There may be some authors who can sail through one book effortlessly, but that is not me. Eventually I get completely nauseous at the sight of my work in progress. I hate my main character; she is a wimpy whiiner and I want her to just go away. The other main character is vague, what is it with him? For some reason, I find writing secondary characters much easier than the main ones. Also, I obsessively look at word count (don’t do this). So after a while of wanting to throw up, I need a change of pace.
Furlough Fling started as a joke. I was on furlough for 35 days, as were a lot of other people. We came together in an online community, and shared our triumphs and miseries. Some people deep cleaned. Others exercised obsessively. Still others were forced to work without pay. We all had our crosses to bear, and having this group was really helpful for morale. As something to make people laugh, I posted a deliberately cheesy paragraph about a smokejumper and a botanist, with the tagline of “it was only supposed to last as long as the furlough.” I’m sure a lot of people rolled their eyes, but 700 people liked that post! Seven hundred people! If only that many people read my REAL BOOKS! They begged me to write more, and so I did, writing a total of five installments.
To my surprise, it was kind of fun. I’m not a romance novel reader, even though my husband has said that is where the money is (is the money anywhere in publishing? I think not) and that I should write a spoof based on our rural community, called “Fifty Shades of Hay.” Um. No. But I think I’ll continue with Furlough Fling. I’m liking where it’s going, and it’s been fun to talk about moonworts with a bunch of botanists.
Never say Never, Friends.