since you asked

Helen,

I suppose it would be nice to give blog readers an idea what my book is about.  Anna is a 30-ish journalism professor who has always been the dutiful daughter of her academician father. He's the dean of the J-school where she works, and he disdains fiction. She has moonlighted with a few mystery novels and has been very successful under the name Claire Donaldson, which she doesn't want Daddy to know about. Now, Claire is becoming famous, some people are beginning to wonder who she really is, Anna's stepmother wants to interview a celebrity for a feature article (and of course, chooses Claire), a new landscaper is in town and may not be who he appears to be... Well, you get the gist of it.

I always liked the old romantic comedies, so that was my model as I started. Now, the book is becoming an exploration of why we get stuck doing things we really don't care about, about our identities--do we choose who we are, are we formed by those around us, is identity thrust upon us by divine design? How do we find and nurture our individual identity? Anna has a few sidekicks in her adventure: an older sister who seems to have always known who she is, a best friend who is willing to go to the mat for Anna while being beset with twin toddlers and an infant in tow, a mother who understands what taking a stand against Daddy really means...  And I hope the thing is funny, as well as thought provoking. My writers critique group laughs. 

I hope a publisher friend of mine is right: she says any writer who can sum up a book in three sentences is probably a better marketer than writer.  At least I don't seem to be a very good marketer--and I hope that bodes well for the writing in the book!