Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

I was promised a recession.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

The arc of the moral universe doesn’t bend itself. it’s up to us.

Come on, man.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Never forget that he train is barreling down on Trump, even as he dances on the tracks.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Glad to see john eastman going through some things.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

Another missed opportunity for Jamie Dimon to just shut the fuck up.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

You can’t love your country only when you win.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Republicans would impeach Biden if he bit into a whole Kit Kat rather than breaking the sections apart.

The words do not have to be perfect.

You are here: Home / Medium Cool / Medium Cool with BGinCHI – TaMara’s New Book!

Medium Cool with BGinCHI – TaMara’s New Book!

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Tonight we kick off Episode 17 of the weekly Guest Post series: Medium Cool with BGinCHI.

In case you missed the introduction to the series:  Culture as a Hedge Against this Soul-Sucking Political Miasma We’re Living In

You can find the whole series here:  Medium Cool with BGinCHI

Tonight’s Topic: TaMara’s new TJ Wilde Mystery: Underway

Medium Cool with BGinCHI – Looking Ahead 3

Take it away, BG!

TaMara’s piece/writeup below is such a great conversation starter that it seems like any further introduction from me would just get in the way.  ~BGinCHI

So take it away, TaMara!

First of all, wow, thanks for this BG and Watergirl! How much fun.

Watergirl asked me to write something up. I wasn’t sure what, then I figured I’d just tell you how the TJ Wilde mysteries evolved.

But first, let’s discuss the genre. TJ Wilde Mysteries are in the romance/mystery/beach read style, they are very adult, definitely R rated. TJ is a strong woman whose life implodes and she is a straight up mess in Run Aground and has found her footing in Underway, but things never go smoothly, because what fun would that be? So nothing too serious here.

How did this “let’s write a book” begin? Believe it or not, one morning I woke from a dream, and it was pretty much the entire first chapter and general plot of the first book, Run Aground. I am not kidding. It was bizarre. And it would not go away. I’ve been writing all my life, but a full-length book, much less a mystery, was not on my life plan calendar. I checked. And then I double-checked.

Finally, I wrote out the first chapter. Then I wrote it again. And again. By that time, I thought, well, this is kind of a fun little piece, so I sent it to a few people I knew would get the in-jokes and enjoy it. The response I got back was “more pages, please.” So I wrote more pages until I got to about chapter five, and then life got complicated – I started my own business, and that was a time-consuming undertaking – so I had less time to write. Then Bixby came…and most of you know how that went. LOL

Nevertheless, I was being nagged by both the characters who would not go away, and my friends and family who would also not go away. And five chapters seemed an awful lot to waste. So I got serious and decided, well, why not, let’s write the entire thing. It took a while. What kept me going was I found I loved visiting the world and characters I created. I was always surprised when things went in a direction I hadn’t actually planned but worked because it was organic and authentic to the characters.

No spoilers, but there is a single line in chapter eight of book one, that I wrote as a throwaway line that became a plot point that now runs through all three books. That has been my favorite part about writing, how everything finds a way to fit together. As long as I have a solid beginning and ending, the story kind of unfolds itself for me. It was like doing a very complicated jigsaw puzzle. I love that. I also love reading romance/mystery/beach reads, so writing that genre felt natural.

The second book evolved after my bestest friend in the entire world and I were driving around Boston during my yearly visit. I had described for her the general outline of book two and we were scouting locations, when we stumbled on the SoWa art district and a Cuban art gallery with the most amazing gallerist.

And then suddenly, my vague outline had substance and heart. A few days later, she and I were walking along the beach (that I have walked hundreds of times in my adult life), and we were chatting about the outer islands, and she tells me this story of a now-abandoned hospital, that I didn’t even know existed. Seriously, I’d lived in the Boston area for years and I visit regularly. And suddenly, more of the story had taken shape. By the time I flew back home, the book was all done except for the actual writing. Oh, and a trip to Cuba.

