Oh, if I could be a full-time writer! I'm having such a good time writing the third Tracy Wiley book. Building the puzzle, creating the scenes, letting my mind get into her head. Compared to my other novels, this one may be the first in a long time which is really brand new. Generally, all the others contained elements and/or sequences that had been formed in flights of imagination but with no "home." When the need for something arose in a work in progress, I drew upon those bits and pieces and usually found just what I needed. Or sometimes one of those homeless passages became the foundation for a new story.
The latest "Faces" entry has been pure, new invention all the way. Sometimes the words seem to take control, inventing the story without my planning it and amazing me with how well the pieces fall into place.
I have wondered, on occasion, how far I can go with my two book series. My characters will, of course, get older. The latest book addresses Tracy's changing needs, her dislike for adventure and her desire for stability in her life. And since she doesn't actually go looking for trouble (although it seems to find her), it makes me wonder how many more times that formula can work. Just how many times can one woman get into trouble by no fault of her own and have it turn into big time danger? And not strain the tethers which suspend disbelief?
I like Tracy, probably the most of any character I've ever written. She's almost my alter ego. She does and says things I would be too inhibited to do or say, and I have no personal desire for danger. That was something I decided long ago when I decided what I wanted to be when I grew up: that as a writer, I could be anything and it could change whenever I wanted to and it would come out exactly like I wanted.
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