It'll never work, right? (warning: boring writer post)

I'm still pretty sick from the cold transmitted to me via the smooch that sealed the renewal of our vows for our 25th Wedding Anniversary (the party was alien themed, and the house was completely PACKED). However, I hauled ass into work yesterday and while my students were in small group sessions, I think I sketched out the plan for the new novel. The ideas have been floating overhead like Mike TeeVee, and I've been writing pages, but there's nothing quite like trying to nail down your method on paper and seeing the whole enterprise suggest its shape.

Lotsa cheese here--

Working title: Willie Judy & The Mystery House


things I plan to do--

tell the story in scenes, 3rd person, jumping into different pov for each unit
keep it lean (70k?)

dominant story line, chronological, treasure hunt in Death Valley, world's ugliest couture brooch (cursed? sure, why not)

subplot1--the history of the brooch and its owners
subplot2--the cowboy actor's career (western movies, tv cop shows, commercials, adult movie cameos)


characters

Willie Judy, failed NPS worker, animal lover who can't stop killing animals. Now shuttles auto parts across the desert. Sometimes refereed to as weasel-girl, owing to sharp features.

Scottie aka Rhys Nash, a Welsh ultra marathon runner, proprietor of the Alkalai Springs Resort (crush on WJ). Profound nose. Never really able to relax. Expects to be disappointed. has pot-belly pigs.

Tony Jackpot, celebrity gambler from the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe, co-owner of Alkalai Springs Resort. Brains and a secret.

Dawn, Tony's niece, coerced to work in the ASR kitchens to keep her safe from boys (crush on scottie).

Rigg Dexon/Paul Lattanzi, retired cowboy actor. Convinced he is not long for the world, Dexon signs over The Mystery House to Willie in Part 1, mistaking her indigestion for starstruck admiration.


Settings
Death Valley during the Great Bloom of 2005
Alkalai Springs Resort, rustic accommodations, great food, greater bar. THE stop for the Outside Magazine crowd
The Mystery House--shack made famous in a 60s song

New Interview, New Blog

I'm so happy to be interviewed at The Nervous Breakdown by Jen Michalski. Much is revealed. Some of what I have to say may well bite me in the ass.

Also, we've dumped the go daddy site and switched Laura Ellen Scott over to a wordpress template. I'm still playing with it, but I wanted something brighter, busier, etc than what we had.

Back to being a novelist

Death Wishing did not make a lot of year end lists, but it seems to be getting steady lovin'. Just yesterday, Scott Garson posted a moving little review on his blog--which he hardly EVER updates, so a mention there feels pretty damned special. A couple of weeks ago, Robert Swartwood included DW in his year-ender, which doesn't feature much in the way of chick-lit. On New Year's day, DW was picked for the January Top 10 "Books to know" list by The DC Spotlight.

In addition to these lovely public endorsements, I've been racking up the sweetness on Goodreads--Thank you Kathy Fish, Lauren Becker, and all you strangers tossing out the stars. It's just lovely, weird, lovely, weird . . .

And you know what else is weird? Getting paid. Someone's offered me a nice chunka change to come read at their series. I want to say how much, but that's really crude. Need to do it in code. Count your fingers. Replace the word "bodies" with "bucks" at he bottom of page 9.

January 9, 2011

Celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. We'll be having a party in February, where we plan to re-marry in an alien-themed ceremony. Yesterday we went to art galleries, ate and drank like sailors, and ordered Dean a new wedding band. He destroyed his burying a cat a few years ago.

Left to Right: Father of the groom, Mother of groom, Bro of groom, Gram 1, Groom, Bride, Gram 2. This was taken at our wedding party held at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Millvale.

Oy