I knew early on it was a trilogy – the mysteries are stand-alone, but TJ’s evolution (and have no doubt, this is all about TJ’s evolution) would need three books. From having her entire life turned upside down to finding her way again to flourishing (that’ll be book three).

That’s it. That’s how I became an accidental mystery/romance writer. I can’t say I love writing, but I do love watching the story unfold.

A full synopsis of Run Aground is here and a full synopsis of Underway is here.  Excerpts of both books are here.

*****

I have read everything at the three links just above, and it was definitely worth it!

But first, some housekeeping.  When we started Medium Cool, BG warned me that we Sunday evenings might not be great for him during the summer, and it turns out that his prediction was spot on.  So until further notice, Medium Cool is changing to Wednesday evenings at 6 pm blog time.

So please mark your calendars:  The next Medium Cool will be on Wednesday, June 24, at 6 pm.

And now, back to TaMara’s book.  I can’t wait to ask her what it’s like to have your Dad read the sexy scenes in your book.  That should be interesting.

~WaterGirl

 

Reader Interactions

127Comments

  1. 1.

    BGinCHI

    TaMara, congrats on the book and the trilogy!

    I’m halfway through Underway and really enjoying it. It’s tightly plotted and has great pace and characters.

    First question: At what point (for the previous book, obviously) did first-person work for this? Did it just come to you that way in your dream, or did you have to find the voice?

  3. 3.

    zhena gogolia

    Dear TaMara, I’ve started it and am really looking forward to it. But we’ve had a domestic disaster here — a small, non-life-threatening one but one that is putting a huge dent in the summer — and I have not had any ability to concentrate on reading. That should pass soon, I hope. Congratulations! This is my favorite kind of summer reading.

  4. 4.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    TaMara already knows I’ve read and enjoyed both books. Reviewed them on Amazon and Goodreads too! (Hint, hint, fellow readers) What strikes me in what TaMara says above is how important place is in helping her shape her story, because when I read them, they seemed to me to evoke places so well. In this new book, I love that artsy area she found in Boston. As I read, I kept imaging how great it would be to live there.

    The first book takes place in Peoria, which made me laugh to start with. You don’t see that too often. And then it further takes place in a funeral home where TJ is working.

    So, sex scenes. I cannot imagine myself writing them, much less knowing that people I know (or am related to, dog help me) are reading them. How did that go? I’m a fade-to-black woman myself.

  5. 5.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @BGinCHI: It was always TJ’s voice I heard, so it had to be first person.

    The series I’m working on now is in third person omniscient and it so much easier to know what all the characters are thinking, LOL.

  7. 7.

    WaterGirl

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Yeah, I wonder about the sex scenes, too.  My dad could not look at me or talk to me for 3 weeks once he figured out that I was having sex.

    The only time he was ever mad at me as an adult!  I’m sure if I had written a book with sexy scenes in it, he would have looked like the guy in the cartoon who is sitting next to a sign that says “do not read under penalty of death” and he was so obviously turned away and ignoring it that it was obvious he had read it.

    As I understand it, TaMara’s dad was pretty cool about it.  Which is awesome.

  8. 8.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I could talk about this all day – sex scenes, having people that know you read them, having your best friend’s husband read them, having your other friend’s son read them.

    I much prefer strangers. LOL

    They are a bitch to write, they are even harder to edit. Run Aground had a lot of them because it was integral to what was going on. Underway, thankfully had only one and a hint of another.

    Oh, and when your dad reads them you need therapy. I’m just saying.

  9. 9.

    BGinCHI

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I wrote exactly one sex scene in my life, for Lilacs, and it got cut with the whole time period it was in.

    It was fun to write, but it’s not my forte, that’s for sure. I can write a sexy scene, but as you say, some things maybe better done by others. Or something.

  11. 11.

    BGinCHI

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Also want to second what Dorothy says: If you read and like TaMara’s book, REVIEW IT on Amazon and Goodreads, and anywhere else you can.

