HEADING TO HEATH: OUR SHARED ADDICTION

Some people have boats and others enjoy ballroom dancing. Bill and I seem addicted to architecture and interior design.

Bill, The Design Guy

While the rest of the male population swaps sports statistics, Bill watches HGTV.  That’s not the only thing he watches.  He enjoys manly shows like Highway Thru Hell and  Gold Rush too, but home design shows take up a lot of space on our digital recorder.  Recently, we watched the final episode of NBC’s American Dream Builder and can explain in detail why the wrong guy won. Yeah – we’re that into home design.

So, it’s not surprising that before we’d even been to the title company to close on the lot, Bill started designing our new home.  Armed with a drawing of the build-able footprint and a three-sided architect’s ruler, he started roughing out what would fit in the space we bought.  Untrained on CAD (computer-aided design), he did it the old-fashioned way, moving tissue paper rooms across the drawing of the foundation.

Model Home Madness

But we needed more than tissue paper rooms to visualize our new home.  We’d been in some model homes during our recent real estate endeavors, but now we needed to understand some specific details.  Armed with our smartphones for pictures and Bill’s steel tape measure, we headed out to gather up ideas and floor plans.

These visits were completely different from our previous visits to the models.  We weren’t trying to figure out if we wanted to live there.  We wanted to measure windows, ceiling heights and doorways.  We asked about products and craftsmen.  I was actually quite amazed at the amount of floor plans and literature that the builders were willing to give away.  Perhaps it was just their way of getting rid of us, but they gave us great ideas.

Finding Facades

We found plenty to like inside the model homes, but nothing about them grabbed us in the exterior department.  Everything was a combo of brick with stone.  Sure, that’s all the rage right now, but in ten years it won’t be.  People who paid tons to have a stone veneer put on, will be paying another fortune to take it off.  So, we don’t want to go there.

What we love is Mediterranean stucco, but we’ve been warned it doesn’t sell as well here as brick homes.  So we drove neighborhood after neighborhood, trying to find existing homes with exteriors we liked.  When we found an area with possibilities, we’d drive around and around snapping pictures of our favorites.  I kept expecting the police to show up and escort us away, because someone thought we might be casing the homes for robberies.

And Then There Was Houzz

There was one more place we looked for ideas and that was Houzz.  I’m not sure how Bill discovered the site, but we studied it extensively.  It’s like an online architect at your beck and call.  You can find all kinds of design ideas and almost a zillion exteriors.

On to the Architect’s Office

Armed to the gills with all our research, we headed off to the architect’s office.  Come back next week and I’ll tell you all about it.

TRAVEL HERE: DFW WRITERS’ CONFERENCE – CRITIQUE GROUPS

I started the second day of DFWcon with a panel discussion about Critique Groups, one of  the necessities of writing.

My Experience with Critique Groups

Truth be told, if I had a critique group every day I’d probably get more writing done.  On a critique group day I can ignore all the other things that usually demand my attention and focus on polishing my pages.  I’ve been known to come home from a group and cry my heart out after a stinging critique, but after I get up off the floor and dust myself off, I always realize I needed it.

I belong to DFW Writers’ Workshop who puts on the  DFW Writers’ Conference , but during my care-giving days, I just couldn’t get there.  They go until ten o’clock on Wednesday nights smack dab in the middle of the Mid-Cities.  I’d be all wound up after the critiques and the drive, so I couldn’t get to sleep early enough to do a good job of care-giving the next day.  I’ve promised myself to get back over there and I plan to, I’m just a little intimidated.  Those guys don’t mince words, but the best thing is that they meet weekly, giving you more opportunities to read.

The critique group I usually attend is Dallas Christian Writers’ Guild.  It’s not just for writers of Christian literature, but for writers of all stripes who are Christians.  They’re every bit as critical as the DFW Writers’ Workshop, it just seems to come out a little more gently.  Problem is, the Guild only meets once a month and I need a kick in the pants more frequently than that.  They have an offshoot in Denton that I go to, but since I’m moving to Heath soon, I’ll be checking out Rockwall Christian Writers’ Group. But I know I need more.

