I love home improvement shows and I love writing about women who lean toward unusual occupations. I married the two in Good Bones. Using the series Restored, and a lot of resource materials on Victorian, Craftsman, and other architectural styles, I built an impressive portfolio for the preservationist. I added sculpturing as a side hobby and a Harley in mint condition. She was an unusual woman, creative, action driven, patient, and meticulous with an amazing attention to detail. Her background lays the foundation for her place in the world, her father a master restorer. Jord Sheafson was swinging a hammer at the same time she was learning her multiplication tables. Problem is that some men don’t appreciate her skills. Men like Noah Timmerman.

Building a plot, once I decided on the trope, and the direction I wanted to go in, was fun, when it wasn’t excruciating. Developing characters that add depth to the story is critical and calls for more than just a surface knowledge of who they are. Few have been able to peel away the layers Noah has built up over time, but Jord was there beneath his skin before he even realized he’d let her in.

The book’s been available for several weeks now, and the next one, A Right Old Mess, is at the editors. While I wait for her feedback, I’ve been killing time revisiting a book I wrote over twenty years ago. It takes me back to the sixties and seventies, where free love, great music, and landline phones, were real. I’m still in love with Rick and Maggie, characters who lived through the tumult and chaos of life in the canyon. It speaks to love, loss and recovery, where one day at a time is the key to survival.