    It’s HUGE for the author and small press. Even if you just write a short paragraph.

  12. 12.

    BGinCHI

    @TaMara (HFG): Voice is a major thing for me as well, and it’s almost always the first thing I hear.

    But, oddly, it’s the narratorial (to coin a word) voice and not just the main character’s. This tells me the story and where it’s going, and then I create the ensemble to fill it out.

    Every project a puzzle.

  13. 13.

    TaMara (HFG)

    Okay, I jumped in answering questions, but Watergirl and BG thank you so much for this. Promoting it, but mostly giving me the chance to talk about it. The entire process of writing these books has been so much fun for me, learning about formatting, pacing, character development, watching the characters take on a life of their own – just joyful – it has to be, because writing itself is such a chore, LOL.

    Although I will admit – I LOVE working with an editor and doing rewrites and honing things down. @BGinCHI:  does that make me crazy?

  15. 15.

    WaterGirl

    TaMara, I read the excerpts and the chapters that were linked on-line.  Is the artists community in Underway based on a real artists community in Boston?  I have only been to Boston once, but I LOVED it, and something you wrote reminded me of a place I had been in Boston that was a gaggle of boutiques.  The area had a name, but I don’t recall what it was.

  17. 17.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @schrodingers_cat:  Havana, Old Havana to be exact.

     

    @WaterGirl: SoWa near the MFA. I’d never been before, but once we found it, it became THE place. It fit just what I had in my mind for a locale, but I thought I was going to have to make it up. So nice to have a real area to work with.

    You might have been at Fanueil Hall – also full of shops and cobblestone. Near the Aquarium, the wharf on the cover and the North End (Italian neighborhood).

  18. 18.

    BGinCHI

    @TaMara (HFG): Revision (if that’s the part you’re asking about) gets easier the more you do it. At first, though, for a first novel, it’s like having a stroke trying to figure out how the hell to fix something you worked tirelessly to get as perfect as possible.

  20. 20.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @BGinCHI: I always have to have my temper-tantrum and then I’m fine and can get down to reworking it.

    It might be the acting background – we spend so much time in rehearsal and doing scenes over and over to refine things, I’m used to it.

  23. 23.

    BGinCHI

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I’m the opposite then, I guess. I like the rhythm of being in the groove, writing every day and just adding that next bit when it’s flowing.

    I like editing and revising too, but it’s not as satisfying.

  27. 27.

    BGinCHI

    TaMara, here’s another question.

    Give us an example in Underway in which a scene, or a character, just ran away with things in a really unexpected way.

  29. 29.

    debbie

    I’m impressed by anyone who can write fiction and create fictional worlds. I don’t know if it takes a certain kind of imagination, or just an imagination, period, but I’ve never been able to.

  30. 30.

    WaterGirl

    So, TaMara, since you always knew this would be a trilogy, did they commit to publishing all three of your books before the first one was published?  Or since it’s Amazon, isn’t there anyone who needed to commit … you could just decide and do it yourself?

  31. 31.

    schrodingers_cat

    @debbie: I tried to write a fantasy novel when I kid with my best friend based on the fantasies we liked to read. The entire plot got so convoluted that we could not keep the characters and the plot points straight, eventually we gave up.

  32. 32.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @BGinCHI: Well, speaking of sex scenes – TJ and Colby were really not suppose to reconcile until very near the end of the book, but his return took on an entire life of its own. It felt like anything I would have done to keep them apart would have been artificial.

    In Run Aground, there is a very #metoo creepy character and I really wanted to make him a bad guy, but in the end, he became more sympathetic and less creepy. Just kind of a guy who was clueless about how creepy his behavior was. Which, I guess probably gave a lot more depth to him than what I had originally intended and thus, a more interesting read.

  33. 33.

    debbie

    @schrodingers_cat:

    My youngest niece was like you and your friend. She wrote and wrote, and it was all very creative. Then she discovered boys. Hopefully, she’ll return to writing at some point.

