Eileen and the Nineteen, Who Grew into the Eight-Four

That is the dedication on AND THEN YOU FLY. Eileen is a dear friend of mine, who asked me to consider a character who was a professor who loved fly fishing. As it turned out, the character of Bree, who was introduced in KISS, was easily molded into both. 

I loved writing something new, that I didn’t know. And what was better . . . one of my beta readers, who loves to fly fish, said, “You must either fly fish, or did a lot of research about it because that’s exactly what it’s like.” High praise indeed for a girl who’s never done it.

I love the character of Bree. She’s feisty and smart, a bit of a know-it-all, but in a good way (at least most of the time), and she certainly gives one particular cowboy a run for his money. As a character, she’s deep and rich and I feel as though I know her. 

In the midst of writing this book, I got stuck. Really stuck. And I was stuck for a while. I knew something wasn’t right, but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was exactly. I sent the book over to Catie, who I rely on for absolute brutal honesty when it comes to my books, and now that she knows it’s okay, she delivers.

The first thing she said was, “I don’t like this part, [this character] wouldn’t do that. He’s not like that.” She was right. He wouldn’t. The super-cool-amazing-incredible thing was . . . Catie knew him well enough to say that. 

As soon as she said it, I knew how to fix it. The book is back in her hands now, in its fixed state, and I’m waiting to hear what she thinks. 

In the meantime, as I (im)patiently wait for feedback from my sweet beta readers, I’ve started book five. This is a book I’ve been anxious to write for months. My subconscious has been writing it for me, I think. As I sat down to write, I knew the main character so well, it was almost eerie. And he’s someone new. 

Catie also said, “I don’t understand what [this other character] is doing in this book.” Well, because he’s the main character in book five. I hope it’s evident when she gets to the end of book four . . . if not, there will be a modest rewrite in order.

Back to the title of this post. This book is dedicated to Eileen, who gave me the inspiration and the impetus to write Bree. And the nineteen, who grew into eighty-four, is now 186, as of my last look. That is the number of pre-orders for AND THEN YOU FLY. When it was at nineteen, I was incredulous. At eighty-four, I thought there must have been some mistake. Now that the pre-orders are in triple-digits, I’ve gotten used to it. Perhaps there will come a day when my pre-orders are in quadruple-digits. Wouldn’t that be something? 

Twenty-nine months ago I started my first book. Two years and five months ago. Since, I’ve written six books. Today I started my seventh. Along the way I’ve tried to document everything I want to be sure to remember. I’ve posted photos of the sunrise on the day I sold my first book, photos of the first time I received a box of books, and then two books, and then three . . . and so on. I don’t want to forget a thing, nor do I want to take any of it for granted. 

This is my dream. I’m living it. I write books that people read. And love. They send me notes when they’re in the middle of the next book, and tell me they love it. And they aren’t only people who know me . . . they’re strangers, who have become friends because of my writing. I pinch myself often. Lest I ever forget . . . 

The day I got the first author proof of AND THEN YOU FALL, I picked Frank up at school and when he got in the car, I showed him the book. Without hesitation he said, “This is the fourth best day of your life Mom.” And he was right. After marrying their father, and the birth of our two sons . . . that was next best. There are now five bests in line behind that one.