Playing by Numbers

Authors will tell you that they don't do numbers. We're the people with the words, right? The only time you'll catch a writer with numbers is when they have to do a tax return, and then it's usually cowering in a corner under a pile of old receipts and credit card bills. Been there, about to do that !!!

Except you can't really get away from numbers, and I seem to have noticed them more than usual with the latest, which has gone into the publisher for vetting. Fingers crossed it will make it. If it does, it will be a Christmas romantic suspense. The idea about that arose partially from discussion with fellow authors about whether you could do romantic suspense and be Christmassy with it, and of course, you know how I love to play ...

But that is a story for another day and another post. Alcohol was not involved as I have been on the waggon since liver surgery last year.

Couldn't find anything
in the archive that
said 'numbers'
so went for cute instead. 

Back to the numbers. I always do a time line for books, and sometimes for events within books as I get myself in a muddle over who is where and when - and that has saved my bacon when a suspicious editor has enquired whether the villain really can be killing someone there on Thursday, because isn't he still in Italy? Well, yes he can, and I have a flight timetable to back it up. Whew!!

In the Christmas book, as the timing of events is a significant part of the story, and the time line goes through a whole year I needed to put the works on show, so each chapter has a date and sometimes a time on it. Cue lots of bits of paper and home made calendars. But that wasn't all. Somehow I managed to get three supporting characters pregnant. Do not go there!!!! One was  fine, as the pregnancy happened off stage, as it were, and we only heard about the results. The second I had to sort out my numbers to ensure that the lady's very brief appearance would coincide with the pregnancy beginning to show. In the third I completely lost it and found, to my horror, when I inspected the time line, that the pregnancy had gone on for 10 months. Quick reshuffling on that one!

You see, writers don't do numbers. Except sometime we have to ...