  34. 34.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @WaterGirl: It’s all on me. Which is great. Because book 3 is a long way off. Until travel restrictions ease up and life gets a little less weird. I know the basic outline, but, I really need to explore the area where it takes place before I get much deeper into it.

  35. 35.

    BGinCHI

    @TaMara (HFG): Interesting.

    One of the great surprises in writing longer projects is the way characters will just take over, or go in a direction you’d never expected. They really do come alive, often.

    When a character doesn’t push back I usually get nervous that I don’t have something right about him/her.

  37. 37.

    zhena gogolia

    @BGinCHI:

    It’s not me, it’s my husband, therefore I’m not giving details. Suffice it to say orthopedists, surgery, and a cast are involved. But it’s going well so far.

  39. 39.

    WaterGirl

    @zhena gogolia: Just this week I was trying to figure out if I had broken my ankle in 2017 or in 2018.  (Turns out it was 2018.)

    Tell you husband that at some point it will all be so far behind him that he will be wondering when it happened.

  41. 41.

    zhena gogolia

    @WaterGirl:

    We’ve said we’re really looking forward to reminiscing about this. Of course pandemic doesn’t help.

    On the book — I’ve been to Boston many times but have never seen this artsy section. I guess when I say Boston I really mean Cambridge, though. I’ve been to Faneuil Hall, Union Oyster House, the hideous City Hall, but have never really explored. I always seem to be in Cambridge, Marblehead, Milton, or somewhere like that, not Boston proper. It was my ex-husband’s hometown (Dorchester and then Milton).

  42. 42.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @WaterGirl: the first book was life-changing. No other way to describe it.

    Run Aground sat, finished on my bookshelf for a year and I didn’t know what to do with it. So I came here and asked a bunch of our published authors what they did. I looked at the pros and cons of self-publishing and paired that with my personality and finally chose my path. Then another six months of editing, rewriting, and self-doubt.

    Then the finished product arrives and it’s amazing.

    The next amazing part is when you realize you have sold more books than people you actually know. I still remember that day when I realized that…

    Eventually, I’ll take the next step, but first I had feel comfortable in my own words.

  43. 43.

    CaseyL

    Not just one novel, but a series of them!  That’s wonderful!

    That has been my favorite part about writing, how everything finds a way to fit together.

    I used to write (fiction, fanfic, screenplays – never sold anything, but I did the work) and one of the most satisfying things was becoming good enough for the plot and characters to stay internally consistent while hitting all the points I wanted to hit.

    I thought of it as expanding and contracting: three quarters of the work is sending the characters and their milieus out into the universe, and the last quarter is watching them arc back in on their planned trajectories.

    Mysteries, both cozy and hard, are one of my favored genres, and I’m always happy to find a new writer.  I look forward to checking these out!

    Thank you!

  44. 44.

    BGinCHI

    For the record, Cape Cod is the first place I ever lived when I left home (a summer working construction, when I was 20, sleeping on a cot in a friend’s partially-built house).

    Boston the second, where I worked shitty retail and slept on a friend’s floor for the summer, seeing dozens and dozens of bands and films at the Brattle and elsewhere. First city I ever lived in.

    So many memories.

  45. 45.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Yes. The entire Cuban art plot point came out of stumbling on that gallery and meeting the gallerist and learning about the exchange program. I knew none of that when I began.

    And then the abandoned hospital wasn’t even on my radar, but once we went out (by ferry, we could not explore the restricted island, unfortunately, because I would have if we could have) I knew what I wanted to do with it.

  46. 46.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @BGinCHI: My family is from there, and as a military brat, we were stationed on the Cape for several years. So I’d spent some time there in our travels around the country. I decided right after college I wanted to live in Boston, so I moved to Quincy (a T ride into town) to try my hand at big city life.

    This book was my love story to that magical time.

  48. 48.

