Jennifer Crusie's Blog, page 12

Working Wednesday, February 18, 2025

I’ve been reading up on art crime and arguing about discussing the new books with Bob, who keeps bringing up Little Melvin. But I’m pretty sure we’re calling it the Joan of Art series now, at least until/if we come up with another name. The early days of a book are pretty random, full of maybes for me and definitelies for Bob. I just want it to be Spring. I’m sure by April, everything will be better. (Not sure at all.)

So what did you work on this week?

Looking Back at the Start of Rocky Start

We’re already into the new book, which is another story I’d started a couple of years ago (Arresting Anna), and now we’re talking about how we have to change a lot of the stuff I’d spitballed because it’s going to be a real book now and not just me fooling around here on Argh. We’re starting a three book series that we are tentatively calling the Joan of Art series, because she may be our major antagonist. May be. We’re still throwing stuff out there.

But then I was looking for something on my hard drive (note to self: clear out hard drive) and I found the first collage I’d done for Rocky Start, and it was surprising how much the books changed from that original concept.
Here’s the collage:

So the point of the collage is that it’s a way to make visual notes in the beginning. This is what the characters look like, this is what the setting looks like, the important characters are the biggest and so on. And then once we get into the books and the characters come alive in our head, they just look like themselves, not the collage, they become real for us. So the collage is a starting place. And we usually do not finish where we started.

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t read Rocky Start and Very Nice Funerals, stop now.

The placeholders for Rose and Max still work for me, and so do the mountains and the storefronts in the background. Lucy Liu still works for me as Lian, but the rest of the kids to the left of her all look too young, I think. These are teenagers who have been through some stuff. And of course, when we were writing Rocky Start, we had no idea what Marley would become so he’s way too small in this collage. The picture of Maggs is a picture of Bob’s dog Maggie (I think), so of course that’s right, but you know what’s missing? Llamas. Little did we know. The llama was actually Bob’s idea, but he was joking. That’ll l’arn him. Serena shouldn’t be bigger than Coral (nobody should be bigger than Coral) but Eastwood is good for Pike. I don’t know who the guy for Herc is (Bob picked him) but that grayed out Michael Caine is Ozzie. Also missing: Bea, Harvey, Melissa, Geoffrey, and Oxley. (Hermione didn’t show up until book 2, so she wouldn’t have made this one anyway.) Basically, I think it’s still representative of place and time and mood and genre, so it works, but boy does this show how much a story can change as you write it.

So now I’m going back to look at the original collage for Arresting Anna. Because that’s going to change a lot, too. (If you’re curious, it’s at the bottom of this post: https://arghink.com/2020/10/so-its-be...)

Dog (Mon) Days

It’s cold here. Very cold. Alabama born Johnny is not amused. Neither is his Ohio-born owner, but Johnny’s the one out there with bare feet.

He refused to go out this morning and did slightly better this afternoon, although I did get some serious attitude on the way home.

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I think he’s cursing me. You’d think I hadn’t bought him a hoodie and wasn’t planning on putting him in our next book.

Happiness is Fun Research

Bob makes fun of me because I google everything, but he hasn’t seen me really research until now, when we’re starting the art crimes books. Art was my first love, my undergraduate degree, and I taught it for ten years before I switched to English and then went back to college for my MFA. One of the many things I love about art and writing is that there’s so much crossover between them (and I’m positive there would be between those disciplines and music, too, if I knew anything about music). And now I get to do more research into art crime and artists like Warhol and Thiebald and Munch (I think; we haven’t really picked our artists yet). I get to read about cool stuff for work, how happy-making is that?

What made you happy this week?

Late and On Time

Forgot to post this on Valentine’s Day:

But now there’s this:

This is a Good Book Thursday, February 13, 2025

This week I read a lot of notes and draft pieces of the first book of the Art Crimes series. Some of you read a lot of it as Arresting Anna, and it still might be called that. Bob’s added a lot and I have new ideas so it feels like a weird way of working on it, but I like his stuff and I liked mine back when I wrote it so, so far, no angst. I’ll take that.

What did you read this week?

Working Wednesday, February 12, 2025

This week I didn’t work much. I did some brainstorming with Bob on the new series (which still doesn’t have a name) of three books (which still don’t have titles), I helped Johnny settle into his new home which was going fine until snow fell from the sky and the Alabama-bred boy looked at me like WTF?, and I handled some of those annoying general life problems like ordering prescriptions and feeding myself. Mostly, I just hugged myself with happiness because I wasn’t working on HPP any more. And hugged Johnny because it was so good to have a dog again. He’s the best.

So what did you work on this week?

Happiness is Finishing Something

The Honey Pot Plot has gone to the betas and I am ecstatic. Not with the book; Bob’s parts are great but I can never tell what my stuff is. Thank God for beta readers. Now I can do all the other stuff on my list, and even the stuff there that’s dull (taxes) will end in more happy finishing. SO happy.

What made you happy this week?

This is a Good Book Thursday, February 7, 2025

I really want to read art crime research but I’m still trying to dig myself out of The Honey Pot Plot. AAAAAAARGH.

What did you read this week?

Working Wednesday, February 5, 2025

So I’m still working on HPP after all. I can’t seem to get it right and it’s making me insane. I asked Bob how long it was healthy to write every day, and he told me whatever feels right to me. I said, “That’s not a help.” He said, “Four hours.” I can do four hours. So I am doing one more pass at Rose’s part in HPP (Max’s stuff is great) and then I am letting it go. ARGH.

In other news, I’m working on settling my new dog in. Johnny has to be the most laid back dog I’ve ever owned. Eats like a champ, sleeps like a champ, walks on a leash like a pro, and I still haven’t heard him bark. The one thing we’ve tried that he is absolutely against is riding in the car, so we’ll be working on that this week, short rides that always involve a treat. This is work I enjoy.

What did you work on this week