The workshops only allow you to read a few pages at a time and it’s easy to sound good for short bites.  It’s when those bits are strung together that the flaws really show.  And then there’s the whole waiting until it’s critique group day.  I’d heard of online critique groups, but I wasn’t sure of how they worked.  Hence, my interest in the critique group seminar.

The Care and Feeding of Critique Groups by Heather Webb and Friends

One of the first things I learned in the seminar was that I’d somehow wandered into the cream of the crop when it came to critique groups.  At DFW, Dallas and Denton, things are very structured.  I had no idea the messes some groups got themselves into. But Heather and her critique group are an online group and that’s what I was interested in.

I went in thinking the biggest hurdle was finding online buddies to critique with and now that I’m home, it’s still the most challenging aspect of the situation.  They said conferences were the best place to find writing partners, but I didn’t find my dream date there. The next thing to try was Googling and there are supposed to be thousands of possibilities out there in various forums and groups.  There’s enough out there that you’ll be able to find what you need, but so many it will be a little scary and intimidating.

Good searches are: “writing groups” and “writing center”.  They mentioned Savvy Authors and Scribophile.  I think the best source for me is Kristen Lamb’s WANA groups, but I’m still a little bit chicken.  I’m wishing my next email was from some wonderful critique group wanting me to join. (It could happen!) If you can’t find an already formed group, then you can gather up the new friends you find from conferences and searches to form your own group.  The best number for an online group is between 3-10 people.

Someone has to be in charge and you have to find a format.  Some possible formats are email, yahoo groups and facebook secret groups.  Set up the rules and let the person in charge handle all the tough stuff.  Figure out the vetting process for new members, when you’re going to meet and set the rules for reading work.  And play fair.  If you want people to read and critique your work, then you’re going to need to do the same for them.

If someone needs to be fired, Heather recommended probation first.  It’s so hard to find the right people, you don’t want to have to repeat the process too frequently. If you’re a writer, you may not have thought of this – one critique group is not enough.  Hooking up with the DFW, Dallas and Denton was a good way to start, but I do need to get an online group.

When your manuscript does become a book, Heather and her panel pointed out that your critique groups are a great source of cross-promoting.  The final bit of advice we got in the seminar was to go see the movie Authors Anonymous.  Seems like that was particularly good advice.

TRAVEL HERE: WATCHING MOVIES AS A KID

I remember how the magic of movies moved me when I was young, but now, whether I’m sitting in my den watching them on my TV or visiting the local multiplex, they don’t seem to have the same effect.  Why is that?

My First Movies

Though I don’t remember it, my parent’s claim I made them leave the theater early when they took me to Snow White.  I just had no use for the evil witch queen.  I reacted the same way to watching witches on TV.  For years I refused to be entertained by The Wizard of Oz.  As soon as the witch flew onto the small black and white screen, I demanded we watch something else.

I think my first parentless visit to a movie theater involved a kid’s matinee with The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad.  It had only been out a few years at that time.  I remember being scared, but I lived through it.  Not long after that, I earned a seat in a theater where Brigadoon was playing, by selling a certain amount of Girl Scout Cookies.  I was absolutely enchanted and suddenly had a movie to measure others by.

I remember Blue Hawaii and Roustabout with Elvis, both of which I believe I saw with my parents and both of which I enjoyed.  (Blue Hawaii at the drive-in and Roustabout at a Saturday matinee.)  Then there was Gone with the Wind.  I think they re-released it in the 60’s and I was captivated.

Home vs. The Theater

Movies on TV used to be something spectacular.  The Wizard of Oz came on every year and I finally got brave enough to watch it.  It’s a Wonderful Life was also an annual offering and I adored it – every time.  But they also had these major events where fairly new movies showed up on TV.  I think that’s the way I saw Cleopatra and perhaps Camelot.  Entranced is the best way I can describe it – even through the ads.  I remember one afternoon in the late sixties I saw Lust for Life on our small black and white TV and my life was changed.  I became an avid art fan that day and it’s stayed with until today.  I even saw Funny Girl for the first time on TV and I still tell my Egyptian husband he has Omar Shariff to thank for my besottedness.

