Keeping up with the characters

Last week I went to Kimberly Frost’s signing for her new Tammy Jo Trask novel Slightly Spellbound at Murder By The Book. My exhaustion as the week ended manifested itself in my forgetting to take my camera. I never forget my camera! So all you get are these low quality cell phone photos. Kimberly looked amazing–I’m sure she’s found a way to tap into Tammy Jo’s magic and find the fountain of youth. And as always, her comments left me with writing-related things to ponder.

She’d worked on another series between the third and fourth books in the Southern Witch series, and the time gap meant that when she began writing Slightly Spellbound, she had to revisit the earlier novels to refresh her memory about some details. This was a relief to hear; I thought it was just me who forgot things about my novels. I’ll hear a name and wonder, Didn’t we write a character with that name? Was that a TJB book or a Coventry book? Or I’ll find myself suddenly remembering a conversation or situation from one of the novels and have trouble placing it.

Yesterday, Jeffrey Ricker Instagrammed a photo of his legs as he was taking a bath (see the stuff you’re missing if you don’t follow him on Instagram?) and I commented, “‘Nice gams,’ as a TJB character once said.” He was trying to remember what novel that was, and though I was pretty sure it was It Had to Be You, one thing I knew for certain was that Tim wrote it. Even if some of the characters or plots may not be immediately accessible to my brain, I’m confident that whatever passage you might point to from the five TJB novels or the two Cochrane/Lambert novels, I can instantly tell you its writer.

I haven’t reread any of the novels I’ve written/co-written in a long time, and it’s always a lovely surprise when someone reads them for the first time and gets in touch. I worry that email or comments will be consigned to spam folders and never be seen. In case that’s happened to you, then I’m offering a fervent thank you to anyone who ever wrote and didn’t get a response. It’s wonderful that these books still find and entertain new readers, and I–and my cowriters–appreciate every single one of you.