Mare 2, Kind Of

Well, it's been one of those days, what with Susan answering my double-dog-dare, and the new tile going in my bathroom (and it's GORGEOUS, too) and about twenty million e-mails coming in, including one with the first review of Don't Look Down: "This is the first collaboration between best-selling and award-winning romance writer Crusie and adventure-thriller writer Mayer, and it is a rare and original delight. Mayer's delectably dry sense of humor perfectly complements Crusie's signature brand of sharp wit, and together the two have cooked up a sexy, sassy, and smart combination of romance and suspense that is simply irresistible."

God, I'm so happy, I'm doing the Snoopy Dance all over the house.

But I didn't get to Mare this morning. Or this afternoon. When it got to be 8PM and I was still handling business stuff and e-mails, I realized I wasn't going to get to Mare or Baby (the scene from Agnes) today. I also realized I have to get a grip on my life. I truly typed from 9:30 this morning until 8 this evening without writing one word of fiction. I did four blog entries, though. And I proofread the newsletter and did a bunch of editor and agent e-mails and an agent phone call (except we talk about everything so that's not exactly all business) and a partner phone call (except she's my kid, too, so it's not exactly all business), and then e-mails with Krissie and Eileen about the anthology and the trip next week and promotion, and then there were the lists I have to keep up with, and the call from the vet because Lucy has a double heart murmur even though everything else about her is fine and I swear to God she knows it because before she went to the vet she used to jump up on the bed just fine and now she sits on the floor and looks up at me with those big eyes and does everything but clutch her heart until I pick her up . . .

Clearly there's a lack of focus here. As if you didn't already know that from my desk.

But I did think a lot about fiction today, including writing long e-mails to Bob about what Agnes would be doing baking six kinds of cupcakes while Shane grilled her until Bob wrote back, "TMI," plus yesterday, I was out because of the vet et al and stopped by Home Goods and looked at their Christmas markdowns and there was this angel that marked down from $38 to $5 ("as is"), and I am not an angel kind of person but the face on this one was so amazing, plus she was holding her halo in her hands as if she'd just decided to take it off, plus there was something about an "as is angel" that really appealed to me, plus she was five bucks, for cripes sake, so I bought her and she's sitting on my desk and I keep looking at her fascinated. I know she's going to fuel a book. Maybe Charlotte. Maybe the one I'm going to do a couple of years from now, my verson of The Turn of the Screw. I don't know. But since I have nothing to show for my day, I thought I'd show you the As Is Angel instead

And now Mare . . .

So I’m at The RWA National Conference in Reno last July, and Eileen Dreyer (one of my favorite people and also I’m in love with her husband Rick which is why she calls me “Mormon Wife”) sits down beside me and says, “I have the best idea for a book. The heroine is a shape-shifter but she’s a virgin because every time she gets excited, she changes shape, like into the guy’s mother.” And I said, “How much have you had to drink?” and she said, “Enough,” and we talked of other things. Fast forward a couple of months and she e-mailed me and said, “Here’s the idea: Three novellas, three sisters, all with paranormal powers that they can’t control. I do my shapeshifter, Krissie does one [that’s Anne Stuart], and you do one. What do you say?”

I said, “I’m in.” Well, who wouldn’t be?

And then it turned out Jen Enderlin was in, too, so now sometime in 2007, The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes (working title but hoping it will be permanent) will be published, which means I’m now writing the youngest sister, Mare. (There are three sisters: DeeDee, Eileen’s shapeshifter; Lizzie, Krissie’s girl who changes the shapes of other things; and my girl Moira Mariposa, better known as Mare, who moves things with her mind. Psychokinetic? I know there are terms for all of those powers, but that’s what they do.) So I'm figuring I'll try to do Twelve Days of Mare and see what I get.

BUT I also have to do Agnes with Bob because I can't keep him waiting. And I can't delay Mare because Krissie and Eileen and I are meeting in New York for three days to talk this through, and I need to get a chunk of it done before then so I know what my story is about because I don't really know what I'm doing until I see what I've written.

So here's the plan: I'm going to dedicate an hour to Mare every morning. Afternoons and evenings are for Agnes, but the mornings belong to Mare. Since my mornings are really short--I usually start work about ten--and I have to answer e-mail in there, too, it should work out to about an hour a day, although it'll get trickier once I'm on the road. Twelve days starting tomorrow ends the last day we're in NYC, so that should make things more interesting. January tenth is going to be tricky because I'll be traveling plus that's Mollie's birthday (she'll be twelve) and we're going to do the NYC thing, which for us usually means a great lunch and a walk through Central Park where we talk a mile a minute, but . . .

Where was I? Right. The Twelve Days of Mare starts tomorrow. As with Trudy, the posts will be short, just a way of keeping me honest and on task and probably not very interesting, so be forewarned. And if you want to know how Agnes is doing, schlep on over to He Wrote She Wrote, because that's where we'll be talking about that. About once a week.

Meanwhile, here’s the start of the Mare collage. It's only the very beginning, but I’m liking it.

Trudy 12: What Have We Learned From This, Dorothy?

And here it is, the Twelfth Day of Trudy. This has been a valuable experiment and I have learned many things.

1. I should plan to write about a thousand words a day. That I can do without any trouble. (I did 1500 tonight, which gives me about 13,500 words.)

2. Forget me writng to an outline. I really do need to just write what's in my head and figure out where it goes later. All you linear people, go yell at somebody else. I tried it. I hated it. :p

3. But I do like writing what I hear in my head and then going back to the white board to see where it goes and what it does for the story. So I think working out turning points and listing scenes on the board in a kind of organic outline as I go is a good compromise.

4. The collage is crucial, and putting it together during the first push of the first draft is essential. (I actually found the pink kid's nail file yesterday at Kroger's. I couldn't believe it, they actually do put nail files in kid's toy manicure sets. So much for "no sharp objects in children's toys." Which is great because there's a pink nail file from a kid's manicure set in the story. Well, you have to be there to enjoy this as much as I do. Never mind.)

5. When things go really wrong outside the book, don't even try to write, just deal. Tomorrow is another thousand words.

So I'm pretty pleased even if I didn't get to 20,000. I'll do Trudy updates as I get it finished, but this forced march gave me what I needed and I'm happy. And it's looking as if there might be another novella on the horizon, so I may try this again with that one--her name's Mariposa--if it pans out. Having to report here kept me honest, and that's a good thing.

Although I realise this was probably not exactly riveting. Argh. Well, it's good to set the bar low. Let's lower those expectations, shall we? Thank you.