Movies with Susan

What I didn’t like was going to the movies with my little sister.  She cried at Mary Poppins before she even entered the theater, because they tore her ticket.  She spent the greater part of the Swiss Family Robinson in the restroom and because I wasn’t allowed to let her go by herself, I had to be there with her.  But that was nothing compared to my mom forcing me to take her to the Casa Linda Theater one Friday night to see Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.  It was bad enough to take your sister to the theater on Friday night when all the cool kids were there on dates, but when she jumps up at the end and shouts, “I don’t like this movie” …well it’s enough to ruin you for life.

HEADING TO HEATH: LIKE MAGI FOLLOWING THE STAR

The search had become serious.  It was no longer a whim.  We were going to move, but where?

The Day the Heavens Opened

This was no casual, Sunday-afternoon romp. I had the list of available lots and we attacked it with fervor. Bill photographed the advantages and disadvantages of every property. On a cul de sac of empty lots and new construction our miracle arrived: Rob Whittle, the developer of Buffalo Creek.

Checking on the progress of his project, Rob just happened along at exactly the right time. Bill walked one of the lots to see behind the foliage. I stood by our car, wondering if I should change shoes.  When Rob started the conversation, Bill and I didn’t realize we were talking to the guy who put Heath on the map. We just knew he had a bunch of lots for sale – but the guys at The Oaks had a bunch of lots too, so the jury was still out.

Rob is a great salesman and we noticed, because up to this point we’d been pretty disappointed by the quality of other salespeople. We wanted to do business with this guy even before we had any idea we could. Bill explained our real estate conundrum. Then Rob quoted a very different number for construction costs than we’d been working with. The heavens opened up and the angels began to sing.

Still the lots we’d seen so far weren’t exactly what Bill thought he wanted. Rob jumped in his pickup and said, “Follow me,” and like the magi guided by the star to Bethlehem, we found our way with a little nudge from the divine.

Too This, Too That, Just Right

Rob took us to Falcons View Pass, but the first lot’s view was limited.  We walked across the street and that was better, but Rob knew he hadn’t nailed it yet.  The next lot he showed us wasn’t listed anywhere.  It didn’t have a sign on it, either.  That’s because it wasn’t for sale.  Rob planned to build a spec home on the lot and already had the plans drawn.  In fact, the plans were going to the engineers for the foundation to be approved – first thing the next morning – but they never made it.  Though it took several days to solidify our decision and get it into a contract, the bottom line is we bought the lot.

The Perfect Porridge 

Remember our original criteria:  some kind of remarkable view out back, a strong HOA, less traffic and a home to match our “working out of the house” lifestyle.  Seventeen Falcon’s View Pass surpassed each and every one of those.  Bill wanted a golf course view and I preferred water.  We got both.  Not just the view of the home across a fairway, but slap dab on the third hole and the cart path is on the other side.  And not just a peek of water hazard, but a huge pond out our back door and we own a third of it.

The HOA at Buffalo Creek is mandatory and it’s serious about keeping the community gorgeous.  They get in your business and we’re glad they do.  There’s a few intersections over in Rockwall that occasionally have traffic, but we live in Heath.  Granted, I’ll have to go to Rockwall even if all I want is a loaf of bread, but Rockwall traffic is nothing compared to Preston Road’s constant barrage of vehicles.  And a house to fit our lifestyle?  I’ll have to get back with you on that one – we’re still designing it.

Come back next week and I’ll tell you how we’re doing.

TRAVEL HERE: DFW WRITERS’ CONFERENCE – DEBUT NOVEL PANEL

I hope it was a sign of something. On the afternoon of my pitch I attended a panel discussion call The Debut Novel.

What’s a Pitch?

If you’re not one of my writer buddies, you might think pitching has something to do with baseball.  Pitching in my world is a face-to-face meeting with an agent.  Writers usually query agents, which means they contact an agent via snail or email and send them an unsolicited communication about their work.  Meeting in person gives witers a chance to build rapport, cut through the routine query process and stay out of the slush pile.

Used to, you mailed a query letter and got either a rejection letter or a request for materials.  Then the author would send however much of the manuscript the agent had asked for and then sit around waiting for another rejection letter or THE CALL.  Nowadays, websites and email make the transaction somewhat easier.  Agents post on their website what they’re willing to look at.  Authors email query letters, synopsies and/or pages.  And so forth and so on, until the final rejection letter or THE CALL.

