Work in Progress- A Question of Temperature

I write character-driven novels, so it’s necessary to spend a lot of time developing my characters before I begin writing. Julia is the main character of my new work in progress. She’s fifty, recently divorced after a long marriage, and pursuing an online MFA in Creative Writing. Once I create her history, it’s time to put her in a setting, in this case, Austin, Texas in 2005, a time and place I experienced first-hand.

Julia’s dilemma: she has decided to write a memoir featuring four women’s (including herself) recovery stories, while her fondest ambition since childhood is to be a novelist.

Julia has managed to convince three of her Alcoholics Anonymous friends to take part in her Master Project. These friends include Kathy, a sixty-year-old never-been-married trust fund baby, Solana, a thrice-divorced fiery Latina, the youngest of the group at forty-six, and Barbara, fifty-two, whose husband left her after twenty-eight years of marriage—for a man.

As a panster, one who writes by the seat of her pants, I’ve arrived at the most dreaded place in the writing process for me: plotting the rest of the book. Luckily, I have a staunch group of writers who have read every word I’ve produced and aren’t shy about sharing their thoughts and suggestions.

Rather than plugging away, I’ve distracted myself with creating two book cover possibilities, which I post below. So far, the feedback has been divided, with roughly half of my fans preferring the aesthetic of “Julia” at her desk, while others lean toward the cover featuring the four friends. I have plenty of time to decide.