My friend Rhonda likes to break into song whenever the mood strikes (usually when you’re talking about something and the subject has a word from a song lyric)  I think she’s rubbing off on me because now I can’t write a blog unless I have a song title as the subject heading. 

Anyway, a while back I was talking to some online writer friends about this bizarre thing that’s been happening….I won’t go into it right now…maybe another blog……and it got me thinking about my current work in progress, House of Cards.  (which has turned into my never ending story )

When I first came up the idea to write the book it was to prove to another writer that I could write a short story and maybe have it picked up by a mystery magazine.  

Well my idea for the book was going to be based on a murder that happened in 1987 in Matamoras Mexico and the murder (from the defense’s version) of the Laci Peterson murder.  I planned to use the two incidents for one story.

One day when I was thinking about the story, a program came on A&E’s City Confidential about a woman who hires a hit man to kill her daughter’s boyfriend. As the story unfolded, it was discovered that the killer had gone to a Curandera in Brownsville Texas for protection.  Curanderas are believed by many in Mexico and the surrounding border towns to hold a special gift of magic. Some of them, like the self-proclaimed Curandera the man went to promise spells for anything and will charge a pretty nice penny. (Okay, I won’t go completely into it…it’s a Mexican thing.)

Anyway, it was an interesting story and it got my creative wheels spinning. I had already researched Curanderas for my novel Dark Obsession (a paranormal romantic suspense still hoping to grab an editor’s attention) and I had already planned to use Brownsville as the setting and include a Curendera.

So, after a couple of months I completed the story. The first magazine I sent it to, though they were mixed on loving/hating it, passed. (keep in mind, this was over three years ago and I was still learning as a writer…I think I’ve improved since. :-D) Anyway at twelve thousand words the story was too long for a short story but not long enough for a novel or novella.   So, I put it away and went back to editing and revising my first two books.  A few months later I decided to try to turn the short story into a novel…all I had to do was expand on character and plot…no big deal, right??  Not as easy as it sounds.  Since I was expanding the story and it wasn’t going to be a romance like my other novels, I just couldn’t get the damn thing to work, so I gave up.  

Then one night I was watching Forensic Files on Court TV (now called TruTV)  and a story came on about…….a woman who hires a hit man to kill her daughter’s boyfriend.  It was the same story from a different angle!!  Talk about freak me out!

So I thought, okay, fine, no need to drop a TV on me, I’ll try the story again.  So, I went back to work on House of Cards. I sought out articles on the murder that happened in 1987 in Matamoras and did more research on Laci Peterson, satanic rituals, and narcotraficantes (drug dealers in Mexico), I even spoke to a detective in Brownsville who was very very helpful!  

After a few chapters the story went belly up again.   I was ready to give up, taking it as a sign that I should just stick to writing romance and leave the thrillers to the pros,  when I was flipping through the channels on TV and stopped on A&E.  Need I tell you what was playing??? Right!  City Confidential and it was replaying the Brownsville story!!  Needless to say, I started replotting the story and making up an outline of sorts.

You know, it seems every time I try to give up on my story some sort of sign appears telling me not to.  Aside from the TV programs I’ve had other things happen that make me realize I shouldn’t stop working on the story.  Like meeting people who can give me insight on a character I hadn’t realized I written in.  Or watching the news and learning about some horrible unsolved murder with the spouse as the number one suspect.

I haven’t quite completed this book yet but I know I will because it’s practically begging to be told.  I’ve heard other writer’s talk about those pestering kinds of books….never thought I’d be in that club.  

So, tell me, have you had one of those books that just won’t let go until you’ve typed…THE END?

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

*Available Now*