My pitch went well.  She wanted to see pages and seemed enthusiastic about the project.  What I want is for her to do after reading the pages is request the whole manuscript and then give me THE CALL.  At that point I’d still be a long way from publication, but I’d be agented, the first big step in a traditional writing career.

What’s a Debut Novel?

Well, that would be your first novel.  When I went to the panel discussion I wasn’t sure what it would be about.  I thought it might be suggestions about how to get your manuscript out of the query process and onto publication, but instead, it was about what happens after THE CALL.  The information was interesting, inspiring and heart-breaking.

Newly published authors and almost published authors made up the panel, people like Natalia Sylvester, Julie Kibler, Julie Murphy, Heather Webb and Lindsay Cummings.  (Click on their links to see their websites.)  These are people who are further down the road than me.  Each has gotten THE CALL, making them agented and they’ve found a publisher.  Some like Julie Murphy, already have a book. (Becoming Josephine is Julie’s Historical Romance and it’s delicious!  I devoured my signed copy in a matter of days.)

The panel talked about their post-call experience, adding reality to the dream all authors dream.  They reminded us that you don’t go from being agented to being published over a weekend.  In fact, from THE CALL to publication is about two years and if you thought getting rejected by an agent was tough, there’s also a publisher submission process to endure.  At least, the agent is the one doing the submitting.  One of my fantasies was sitting at a bookstore, meeting all my fans and signing their books.  The reality of it is that if you want to have a book signing, you better have several hundred folks ready to appear on demand or Barnes and Nobles’ just not that into you.

And what do you do in those two years while you await publishing?  Well, you go through all sorts of edits where charcters and scenes that you’ve lovingly created are tossed on the floor.  You’re ramping up your marketing skills, increasing your digital presence and doing exciting activities like blog tours.  You have to explain to everyone why your book isn’t available yet, and should someone also buy your film rights, then that’s a whole ‘nother explanation.  Oh yes, and while you wait, you’re getting the next books written and edited, so they can follow the first book at the right time.  Still think writing is something you want to do?

So Why Go Through All This?

As the Debut Authors explained the process you could feel the air in the room compress.  Then a nice man on the back row said, “So that’s all the problems.  What’s the best thing you’ve experienced?”  Rainbows and unicorns came back in the room.  For some, nothing could surpass the call.  For others it was sharing the news with a loved one.  And that’s when I lost it.  There are no grandmothers or grandfathers for me to share my news with.  No mothers or fathers.  Not even any aunts or uncles.  They’re all gone now.  Will I have freinds and family to share the good news with.  Of course!  But there are so many more that have invested so much more into this journey of mine.  I just didn’t realize just how much it would have meant to share those moments until I realized I couldn’t have them.

So that was the Debut Novel Seminar.  Only a few more to go.

TRAVEL HERE: BARBEQUE VS. BBQ

No matter how you spell it, BBQ is a great meal and Dallas has some BBQ I love.

Back When I Didn’t Like BBQ

My introduction to barbeque was not auspicious.  When we lived in Georgia, at least once a month Mom would bake a brisket and we’d have several meals off it.  One of those meals was chopped brisket, on a bun, with bottled barbeque sauce. (No offense Mom, but it wasn’t great.)  The side dish would be either canned pork and beans or Mom’s potato salad.  Though I’ve been told my mom’s potato salad was wonderful, I wasn’t crazy about it (it was a texture thing) and I’m not much on pork and beans either.  At our house you ate what Mom cooked or you didn’t eat, so I made a meal of her version of BBQ sandwiches and hoped the next offering would be better.

Another less-than-fond memory barbeque was the new straw handbag and watch I left in a BBQ joint on the road between Georgia and Dallas on our semi-annual trek.  The episode became a year-long telephone battle between my mom and the manager of the restaurant.  We picked up the straw purse on the next year’s summer pilgrimmage, but the manager claimed no watch had been in it.  I want you to know that I was hounded by the memory of the faux pas well into my adulthood.  As in, every time I left a reataurant with my mother she’d say, “Don’t forget to get your purse.  You remember what happened on that trip.”  Yes, Mom, I remember the brand new straw purse and watch I carelessly left in the BBQ joint.  (In my defense, it was one of the first handbags I’d ever owned and I hadn’t developed the habit of keeping up with it.  Do not do this to your child!)