    TaMara (HFG)

    Hey in other news, I cooked a lot this past week and took actual photos, so I’ll have some respite content for this week. I think we’re gonna need it.

  50. 50.

    Brachiator

    @TaMara (HFG):

    I’m adding your books to my reading list, and really enjoyed reading about the process you developed. Even things like this are fascinating.

    The second book evolved after my bestest friend in the entire world and I were driving around Boston during my yearly visit. I had described for her the general outline of book two and we were scouting locations, when we stumbled on the SoWa art district and a Cuban art gallery with the most amazing gallerist.

    It sounds like you are deliberately looking for places and landscapes to be part of your book. I guess a writer can just create a locale or can decide to make specific places part of the world of the book.

    When you visited the gallery, did you decide that Cuba had to be part of the book?

    Did you have to get special permissions to visit Cuba?

  51. 51.

    WaterGirl

    @TaMara (HFG):  How do people you don’t know find the book?  Now that there aren’t bookstores to browse in – speaking of which can you even put your book in a bookstore? – how do people you don’t know find your book?

    I certainly don’t look up “mysteries” on Amazon.

  52. 52.

    zhena gogolia

    @TaMara (HFG):

    I’ll tell you a little story. The husband of one of my former students self-published a hilarious academic novel. I bought copies and sent them to friends, but I thought it probably wouldn’t go anywhere. Then somehow it got mentioned in the first paragraph of an article in the New York Review of Books. So recently I was Zoom-lunching with colleagues and one of them asked for recommendations for good academic novels. I told him I’d send him a copy of this one. He said, “Oh, I already devoured that one, I loved it.” I said, “I don’t remember, did I give it to you?” He said, “No, I saw it mentioned in the NYRB.”

  53. 53.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @WaterGirl: I had three editors (two on Run Aground, one on Underway).  It’s a process finding someone who is compatible. My third editor was who I always wanted, but it took some convincing. It’s been a dream working with her, she gets the genre, she’s meticulous, she loves the characters, she has strong editing experience and she’s really good at explaining to me WHY something wasn’t working.

    The why is so important, because then I knew how to go about fixing it.

  54. 54.

    BGinCHI

    @TaMara (HFG): Do you have a chili rellenos recipe, but without frying them?

    Or any recipe that involves roasting chilis (poblanos, cubanelles, etc.) you like?

    I use them in soups, but looking for something summery.

  55. 55.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @Brachiator: Thank you.

    The entire plotline came from finding that gallery. And when we went to Cuba (last year) it was easy-peasy, the airline took care of our visa stuff. I don’t know how it is now.

    Yes, I deliberately look for locales. Mostly because when I read, I love knowing the place is real. There is one author I devour and my only complaint is her locales are very generic.

  56. 56.

    FelonyGovt

    I really enoyed Run Aground and I’m looking forward to this new book.

    I also liked to write stories as a kid but it never went anywhere. I took a creative writing course in college and I wrote a story about some friends in my neighborhood. I remember the professor telling me, “I don’t care about any of these characters. Tell me why I should care.” I guess that was the end of my writing career.


    I’m so impressed with you folks who can develop fictional characters into real flesh and blood people. 

  57. 57.

    WaterGirl

    @TaMara (HFG):  I imagine someone can be a great technical editor, but if the communication isn’t there, or the chemistry, it’s probably painful and frustrating.

    Glad you found the right person.  You said it took some convincing.  Sounds like someone you knew personally, and you had to convince them to edit for someone they knew?  Just ignore the question if it seems too personal.

  58. 58.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @BGinCHI: Sadly, I don’t. And I say sadly because I live in a place where people roast and sell them in parking lots and at the farmer’s market.

    I only make poblano soup with them or put them in salsas.

  59. 59.

    zhena gogolia

    @FelonyGovt:

    Me too. Many years ago, I decided I would make my way through graduate school by writing a romance novel. I got about 50 pages in and had no idea where to go from there. One of the characters was entirely based on one of my professors and all his speeches were verbatim quotations from this guy, and when I ran out, I was done.

