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| photo credit: Parvathisri |
By Lois Winston
Today I’m continuing my
series on where I’ve gotten the ideas for my books and characters. Even though
it wasn’t the first book I wrote, Talk
Gertie To Me was the first book I sold to a publisher. It debuted in 2006
at the height of the chick lit craze, but the book wasn’t chick lit in the Bridget Jones’s Diary sense. It was a genre
hybrid, combining chick lit and what came to be known as hen lit (chick lit
featuring older heroines). Because chick lit is the genre that must not be
spoken in the world of publishing nowadays, today we call such books humorous
women’s fiction.
Talk Gertie To Me featured Connie Stedworth, a kinder, gentler menopausal Martha Stewart,
her rebellious daughter Nori, and Nori’s acerbic imaginary friend Gertie. The
book received critical acclaim and was the recipient of several awards.
When it comes to “write
what you know,” I know crafts. I had a long career in the consumer crafts
industry as both a designer and craft book editor. So it wasn’t a stretch for
me to create Connie. But I wanted Connie to have a rebellious streak of her
own. So I decided I needed her to come up with an outrageous craft project, one
that would get tongues a’wagging in her conservative Iowa hometown. I needed to
look no further than one of my fellow crafters.
For years I belonged to
the Society of Craft Designers. Every year we held a conference where
designers, craft book editors, and craft kit manufacturers gathered for several
days of workshops and networking. One designer I got to know quite well was Priscilla
Hauser, the queen of decorative painting. One night over drinks Priscilla told
a group of us about her quest to appear on The
Tonight Show.
Priscilla had developed an
outrageous craft project involving plaster of Paris and a certain body part
(No, not that body part! My, you all have dirty minds!) She wanted to demonstrate the technique
on The Tonight Show. Unfortunately, Johnny Carson’s people
weren’t interested. Fast-forward quite a few years: I’m wracking my brain for a
zany craft, and I remembered Priscilla’s story. Johnny Carson’s people might
not have been interested in Priscilla’s craft, but David Letterman’s people are
definitely interested in Connie’s craft. She winds up demonstrating it on Late Night, using a certain sexy movie
star from Down Under as her guinea pig. (Of course, I gave proper credit to
Priscilla and sent her a copy of the book when it came out.)
Ever since Talk Gertie To Me, crafts and some of my
experiences in the crafts industry, have featured into many of my books, especially
in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series.
Talk Gertie To Me
Two years ago Nori Stedworth
fled the conservative mentality of both her parents and Ten Commandments, Iowa,
for Manhattan. She loves her new life -- until one devastating afternoon that
culminates with the arrival of her mother. Mom is suffering from middle-age
meltdown. Her only identity is as a wife and mother, but her husband is a
workaholic, and her daughter is halfway across the country. Grandchildren would
give her life new purpose. If only Nori would come to her senses and marry town
mortician and most eligible bachelor Eugene Draymore.
To that end, Mom sets
off to bring Nori home. But when she meets Nori’s neighbor, her plans take an
unexpected twist, and she’s thrust headfirst into a career as the next Martha
Stewart. Suddenly, she’s a somebody in her own right and reconsiders returning
to her old life.
As a coping
mechanism, Nori resurrects Gertie, her adolescent imaginary friend. A laptop
mix-up lands her musings in the hands of Mackenzie Randolph, a talk-radio
station manager on deadline to boost sagging ratings or lose his job. He knows
he’s found the answer to his prayers when he reads Nori’s make-believe
correspondence.
And maybe he’s found
much more.
Meanwhile Dad, with
Eugene in tow, comes in search of his AWOL wife. Tempers flare when Mom refuses
to return home. However, when she and Dad hear Nori on the radio, they unite to
“save” her from the corruption of both Mac and Manhattan.
And that’s when
things really get interesting.
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6 comments:
I often think of those seeds of ideas that grow and develop years and even decades later. Makes me wonder how and when a long-ago minute might surface. I especially enjoyed the Carson/Letterman story. Thanks for this Ideas post.
Thanks for stopping by, Kathryn. The brain is an amazing organ in the way a long buried memory can all of a sudden pop up just when we need it to.
I have major jealousy right now. Being involved in all the crafting--nirvana. I would have loved to been a fly on the wall in some of those meetings. Love how you kept that spark and used it later on. You never know.
Vicki, I have it on good word from Lois that the meetings weren't nearly as much fun as the after-hours time at the bar!
What a fascinating post, and what an original idea for a book it sounds like amazing.(I had to smile when you said 'chick lit' is a genre 'that must not be spoken of.' I write science fiction and fantasy romance - in no way chic-lit or even humerous, but for some reason the audio versions of my books on Audible are listed as 'chick-lit'. Still trying to figure that one out!
Thanks for stopping by, Hywela. You should probably contact Audible to get that fixed!
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