Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Next Time She'll Know Better Than To Hang Up On Me

Poor Christy.

I woke up at 3:30 this morning and while I probably fell back asleep, it felt as though I didn't. In my maybe awake/maybe asleep time, I worked out a storyline for Julie (the dead and the gone character come to visit the Life As We Knew It characters) so powerful and sad, that not only did I rejoice in the return of the bleakity bleak, I considered renaming Tyler, which I may yet do, and returning the title of the book to The World We Live In, rather than The World I Live In. All that at 5 AM.

I actually have a doctor's appointment of my own in an hour or so (just a regular checkup, but I'm hoping to get a flu shot while I'm there), but this afternoon I'm free to take a much deserved nap. I do my best thinking while lying on my bed mid-afternoon, so I'm assuming I'll analyze my middle of the night inspiration to determine if it's just too darn bleak, especially given the other ghastly things I intend to have happen during the course of the book.

My alternative activity is cleaning the living room, on my long slow march through cleaning the apartment. Granted, I could do the same thinking while dusting books and photographs, but a nap sounds way more appealing, especially on a cold, windy, rainy day like this one.

Either way, when Christy calls and nobly volunteers to listen to my plot, such as it is, she's likely to hear a lot more plot that's a lot more depressing than she would have had to endure on Sunday.

I wonder how fast she'll hang up on me this time!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Please don't kill off Julie, if that's what you've got in mind. Save it for Lisa.

Anonymous Santa Fe

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Hello Anonymous Santa Fe and anyone else reading this comment-

Sometimes a fabulous 4 AM idea isn't quite so fabulous by 3 PM. Which is fine. At least my brain is working again.

I may be dumping Tyler, so I hope you haven't gotten too attached to his name. He really existed mostly to provide me with a punchline, and thanks in part to my 4 AM idea, I have a different setup for basically the same joke.

There's a chance Alex is going to show up along with Julie. Perhaps I should dust some books and think about that for a while.

Anonymous said...

Ms. Pfeffer,

Going back a few days ago on your blog, you talk about 20 episodes in your next book. What do you mean 20 episodes?

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Hi Anonymous-

By episodes, I mean incidents. LAWKI is a book of incidents, some more important than others. That's what I counted, and that's what I counted in the new book (which I'm currently calling The World We Live In).

Hope that helps!

Anonymous said...

"...Better THAN..." yes?

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Hello Anonymous-

When I originally posted, I had it as Better Than, but it looked and sounded funny to me, so last night I googled "better than" and "better then." Of course there were a lot more better thens than thans, but enough of them seemed sufficiently thanish that I went back and changed the entry name to Then.

You think this blogging stuff is easy? Ha!

However, since there has now been one official complaint (albeit from someone named Anonymous), I'll go back and change it again.

What a way to start the day.

PS- You know, I wrote a book called Better Than All Right. You'd think I would have remembered that. It was my second published book, it sold six copies (four to my mother) and it had a fabulous hardcover jacket.

Anonymous said...

It's intriguing that you're toying with having Alex in this one. I'd like to hear more.

As for the "than/then" controversy, don't beat yourself up too much. Nowadays, you have the option of creating a file on computer of all your previous book titles (and plots, etc., to go with them). I'm glad you're able to check back on them. Some other books (i.e., Lilian Jackson Braun's series) change whole CHARACTER'S names in mid-series, which I find very annoying.

Anonymous Santa Fe

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Good A.M. Anonymous Santa Fe-

It's intriguing to me to have Alex plopped in there. I've been thinking about it a lot this morning, how he would intereact with the LAWKI family.

My editor once suggested an Alex/Miranda romance, but I don't see that happening.

I'm off to eat breakfast and maybe do some living room/dining area cleaning before going to my volunteer work, which I retired from a month ago, yet still seem to be doing. Maybe while I'm dusting, I can work some more on Alex/LAWKI interrelationships.

Anonymous said...

Especially if Miranda's mom (does she have a name? If this book won't be in diary form, she needs one) reestablishes their "roundtable" classes. I wonder what subject Alex (and Julie) might pick to study?

I see any kind of relationship between Alex and Miranda as strictly friendship. Miranda needs friends right now.

Anonymous Santa Fe

Anonymous said...

hi again susan. Im excited about The Dead And The Gone. From the preveiws in the back of Life As We Knew It, the book looks really good. Thanks!!!!
lovealways,*!$(katie-anne)$!*

Anonymous said...

...and then she mused
"Better abrupt than hung-up." (on? upon?)

I'al be it! Anonymously