    ETA: Sample, true quotation, spoken while gazing into a fireplace and sipping Martell cognac: “Yes, fortunately, God does not exist.”

  61. 61.

    WaterGirl

    @BGinCHI: I don’t have any recipes, but I grow spicy peppers and cook with them.  If you cut the pepper in half and then pop the pepper in boiling water for 1 minute, you can bake them with a combination of zucchini, onion, chopped peppers, cheese and rice.  That was pretty yummy.

    edit:  do not overstuff!  less is more.

  62. 62.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @WaterGirl: Yes, she is a dear friend. And the funny thing is, she was also the person I was most worried about reading Run Aground after it was done. I literally said to her, lie to me if you didn’t like it so we can keep our friendship. It was nerve-wracking. But she loved it. So I gave her my best puppy dog eyes and begged her to become my editor.

    We are now a permanent partnership.

  65. 65.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @WaterGirl: She was already an editor. Just not mystery/romance. So it was a leap for her, too. But she’s an avid reader of mystery/romance, so like me, she knew the genre.

    ETA: The sex scenes are an issue for her, too. LOL

  67. 67.

    TaMara (HFG)

    Before we wrap up, I want to swing back to sex scenes for a moment.

    If you have read enough sexy romance novels, you’ll understand this, there is a format. I always have to tell people who know me that – these are pretty much formulaic sex scenes – there’s an expectation romance readers have so I did not veer far from that.

    And just like sex scenes in film and television, it’s a lot more technical writing than it is anything really sexy.

    Still fun to read and watch…

    ?

  68. 68.

    Yutsano

    @TaMara (HFG): I can’t stand green peppers, but there’s a grassy note in the poblanos that just makes that a great sub for me. Plus it’s a nice mix-up in general especially if you get the really assertive one!

  69. 69.

    BGinCHI

    @TaMara (HFG): I made a casserole last night with roasted cubanelles, stuffed with grass-fed ground beef with chili & lime, baked with eggs & cheese. It was good, but def a winter dish.

  70. 70.

    BGinCHI

    @Raven: YES!

    This is pretty much what I did.

    Good for comfort food, but looking for some other ideas.

    I think a roasted whole pepper on a burger would be good.

  71. 71.

    BGinCHI

    @TaMara (HFG): What’s her usual genre?

    I need a freelancer for my current project. The last time I went this route it….wasn’t great.

    She was very, very nice, but just kept telling me how good the writing was without helping me make the book better.

  72. 72.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @BGinCHI: Roasted peppers on anything is always yummy.

    I have friends who used to live in NM and they said everything had green chilis on it – even McDonald’s burgers.

    I always ask them, what’s wrong with that? LOL

  76. 76.

    JOHN MANCHESTER

    @TaMara (HFG): My Ray of Darkness series was born when a friend brought me to see an artist friend of hers at his gallery in Hudson, NY. (It’s now an ice cream shop—rents have gotten too steep for many artists.) I saw this guy’s weird art and like that my character came alive, displaying his weird art in the gallery and living upstairs.

  77. 77.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @BGinCHI: She was a magazine editor before she quit. Non-fiction articles, technical writings…that kind of stuff. I was her first foray into fiction.

    But that experience with technical writing worked in her favor because she is so very good at explaining her thought process and reasons for changes. Very collaborative.

    That was the most trouble I had before, it was just red lines with no explanation. Not good.

  78. 78.

    Brachiator

    @TaMara (HFG):

    Although I will admit – I LOVE working with an editor and doing rewrites and honing things down.

    I know some first time writers and would-be writers who foolishly believe that their work does not need an editor. Interesting to see your more positive attitude.

    Do re-writes ever send you into a new direction?

    ETA: I once made notes and did some copy editing for a friend’s novel. Much more work than I realized. I used to regularly do editing of technical writing, but this was much easier for a lot of reasons. And the works were much shorter.

