F is for Family and Friends #NaNoWriMo2017

I knew from the beginning that my hero would have sons and that family would be a big part of his personal paradigm, that his life and identity was firmly rooted in the land his family had tended for three generations, going on four.

I wasn't as clear about my heroine's family story - just that she was widowed too - and that her parents and grandparents were deceased. But she had friends - three women that came into her life after her husband died and left her destitute - that counted more in her life and heart than just about anyone.

Ann is in her 40s, an LL Bean kind of woman, who lives to be organized. There isn't a frivolous bone in her body. It's a good thing since she's a professional organizer. It was Ann who helped Elizabeth sort through the chaos of her husband's papers and financial mess, not to mention the barn he'd packed full of... well, everything imaginable, and nothing much useful. Apparently, an earlier stroke had left him a bit of a hoarder.

Penny is the flamboyant one - in her 50s, she's a professional wedding and celebrity photographer who does her best to stay single, but is readily entertained by any number of fine men willing to take a tumble with her. She's the one who took Elizabeth's artistic painting skills and helped apply them to a computer, along with a keenly developed graphic arts skill set. Pen was the foundation for E-Graphics and kept the heroine afloat financially more than once over those first few years. She's  a little bit snarky, but underneath the sarcasm and raunchy mouth is a heart of gold, and she'll go the distance for her friends every time.

The youngest member of the girlfriends club is Sierra, owner of Sexy as Sin, a fitness center that keeps all of them in shape, and gives them a place to gather (no excuses, ladies) several times a week to catch up with each other.

They might look like an unlikely team to outsiders, but no one could have a better support system, and Elizabeth figured her logical family was just as solid, if not more so, than any biological family. A whole lot easier to get along with too.

Today's writing day was awesome, with a first real date at the Broker restaurant in Denver for my two lust birds. Word count was 5,109 for a running total of 19, 460.

I need to set a fire under these two. Almost 20,000 words and they aren't close to trying out the eff-word. Talk about NOT misbehaving. Jeez, and it's not like they're getting any younger.