ON WHAT WE CARRY

Boy, youre going to carry that weight,

Carry that weight a long time

**Paul McCartney

HANK: I was looking for my little black notebook, the one I use to collect all the fabulous words and observations that are certainly going to make my next book into a blockbuster, and I couldn't find it. I couldn't find it because it was lost in the black hole of my purse, buried among two black pouches (for bandaids, earrings, advil, library cards, unused gift cards, stamps, a safety pin and a lipstick in case I lose my other lipstick), a black makeup bag, a black checkbook, a black calendar, a couple of black glasses cases, and well, you get the picture. So I was going to ask you all, and I still will, about what you carry. And why.

And then, as so often happens, the world provided something else along those lines . The incredibly talented Jonathan Soroff, who does the interviews for the Improper Bostonian(a Boston alternative magazine), did a story on what the teenaged debs at the Boston coming out cotillion, the "WINTER BALL" carried in their tiny dressy handbags.

And wow. The book ideas came spilling out. Here, from Jonathan's article:

Deb #1: a cell phone, a fake ID, lip gloss, an extra set of false eyelashes and a bit of cash.

Deb #2: cash, a fake ID, a real ID, a cell phone, lip gloss, a diamond bracelet and a pearl necklace

Deb #3: a pack of Parliaments, a pink lighter, a cell phone, cash.

Deb#4: a camera, phone, hotel, fake ID, and Adderall

Deb #5: wouldn't say.

What's in your purse? (An *extra* set of false eyelashes?)What's in your main character's purse? How important is what they carry?

ROBERTA: Well now I really want to know what's in Deb #5's little bag!

Funny thing, I just wrote a scene in which Rebecca Butterman's purse is snatched. She very foolishly chases the perpetrator down an alley, when the strap on her purse breaks and all her stuff scatters at the foot of a dumpster. So I can tell you exactly what's in there: Sunglasses, Palm pilot, pens, lip gloss, wallet, tampons, comb, cell phone...not a diamond bracelet or pearl necklace to be found! You can see she's a practical sort of woman.

A friend asked me this week whether I'd ever gotten into buying fancy bags to match my outfits. Not a chance--just one big clunky back-saver that doesn't really go with anything. But that's certainly another kind of detail that could reveal character, right?

JAN: My protagonist, Hallie Ahern, is definitely too unstylish to carry a designer bag, real purse or laptop tote. She drags around an unsightly backpack which is an important part of her journalistic life.Inside? Notebooks, pens, wallet, Chronicle ID and cardkey, her cell phone, breathmints, files, sometimes saltines, and a digital recorder to capture "ambient sound" for the website. But it all spills out, and whatever she needs is rarely there when she needs it.

My own purse is somewhat smaller, although still in the large category. I carry sunglases, breathmints, wallet, checkbook, keys, Advil, small notebook, cell phone,an IPOD, and a PDA I almost never remember to use. I have dreams of being organized and prepared. Pipe dreams.

RO: When I saw the title for this blog I was reminded of a really great book called The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. Vietnam story, very powerful. No debs as far as I can remember.

HANK: I thought of it too, Ro. And my Dad told me he carried a little book of poetry with him all though World War Two. (Which included the Battle of the Bulge and a prison camp.) He says it was to remind him there was still beauty in the world. And that's kind of why I thought of it all...it could certainly reveal character. Even if character is pack rat. Or paranoid.

ROSEMARY: Paula Holliday, my heroine, is a backpack kind of gal. She, like me, carries a cell phone, but, kind of, under protest. (Ask anyone who's ever called my cell...it's rarely turned on.)But she's also likely to be hauling around ziplock baggies, Felco nippers, two pairs of garden gloves, and a magnifying glass to look at bugs.

Like Hank, I have a collection of squarish black things, none of which is ever the one I'm aiming for when I fish around in my black hole of a handbag. Apart from the usual suspects - phone, wallet, card case, camera, Ipod, and makeup case (black, of course)I carry two Tibetan protection mandalas that my sister gave me when I climbed Kili. They worked, so I carry them everywhere.

HANK: That's very hip, Ro. I have a good luck coin that came from...well, another story. But my purse weighs, I bet, 15 pounds. I cannot leave it behind. So I wondered, wht's making it so heavy? Besides my wallet and a little black pouch of stuff, I just counted 10 pencils, 6 pens, a stack of bookmarks for Face Time, a 2007 calendar, a 2008 calendar, my notebook, a stack of gift cards just in case I run out of money, a checkbook, business card case, a little bag of almonds, gum, those listerine breath strips, car keys, house keys, a makeup bag that you don't even wanna know what's in, a little flashlight..should I go on?

Is there a way to ditch all this? I try to think of it as a kind of weightlifting exercise.

Oh and PS--oops. We didn't mean "anything can happen Friday" to include nothing happening. Our bad. But watch this space--in fact, check the comments on Wednesday for what's going to happen Friday. Newly published or soon to be published mystery authors? Better visit JR!