Bob White’s and The Pig Stand

When we moved to Dallas in 1966, we lived in East Dallas, not far from White Rock Lake.  In those days, the southeastern corner of the lake was home to two different BBQ joints, Bob White’s and The Pig Stand.   My family usually ate at home, but from time to time, we’d have a meal at one of these old stand-bys.

Pig Stand was part of a chain of restaurants with formica table tops and red vinyl booths.  I’m pretty sure they had a row or two of covered parking for carhop service, but we always ate inside.  My dad liked their food, but I actually have no memory of what I ate when we went there.

Bob White’s was a different story.  It was a one-of-a-kind place, mostly devoted to carhop servcie and a small indoor seating area resembling someone’s home carpentry project with green vinyl upholstry.  Usually we’d enjoy the carhop experience when we ate at Bob White’s, but from time to time Dad would come home with greasy brown grocery bags that smelled like heaven.  That meant he’d stopped at Bob White’s on the way home, which meant BBQ!

My Conversion Experience

I can’t pinpoint exactly when I converted from a BBQ skeptic to a BBQ fanatic, but I’m sure Bob White’s Rib Basket had something to do with it.  I loved them with a passion.  Unfortunately, like most of the mom-and-pop restaurants of yore, Bob White’s BBQ bit the dust.  Still, BBQ is something you can find by the Basket-load in Dallas.  There are even some mom-and-pop joints still hanging on!  So don’t despair.

HEADING TO HEATH: THE GOD FACTOR

Some people like to pat themselves on the back and say they’re just clever. Others talk about coincidences or chance. I figured out a long time ago, it’s God!

Clear Signals All the Way

God tapped me on the shoulder and told me to have a chat with Bill.  Then He helped me keep my mouth shut to entertain Bill’s notions about moving.  Heading north on 75, Bill and I both felt a gentle, but divine, shove and turned the car in another direction.  A previous contract kept us from considering a house that didn’t really fit our criteria.  Then we stalled. Perhaps like Abraham heading to Egypt, we hadn’t prayed before we drove through Firewheel.  Whatever the case, we were in a quandary.

As we drove to meet the real estate agent, Bill and I kept up a happy chatter.  We were almost getting what we wanted.  How many people are that lucky?  We sat down to sign the agent’s papers and write a check – but we couldn’t.  We had a question about the contract, so the agent just shelved it.  He didn’t get our signatures on an amended contract to see if it would be accepted.  He didn’t get a check from us to hold the lot.  His attitude informed us there wasn’t much demand for the lots.  Then he kept talking  and the more he said, the more we realized we were making a mistake.

A Quick Trip Through Heath

During the two weeks we struggled with settling for The Oaks on Firewheel, Bill and I made one more pass at Heath.  In my online research, I realized that as we drove around gawking at million dollar homes on the lake, we’d somehow missed the golf course community in the center of the town.  So after a day of stomping around The Oaks comparing the available lots, we drove over to take another look at Heath.  Bill found exactly what he was looking for, except that we couldn’t afford it.  Buffalo Creek was exactly the community Bill wanted to call home.  We couldn’t afford any of the houses we liked and when we added the cost of construction to the available lots, we couldn’t afford to build.  That’s what finally made us accept The Oaks as an acceptable compromise.

Then The Oaks agent dropped the ball.  Driving away from the meeting, Bill said, “We’ve got to take another look at the lots in Heath.”

Our Mid-Course Adjustment

Though the idea of moving had been tentative in our minds just a few weeks ago, it had become firmly set.  We had hoped our excellent location in the heart of Far North Dallas could be leveraged into a newer house on a golf course, if the area was further from prime Dallas real estate.  We also hoped we wouldn’t have to add much cash to the kitty.  All we’d seen confirmed that we wanted to move and after careful consideration, Bill decided that getting the quality of life he wanted was worth the investment of more capital.  With fear and trepidation we headed back to Heath.

