Good evening--


It suddenly occurs to me that I don't know if I'm supposed to begin my blogs with a salutation. Oh, well. I guess I want to, so, good evening again, I say.



I've gotten several emails about how I write. So, here goes. As many of you know, I still write longhand, on thin lined yellow legal pads, with fine tipped pens. I don't do this because I'm old fashioned or techno-challenged, although as we've already established, I am. For years, I wrote only on my computer, using notepads only for outlines and/or research. But at some point, I realized that sitting in the same position all day, day after day, was taking a toll on my body. I did the whole "make my workspace ergonomic" and that helped for a while, but in the end, I just had had enough. I walked away from sitting at a desk.



I picked up a pad and paper and never looked back. I found a creative freedom that was somehow different than using a computer. I love the way the pen glides over the paper; I love the way I can write on the beach, on my deck, in my living room, in my car. I love the way I can just rip out a page and toss it away. I also find that I don't focus so much on the story in a sentence by sentence way when I'm writing longhand. I'm initially concerned with getting the story down--the characters, the dialogue, the motivations. Making it all prettier, I can do later, when the novel is working. And since I work on each novel for a year or more--often writing ten or more drafts--there's plenty of time for that kind of fine detail work later.



And now, on to the questions about Firefly Lane...and thank you so much for asking! Firefly Lane is very much a book that comes from my own experiences in life. It's about best friends who stay friends for the whole of their life. One of the things I've realized as I've gotten older is how important we women are to each other. I wanted to write a kind of a valentine to female friendship. I hope it makes readers want to call their best friend--no matter how long it's been since they talked--and say hey.

Thanks so much to those of you on the blog who have written to say you loved the book. It's really cool to see that it's causing a strong reaction in readers. I've even been hearing "It's better than Mystic Lake" which was a sentence I'd despaired of ever hearing. :)

Take care and have a great night. Now I need to run along to watch Project Runway. They're probably making courture gowns out of Hefty bags...how fun..

Take care and and keep sending me questions and comments!





bye for now,


Kristin