WRITING FOR FUN
by: Trish Jensen
I admit it, I’m a zone person. There are days when writing feels like a chore, and there are days when I get into the zone when things just seem to flow.
This was a zone book. It flowed, and I was annoyed when anyone interrupted that flow, including family.
Here was the excellent thing. I wrote a book totally out of my comfort zone. It was set in LA, where I’d never been, at a TV network, which I knew nothing about, and starred a producer (still nothing in my world) and a talented hair dresser (I barely know how to blow dry my hair correctly) who’s been recruited against her will to be the talent for a national makeover show.
She and I have nothing in common, as she’s tall and gorgeous and I’m short and “cute.”
One thing we had in common I could tap into is that we are both extremely shy, but can ratchet it up if someone annoys me. So in that way, I knew her. But Hollywood? A TV show? We both felt so out of our element.
Yet it was probably the most fun I’ve had writing a comedy. The two main characters zing each other at every opportunity.
The hero, AJ Landry is coerced into producing the show. He is not a happy dude. But as he gets to know Tanya Pierce, the talented makeover artist, and begins to realize she was so not out for fame and fortune, but instead was scared spitless at the thought of performing her craft for a national audience to witness, AJ becomes invested in her success and the success of the show.
The problem is, the only way he can eek any form of productivity out of her is to make her angry. So he shows up on the set, lists of insults in tow. Much as he hates her thinking he’s the biggest jerk in the universe, he knows it’s necessary to get any work done.
What a conundrum. Unfortunately, his insults work to help her be so angry she forgets to be scared, and the result is a fabulous show that catches on fast with the public.
Now to try to get her to realize that he’s really not an ogre. Not having a great deal of success on that front. Or so he thinks.
Tanya can’t understand her attraction to the jerk, who never fails to remind her who’s the boss. Still, she does everything in her power to get him to fire her so she can head home to her small town and her shop. Instead, the man not only refuses to fire her, he starts threatening her with guest appearances on talk shows and at boat christenings.
Their animosity is palpable to everyone working on the set. They begin to call it “Zoning Tanya.”
And that is what Tanya and I have in common. We both need to be “zoned” to get work done. Now if I could only find my own AJ Landry to keep me in the zone.
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And DON’T FORGET to go grab her newest release BEHIND THE SCENES!!!
