Since we got home in November, I have been the sole woman in a swarm of men as an army of worker bees have descended on our house to repair the water damage. \u00a0Almost daily we’ve had visits from the architect, the overall contractor and his regular guys, and the decorator along with a series of subs–the tile guy, the electrician, the plumber, the HVAC guys, the ServePro guys who came in to dry out the crawl space, the stone guy and his helpers, and last of all the carpet installers. \u00a0(These last ones, the carpet installers, were hired by us, by the way, rather than by the contractor.)<\/p>\n
I work at home. \u00a0I don’t go to an office. \u00a0So while the construction project has been going forward, I’ve been working. \u00a0Not trying to work, but actually working. \u00a0I finished Second Watch, next summer’s Beaumont book, I wrote a thirty page background piece to accompany the book, and I wrote a novella, Pickles’s Papers, that will be available in e-book format prior to the on sale date of Second Watch. \u00a0It features J.P. Beaumont’s very first partner when he went to work in Seattle P.D.’s Homicide unit, a guy by the name of Adam Gurkey, aka Pickles.<\/p>\n
We also did Christmas, including more than one visit and sit down meal with our collection of kids and grandkids–a total of seventeen when all are present and accounted for.<\/p>\n
In other words, it’s been busy around here–Very Busy. \u00a0As I write this the generator guy just showed up to do the annual maintenance check up on the generator. \u00a0Remember that Christmas windstorm several years ago? \u00a0We haven’t had a serious wind event since we installed the generator a year later.<\/p>\n
But now I’m starting a book, the next Ali book.<\/p>\n
Wanting to be precise about this, I just counted the books I’ve written. \u00a0The total comes to 46, counting the books with both J.P. and\u00a0Joanna in them one time only.<\/p>\n
That means I’ve done this task forty six go-downs in the past. \u00a0You’d think I’d be getting good at it.\u00a0\u00a0You’d think it would be getting easier. \u00a0You would be WRONG!!<\/p>\n
Starting a book is complicated, even if it is book # 47. \u00a0So where do you start? \u00a0Okay, this is an Ali\u00a0book. \u00a0I need to figure out where she is in her life and in relation to the last book I wrote, Deadly\u00a0Stakes, which, although it is not yet published and will be new to my readers in February, is by now old\u00a0hat with me. \u00a0Between the time I finished writing that one and started writing this one, I’ve written the\u00a0Beaumont book that will be coming toward the end of the summer.<\/p>\n
So I have to resort all the details of Ali’s life–her friends and relations–how old they are; what they’re\u00a0doing; how what happened to them in the upcoming book will impact their lives in the book I’m writing\u00a0now. \u00a0Got it? \u00a0There may be some kind of past perfect conditional verb tense that applies to this, but I\u00a0can’t figure out what it would be. \u00a0Or maybe it could be called the future depensive, since the future in\u00a0this book depends on the past in the next book which hasn’t happened yet. \u00a0And which is all FICTION\u00a0anyway!!!<\/p>\n
If you can’t follow that, don’t be discouraged, because I can’t follow it either. \u00a0Suffice it to say, starting a\u00a0book requires the exercise of many little gray cells whose functioning capability may well be diminished\u00a0by carpet installers spending six hours pounding on the other side of the wall from the family room in\u00a0which I am attempting to work. \u00a0My dismay with the carpet installers was compounded by the fact that\u00a0they did a terrible job–the runner on the staircase looks like your basic drunken centipede. \u00a0The bad job\u00a0was made worse by the guy in charge whose cell phone rang approximately every three minutes. \u00a0His\u00a0ring tone happens to be a meowing cat. \u00a0The meow is realistic enough that every time the phone rang,\u00a0Bella went ballistic.<\/p>\n
Let’s just say she didn’t care for the carpet installers any more than I did, but she has managed to train\u00a0our contractor to provide treats on command. \u00a0She sits up in her astonishingly cute Dachshund\u00a0meerkat pose which is her command to him to hand over the treats. \u00a0Works like a charm every single\u00a0time.<\/p>\n
But back to writing. \u00a0I’m starting. \u00a0As of today, I have a Prologue and a single chapter written. \u00a0Bill is\u00a0reading it. \u00a0I’m biting my nails and waiting for his verdict.<\/p>\n
If he hates it, I may go somewhere and apply for a job as a carpet installer. \u00a0The job I’d do couldn’t\u00a0possibly be that much worse than the one done by the guys who were already here.<\/p>\n
Okay. \u00a0Time for a short PS. \u00a0I wrote the first part of the blog last night. \u00a0Bill read the chapters. \u00a0He said, “Too much narration; not enough dialogue.” \u00a0He is a smart man, and I listen to him. \u00a0Now it’s morning. \u00a0For the first time in weeks, it isn’t raining. \u00a0As soon as I finish my second cup of coffee, I will go back to the beginning and start again. \u00a0As for the carpet? \u00a0The replacement carpet installer, dispatched by the company who did the work originally, will be here next Tuesday.<\/p>\n
If he has a phone, I hope he has a ring tone that doesn’t drive Bella nuts. \u00a0And if he doesn’t get the job done, well . . . let’s see. \u00a0What could I do about that? \u00a0Wait, I know. \u00a0A carpet installer could turn out to be a bad guy in the book I’m writing. \u00a0Oops. \u00a0No can do because I already did that. \u00a0That was a previous home remodel where the carpet installer showed up days late. \u00a0He ended up being a suspect in the book even though he wasn’t the actual perpetrator.<\/p>\n
Some of my readers are probably thinking, “Really. \u00a0A carpet installer? \u00a0Did I read that book?” \u00a0If you’ve read all the Beaumont books, yes, you did.<\/p>\n
And if you don’t remember, I guess it’s time for some of you to haul out your old copies and reread them a second time. \u00a0That way, you’ll be fully up to speed when it’s time to read Second Watch and meet J.P. Beaumont the first time I met him in 1966.<\/p>\n
As for me? \u00a0As of right now, I’m all Ali all the time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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