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Nancy Rue – Author – Supporter of Writers – Encourager of the Authentic Life Author - Supporter of Writers - Encourager of the Authentic Life

Hey, fellow book creators! I've been conspicuous by my absence here because I was getting Book Two -- which you played a significant role in -- ready to go off to my agent.

It's almost there! Letting go of a new novel is like sending your kid off to college -- forget that -- kindergarten!

Which means it's time to start the preparations for Book 3, loosely titled ONCE UPON A RANSOM. This, by the way, it what it looks like when that stage is about to begin. There is so much random stuff in that basket.

(I announced this on Instagram with my first ever reel -- you'll totally be able to tell that -- so if you want to check that out just visit RueMinatings.)

Before you decide whether you're in, how about a few peeks?

In this third novel of the Footnotes Collection, still set in contemporary Concord, Mass, and still featuring the four writers known as, well, the Footnotes, this one spotlights 30-something Freddie Cavella, single mother of a five-year-old, children's author and illustrator, and the quirkiest of this quartet. She loves Louisa May Alcott, artsy decor, wild socks and her daughter. When said daughter is kidnapped for a strange ransom, Freddie's three cohorts are there for it, as only they can be.

I want you to know one thing: Freddie is non-binary. That is not the whole thrust of the story. In fact, she never talks about it. It's just who she is. I've been inspired by two people close to me, and I want to honor them and dispel the unwarranted fear that often surrounds any kind of gender fluidity. I'm going to step right out there and say, God honors the dignity of every human being.

So -- ARE YOU UP FOR THIS AGAIN? OR IF YOU WEREN'T ON THIS TRIP LAST TIME, WOULD LIKE TO GO WITH US NOW? I'll post your first task Monday.

P.S. I'm going to need expertise from visual artists, children's book authors, and anyone who knows anything about laws regarding kidnapping. Also Bohemian attire. Just to mention a few!

First of all, the names have been chosen! I realized I needed two:

The nosy neighbor (who has become even more detailed thanks to Mark) is (drum roll please) June (kudos to Anne) Hinds (stroke of genius from Tina.)

The housekeeper (who I didn't know I needed but realized I did) is (another drum roll) Honora (good job, Mark) Jormungand (Jennifer did her research on this one!)

NOW -- and this one could be fun! I need a secret name (known only to the four of them) for a group of unofficial Victorian lady detectives. Something like, “The Secret Sleuths” only far more clever! If it has a certain literary feel I wouldn't object!

Show me what you're workin' with!

Time to play the Name Game again! I need a name for a nosy female neighbor whose initials are either H.J. or J.H. She's in her sixties. Wealthy but lonely -- she doesn't know she's lonely; she thinks she's doing a service by being a one-woman Neighborhood Watch. I always LOVE what you come up with!

Okay, co-creators, I have a request. You ready?

One of the four main characters in the Footnotes Collection is Caribbean-American. Laurette will actually be the protagonist in Book Four -- and I have the deep conviction that I can't continue to write her without the collaboration of someone who shares her ethnicity. I just don't feel that would be responsible -- and I want to get it right.

Do any of you know a woman who is of mixed Caribbean and American descent? She doesn't have to be a writer, but definitely someone who loves and understands literature and, like me, wants women such as she to be accurately represented.

Laurette looks like the woman you see pictured here, though with very short hair. I love her and find her to be so interesting. Just need some help learning more about her. Know anyone?

As always, you rock!

Let the editing begin! You can always tell that's where I am with a book when you see this madness in my studio. Questions are popping up, many of which I'll be asking you. Are you still up for it?

My beloved "co-authors," the draft is DONE!!! Yesterday I typed the last line of A Mob of Scribbling Women, Draft 2. The first draft was the mammoth outline. This is the book itself, all 459 pages, 108,000 words of it. There are few things sweeter than knowing the story is there and the fun part can begin. The fleshing out. The making-it-delicious. I'm going to let it marinate for about ten days before I come back with the seasonings, and I know I'll be calling on you for details. For now, a big THANK YOU for all you've done so far -- creating names, deciding on cars, approving house plans and locating experts on home birth and infertility and the coils of COVID. There will be more -- but for now, let's celebrate! I could go for a glass of port ...

Hey, "co-authors!" While I was away, I continued to write, but I think more importantly I allowed myself to explore outside the box that is a draft. Did that make any sense at all? When you're as far into your second draft as I am, the temptation to "get it done" kicks in, and that can inhibit creative possibilities. A change of scene led to a shift in perspective and validation. For instance, my daughter, grandchild and I dressed in pink (purchased at one of the many awesome vintage stores in Portland) and went to see the Barbie movie in a gorgeous old movie theater (seriously, it had a balcony, ornate wall sconces and a CURTAIN!). I was deliciously stunned by the film, one monologue in particular which verbalized the very theme I'm allowing my characters to live into in my novel. It has to do with a woman's struggle to be real, rather than "special."

ANY THOUGHTS ON THAT?

