Diary of a Girl-Next-Door Heavy Metal Novelist

March 17, 2003
I haven't done any book work yet today - or have I? The staff at my day job took me out to lunch today for my birthday. The restaurant is the setting of a scene in Won't Get Fooled Again. My sister/editor had questioned Suzanne Curtis's ability to resist one of Captain Gus's cheeseburgers long enough to have a conversation with Jackson Hellam. You were correct, Heather. I indulged. p.s. The staff gave me a pedicure kit and made the patrons in the restaurant sing to me.

I have another book in me. It hit me tonight in my car. I've always known the title of Book II, even if I only had half the plot in mind, but now both fit together. I might take the evening off from Book I to write notes. This saga might be a lot kookier and darker than the first. My creativity is popping.

My drumming is coming along nicely, thank you. I beat the shit out of two zebra striped pillows and the railing of my canopy bed (snare drum, tenor drum and bell tree, silly). De Meij would dig my spirit.

March 18, 2003
Take THAT, de Meij! You thought you could write a snare drum part so fast, intricate and long that I'd crumble? Then you made sure fate stepped in at tonight's rehearsal to give me a percussion partner who wouldn't loan me a pair of mallets??? F that! What percussion boy doesn't realize is that when it comes right down to it, it's not about the mallets. It's about the cute chick in the hot black dress who bounces up and down to the music. Yeah, she practiced and she gets most of the notes right, but damn is she enthusiastic or what? The audience would have no idea she's got country music playing at home, cuz she's a performer, damn it. You can bring your special gazillion dollar triangle with its own special dangly contraption, but nobody cares! I could play the drums with ping pong paddles - and maybe I just will! - and they'd still like me better, a**hole.

Other than that, I really liked the drum guy. I think it'll be a swell concert.

Serendipity. I found an old email from my mom today. She'd sent it four years ago - right after I'd performed the utterly terrifying de Meij for the first time. It was the same week she found out her cancer had spread, but she came to my first out-of-drumming-retirement concert despite the setback and told me how proud she was. After I read the message, I started moving my mouse to hit the reply button. If there's a cyberspace heaven, you know she's got a helluva computer.

I wrote out the outline for Book II last night. I used the same logic as last year when I thought of the KISSfiction idea. I decided that if I went to bed and woke up the next day with the same fire as when I thought of the idea, I'd write the damn thing. I'm there, baby. I even woke up to write down some notes in the dark last night. Tonight, I must work on my query letter to agents so I can ship it out and wait for the lucky agent-to-be to come calling.

I took my tax stuff to the accountant today. Explaining KISSfiction was utterly embarrassing, but lucrative. If I become a multimillionaire next year, he says I can retire.

March 19, 2003
The U.S. went to war tonight. It feels like an anachronism. My cousin's husband was shipped out over the weekend. How can that be?

I worked on my query letter last night. I'd thought it was quite good when I rewrote it a couple weeks ago, but the paragraph about my book's plot sucks. I have got to embrace the business side of my writing so I can crank out the materials.

I have a big meeting in the a.m. so I can't give it much attention tonight. Summer, please get here soon!

I just hit 1000 votes over on KISS's website. Thanks, everyone!

March 20, 2003
Last night, right before I went to sleep, I thought "What if I used my big ass tax return to quit my day job and work full-time selling my first book and writing my second? Yeah, it's that easy." When the sun came up, I remembered 1) I have a mortgage, 2) I have 2 cats, 3) I'm not a risk taker. But what if... I'm thinking more about this quasi-dream. Is it so far from reality? I need time to think.

I worked on tightening up my plot outline for Book II tonight, and I decided on the ending. I love it as much as the first one. I think the writing will be much better, too.

Ever have one of those interactions where you ended it feeling like you'd just charmed everyone in the room, then you think of one potentially stupid thing you said and you beat your psyche into a pulpy mess? No? Maybe I'm just paranoid. No I'm not. Yes I am. No I'm not... (continue)