Wrinkly Bits
A Blog by Gail Cushman
Today was book launch day! Yea for me. Number five. It’s called Flash of Time and has a little bit of everything, love, comedy, and travel. Every time I send a book off to the depths of Amazon, I breathe a sigh of relief. Will it be the last? Or do I have a few more books left inside my squishy brain? Will anyone read it? Will it become a banned book or dwell in the inner depths of nothingness.
Flash of Time is about Florida. My characters, Audrey and the rest of the gang, travel to Florida and find a bunch of trouble, hijinks, and mischief. Two years ago, I traveled to Florida to spend time with my friends Trish and Wayne, and Trish and I spent time every week going somewhere, having an adventure. We did a thorough tour of several cities, including St. Augustine, Jacksonville, Savannah, Daytona, and the Villages living some good adventures where stories began to rattle around in my brain. We enjoyed ourselves completely and I’m so glad I went. We visited a nude beach, (hubba-hubba), a twenty-acre yard-art store, got kicked off a movie set, and enjoyed displays about Ponce de León and his Fountain of Youth.
But that’s not what my blog is about today.
When I wrote my first book, I was shocked. I had put some seventy thousand words on the paper, sentences, paragraphs, chapters all of which had punctuation, grammar, usage. Commas, good grief, because who understands commas or semi-colons? Books have been written and feuds have been fought over where to put a comma. Probably wars, too.
I’ve had a lot of people ask me how I start or write a book. It’s like going to the library, walk out the door and turn left and it’ll come to you. You withdraw words and ideas from your brain data bank, but unfortunately, my brain often registers “zero” on the brain usage scale. However, when I sit down and put my hands on the keyboard, the words flow out of my fingers. Mostly I don’t recall what I’ve written, which is why it takes me a long time to write a book. I must keep returning to the previous page to see what my fingers put on the paper, and it can be most annoying.
So, now, what’s next? I have five more books that are written and sitting on a shelf. Mysteries about a female sheriff in Nevada. And of course, Widows and Widowers, Dancing with a New Partner, which the Cowboy and I are on the verge of finishing. It’s what I do, and it isn’t going away, so, I guess I’ll get my grammar book out and try to figure out the comma thing.
Come check out our book sale that is going on until December 19, four books, twenty bucks… only on this website. Cheaper than dinner for two at McDonalds!
