Good morning! Hope you got a chance to read yesterday’s excerpt – and you can request the longer version by dropping me an email or leaving a comment below. I’ve got some fun stuff planned for July’s newsletter, so stay tuned for that.

Today, I’m working on edits for SAFE FROM THE STORM and renaming a few characters. I have this weird rule that I don’t like giving characters the names of people I know. I have trouble divorcing the name from the identity, and then the characters take on certain recognizable characteristics, whether they’re real or not, and then I get emails from my weirded-out friends, wondering why I’m writing about them.

There are all sorts of expectations that come with a character name, and (don’t tell anyone, but) most of the time, those names are pulled out of a hat, or from someone they’re talking about on TV, or from a license plate or a billboard or a brand name. As a writer, I’m always a little desperate to find good names – baby naming sites are the best, if occasionally overwhelming.

However, let’s say I have a hero named Jack, and Jack is hunky and muscled and has the most beautiful, capable, strong hands and can play the piano and the MC’s lusty form like a virtuoso. That’s all good, right? Absolutely, until Lily’s friend Jack, who is a perfectly great guy but cannot play the piano to save his life, finds out from a friend of a friend (because Jack refuses to read romance, alas) that Lily’s been writing trashy (ahem, FABULOUS) scenes about him.

And then I have a headache and have to explain the disconnect between reality and fiction and then it’s a thing. Ever run into that problem?

So, long story short, if you ever wonder how some of my characters acquire names, it’s not because I’m mining from life. Which is too bad, because I know some truly interesting people.

Time to get back to Tony and Nora! Have a lovely Tuesday!

xoxo,

Lily