He Wrote She Wrote. Again.

~ Jenny

I spent a chunk of the weekend arguing about talking about the new blog with Bob Mayer and we’re going to try it. It’ll be called He Wrote She Wrote Again, and once a week, we’ll put up the old posts on a topic and then follow that with a new post discussing what we still agree with and how we’ve changed in a Slack chat. We’ll edit the ugly parts out. Nita and Lily will probably be mentioned, and Bob’s writing a new book in a series in which the second chapter in each book is a flashback. In first person. And there’s a prologue. I’m pretty sure he’s trolling me, but its been fourteen years, so who knows? Maybe he really is that insane. Here’s the banner until Mollie gets her hands on it and makes it better:

So see, I worked this weekend. Still working on getting all the Lily posts combined. Back at you later with that.

In the meantime, what do you want to see on the new blog? I know there are Cherry Bombs still out there, fuses sparking, and the Argh People always have an opinion. We’re pretty clear on what we want to do, but we’re I’m open to suggestions.

36 thoughts on “He Wrote She Wrote. Again.”

  1. I’d definitely like to see a here’s what I’ve been doing post from Bob. And any kind of musings about your books together now that it’s been a few years down the road, you guys are different now, in different places, looking back on each book, what would you change? You mentioned you’d hide something in the Venus statue in Agnes, things like that. Since you have been writing on the HWSW blog, I’ve been musing over why I like Agnes so very much. I never did totally understand the woman assassin plot thread and I had wished there had been more in the hidden basement. Which usually means I end up not liking the book because I’m quite nerdy that way, but Agnes remains a top favorite. I loved loved the use of the internal narrator for Agnes, and her columns and I loved Shane and his appreciation of Agnes and how he handled problems. I also loved how Agnes collected a family. Maybe it’s just it checked all my catnip boxes. I think I’ve bought this book three or four times because I loan it out when I tell someone it’s my favorite and then I want to read it again and end up buying another copy.

    1. And we thank you for doing that, too.

      I try not to think about what I’d change, although there’s something in every book I’ve ever done that I’d fix. They are what they are now. (Cue song from Frozen.)

    2. You have to know I’m so happy about you and Bob coming back with another “He Wrote, She Wrote”. I think I know just why Bob has joined our dark side.

    3. OMG…I forgot how marvelous these post were. I just reread the Bed And Breakfast post. It is 4 AM and My husband is sound asleep and I am laughing hysterically. Ge is no appreciative. I can’t wait for more.

  2. Just remembered Agnes and the Hitman, she referred to her friend’s boyfriend as a missing person no one missed at all (I listen to the Dixie Chicks too) I always wanted the story to that.

    1. I actually wrote that short story and SMP rejected it as too violent.
      Basically, Agnes and Lisa Livia killed him.

        2. I don’t even know if I still have it. It was YEARS ago.

          It’s not on this computer. I’ll have to see what’s on my old one.

          1. It’s definitely out there somewhere, because I think I remember reading it at one point. It might even have gone up on the blog when you were putting up all the old snippets and WIPs so we’d have something to read the last time you “retired”. Maybe. Didn’t they push his body off a flyover onto a long haul truck?

          2. Onto a ship heading for China, I think. They were on a bridge. I’m hazy on this.

        1. As I remember it was a car trunk door (what do you call the lid on a car trunk)?

          1. I asked Mr Google and was told it’s indeed called a “lid” or a “deck lid”.

            Another piece of totally useless information that you will never need again in your entire life.

            😂

      4. I rather assumed that, too . . . . just something about the way Agnes mentioned that he’d never been in the picture for Maria.

      5. Was that the one that lead to the discussion of how they got rid of the body? I loved that blog post. So many creative ideas!

  3. Liking the banner. Sure it will change?

    Also yay to reviving the blog! As for content, I think the two perspectives and approaches always worked well no matter what the topic. Maybe curious to see how the new climate re stories (ie: metoo etc.) may have affected each of you re writing process. Or not. And if your interests re genre have expanded or refined since you last worked together. Or not. Perspectives on the new climate of publishing. Stuff like that.

    But really up for anything. Looking forward to it:)

    1. I have no idea what Bob’s been doing besides writing like a madman. I’ll ask.

  4. EEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!

    I am here/there/wherever for whatever y’all come up with.

  5. . . . and when Shane gets and installs the air conditioner. Sigh. Shane forever.

  6. Yep, sparking away. This will be fun! No really, we will be on our best behavior, promise.

    1. We just did the first one tonight. Bob’s changed.
      And then of course he trolled me on flashbacks, but really, this should be interesting. He’s come over to the dark side, heh heh heh.

        1. No, no, he still loves prologues.
          He’s just more intuitive now. Starts with character. I clearly had a major impact on him.

  9. Looking forward to this! I loved the HWSW interplay – you guys with each other, and the Cherry Bomb chorus.

  11. I am super happy about this!! I missed HWSW the first time around, which brings me sads. I’m also happy you’re bringing back the old posts.

    Agnes is the gateway drug, er, entry book, that I use to get folks, especially men or romance reluctants, into Cruise books. It’s one of my top 3 Crusie favorites.

    If you’re willing to branch into the other books the two of you wrote together, I have never understood the ending to Don’t Look Down. I went to a book signing where you explained the “fairy” jeep – where JT arrived in a helicopter but left in “his” jeep. Something none of the editors or beta readers noticed after his entrance into the scene changed. You said a reader asked about it when you and Bob were promoting it and he wouldn’t make eye contact. So, you said the fairies brought it. 🙂 But, yeah, if the ending could be revisited, that would help. I’ll reread it to see if I can ask specific questions about that.

    1. I haven’t read that book in years. I vaguely remember there was a helicopter at the end, but then Bob was writing it, so of course there was a helicopter and it was probably black.

      The Jeep Fairy. What happened was that I was writing the first scene and JT arrived in jeep, but the scene was awful, so I said, “Bob, help, this first scene is dead on the page,” and he said, “Needs a helicopter,” so he rewrote it so that JT arrived in a black helicopter, and it really did solve a lot of the problems. Except we forgot about the jeep we’d cut in the beginning, so at the end, he got in the jeep that wasn’t there anymore. It was a mistake.

      And we didn’t realize it until somebody in Boston asked, “JT came in on a helicopter, where did he get the Jeep at the end of the scene?,” and we both had that “Oh, crap” moment when we realized she was right, and Bob looked at me and I said, off the top of my head, “The jeep fairy brought it.” And then we confessed. It was a mistake.

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