SONG OF THE WEEK: Taking Back Sunday “Better Homes and Gardens”

PROGRESS FOR THE WEEK: about 5,000 words (not so great)

This story looked too funny to pass up, so I asked author J.L. Salter to visit with us on the blog. Please help me welcome him today!

Amanda can’t believe Jason, her new lover, is already cheating — they’ve only been a couple for seven months. But her domineering older friend, Christine, has “proof” and insists Amanda should take it seriously. Knowing Jason spoke with a woman in the mall food court and another in the grocery store isn’t exactly an iron-clad case.

But when she hears rumors about a different woman stalking Jason at his workplace, Amanda reluctantly finds the evidence sufficient to allow her boyfriend to be tailed… provided Christine and her posse of amateur detectives can be discreet. Unfortunately, Christine’s idea of discretion is akin to blowing up a billboard.

The more Amanda learns about Jason’s unusual behavior, the more their recently shaky communication crumbles. Unable to resist the momentum of the mounting case, Amanda joins the investigation and stakeout.

Does Jason have the seven-month itch? If he does, which tramp might be scratching it? And is it remotely possible for their relationship to grow even closer despite the clumsiest surveillance efforts bossy Christine can devise?

Tell us a little about yourself — who you are and what you write.

Retired library administrator, award-winning poet, book reviewer; former photo-journalist, U.S. Air Force veteran; husband, father, grandfather of six.

After decades of focus (and publication) on poetry and non-fiction, I began writing novels and novellas in 2006 after an early retirement from library work. Have since completed nine novels — seven of these have been published (Astraea Press & Dingbat Publishing) and one is under contract. Two of my novellas are also published.

Some of my novels are hybrids of genres, so they aren’t easily pigeon-holed. Other than the two “Amanda” titles in the screwball comedy vein, I’ve written other comedies, a suspense, and books which contain humor, romance, and action. One of my most important novels – fitting that last category – is my tribute to the Greatest Generation, “Called to Arms Again.”

Give us a little insight into Amanda. Is she an inherently suspicious gal, or is she the victim of overzealous friends?

At her job, Amanda is overworked, under-appreciated, and sometimes bullied by her lazy boss. In early family life, she was dominated by a much-older sister who seemed “perfect” and appeared “favored” by the parents. In her relationship with Jason, Amanda thought she’d reached a comfort level even though – him being a big sports jock – they didn’t actually have all that much in common.

Amanda has enough insecurities that she is fairly easily swayed by her domineering friend Christine, who has taken over where Amanda’s older sister left off — “managing” Amanda’s life.

Even though she initially discounts the reports of Jason’s unusual contacts with other women, Amanda begins to be swayed when other “evidence” starts accumulating.

Which authors or series of novels would you say your writing style is similar to?

I honestly can’t think of another author or novel which is similar to the style of my Amanda Moore or Less series. [But if anyone else has a notion, I’d like to hear it.]

However, I can definitely state that my writing in these two screwball comedies was greatly influenced by Hollywood’s wonderful screwball movies of the 1930s and 1940s. In fact, I refer to those films in both of these novels.

In a screwball story, there are almost always characters willing to go to bizarre extremes because of some misunderstanding… and yet hardly ever are they able (if, indeed, they even TRY) to resolve anything by simple, straight, honest conversation. Consequently, small misunderstandings quickly become huge brouhahas.

Scratching the Seven-Month Itch is the prequel to Curing the Uncommon Man-Cold. Tell us a little about that story.

Man-Cold – though written first – is the sequel… and occurs a few months after things are settled about the Seven-Month Itch.

Man-Cold treats a theme likely quite familiar to most women — that many men are real babies when they get sick. Whereas most women (when sick) have to carry on with family, home, and job responsibilities… men (allegedly) expect to be waited on hand-and-foot while the planet ceases to revolve. Ha.

I think my cover tagline captures the dilemma Amanda faces when Jason comes down with his man-cold: “A stubborn boyfriend with the sniffles is the last thing Amanda needs in her apartment during THIS work crisis.”

And the question readers ask during this novel is: “Will Amanda’s relationship even survive the kooky Scare-Cure of Jason’s man-cold?”