Come back next week and see where that led us.

TRAVEL HERE: GOD INVENTED TEX-MEX IN DALLAS TX

Tex-Mex is my favorite cuisine in the world and Dallas is it’s birthplace. What’s your favorite Tex-Mex?

That First Bite

Can you remember the first time you ate Tex-Mex?  Nowadays the spicy cuisine is so uibiquitous, that’s like asking someone if they remember their first meal in a restaurant and the answer would be, “Of course not!”  However, I do remember the first time I ate enchiladas.

I grew up following my Dad’s job around the south.  In those days Tex-Mex was not yet an everyday phenomena, but we were in Texas at least once a year, because that’s where our extended family lived.  In the summer of 1966 my beloved Uncle Glenn wanted to take us to El Fenix – to the location right at the edge of downtown Dallas.  For an eleven-year-old kid who was most familar with dining at Shoney’s Big Boy and the local cafeteria, El Fenix was a whole new world.  All that rod iron and colorful tile was reminescent of our trip to the Mexican Flag section of Six Flags Over Texas  – which we’d visited for the first time during this same week.  I was giddy with glee.

El Fenix Set My Tex-Mex Bar Very High

After the decor, the next thing to bowl me over was the chips and salsa.  Over four decades later, I still think El Fenix has the best chips in the world – and I’m not alone.  Year-after-year the restaurant wins award-after-award, for chips, for salsa, for margaritas and more.  In my book, those crispy, knobby, yellow wonders can’t be beat.

Then my enchilada dinner arrived.  This is the same dinner you can still get for only $5.99 every Wednesday.  Those cheese and onion enchiladas with chili con carne set my Tex-Mex bar so high, that they’re still my favorite cheese-and-onion enchilada.  Now if you’re talking avocado enchilada with cream sauce or chicken enchiladas with green sauce or any number of other variations, I’ll debate with you all day long, but I won’t debate cheese-and onion, because El Fenix has the best.

Another fond memory of that original visit to El Fenix was the tortilla lady.  I’m crazy about breads of all sorts, but for me, a warm corn tortilla oozing melted butter is a slice of Tex-Mex heaven.  Though El Fenix no longer has tortilla ladies at their restaurant, on that first night, they had a nice little grandmotherly type hand-rolling tortillas and cooking them in a wood-burning oven.  I don’t know which I liked more, watching her work or eating her tortillas.  No one counted, but I’m sure I ate about three dozen and they had a hard time getting me to stay at the table.  I kept slipping away to the tortilla lady’s side.

 “My Stomach Hurts!”

That’s what I said after I was drug away from the tortilla lady’s kiosk and folded into the car.  I still remember the laughter.  No one could believe I’d eaten all I had.  No sympathy was afforded me, but the bloated belly soon digested the overdose and I was ready for more enchiladas the next morning.

A Happy Coincidence

The district headquarters for my dad’s work was in Atlanta, Georgia – which just happened to be on the way home to Augusta, our home in 1966.  Stopping by that office my dad recieved the happy news our family was being transferred back to the Motherland – TEXAS!  My mother’s reaction was tears of relief.  Every time we left Texas, it got harder and harder for her to stand it.  My reaction?  “Oh boy, that means I can eat at El Fenix all the time!”  (I might mention we had lunch at The Varsity, my favorite hot dog emporium, but that’s for another day.)

TRAVEL HERE: DFW WRITERS’ CONFERENCE – EMOTION AND CONFLICT SEMINARS

Welcome back to my recap of the 2014 DFW Writers’ Conference. Today we’ll visit two of the craft classes I enjoyed, presented by two of DFW Writers’ Workshop’ best.

Even Heroes Get the Blues by Rosemary Clement-Moore

Now if Rosemary had to pick me out of a crowd, I don’t think she’d be able to, but I’ve been observing her for several years.  She’s one of the most generous, helpful authors I’ve had the privilege to be associated with.  Her family background is in acting, so emotion and emoting is something she has some expertise in.  She had some great tips to share, but instead of me trying to summarize it for you, you can go here and see her handouts.  The bottom line is one of those things authors hear over and over and over, but we can’t escape the truth of: SHOW DON’T TELL.  That’s concept that I understand theorectically, but Rosemary fleshes it out in her notes and she gave us some great exercises to demonstrate what she meant.

