Fun Facts for “Something Clicked”

Factoid One

The color of Savannah’s nightstand, Kelly green, was chosen because it was one of the colors used in my Dad’s high school jacket, which was mainly green and white. Dad had always told me that the particular shade of green was known as Kelly green. He went to Harry S Truman high school in the Bronx.

Factoid Two

I quickly became tired of typing Henrietta’s name. Along with Charlotte and Stephanie, Henrietta has the longest name of all the characters in my books, but for some reason, the particular combination of keystrokes needed to type “Henrietta” was more difficult for me than “Charlotte” or “Stephanie.” I ended up created an Autocorrect shortcut in Microsoft Word so that whenever I simply typed “hj”, it would correct it to Henrietta.

Factoid Three

The mention of Savannah liking crossword puzzles came about because I like crossword puzzles. It’s something I inherited from my Mom, who does them often.

Factoid Four

Another example of the long-lasting usefulness of Xandria’s former job as an intelligence operative. When I first created that character, I had no idea that her skills, as well as her connections, would become handy in future Carlsbad stories. In this particular case, her background allowed me to ignore what would have been an enormous plot hole…namely, the fact that under normal circumstances Henrietta would not have been allowed to stay in the United States for a full year.

Factoid Five

I got Henrietta’s outrageously long phone number (spoken aloud in Chapter 1) from watching a British crime drama called “New Tricks.” That phone number was used in an episode of the show.

Factoid Six

The half-Filipino/half-French Helena is modeled after one of my own friends, Angeline. Her father is Filipino, her mother is French. Oddly enough, they met in Montana.

Factoid Seven

WhatsApp plays a significant role in this book. That was not only for the practical purpose of allowing Henrietta to communicate with everyone in Carlsbad while still keeping her British phone, but it was also a glimpse into my life as well.

Myself and the other members of the real-life Carlsbad Royal Lesbian Court use WhatsApp constantly. Like…daily. It is the communications medium we use to plan when and how we will get together to spend time with each other.

Factoid Eight

The triple chocolate caramel frappe—La Vida Mocha’s signature drink—makes another appearance in this book. However…

Because I only mention that drink sparingly throughout the series, whenever I do I always forget what it’s called. Then I have to open up the “Nothing But A Fling” manuscript and search for it. Each and every time.

At this point, I’m considering getting it tattooed on my arm.

Factoid Nine

Soon after the book was published, I heard from a fan in England who excitedly told me that she and her wife also own a VW van—and that they had also named it Blaze!

Their van, however, is a much younger and more modern version of the 1966 model Savannah owns.

Factoid Ten

The Bethany isn’t an axe murderer name conversation in Chapter 19 is reminiscent of one me and my friends had a long time ago about that, and which could have been titled, “What Women’s Names Would Make You Nervous to Go On a Date With Them?”

We then compiled a list of names that might make us suspicious of everything from axe murderer to drug dealer to serial cheater.

We had been drinking, obviously.

Bonus Factoid

The name of the top women’s surfer in this book, Nicole Hope, is taken from the name of a girl I dated in high school, and was created by reversing the order of her first and middle names. She is Hope Nicole, and still lives in Carlsbad.