MARY MARGARET BUTLER IS WAITING

I'm a writer in waiting. But my book is the baby that I am hoping will be given a breath of life by the agent who requested to read it. I followed the guidelines of the agency, submitted a query letter, synopsis and the first ten pages. In about a week I received an e-mail from a member of the agency who requested 50 more pages. Since I had worked over the first chapters of my book numerous times, I was able to get it in the mail quickly. Two weeks later I received another e-mail asking me to send the entire manuscript. Luckily, I received the request on a Saturday so spent the next twenty-four hours polishing the rest of the novel. I have the postcard on my bulletin board declaring that the agent assigned received the book. I haven't heard another word. Good? Bad? Who knows. In the meantime, I am a writer in waiting.

I wrote this book about a small town in East Texas and the various characters who make up the place over a period of several years. The main character is a young woman--in that part of Texas she would still be called an old maid at 26--who has yearned to get out of town forever it seems. She dreams of beaches and big cities and something other than a job in a hot kitchen. But her Aunt Lutie, with maybe a little help from a conjuring woman, Bess, binds her niece to the town. Her aunt dies and leaves Mary Margaret Butler (MM) the Blue Moon Cafe, and Bess to look out for her.

You'll get to read all about it--the cafe, the closest to a homeless man the town has, the drug dealer and his precious daughter--and the murders, soon, hopefully. Of course, being a female writer, I had to have the handsome sheriff add a little spark--although MM finds herself torn between lust and leaving town.

I had a hard time with MM while writing the novel. She kept wanting to take out parts here and there while shaking her head, telling me I was leaving out the best parts. MM wanted me to shut Aunt Lutie's ghost up so she, the living person, could make her own decisions. Aunt Lutie would have none of that and I think readers will enjoy Aunt Lutie's presence.

MM has a kind heart (though sometimes you may wonder when you hear the mouth that woman has) and she wants to make nice with snooty Livy Vandergraf. I say no 'cause they've not had any love lost between them in all their lifetime. Besides Livy is a minor character who will have a major part in the next book. (Did I tell you this is a series character?). In the same vein, I had a hard time figuring out what to do with several of the other characters who popped in and out of the story--whether to have them move on, leave town, drop dead, whatever; guess I will have to give them major rolls in other books--or dump them if they don't fit.

There's a little romance along with murder. Here again, MM seems to have a mind of her own. She remembers what it was like to have a daddy who disappeared into another life and a mama who drank herself to death. She's not sure she has what it takes to create a lasting relationship. When I speak of marriage, her face turns red to match her hair and she hisses at me, "We are kissin' friends only." Lordy!

We Southern women do have a mind of our own. But when we Southern writers allow those women to sit on our shoulders as we write, we stand a good chance of losing our mind.

Or maybe all needed to go crazy is waiting for a published novel to be born.