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.

Out of the Hammock

No sooner did I mention the word hammock, than my editor pricked up her ears and went, "Ah ha! She's loafing. Must do something about that."

And she did. She sent me revisions and took herself off to Cornwall so I could get on with them.

That's called adding insult to injury as far as I'm concerned. But they are sensible sane sorts of revisions that I could see will make the book better. So I'm thinking about how to accomplish them this week -- and hopefully doing just that.

While I'm gone with my nose in the computer again, I thought I would share with you some of the pix I took in Cannes. I promised Donna Alward, on the Pink Heart blog comments today, that I would put up some photos so she could travel vicariously a bit (since I know exactly how tied down she's feeling. Been there, done that.). I'll save some of Cornwall and elsewhere

So, enjoy. Think of me slaving away. And if I don't get back by Thanksgiving, have a blessed holiday with family and friends. And if you can't be with them, carry them in your heart. That
works, too.

Early Morning along La Croisette

The beach, before the people

Just to remind you of the film festival in Cannes

Restaurants are everywhere

The front garden of one of the small hotels where we had breakfast

Where Presents heroes hang out, of course

View toward La Croisette from the Festival Hall

Inside the Festival Hall -- lots of red carpet

The Palme d'Or, symbol of the Cannes Film Festival

Road Warriors R Us

I just got home and got my clothes washed, and I'm leaving again. This time I'm off to Texas to hang around my daughter's house while she goes to work all day and I stay with the grandkid with mono.

As the grandkid and I get little chance to bond on a regular basis due to the thousand mile or so gap in our proximity, I'm looking forward to it. But I'm sorry she's sick and that that's the reason I am going.

Still, it's a blessing to have the sort of job one can pick up and take along and do at someone else's house. So stand by. I've done all the blogs through the end of the month for Tote Bags and for We Write Romance and for The Pink Heart Society. The first comes on the 20th. And the last two are a week later -- on Monday, the 27th.

I'll try to update my own blog from Texas. That and Christo will be what I'll be doing while the grandkid is sleeping and reading and watching DVDs and working on family history.

In the meantime, here are a couple of photos from Cannes. I had intended to put more up -- and perhaps I'll be able to from down south.

But not tonight. Still packing.