Conflict on Every Page by Kristen Lamb

Another hero and champion of the new writer that I met thanks to DFW Writers’ Workshop is Kristen Lamb.  If it weren’t for her, you wouldn’t even be reading this blog.  The only thing I knew about social media when I met her was how to post a status on Facebook.  Twenty thousand views later, I’d say I’ve learned something from her.  If you’re a new writer (I’d say aspiring, but Kristen doesn’t allow that) then start with We Are Not Alone and follow your nose.

At this conference she was all about conflict.  According to her, every book needs a “core story problem…proportional to the length of the work.”  In other words, this is the why of the book and the more succintly you can describe the core story problem, the better your book is probably going to be.

Most of us know the protagonist is the main character, but we find the antagonist more challenging.  But my book really doesn’t have a bad guy, you’re thinking.  Kristen pointed out that the antagonist doesn’t have to be a bad guy, just the “Big Boss Troublemaker,” and that could be the protagonist’s best friend, as in a certain movie with orange and white fish in it.  In fact, even when they’re not the BBT, best friends can add a lot of conflict, like a certain movie series with hobbits in it.

Whatever the core story problem is, the writer’s job is to “make it worse until you make it weird.”  Really, Kristen talks like that.   Kristen will help your social media presense and your writing.  Go to her blog and start your journey.

HEADING TO HEATH: THE HEARTBREAK OF FIRST LOVES

Of course, the house we fell in love with already had a contract on it. Since the open field behind it will most likely become another housing development, the pending contract saved us from ourselves, but that didn’t minimize our disappointment.  That house seemed like it was just-almost-exactly what we were looking for.

Taking the Long Way Home

Disappointed by the house in Heath, we reminded ourselves that there was a whole lot more of the Metroplex to research.  We decided to stay focused on the East, so by the weekend following our first visit to Heath, I mapped out a route that included Parker, Wylie, Forney and Sunnyvale.  Parker yielded some possibilities, but the other towns just didn’t ring our bell.  Even though we drove a lot of miles to find that out, there was still some day left afterwards.

Bill decided we needed to take a look at the Firewheel Golf Course area in Garland.  I hadn’t done any research yet, so I drug out my handy Mapsco (yes, I still use a Mapsco – GPS is great, but not for everything).  The Mapsco directed us to pockets of homes around the golf course.  Just when I was about to give up hope, we found The Oaks at Firewheel.  Oh, we loved the homes in Irongate, but knew right away they were out of our price range.  The Oaks were promising, but they were lots.  If we bought a lot, we’d have to build and we’d done that.  We decided it behooved us to see some pre-existing homes.

The Real Estate Agent Waltz

Having been in real estate for several years and understanding the hard work it takes to earn a commission, I’m very hesitant to bother real estate professionals.  Nonetheless, if you want to look at pre-existing houses there’s not much you can do besides bother someone.  My first inclination was to call up one of the two real estate agents I knew best, but Bill wasn’t ready for anyone to know what we were up to – yet.  MLS had assigned me to an agent, but so far she hadn’t offered much besides form letter emails and that didn’t warm the cockles of my heart.  We decided to call someone who had listed two of the three homes we wanted to see.

One of the houses was affordable; the other two would put us in debt.  We didn’t like any of the answers facing us – staying where we were, buying less house than we wanted, buying more house than we could afford or building a house.  We’d built a house before and it almost put us in divorce court.  We had to go look.

Was Building Our Home the Best Answer?

We learned a lot by seeing those houses.  The first thing we did was call the builder in The Oaks at Firewood.  For two weeks we made almost daily treks to the community, looking at a finished home, walking through homes they were building and walking back and forth between the available lots.  One day we decided a home in the The Oaks wasn’t exactly our ultimate dream house, but it was the best we were going to do.  We made an appointment to meet their agent and put money down on a lot.

But Jane, what about Heath.  I’m getting to that.  Come back next week!