“What are you working on now?” I keep getting asked everywhere I go. Yes! There is a new novel in the works. The new one is about traffic. Yes! Traffic. The way Spoonful Chronicles is about food. The new novel is about traffic. I am interested in how we interact with each other when we are in motion. Why do I get so angry when somebody cuts me off on the street when it delayed me by only 5 seconds? I am interested in how people interact with each other on a bus versus when they are in their individual bubbles of their cars. I am interested in how people behave when they are in a taxi. Crossing a street. Navigating a traffic jam. Encountering an aggressive driver. These are all nearly universal experiences. Not as universal as eating, but universal enough to carry a novel. Metaphors, as they go, are only as good as they story you choose to use them for. This story is about heart break. How utterly impossible it is to get over heart break. So far it is a somber novel. Surprisingly, there is little humor. Considering how much humor has been in my previous two novels, I feel like there is something missing. But who knows? Maybe the humor will creep in later. Or perhaps I will find a unique form of dark humor to layer on top of this sad subject. The protagonist is a 32 year woman. I yearn to know her better. I keep seeing her as fussy mirage. She is always walking around with both her hands in the pocket of her rain coat. Come over here dear protagonist. I left an empty chair for you. I will make you a cup of coffee and serve you freshly baked pastries. Sit over here, right next to me, and tell me your whole entire story. Open you heart. I am all earns. So far, she hasn’t taken the bite. She remains illusive and I remain hopeful that I can lure her into my world. Maybe I need to find a more creative way to lure her in.

The lovely thing about answering people’s question about my current project is that frequently they have some story that took place in traffic to share. For example, a friend told me the story of her acquaintance that had a dramatic birth in car while parked in a tunnel along a highway. Others told me about memorable encounters on a bus. This is all raw material that might inspire the writing. Do you have a story about traffic? Please share it with me. I can’t guarantee that it will end up in the novel, but I would love to hear it.