What is your writing process? Do you plot everything meticulously or do you dive in headfirst without a rope?

It varies. I often say I write in a hybrid of plot-ster and pants-ter. Sometimes it depends on how fast the story hits me. If I get an idea for a scene which would be in the middle or near the end of the story it will belong to, I may just start writing that scene and then fill-in the rest as I go along.

But if I have a fairly developed concept of a novel – in which I can envision both a beginning and general ending – I may very well spend my early efforts on a sort of outline. It’s usually not a complete outline, however. It’s more like notes to myself about what should happen and roughly in what order. As I’m doing that, I may even stop to write a few lines of dialog or action in certain places.

Whichever way I approach the story, you can be sure that I often find myself eagerly following the characters, wherever they take me. And, often, where we end up is a total surprise to me!

Who are some of your favorite authors and what are you currently reading?
I’ve recently blogged about favorite authors and/or books.

Any list of favorite authors has to include Walker Percy, a critically-acclaimed novelist (among other writings) who lived in my hometown of Covington LA and was also a good friend of my parents. I’ve read all of his novels – some more than once – and have greatly enjoyed almost every one.

When I have my druthers, I often read what I categorize as “international intrigue”. Ken Follett, Jack Higgins, and the EARLY Robert Ludlum books, would be good examples. I also like fiction set during the WW2 era.

Since I’ve been writing stories which include romantic relationships, I’ve also read a variety of the books published by my RWA colleagues. As merely one example, I greatly enjoyed Duffy Brown’s novel, “Killer in Crinolines”.

What’s your current work in progress?

Gosh, I have SEVERAL WIPs going. I have well over a hundred “starts” for stories. Some of these are merely concepts, but many have pages of notes / scenes / dialog. Quite a few have several thousand words already. At least a dozen have over 5,000 words already… and three or four of those have over 25,000 words each.

I guess the comedy I’m trying to resume work on is the actual answer to this question, and I’ve recently passed the 40,000 word mark on it. It will be my 10^th novel when I finish.

I have a brand new contract on a novel I completed 13 months ago and just recently revised. I’m sure the next couple of months will feature a lot of editing on that story.

Is there anything else you’d like us to know about Scratching the Seven-Month Itch?

I make a very general reference to this in my acknowledgements, but about six years ago, I was talking to a young female relative (on my wife’s side of the family). She happened to mention that she’d recently been out with a couple of friends helping one of them “catch” that friend’s cheating boyfriend. No details, other than it apparently involved one or more vehicles.

That image stuck with me as I was writing the Man-Cold novel and I began to think of scenes in which Amanda and her friends did that very thing. But it didn’t fit in the Man-Cold story – which was already pretty ‘busy’ – so I decided trying to catch a suspected cheater deserved its own novel!

I’m glad I did.

And so are we! Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Scratching the Seven-Month Itch is available on Amazon.

My published novels (with Astraea Press) are: “The Ghostess & MISTER Muir” (Oct. 2014), “Hid Wounded Reb” (July 2014), “Called to Arms Again” (May 2013), “Rescued By That New Guy in Town” (Oct. 2012), and “The Overnighter’s Secrets” (May 2012). Also the novella “Don’t Bet On It” … which released in April 2014.

With Dingbat Publishing, I have the screwball comedy “Curing the Uncommon Man-Cold” (Dec. 2013) and its prequel, “Scratching the Seven-Month Itch” (Sept. 2014).

Romantic comedy and romantic suspense are among nine completed novel manuscripts.

I’ve also published — as a short companion piece to “Called to Arms Again” — the story, “Echo Taps” (released in June 2013)… and a short story in the AP anthology, “Love and Diamonds”.

I’m co-author of two non-fiction monographs (about librarianship) with a royalty publisher, plus a signed chapter in another book and a signed article in a specialty encyclopedia. I’ve also published articles, book reviews, and over 120 poems; my writing has won nearly 40 awards, including several in national contests. As a newspaper photo-journalist, I published about 150 bylined newspaper articles, and some 100 bylined photos.

I worked nearly 30 years in the field of librarianship. I’m a decorated veteran of U.S. Air Force (including a remote tour of duty in the Arctic, at Thule AB in N.W. Greenland).

I’m the married parent of two and grandparent of six.

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