Underway – Annie DeMoranville

The Evolution of TJ Wilde: Underway, Pt 3

This was our view from a second floor restaurant in Havana

One of my favorite parts of writing is the improbable puzzle of it all. I usually set up an idea of what I want to write, create a compelling (or at least I hope it’s compelling) opening sequence, and generally know where I’m going to end up by the final chapter. Then the magic happens.

The Evolution of TJ Wilde: Underway, Pt 2

Boston skyline with tall ship in the harbor

Location, location, location. As important in fiction as it is in real estate.

So I had SoWa. I had Long Island just off Boston Harbor. I had a unique Cuban gallery that participated in a Cuban artist exchange program. All that was left was a quick trip to Cuba. Once I had the locations, the artists’ community, and the historical context I needed to craft TJ’s Boston world, then the mysteries began to unfold.

Long Island viewed from Quincy MA — Long Island in Boston Harbor

Before she even unpacks, TJ finds new friends in SoWa, thanks to an abandoned kitten, and is quickly thrust into another mystery, thanks to a break-in and a missing gallerist. A Cuban art gallery, with a Cuban exchange program, and an abandoned hospital on a mostly abandoned island, offer a tangled web of intrigue. And she still needs to navigate her new job, along with suddenly becoming responsible for a rambunctious kitten, all while actively avoiding Colby’s many texts.

The Evolution of TJ Wilde: Run Aground, Pt 2

Once it was established who TJ was running from and where she was running to, there were many other questions to be answered. The problem was, I didn’t want to write a novel. I had just left my job and opened my own business. There was soon to be a Great Dane puppy arriving, and house hunting…and life. A novel was a commitment.

But TJ would not remain silent. And then Colby showed up. If I were to get any peace, the road ahead for them had to be written.

TWO

The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark. – Michelangelo

Work Wednesday: Feeling Accomplished

1920 flapper woman on black pillow — The Enchantress by Rolf Armstrong

The rewrites for Full Sail – the third book in the TJ Wilde Trilogy – are completed and this draft feels solid enough to send off to the editor. It will be sad to say goodbye to TJ, but there are so many other stories waiting to be told.