Back when I was reading Twyla Tharp’s book The Creative Habit, I mentioned her saying that before you could work outside the box, you had to have a box.

And that seemed, literally, like a very good idea. She gathers stuff in a box for each project that she undertakes. I’ve never been quite that organized. But somehow having a “heap” doesn’t sound quite so good.

This time, with Flynn and Sara, I had a collage. That was helpful. And I actually managed to use quite a lot of the collage material as I was writing. But there is stuff there I never used. It is still staring reproachfully at me as I write this. I think I’m going to have to take it down. But maybe not until I get my revisions back from the ed. I might need it for focus.

In the meantime, though, while I’m filling boxes with books and papers to get them out of my office (oh, the poor attic) I think I am also going to get a new box — an empty box.

And that’s going to be my new book box.

I have no idea what I should put in it right now. I’ve got a few stray characters wandering around.

There are three Savas brothers left:

George, the physicist who had bolted himself in his lab and is not acting very heroic at the moment;

Demetrios, the next of Theo’s brothers — an action adventure hero on screen. Who knows what he is off-screen. He was supposed to be one of Sara’s friends. But inasmuch as she ended up in Elmer rather than New York, that didn’t happen. Demetrios is a distinct possibility — because he could stop being an actor and do something interesting (though heaven knows what);

And Yiannis, the forest ranger. Somehow I don’t see myself getting a forest ranger past my editor — not as a Presents hero, anyway.

There’s Peter Antonides, Elias’s brother — ex-beach bum and mechanical engineer turned inventor, turned CEO (now that Elias has gone boat building). He’s got an edge to him that I might find interesting. He’s certainly off-beat. I might be able to talk my editor into him.

And there’s Lukas Antonides, Martha’s twin. He might be a little young yet. And I haven’t seen him since he went walkabout down under. A missing hero is not quite what I need.

And, of course, there’s Flynn’s brother Dev. Of course you haven’t met him yet. But I have, and he has distinct possibilities.

And then, I have to find a heroine worth her salt to deal with him.

Right now I have one piece of inspiration in my box. And I’m definitely going to enjoy thinking about him for a while.

Got any other suggestions?

Okay, the book is now someone else’s problem, at least momentarily. And I have a life again — at least momentarily.

So . . . besides doing what I told Christa I was going to do this weekend (it involved “deep dusting” and probably some “deep vacuuming” and a whole lot of “deep filing” as well as deep-sixing a lot of notes and assorted piles of junk that have accumulated in my office) . . . I’m going to read.

Give me suggestions! It isn’t that I don’t already have a TBR (to-be-read) pile. It’s that I would really like to hear what you are reading and if you like it and if I should read it, too. I single-bloggedly sold at least half a dozen copies of Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit when I was nattering on about it here.

I’d like to think I might have convinced a few people that Liz Fielding’s The Secret Life of Lady Gabriella was worth a read. And Loretta Chase’s Not Quite A Lady.

So here’s your chance . . . convince me. Tell me some good books you’ve read recently — or last year or when you were a kid. Whenever. If they’re memorable, I’ll probably want to read them.

You don’t have to talk me into it very much. Just an author and a title will do. I’m a sucker for good books. And now — for a week or so at least — I fully intend to READ.

I had to drive out of town today and I was gone most of the day. When I got where I was going I had an hour before I needed to be where I needed to be. Naturally I took along a book. So I began reading about Loretta Chase’s mad earl in her novella in Three Weddings and a Kiss.
I thought I’d read most everything she’d written — but I’d missed this. I’m just getting going in it, but I’m enjoying it. It’s intriguing. Definitely different.

I’ve also got a couple of local history texts, Pamela Brook’s book on How to Research Your House (thanks, Pam!) and The Home-Based Bookstore by Steven Weber, because somehow I’m going to have to get rid of some of these books!

Yes, I know it’s possibly counter-productive for an author who depends on royalties to stay alive to sell used books. But I would never have written a romance if I hadn’t been exposed to them through used bookstores. And I wouldn’t buy new many of the writers I do buy “new” without having read them first gently used. Used bookstores are a fact of life — and are better, in my opinion, than having books shredded and used as mulch along the nation’s highways.

Anyway, polemic aside, in between deep dusting and thinking of a new story (you can suggest there, too, if you want), I’d like some great reads. Suggestions, please!!

Theo says, don’t forget his contest! Check my website homepage for details.

Yes, I know they’re geese . . . (you can’t trust ‘em for a minute, can you? Turn your back and they metamorphose into something else).

No matter. They’re gone.

No more Flynn. No more Sara. Or at least they’re the editor’s problem now.

I’m going to sleep.