Fiorella's voice teacher, Edra Gustafson, whom Fio wrote about in the Austin newspaper.
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Fiorella was a soprano and her brother, who also studied with Mrs. Gus, was a tenor. Fio's older son has a very good voice and also plays the piano and guitar. Younger son is a karaoke standout. Daughter sang professionally for a while. Fio is thinking it's in the family. Husbands' and Fio's parents were musical. Husband's mother played the piano and his father played the ukelele. Both of Fiorella's parents had good voices and liked to sing. Her mother usually took a harmony line in the times when the family sang on their front porch in the evening.
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Fio would still be singing if she hadn't developed essential tremor in the vocal chords. On the other hand, that would mean she'd be pulled in more directions that she already is.

Fivesome Update

Sonia perra tripped nimbly down la escalera at 4:15 a.m.and gave mamacita a sharp bark of demand. Porque ella es una mamacita buena, ella struggled awake and turned off the alarm system, then opened the back puerta so Sonia could usar el sevicio. Si, la perrita es la reina de casa.
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The whirlwind is spinning faster and faster. Trump is going down. Doesn't he see the signs? They're the same as when his multiple businesses went down.
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Fiorella posted one of her paintings on FB and got a really nice response, which made her hungry to start painting again, something she hasn't done in years, but she needs to invest her time in her family and projects that have the possibility of paying off big, like the writing. The almighty dollar wins out over art every time.
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Speaking of writing, Fiorella is engaged in the third revision and the story is really fleshing out. For instance, she now knows that Bram is a nickname for Abram, which explains why a guy who's half Czech has a Dutch-sounding name.
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Fiorella plays the piano every morning to keep her hands, fingers, and brain-eye coordination working, but she sings for the pure joy of it. Yes, the botox shots to her false vocal chords are finally working.

Revelation

Fiorella's friend Jeanell has had a change of heart.  It is no longer as important for her to have her name out there so everyone knows who wrote her various opuses as it is that her voice gets out there. After all, a name is merely a convenience, a way of telling people apart, but one's creations are the signature of the soul.

What Has Fiorella Learned?

Fiorella has learned a lot about herself while writing WHERE THE HEART LEADS.

Craft-wise, she realized that she's been writing as a poet--agonizing over each sentence and every word as she goes along--which has seriously slowed her down.  As a novelist, she must write quickly to get the basic story down, then go back and add the curlicues.

Voice-wise, she realized that she is funny, sardonic, and quite dark.  She can't resist word plays, likes turning characters inside-out, and puts her heroine through hell before giving her a well-deserved happy ending.

Personally, she  learned that  if she stays up half the night finishing off a book, she's gonna pay for it the next night with a major attack of fire in the gut. But the good thing is that her take-no-prisoners approach has reaffirmed her belief in herself.  Fiorella is made of steel.  She can do anything she puts her mind to.

Countdown!

Fiorella is having to lay off water, one of her favorite drinks, and indulge herself in milk, her other favorite drink.  There may even be a few milkshakes along the line.  And it's all medically prescribed--Fio had some shots in her neck that affect the swallowing mechanism and thus she needs to drink thicker liquids for a while. The procedure is to make sure her voice is in the best of shape for the National Romance Writers of America conference this summer.

More than two thousand women will be there, and Fio wants to be heard.

Maternal Appreciation

Thank you, Mother, for letting me take piano lessons.

When she was in the fifth grade, Fiorella wanted to learn to play the piano because "all" the other girls were doing it.  It turned out she had a minor talent and advanced quickly through the beginner books.  She hit her zenith in the seventh grade with "Fur Elise"--after which she quit as the hormones burgeoned, the homework increased, and her free time decreased.  But the piano still sat it the front room, and she still played it from time to time.

A long dry period began when Fio went off to college, then married early.  Several years later, she and Husband picked up an old upright, Fio collected all her piano books from her mother, and she started playing a little again.  However, she was really into voice, in which she had a major talent. And working on her advanced degree in linguistics had to take precedence over both.

Through the years, Fio sang a lot, directed a couple of choruses, fooled around with composition, and generally enjoyed herself with music.  The root of it all was those three years of piano lessons in the fifth, sixth, and seventh grades. Nowadays, Fio doesn't sing much, has handed in the baton, and writes romances rather than music, but she still enjoys going into the front room and banging out her old favorites on the piano.

Thank you, Mother.

Helter-skelter Life

Why doesn't Fiorella have time to do things like takes vacations or travel or indulge in new hobbies?   Maybe because she can't spare time off from what she's already committed herself to: writing, physical therapy, voice therapy, the piano, dog training, getting the house in shape, taking care of family finances, handling the family business venture, keeping up with friends and relatives.  And  in the wings lurk the languages she wants to learn or refresh herself on, the paintings she wants to do or redo, the poems she'd like to bundle into little booklets for posterity. And soon she'll be attending to the groom's family's wedding responsibilities.  Then comes Christmas, which will require her to design a special card, write a new poem, and decorate the house.

Fiorella is active, intense, and insane.