Aimee and David Thurlo Mystery, intrigue, and family values ™

A DAY IN THE LIFE

A DAY IN THE LIFE

Some people think that writers lead fascinating lives, like television's Castle. Maybe some do, but I'd be willing to bet most live in their imaginations - and that's a pretty crazy place. We manage to experience all the fun, drama, and discovery - but without shootouts that include live rounds.

When David and I come out into the real world, what we do generally revolves around our deadlines. At Casa Thurlo, this weekend will be extremely busy, a mini-adventure experienced mostly indoors. That's because our last few drafts of editing mean working on chunks of at least forty pages, with little time to look around. When it's snowy and rainy outside, that's not hard, but today - you guessed it - it's sunny and gorgeous.

So, here's how our day started. Even before our first cup of coffee, we were busy talking about the scene I'd worked on last night. Unable to get the wording right, and tired, I'd beat it to death, then asked David to take a look. Neither one of us could get it just right. (How do we know when it's right? It's a gut feeling. You read it, and you know. It's like an AHA! moment.)

Of course, since we hadn't quite nailed that scene yesterday, it was there waiting for us this morning. We needed to resolve it before could move on to the next one. Problem was that the house was really cold. (In the desert daytime temps may be sixty, but at night you're looking at twenty.) So I asked David to bring in some firewood. That took time, but I can't make a decent fire that lasts more than five seconds, and my pencil doesn't work that well in a chilly office.

While this was going on, the dogs were doing their best to remind me that it was time for their early morning chew stick treat. So I got them their treats, and they settled down. That was my cue to go to the daybed in my office, cup of coffee in hand, and begin editing on paper using a clipboard and pencil. That's the way I work - I'm not high tech. (David edits on screen, but I've never managed to do that with any degree of competency).By the time the fire was roaring, we had our AHA moment and the scene was good to go.

Today the new page count will come first. We'll also need breaks to keep our writing fresh. We'll go outside to play football with the dogs -- they like chasing the ball because it bounces in unpredictable ways - and maybe go for a short car ride with our furry trio. By the time we quit this evening, we'll have reached today's goals. Then comes our down time. We'll watch the full episode of Hawaii 5-0 from last Monday, pop some popcorn, and relax.

Glamour? Not exactly. Fistfights, no, we'll leave that to Castle. But I bet we have just as much fun doing the things that we love. Best of all, we get to do this everyday, not just one hour a week - and there's never a rerun.

TEAM WRITING THURLO STYLE

A lot of you are interested in how a wife and husband can work together and live together too.

The dynamics of it can be complicated.

David sees things as they are. I see things as I wish them to be. Let me give you an example. Recently we both saw a wonderful cover that had a very sexy man wearing a cowboy hat sitting on a motorcycle. It was evocative and said it all -- cowboy, macho. David looked at it and said, "he can't wear that hat on a motorcycle. It'll fall off unless he goes five miles an hour."

This is why I do the love scenes and he does the action scenes. He's really, really good when it comes to figuring out the logistics and moves in a shootout or fight, what they're doing and why. I stink at that. Some of you may have heard the story about the time I wrote the rough draft of an action scene but got IUDs mixed up with IEDs.

Sticking to what we do best has advantages. The obvious one is for the reader. They get a better character driven story with plenty of action and emotion. Here at home - well, it means we still talk to each other at the end of the day.

It's not always easy. Writing together can put a lot of stress on both of us. The good part? It can also make us both laugh, as you can see in the examples above. That's really the key. If you can laugh at each other and with each other, you'll never have a lasting problem.

Note the word lasting. Problems will appear. Writing isn't something that happens in a direct line, like when you're reading the published work. When creating the story, you may go from point A to point B at first, then decide that point C makes a better point B. You follow me? Often, during the process, it becomes like arranging quilt squares to get the best pattern - in this case, story.

Or you may end up really disagreeing on something - anything from what constitutes sexy to how do we word our hero's dialogue to make him real and believable to our readers. Would a guy say that? Or more likely, how would a guy say that?

It's a lot more fun to write with a partner. I think it was Bette Midler who said that the hardest thing is to find someone who can be happy for you. Partners know how hard it is to create a book. When good things happen, like a great review, or a quote from a colleague, you always have someone there to celebrate with. That sounds like a small thing, but unless you share the good times, they don't seem quite so special.

Writing as partners has many facets, but it's great rereading a scene you wrote together months or years ago and being able to see your words, his words, and that great sentence that you don't remember who wrote - only that it says it all.

TAKE OFF THE CHILL

We thought that we'd talk about our favorite topic today -- Food.

David, as many of you already know, teaches science which means our writing and work schedule is normally crazy.

When it comes time to take a break and unwind, we like going to our favorite restaurants or cooking here at home. (I have to admit that David's far better at cooking than I am. I tend to worry more about the state of the kitchen, while he worries about the actual food!)

This coming weekend, we'll be fixing our favorite all-time dinner, which coincidentally is our most requested recipe, since it appears often in our Ella Clah books.

We hope you'll enjoy it!

GREEN CHILE STEW

Saute 2 large chopped onions and 2 chopped garlic cloves in two tbs canola oil until clear. Remove these from the skillet, then flour and brown 1 1/2 to 2 cups of cubed beef or pork. Place the meat, cooked onions and garlic into a large stew pot, then add 2-3 cups chopped green chile, 3 cups chopped tomatoes, 1-2 tsp salt, and about 2 1/2 cups water. Heat to a boil, then simmer for one hour or longer until the meat is done and the kitchen smells wonderful. Serve the stew with tortillas or fry bread.

Note: we've discovered that frozen green Hatch chile, barely thawed, is superior in flavor to the canned variety. We usually prefer medium chile, but in the winter, spicy hot hits the spot.

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