Spies Detoxify Differently

I have the best way to detoxify from over-comsumption of chocolate and alcohol at secret summits....I stand on a roof for six to eight hours in Florida August heat and pretend I'm in a sauna. Except that I have a 15 lb tool-belt around my waist and I have to walk on a slope up and down, up and down, all day long. But hey, who said detoxifying is an easy thing?

A busy spy is a busy roofer is a busy author. I came home home satisfied that my contacts are all up to date, but my roof from hell is still here, unfinished. They've now discovered that a whole section of the wall holding up the house has been eaten up by termites. The only thing holding it up is the stucco. Too much information, huh? But writing spies like this kind of stuff--now you will probably read about termites and houses in a future book. ;-)

As for the authorly duties, I'm still waiting for news for my proposal, which my agent and I have dubbed Female Super Soldier Spy, or FS3 for easy reference. I'm really excited about it, now that I've been rewriting my first version. The first version was a bit lighter, with my heroine a little bit more easy-going, but I've been thinking, after two years of training with top elites from different departments, and competing against their offers of best candidate for the program, wouldn't she be a bit more hardened? So there, meet the new and improved Helen Rostova, Hell Child with an attitude!

Meanwhile, I'm dabbling in getting a cheat sheet/time line graph/page for the website. Readers have been asking for. Some people need that extra information to keep everything logically linear in their heads. I can only hope and pray that I can do this because I have a terrible time with TIME. LOL. I can't even go anywhere on time so I'm sure none of my novels/characters are going to fit any strict time line.

Another problem with this exercise is whether to include the stories/references of characters that haven't been introduced in the books. I mean, I started with GRACE HAPPENS, the story of Jed's daughter when she was 22, and then I segued back to BIG BAD WOLF, when she was 17 and the Big Bang happened, i.e. the sabotage on the COS Commandos and the disappearances of key characters. These two manuscripts aren't published. LOL. Wouldn't that confused my readers even more? But without them, how am I going to tell the story of the nine COS Commandos? But why do I need to, since the readers only know about Jed and Alex, anyway, except if they read the ComCen blog, then they hear about Flyboy now and then. Confusing you yet? See my problem?

Too much information can kill a spy. And a good read. That's why warriors have the KISS principle. Keep it simple, stupid, my brain is telling me. Yes, but where do I start to be simple? It is easy with shingle-laying...you start nailing. LOL.

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