One of the great things about traveling -- at least for me -- are the many venues for writing. Something about a change of scene provides a shift in perspective. One of my faves in Portland was Albina Press, three blocks from my daughter's house. Surrounded by the aromas of fresh coffee and scones and the sounds of nearby laptops and calls of "Decaf oat milk latte for Nancy!", I wrote scenes longhand to type later. Time flew. So did the charges on my credit card; one latte is never enough.

My stay in Asheville, NC, last week was unexpectedly solitary, and after the initial sadness it turned out to be absolutely soul-giving. Among other delights (bookstores where you can walk around with a glass of Riesling, art galleries everywhere you turn, artisan crafts practically on every corner), I stayed in an exquisite VRBO called Green Gables. Could that BE any more appropriate? I set up my desk on an old fashioned sewing machine table overlooking a garden so much like the one Anne Fraley and I are designing for my current novel, it sent delicious shivers through me. Page 336, writing companions. Page 336!. Less than 100 to go. I can feel those prayers and good thoughts coming out of ya.

Today I will reach the page 300 mark in the novel you've been helping me build. I haven't posted much here of late because this is the part of the process that is boring for everyone except the author. It's tough for writers on Take Your Kid To Work Day. That would be like asking your child to watch grass grow. The information has been gathered. The skeleton is in place and I'm fleshing it out. Now it's all internal.

You can still help in one way, though. I need more current slang than I have access to. The nerve of my twelve-year-old grandchild to move to the other side of the country! So ...

WHAT'S THE MOST DELIGHTFUL SLANG YOU'VE HEARD LATELY? For example, I love the phrase "You crushed that!" There's something so visceral about it, you know?

Whatcha got?

Okay, co-creators, I need an expert. A gardener, to be exact. My protagonist, Sara, is a committed gardener, leaning toward the Victorian style, of course. It's April, time to be planning and perhaps planting in her massive backyard garden, though I'm not sure because we're talking Massachusetts. I need a diagram and some info on what might be happening right now -- or what should be happening, because she's in the midst of a crisis. I, of course, know nothing about horticulture. Plants die within the hour of coming into my home. All that to say ... TODAY'S QUESTION: would any one of you be willing to help me out with this? In return, hopefully we can work out some kind of trade. If this sounds like your kind of fun, let me know, yes?

Do you want to see how your suggestions and input are stitching themselves into the narrative? Remember Jared Pike the banker with the bothersome contact lenses who appears in one scene? Here he is:

He looked self-conscious in an off-the-rack charcoal sport jacket and Caribbean blue tie that would have looked fine on someone slimmer. If he was dressing to impress it wasn't working.
..

His voice was slightly high-pitched, though that could have been due to the collar of the pale blue button-down which pinched at his neck.
..

“I think you probably can,” I said with a smoothness that belied my inner state. “And you are?”
“Jared? Jared Pike?”
I was as puzzled by that as I was by the blinking of his eyes. Was this his first day wearing contacts? Either he wasn’t sure that was his name, or he was a question-talker.
..
Jared Pike ran a hand over the short dark hair that covered his head like a skull cap. Actually, the shadow of a beard gave the whole thing the impression of a ski mask. He was already blinking at the computer screen.

Thanks to you, he lives and breathes, if only for a few pages.

Sara -- the protagonist whose world you've been helping me create -- is into all things Victorian. In her home she has a number of decorative screens which were highly popular in that era. During the course of the story, those screens come to represent a discovery she makes about her life. Want to guess what that is? Hint: it isn't a healthy thing.

In all my (muffles a number) years as a professional writer, I'm not sure I've ever experienced the steady stream of creativity that I find myself carried in right now. I attribute that to several things. Always God, though now I feel the connection so strongly through my practice of yoga and meditation and prayer. Always the tools suggested by Julia Cameron (in The Artist's Way and more recently Write For Life), though now with a deeply spiritual turn. Always the support of my people, though now in a more intentional way through the thriving group known as The Scribbling Women (which started right here with one of my posts). But not always the seeking of creative input. That is new for me, and you have provided that. I have always been an author who depended solely on her own imagination. You have shown me a joyful aspect of the creative process that I was missing. So here's to you -- as I celebrate 124 pages. I wish you could join me. The crab cakes were drool-worthy. (WHAT ARE YOU CELEBRATING?)

I always formulate a question when I plan a novel, and my goal in the story is to allow my protagonist to arrive at the answer. My question for my (our!) current story: How do you move forward when the expectations you’ve shaped your life around aren’t met and you realize they never will be? I would love to hear your answers to that. Whatcha got?

Josh Taylor wins with Officer Cuff, although Susan Plett's Buster Chops will work its way in there someplace, for sure. The names and quirks and mannerisms and sneaking-into-the-hospital methods are not the only way you're participating in the writing of this novel, my friends. You have no idea how just knowing you're with me in this is keeping me at the keyboard, rolling out the story. I mean, look where the heck I am already! I can feel the energy, and I appreciate it. QUESTION: How can I pump up YOUR energy a little?

Okay, co-creators, I need a somewhat amusing last name for a police officer who only appears once in the story. You can use any letter you want except T or S. He just showed up in Chapter Five and needs his own identity for a minute, know what I mean? Show me what you're workin' with!

