Falling In Love With Romance

I don't normally post on Mondays, but this isn't a normal Monday.

It's Release Day!

That's right. Snow White & the Eighth Dwarf is now available on Amazon!

I love fairy tale retellings, so it's exciting for me to add my own take to this genre. It's also different from my normal stories in other ways. First, it's told in first person by the eighth dwarf. The one every one excised from their version of the story. Bitchy.

Normally, I write in third person because I like being able to give both the hero and heroine's viewpoints, but I never even questioned that this needed to be in first. Strong characters tend to have a strong voice. One you can hear in your head. That was double true for Bitchy. With her snarky and sometimes sarcastic sense of humor, I couldn't have kept her off the page if I'd wanted to, and I didn't want to. She's just too much fun.

So to celebrate, I'm sharing Bitchy's description of a few of "the boys."

I’m not saying the boys are perfect. Far from it. But they’re mine . . . So some of their habits can be annoying, but I’m used to them. I wouldn’t change one single hair on their heads.

So, okay, maybe the girlie magazines under Doc's bed could go. No one really believes that cock 'n bull about him using them to study anatomy. After all, he ain't no gynecologist.

And Dopey could cut back on the pot smoking. (Really? His name wasn’t your first clue?) You should see him plow through a pan of brownies when he has a full-on case of the munchies. It’s a wonder that boy doesn’t weigh eighty pounds.

Grumpy understands me like none of the others do. Even so, he gets on my nerves sometimes with all his grumbling and negativity. No sense of humor at all.

You’ve probably figured out by now that dwarfs aren’t named at birth. The naming ceremony occurs later, when the child or adolescent (or even occasionally an adult) starts to show a dominant trait. Even so, we sometimes get it wrong. Sleepy’s a classic example. He doesn’t sleep any more than anyone else. He’s just a severe night person, so if you see him during the day, he’s often sleeping. Or fighting hard to stay awake. But once night falls, he’s the life of the party. I wouldn’t change a thing about him. Well, except maybe the snoring.

What can I say about Sneezy? I love that boy to death. It’s a pity about the allergies though. The forest is the absolute worst place for him, but none of us could bear to part with him, so he stays. It is kind of annoying though, having to make sure everything is hypoallergenic. I work my tail off dusting, and he’s very sensitive about the rocks I use to pound his clothes clean at the river. It’s a wonder they didn’t name him Hives.

I hate to be a tease--well, okay, that's not true--but if you want the rest, you'll have to go to Amazon to get it. If you do, I'd love to hear what you think of it.

My apologies to customers of B&N and other retailers. I'm experimenting with Amazon's Select program to see if it's worthwhile, so this won't be available elsewhere until the 90-day exclusive period is over. I figured y'all would rather I experimented with a short story than with the next installment of the McKnight's romance. (Which is coming before too much longer.) In the meantime, I hope you enjoy Bitchy's story.

Music is one of the things I consider when I think about my characters. Who they listen to says something about who they are. So who does Sol, the hero in my upcoming release, listen to? Why, Chris LeDoux, of course. Who else would a bull rider listen to but an honest-to-God Champion Bareback Rider?

Chris is a little hard to categorize. He called his music country with a western attitude. He wrote many a rodeo song, but sometimes he put a rock spin on them. He's not only recorded with country greats Garth Brooks and Charlie Daniels, but also with rocker Bon Jovi.

I like everything Chris recorded, but at heart, I'm a ballad kind of person, and Chris gave us some lovely ballads. I slipped this one in at Zach and Maddie's wedding reception because that's where this song belongs.

At one time, many, many moons ago, Garth Brooks was Chris's opening act. Garth credits Chris with teaching him how to put on a show. Garth's first hit, Much Too Young (to Feel This Damned Old) includes a line about driving down the road listening to "a worn-out tape of Chris LeDoux" which put the spotlight on Chris. The two developed a close friendship and Garth was featured in a couple of Chris's songs.

Sadly, some things do change. Chris died far too young in 2005, but his music keeps him alive in the hearts of his many fans.