Getting a box . . . sort of

It's that time of year again.

I'm gearing up for Demetrios and Anny and so over the past week I was thinking about the book and what I have and what I need, and I remembered Twyla Tharp's advice: Get a box.

Well, maybe she didn't say that in so many words. What she said was that she gets a box whenever she's starting a new project. And she puts stuff in the box that relates to it, inspires it, makes her remember bits and pieces of it. It's a good idea.

Some people do collages. Anne Gracie does wonderful collages. So does Jennifer Crusie. I'm not that visual. So I thought, a box. Yes, I can do that.

And I did. Sebastian and Neely have a box. The trouble with their box is, the box reflects the book I didn't write.

Some of it is the same -- the people, the conflict, the guinea pig, the rabbits, the bloodhound, the kittens.

But not the editor. And not the setting. Though there's still water and a houseboat involved.

So the box is a container, but half the stuff on the outside of it doesn't reflect the book. Even the hero doesn't reflect the man Sebastian came to be.

So . . .

This time the box is going to be a file folder on my computer. It's going to have my hero as its icon. And inside his folder I'm sticking all the Cannes photos and the train schedules and the videos I took and the mementos from the festival hall.

It's got pictures of Anny -- and Demetrios, of course. Thousands of her (because there are thousands of her photos everywhere) and two of his because he doesn't seem to be nearly as visible. No dogs yet. No kittens. No bloodhound. No guinea pig.

There aren't a lot of details coming to me yet. Well, there's a yacht. And a sailboat. And a Greek restaurant. Probably a good thing I don't have a box. They wouldn't fit.

I'm casting off today, steering toward the horizon, wondering where the dragons are and how soon I'll meet them. I hope I at least get out of the harbor!

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The winner of the Here Come the Grooms contest for Santos Cordero from Kate Walker's Cordero's Forced Bride, is Lynn of Florida. Congratulations, Lynn. I'll get PJ's book off to you post haste.

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There really is going to be an update to my website (and eventually the blog). Keep holding your breath. Heather has had an emergency and can't get it finished right now. What I've seen, I love. It will be worth the wait.

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We're going to play a version of I-Ching for Demetrios and Anny.

Tell me three things:

• a weather related item (my mother will be especially good at this)
  
• a color
• a small gift

And let me see what it sparks off in my mind for Demetrios and Anny. The first three ideas that spark off something will win their submitter a copy of one of my backlist titles -- your choice, provided I can find it in the attic.