Sorry I’m late! When I got home from a mini-holiday last night, I had big plans to post my blog nice and early. Then the construction crew took over outside at 7am.
Here’s a picture of what my street looks like right now. I have a dump truck blocking my driveway, a long trench where the end of my lawn once was, and the constant banging and thrumming of noise. My power has been going out. Everything in my house from the walls, to my coffee cup, to the laptop I’m writing on has been shaking. And the construction crew had to lay down planks for me when I tried to leave my driveway.
Needless to say the dogs are not happy. The entrance to their favorite park has disappeared too. Apparently the construction project will be going on for months. So, don’t be surprised if I end up writing a construction worker villain into my next book!
The book I have out this month marks the end of the longest project I’ve ever done. Cold Case Secrets is the last of a four book series about the Henry brothers, four Canadian men—two in law enforcement, one paramedic and one military—whose lives were all impacted by the murder of their sister Faith when they were young. They've been my favorite characters I've ever created, as I worked out how they’ve all supported each other, faced their battles and grown in different ways. Cold Case Secrets also ended up being the hardest book I’ve ever written, as I had to figure out how to finally solve Faith’s murder and bring her killer to justice.
I always find it helps to think about who I’d get to play my characters in a movie, and these are the pictures of “Jacob”, “Trent”, “Max” and “Nick” that I looked at while writing this series. (How many actors do you recognize?)
I have missed writing about them very much since finishing this book and am also incredibly thankful for all the readers who’ve written to me about them. I also loved being able to bring so many characters from both this series and other books together for the big finale scene, and figure out how the heroes and heroines of five different books would all work together in a crisis.
The banging and crashing just stopped outside and the house had stopped shaking.
My guess is that everyone has taken a break for lunch or somebody has given them an early start to their July weekend.
Any and all advice about writing through the construction chaos outside is very welcome!
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Hi Maggie! Thanks for persisting and getting your blog up. You are way more patient than me. When the power goes out I get so upset. I'm no Laura Ingalls Wilder!!! Love the pics. I do the same thing with my characters. I always picture them physically and all the action runs through my mind like a movie reel. I wonder if there's a name for that and if all authors do that? Blessings.
ReplyDeleteHey Maggie, loved your write up. I haven't read that series but now I'm going to. Love cold-case stories and with the four brothers, sounds really interesting. Also, loved you pic on the construction, cool. That gave me an idea!
ReplyDeleteThanks Belle and Marie! A few minutes after posting this ALL the construction noise started up outside my house again. :D I'd honestly thought they were done for the day.
ReplyDeleteDeveloping a cold case was amazing, Marie, up until the moment I had to finally resolve it!
And yes, Belle, I see movies of my books in my head too. Only they start off as silent movies where I can see the characters running around but I'm not sure why they're doing what they're doing! :D
Hi, Maggie! Writing through chaos is always a challenge for me--and with four kids and farm animals, chaos is a frequent visitor around here. My biggest issue is being able to concentrate on my work when there are distractions around me--so I resort to setting a timer for a specified amount of time and promise myself I'll focus on writing until the alarm goes off. However--if the chaos is intense, I sometimes have to temporarily close my laptop and go deal with it! Life happens, and I've learned to plough around the boulders in my field. Congrats on finishing up that four book contract!! Woo-hoo!
ReplyDeleteMaggie, I loved your series and about to begin the last one! Keep up the great writing and have a relaxing weekend!
ReplyDeleteHi Maggie. I can't even imagine how you're not losing your mind with this. I swear every time I have vacation time, someone in my neighborhood is having work done that involves hammer drills or some other loud noises meant to distract me. Good luck. I wish there was a way you could get away for the next few months.
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