List Fascination by Lynne Marshall

List Fascination (And I’m not just talking NY Times Bestselling)

First off, I’d like to thank Mona Risk and Voices From the Heart for inviting me to guest blog today. As a Mills & Boon, Harlequin, and Wild Rose Press author, I am thrilled to be here.

Are you a list maker? Do you know one? I wrote about one in ONE FOR THE ROAD, my current contemporary romance from The Wild Rose Press. Writing lists helped D’Anne Palmer make her out of control feelings manageable. If she could lay down some ground rules, in her mind, she’d have a better shot of surviving her radically changing circumstances. But more about that later with an excerpt.

One thing I’ve noticed, thanks to TV and entertainment shows, is that people not only make lists, but they read other people’s lists too. Especially top ten lists. Movies, books, records – an artist hasn’t arrived until they make a list – best colleges, best states to live in if you’re single, best retirement cities for our seniors, best football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer teams. You see what I’m saying?

Our fascination with lists led me to Google, and you know what happens when you resort to the Internet – weird stuff. So strictly in the name of blog entertainment, I’m going to share some of the lists I discovered on-line.

The Top Twenty List of Last Words Written by Famous People in their Suicide Notes (I kid you not). No, I’m not going to share what they wrote! This list included Virginia Woolf, Kurt Cobain, Freddie Prinze (not to be confused with Freddie Prinze Jr.), and Vincent Van Gogh, to name a few.

Here was another interesting list: Celebrities Who Have Been Stabbed. Out of seven, the only person I recognized on that list was an actress from the 80s (maybe the 70s) named Theresa Saldana. I think she was in Raging Bull with Robert DeNiro Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Andy Warhol get stabbed? Or maybe he got shot. Hmm, off to look up a list of celebrities who’ve been shot when I finish this blog.

Here’s a dishonorable list: All-Time Worst People in History. You can guess who’s number one, right? cough::Hitler::cough. Followed by Stalin and Pol Pot, and far, far, too many others.

Looking for a list that’s a bit more fun? 16 Most Surprisingly Bilingual Celebrities. This list includes Sandra Bullock, who speaks fluent German, and Bradley Cooper who speaks French, which he learned as an exchange student during high school.

In the US we have David Letterman’s top ten lists of silliness on his late night show.

Don’t forget the lists we write for ourselves: Grocery lists, honey-do lists, Christmas/holiday/birthday lists, guest lists. How about a list of reasons to break up with your current significant other? What was the name of that movie? Ten Things I Hate About You.

We do seem to be a society fascinated with lists, don’t we? My call out question to you readers, and hopefully blog commenters today is two-fold: Are you a list maker? If so, what’s the weirdest list you’ve ever made?

As a set-up for my excerpt, here is a short blurb for One for the Road:

D’Anne Palmer leads a life others dream of until she’s widowed, broke, and must return to California by hiring out her Deluxe RV. One-hit-wonder Tyler White hopes his three-week tour will recharge his career. Journeying from Nashville to Las Vegas, can close quarters help a has-been singer and the widow with California style find love?

Excerpt from ONE FOR THE ROAD:
D’Anne didn’t want to admit it, but she probably was nuts to let a complete stranger come over to look at the RV. Why not just put a huge sign on the door, “Alone and vulnerable. Please take advantage.”

Why in the world should she take the campground manager’s word about some cowboy country musician? If she hadn’t recalled his only hit record, something about a honky-tonk heart, she wouldn’t have. His one claim to fame evidently still opened doors for him, even if they were only doors to a deluxe RV.

D’Anne practiced looking stern and businesslike in the mirror. It didn’t work. Smile lines etched into her cheeks and blew her cover. A tiny streak of gray across her brown bangs made her feel old. She’d been told she didn’t look her age, but today she felt

every bit of her forty-six years. Several sleepless nights hadn’t helped much either. And she still had to come up with a list of rules before the singing cowboy arrived. She sat down at the kitchen table, picked up a pencil, and began to write. Number one: No smoking. Number two: Pick up after yourself. Number three: No drinking.

She liked a glass of wine every now and then, so that wouldn’t be fair. She erased number three, and thought for a second, tapping the pencil eraser against her lip. No drunk or disorderly conduct.

“God help me,” she whispered to the ceiling.

Number four: No sex in the RV. She really didn’t want to go there, but figured she’d better cover the bases. Five: Be respectful and courteous to your driver and she’ll be the same to you. Six: Five minute showers. Seven: Toilet seat must be left down!

She read over her list then folded the paper and tucked it into her overall bib pocket. Thinking she’d like to sneak away and postpone the meeting, she put her foot out the door just in time to see a tall cowboy walking her way. He wore a brown Stetson propped on top of his head, tight faded jeans, and scuffed boots.

One word popped into her head. Big.

One for the Road is available at   The Wild Rose Press and   Amazon 
as well as multiple other e-book vendors on the Internet.

You can visit Lynne at her website: http://www.lynnemarshall.com/

Finally, FYI, I looked it up, Andy Warhol was shot by an irate scriptwriter. A woman. Now I’m off to find a list of top ten celebrities who have been shot…

Once again, thanks for letting me visit your blog!

Lynne Marshall