  79. 79.

    Felanius Kootea

    Congratulations Tamara! I have a question similar to WaterGirl’s about how you feel about your family reading your work.

    I write short stories (I always thought of them as a hobby since my real job involves scientific research). I never thought about writing an actual book until I published a short story in a literary magazine and had a few literary agents reach out to me asking if I had a book. Then things got interesting – none of the agents who reached out liked the first draft of my book. After one whole year of rejections, I finally found an agent through publishers marketplace who sent me a contract. She dropped me two weeks later because she wasn’t sure she could sell my collection (she liked the stories set in Nigeria but was hoping I’d get rid of all the stories set in America, which explore Nigerian immigrants dealing with not belonging and/or racism in different ways). I got picked up three weeks later by a different literary agent who thought one of my stories would make a good tv show. Just drama.

    I finished the first set of revisions my current agent requested and I’m waiting for more edit requests. Then it occurred to me that a lot of the stuff I write about is fiction but some of it is loosely based on the experiences of friends and family. So now I’m dreading having them read my work. Did you go through any of that? It’s such a weird feeling for me.

  81. 81.

    BGinCHI

    @Felanius Kootea: Wow. Very interesting. The world of agents is…..interesting for sure. I have stories.

    Also, slight tangent, have you read Julie Iromuanya’s novel Mr. and Mrs. Doctor? She’s a good friend and working on similar things (Nigerian immigrants to America, their stories, etc.).

    Wishing you lots of luck with revisions!

  82. 82.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @Brachiator: None of the revisions have changed the books significantly. It’s mostly tightening up chapters, making sure the actual mystery works, and I didn’t leave out a step. I always worry about that and I meticulously map out the mystery element.

  85. 85.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @Felanius Kootea: Yes. Very much so. It does not help that the main character shares a first name with me – that was NOT on purpose and much longer story than I can share here.

    And of course my life experience plays into it, so they see things others wouldn’t.

    But they’ve been my biggest supporters and listened to me map out plot points for years now. I just tell them when they pick up the book – it’s fiction. Do not read anything into any of it.

    Of course they ignore me, but I’ve learned to live with it. Except for my dad reading the sex scenes I wrote. I’ll never get over that.

  86. 86.

    DaveInOz

    As long as I have a solid beginning and ending, the story kind of unfolds itself for me.

    You couldn’t do a rewrite of Series 8 of GoT I suppose?

  87. 87.

    RSA

    What a great description of the writing process.  Thanks, TaMara.

    (In my spare time :-) I’ve been plotting and writing out the first chapter of a YA fantasy novel. It’s taking weeks and months, but it’s fun. And many of your observations strike home.)

  88. 88.

    Yutsano

    @Another Scott: No real good answer. My arms have improved more than my legs but nowhere near where I was. It was like my lower extremities had a 404 error out of nowhere. The last neurologist said we could look at my peripheral nerves since they only focused on spinal if I digress in rehab, which is the next step. But otherwise I’m going to have to rebuild the connections and the coördinations again.

  90. 90.

    TaMara (HFG)

    Okay, well Emma (my little 17 year old calico) just walked into the office and poke a hole into my chair (which is an exercise ball). So now I need to go take care of that.

    This was a blast. Thanks so much for all the kind words and questions! ? you all

  91. 91.

    Tom Levenson

    So looking forward to this: I’m a mystery stan and Boston too!

    Purchasing Run Aground for my Kindle as I type this…

    and done!

  94. 94.

    Felanius Kootea

    @BGinCHI: I hadn’t heard of Julie Iromuanya – I just got a kindle version of her book.  I love reading work by Nigerian immigrants. Thanks.

    I’d love to hear more of your thoughts on agents – that was quite an initial experience for me.  My current agent is really great and supportive, so I’m very happy.

  95. 95.

    gwangung

    Oh, yeah….having a good editor (or good dramaturg in my case) is really key. Knowing the genre and knowing where to nudge really opens up the work.

