thehefner | The Tammy Story- go for it?

Mom seriously thinks I should just submit the Tammy story (that is to say, parts one, two, three, four, five, and six) as one single work. By which I mean, NOT as part of a larger, much bigger Hefner Monologues book as I currently have it planned.

She and Gordon (Gordon amazingly, the man whose highest compliment comes in the form of "Mwell, not bad") have said that Tammy is a "magical" character. She is utterly enthralling, a marvelous person to read about, and whether it's the person or how I write about her (both, I suppose), the end result is a person who, for all her very human faults... is "magical." Mom and Gordon are afraid that if this is just a story that's going to be followed by the much bigger stories of my father, of Dave, of Misty, that Tammy's going to be overwhelmed and drowned out. And I think they're absolutely right.

I've run it by Kevin, Katie, and Bloo, all of whom agree that the Tammy Hefner Monologue could work as a single story. Now to my mind, I don't entirely know how it reads on its own (as a whole from all the parts I posted above). I was writing the entire book with the overreaching theme not to tell the stories, but to explore why I tell these stories, you see? So the Tammy story, to me, feels like... like it doesn't "accomplish" much. I worry that as it stands, it's just more like an anecdote. What do you guys think?

Another problem is that it's too short to be a book. A novella, probably. But not a book, and I haven't really idea idea how to flesh it out or what I could add. Still, Mom thinks I should submit it to the agency that turned down my detective novel. I have to say, I really think my literary livelihood rests in the Hefner Monologues. Should I go for it, even as it stands now?

And if it does go through, particularly as one main "Tammy" volume, I am definitely gonna need to get in touch with her to get written permission to use her real first name. I mean, ok, I'll have to change several names as it stands, without question, but I think it's really important that Tammy be Tammy. I mean, it's the same deal with Misty, what other name could possibly suit either of them so perfectly? Dad thinks Tammy would be embarrassed by the story and urges me to change the name, while Mom and I both think she'd really like it, perhaps even be touched. I found out that she has a myspace page, so if I have to I can always end up going there, but I'd rather avoid that if I can help it. I'm fairly certain she wants to keep me as a sentimental memory, and she's still capable of giving me heartburn at times, so I think we both would rather keep any further contact between us to a minimum.

But all that is a worry I should address until after I've come up with a great, sellable final product. Which may be what I, more or less, already have.

Any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions?