Kate Flora: It’s been on the calendar, right? Blog for MCW on Monday. Also on the calendar are too many other things, including getting my car repaired from where I got rear ended during the holidays. So suddenly I looked at the clock and dammit! It is late morning and I am still working my way through the paperwork for the car, a first cup of coffee, and all the other “stuff” of Monday.

So. Apologies. At least I am thinking about writing. About how you take some casual thing you’ve seen or a quick story someone tells and the little authorial flag goes up: there is something there that I can use. And so the brain is off and running.

A lot of the time, when we do group library talks, one question that gets asked is whether we outline before we write or just start writing and it’s kind of like we’re reading the book as we’re writing, as eager to learn what happens as our readers (hopefully!!) are. I always say that I don’t outline, but I am a cooker. I tend to carry the story around in my head for a few months before I start writing. By the time I sit down to actually write the story, I will know a lot about the crime scene: who was killed, how they were killed, why they were killed, and who did it. I will also know who my other suspects will be–why other people wanted them dead.

I will also know who my protagonist will be, what their connection to the crime is, whether as a professional or some other reason to be connected, such as Thea’s work on private school campuses. I will also have sorted out some of the antagonists–those characters who will oppose the solution of the crime for reasons of their own, not all of which will relate to the commission of the crime. Some people have other reasons to lie, as we know. Some people just like to mess with the police or anyone in authority.

I will usually know some of how my protagonist will reach the final conclusion and disclose the identity of the bad guy.

Naturally, over the course of the story, some of those things will change.

Right now, I’m coming into the end zone of the Thea I’ve been working on for the past year. A turtle-like speed for me but the year has been busy. And once again, I am distracted by a story. So on New Year’s Day, a house guest told a story about a friend of his who rented a car, only to discover a 45-caliber handgun under the driver’s seat. Sorry, friends, but this is a major distraction. Like any author worth her salt, I’ve immediately started wondering who put it there and why, and then why someone who has that rental car might find a reason to use it.

So there we are. Distraction central. I always say that story is everywhere if we’re just willing to listen, and now I am totally distracted and for the next few weeks I’ll go around bumping into things and being forgetful because I’m cooking up a story about that rental car.

Can you blame me?

Here is a visitor who was on my back deck this week. Isn’t he or she gorgeous?