Baby on the way?

Talked to Jess yesterday, who is not quite sure if she's having a baby in September or early January. I thought too that she was about three months pregnant, but it turns out that she and Scott will be having a child in the fall (if not sooner). We have not come up with a name yet for a boy or a girl though I'm still partial to "Emma Carol" for a girl. Ethan for a boy? Or would that be too weird, like he owned a furniture store or was part of an Edith Wharton novel?

Speaking of which, Jess also told me yesterday that her ex-boyfriend, who earned his MFA from Iowa and has been written up in Oprah more than once, just had his first book optioned for a movie and is hard at work on another novel. This made me realize that I need to write a book that will be made into a movie where I will need to make a cameo appearance to kiss Colin Firth--just like, in the background, it doesn't necessarily have to tie into the plot. Combine this news with the fact that I've been struggling through what is one of my first contemporary mystery novels and you will understand why I now must write a book about a woman named Janey Doe who solves crimes accidentally. I thought she could have a British mother who has a great sense of humor and when Janey complains about her name says, It's not that bad, sweetie. I could've named you Fasolatee. Janey works in an office and has a crush on her co-worker who alas has a girlfriend and she's not very good at her job and her boss is this kind of bumbling older man. I haven't decided what the crime should be...something interesting like missing girls or I could steal my idea from the "Wanted" story where there's a serial killer on the loose and women's body parts are turning up all over the city. Then Janey could wonder momentarily what body part the killer would want of hers and have this whole made up conversation with him where they argue about what her best feature is. She thinks she is unremarkable, a real Jane Doe, but maybe she could figure out that she's actually not that ordinary. Is that too pat? I don't know. It's all speculation until a person starts writing. I haven't hardly anything, just a sliver of a scene:

What souvenir would he take from her? She stares at her blurry reflection in the dark glass of the subway window. Her eyes? Her calves? She imagines negotiating with him. He suggests her eyebrows, not her best feature, but he seems at a loss to find something better. He shrugs, tapping the butcher knife impatiently against his knee. Come on, look at my silhouette, she says. I have an hourglass torso. He says nothing. My knees? It goes on this way in her head for some time until finally she realizes that she has missed her stop again.

Could be blah. I don't know.

The important thing is that Age of Love is on in less than half an hour and we will see if he choses the old or the young. I'll try to write about it when it's on, but I sometimes get too caught up.