Quinella It Is...

As you can see, the banner has been changed.

Quinella will NOT be "Q," just Quinella.

Her birth name is Quin Ella Quinella (Family name originally "Netta").

Ask Ma'am: Quinella Gives Advice to a Reader...

I'm just playing around with the Ask Ma'am column, perhaps Quinella's first piece of professional advice after her mother leaves the family...

Dear Ask Ma'am,

I'm a wife and stay-at-home mother of two children (1 and 10), and I love my family deeply. My husband is a nice guy who adores me, but I desperately need a vacation away from him, just for two weeks.

He never helps around the house, always throwing his socks next to the hamper and leaving his dumbbells on the living room floor. Two days ago, I nearly broke my neck tripping over those darn things.

I feel that if I go away for a while, my absence will force my loved ones to see how hard I work to keep home and hearth together. But my husband would never allow me to go off on my own. For one thing, I couldn't afford to stay in a hotel or go anywhere fancy. But I do have an old college friend in California (I'm in New York); she has invited me to stay with her for two weeks. I just have to pay for my airfare.

Should I just slip away without telling anyone and then call my husband once I'm in California?

What do you think?

Fed up Mama

Dear Fed Up Mama,

Sure, maybe ditch the old man--anyone who leaves dirty socks on the floor (e-yewww!) deserves to be smacked in the noodle (but just pretend, the ma'amster does not approve of violence.)

But, seriously?

You would just pick up and leave those two sweet innocent babies behind? Other than just being kids, have they done anything to set you off? (I thought not.)

If you must take a vacation, tell your husband of your plans, and ask your friend if you can bring your kids with you. If not, you three musketeers go to a relative's house.

Please don't sneak away. Please, please don't. You can't imagine what it's like to wake up one morning and find your mother gone and not knowing where she went.

It's not fair.

So get the strudel out of your noodle and take your break away from it all in the right way.

Yours Very Truly,

Ask Ma'am

"Ask Ma'am": Q as Underaged Advice Columnist

I'm mulling over the idea of creating Q as an underaged character who is posing as an advice columnist.

Her mother is the actual columnist for a local newspaper, but when her mother goes AWOL from her life as a mother, wife, and columnist, Q, unbeknownst to the newspaper, assumes the "Ask Ma'am" column and begins dishing out humorous and outrageous advice to readers.

When the column goes national (and the big money begins rolling in), Q's mother returns to the family, and the conflict between mother and daughter flares up big time, especially when "Mother" (unnamed as of yet) realizes that Q is, by far, much more talented than the mother. Therefore, she must pay Q a large allowance to keep Q as ghost writer.

Meanwhile, Q discovers domaining as a sideline, using her substantal allowance to register dotcoms and reselling them on the aftermarket.

:=)


Even at a young age (10-13?), Q realizes that, eventually, her house of cards in the advice biz is going to collapse and that she will have to fend for herself.

Character Sketches and Plot Outline

I have been working on an outline for "Q"; and, yes, I'll be including the quotation marks in the title.

First, though, I'll be developing a character sketch of "Q." My work tends to be character driven as opposed to plot driven.

Before developing the outline, I'll be jotting down possible character sketches of all the primary characters: Q, her parents, her partner, her nemesis, and maybe a best friend.

At the moment, I don't have a clear view of "Q."

I'm leaning toward a 3rd person (limited) viewpoint, but this could change to omniscient.

Or Is It Quin Ella Quinella?

Make that Quin Ella Quinella?

Food for thought.