You've done it again! Sara's agent has been named: Janice Rogers Rohatenski. Leave out the "Rogers" at your peril.. And just to be clear -- she is NOTHING like my awesome agent, Don Pape of Pape Commons. I am blessed with the best. (Don't you just want to hug him?)

Just when you think you have everything covered, the need for yet another character arises. Sara needs a literary agent. I mean, right? We never see this woman but she is referred to, not always lovingly. She likes Sara's career where it is (cranking out Harlequin-type romances) and doesn't think she should go bigger and deeper. (I.e. why mess with the goose who is laying the golden eggs?) I need both first and last name, and these are your first letter options: C J K O P Q R U Y Z

Whatcha got?

Draft 2 of Book 2 is happening, as evidenced by the happy mess on my desk. You have helped me prepare well, and the first ten pages flowed like Mrs. Butterworth's syrup this morning. (Makes me want pancakes!) TODAY'S QUESTION: What does it look like when YOU are in the Zone? Pictures would make a great response. Just sayin'.

Goal met! I'm doing the final touches on the draft today and taking myself on an Artist Date tomorrow. Thursday is the official start of the second draft, for which I'm thinking about a ritual of sorts to begin with the intention of working with God on this project. TODAY'S QUESTION: What sort of small ceremony do you create -- or would like to create -- when you're setting out on a new thing? Is it as simple as a perfect cup of coffee or as complex as spending a day on a hilltop praying? We would love to hear.

Looks like I'll meet tomorrow's self-imposed deadline for that first draft, although ... ever since I learned that the word "deadline" comes from the line in a prisoner of war camp, the crossing of which made you fair game to be shot (!) I've decided to call mine alive-lines. I do want to do the happy dance when I reach them. Still, I might need this mug. Am I right? While we're on the subject, how do YOU feel about what were formerly known as "deadlines?" Hate them? Love them? Ignore them?

I think the key to moving forward toward a goal -- first draft by Friday! - is to treat yourself along the way. Met my mini-goal yesterday -- went out for Mexican with my favorite husband (okay, the only one I've ever had, but still ...) Tomorrow, a big ol' mug of hot chocolate. Thursday -- jury's still out on Thursday, but maybe not food! You do reward yourself when you reach a soft goal, right? What do you do? P.S. that giant Dos Equis is not mine!

Thanks to all your help, the first draft of my work-in-progress, A MOB OF SCRIBBLING WOMEN, will be completed this Friday. Or at least, that's the soft goal. Since you've been such vital cohorts in this process, will you count down the days with me? I could use the occasional nudge, prayer or downright shove! Thanks, my beloved community. You rock! (This photo was taken in the room where Henry David Thoreau was BORN! Though, your support is every bit as inspiring.)

Gabe it is, by a landslide vote. I LOVED the comments that went with your choices. This guy is becoming deeper by the minute. Just as I thought I had everybody nailed down in this story, the necessity for another character popped up, so there's her to deal with. Her name is Douglas Washington (she's named after Frederick Douglas), and she is a nurse practitioner hospitalist. Douglas is the most down-to-earth woman you'll ever meet, but like all the folks who populate this novel, she has her quirks. What I need from you is a VOICE QUIRK. Maybe a voice pattern, or a phrase she always uses (For instance, I find myself saying, "Does that make sense?" all the dang time). She is African-American and a native of Massachusetts, so that gives you an indication of her accent. Whatcha got for Douglas?

I'm starting to wonder why I never involved creative people like you in the shaping of my novels before. You have made this so much fun, and I hope it's giving you a peek at the process - or at least mine! Can we go back to a previous character, whose car you came up with? Keagan, pictured here, has to have name change. You can choose between (drum roll, please ...) BLAKE and GABRIEL. And if the latter, do we call him Gabriel or Gabe? I will absolutely go with what you choose, so cast your votes. And don't be afraid to say why.

Okay, get your mental taste buds geared up! My protagonist, Sara, makes goodies in the kitchen that are not only delicious but veritable works of art. In a pivotal scene near the beginning of the novel, she is making something wonderful for her friend's four-year-old girl (I won't tell you what eventually happens to it; no spoilers here). What IS that drool-worthy, child-delighting, magazine-ready treat she's putting together? Make us salivate!

I'm at that point in creating my novel where I'm arranging interviews with experts, weaving in all the wonderful ideas you've helped me with in terms of my characters and sorting through plot points that still ni**le at me. For instance -- and I could use your help here -- If Evvy worked at Caffe Nero until recently, and that's Sara's favorite coffee shop, why has Sara never seen her? It's essential that Sara doesn't recognize her, so how am I going to pull that off? I'm going to go for a walk while you figure that out ...

You have absolutely captured Keagan with your descriptions of his wardrobe. One more question about him before we move on. Is he a Chicago Cubs fan because he grew up there, or is he a Boston Red Sox fan because he went to college in Massachusetts and now lives in Concord? Or is he the kind of guy to go way outside the box and choose a completely different team to root for? Remember that he played ball in high school and college, so he knows the sport. If it helps, he was a catcher.