     

    I was resistant to making the villain so much a mirror of the protagonist…but once I did, everything snapped into place, it add resonance to a third character and now I have three characters that could carry their own story (and I might make that happen…)

  96. 96.

    Felanius Kootea

    @TaMara (HFG): Do they ever ask you whether some purely fictional things really happened because the character shares your name?

    I’ve sent some family members my manuscript and I’m just going to pretend that they skip over the sex scenes in my work and hopefully we will never talk about that.

  97. 97.

    WaterGirl

    @Yutsano: That sounds like a long time and a lot of hard work.  Crossing my fingers that it’s a peripheral nerve issue, which, unless I read it backwards, would be preferable.  Either way, I’m sorry you have to go through this.  Your grace through this stuff amazes me.  Hang in there.

  101. 101.

    BGinCHI

    @Felanius Kootea: Julie is a great writer and an excellent human being. You’ll love her book. Her new one is almost finished, I think.

    Hmm. The agents thing another time, since it’s a long story.

    If you have specific questions, you can always get in touch with me through WaterGirl.

  109. 109.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    TaMara, are there independent bookshops or gift stores in that area of Boston? It’s possible they’d be interested in selling your book to tourists. You could offer to let the shop owner read the ebook. They’d need the ppb for sales

  110. 110.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud:

    Oh, that is beautiful. That’s kind of how I remember him. What happened? I love one of the comments — “Lindsay, it’s 2020. You can be Lady G if you want to be.”

  112. 112.

    WaterGirl

    @TaMara (HFG): How cool would that be to receive a copy of the book and find out that you were the inspiration!

    That would make your day/week/month and possibly year.  Depending on the year.

  113. 113.

    J R in WV

    Wife was an writer/editor and wire correspondent for 30 years. Once a friend asked her to read/edit her novel. It was 900+ pages, wife decided no way, would be a 2 year career.I read a little bit, could never have finished it while working on it.

    End of friendship. They weren’t besties, but still, sad. Never gonna be published.

  116. 116.

    NotMax

    @zhena gogolia

    “Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear.”
      – Thomas Jefferson
    .

  117. 117.

    Catherine D.

    Just finished the book today. Smirked when I got to the Great Dane sculpture.

    ETA – and I liked it.

  118. 118.

    Eunicecycle

    I loved how the first chapter of each book throws the reader into the middle of an exciting point in the story, then you back up and tell how TJ got to that point. It really got me invested in reading the book, to see how she got there. I’m looking forward to the next book!

  119. 119.

    WaterGirl

    I just noticed that no one said anything about the date/time change for Medium Cool.

    Just want to be sure you guys read that part and know that there will not be a Medium Cool next Sunday – the next one will be on Wednesday, Jun 24.

  122. 122.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @Catherine D.: Thank you! And the sculpture is real and is in a sculpture garden here in CO.

    @Eunicecycle:  Thank you! Don’t know if you saw the comment the next one has been sidetracked by the pandemic for a bit. But I am working on a new series that takes place in CO.

  123. 123.

    J R in WV

    @TaMara (HFG):

    June 14, 2020 at 7:51 pm

    @Felanius Kootea: They are convinced I’m hiding a Colby clone in my closet that I’ve never introduced them to.

    I wish I was kidding.

    I know — why don’t people understand about fiction – it isn’t real, it’s FICTION!

    The theocratic nut jobs, “The Harry Potter books are demonology, there’s recipies in that book to call up demons!!!” — no, honey, it’s fiction, not real, fiction!!!

  124. 124.

    NotMax

    @J R in WV

    “All our demons are busy at the moment. But your invocation is very important to us. Please remain in the pentagram and your summons will be answered in the order received.”

  127. 127.

    minachica

    @zhena gogolia: Oh zg, reading that makes my heart ache for you. I’m a lurker who really appreciates your voice here. I’m way late to this thread but I hope you know that mostly silent people are rooting for you.

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