We write by the light of every story we have ever read.
Richard Peck
I’m official!
Today is the launch date of Rogan’s Robbie, my passion project romance novel that’s based in Las Vegas. In fact, it’s the first book in my series Love Happens in Vegas. To say that I’m proud of my first work is an understatement.
I’ve always been a good writer. My so-called colleagues called me the “Grammar Nazi” because I proofread all instructional material and it made them and me crazy for a while. This was a special project on The Day Job™ that lasted three years. Outside of that particular project, the lion’s share of my duties included creating instructional material, presentations, and documentation. So I’m used to thinking linearly. The great part about that is being able to sequence plot points accurately. The bad part is that I had to kick-start my imagination. “Documentation” requires no imagination. Only accuracy.
Fast forward a few months after leaving The Day Job™, and I learned a few things I’ve read from authors’ own musings. One – and I thought this was the silliest – was that the characters would “talk” to you and let you know how to present them.
Really? I don’t think so.
Who knew they were right! I found myself occasionally yelling at my notebook “you are being an ass!” while writing my first draft. Other times I’d “listen” while a character told me that I know good and well that’s something s/he wouldn’t do. Have I lost my mind? Fix it!
And so it continued. The words flowed, and I wrote down everything. When I transferred my scribbles to my computer (yay, Scrivener!) I made more changes, although I knew it wasn’t perfect. I printed it out and gave it to my first readers.
I received good feedback and then scraped together the funds to hire an editor. Because there’s “vernacular” involved, I found a Creative Writing major in New York who found stuff that would have been embarrassing, diced and chopped other stuff, asked me questions that I should have known, etc. You know what I said about my being oh so wonderful in sequencing? Yeah. well. Whatever.
It’s taken as long to get to publication as it took me to write it, and both took separate but concurrent paths. I hope you enjoy this little teaser from Rogan’s Robbie, the first installment in the Love Happens in Vegas series. Enjoy!
She never needed a man for anything. Not until he came back into her life…
Roberta Wilkes is a brilliant, focused, and successful artist with a thriving career. But when Rogan MacDonald strolls into her gallery exhibit, old feelings hit Robbie hard. She may have left her awkward teenage self behind, but her crush on Rogan, with his dark red hair and brilliant golden eyes, is more tenacious.
Rogan vaguely remembers Robbie, but can this breathtaking, bohemian artist be the same coltish geek he once knew? Then, she was a nerdy child prodigy with coily hair, random zits, braces, and gray eyes. Now she was an alluring woman with long locs, warm whiskey skin, and the same mesmerizing gray eyes.
Rogan wants Robbie to work on an art project in his new restaurant. And if he can woo her in the meantime, that’s a bonus! There are two problems with his plan. One, Robbie doesn’t commission the type of work Rogan wants, and two, she’s stubbornly immune to his charms.
As Rogan works to win Robbie over, she finds it more difficult to ward off his flirtations. Finally, Robbie’s teen dreams are coming true. But adult Robbie doesn’t have time for games. She refuses to compromise herself for any man, especially one she’s not sure she can even trust.
Delve into Rogan’s Robbie, the first luscious installment of the Love Happens in Vegas series. And remember, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!
Rogan’s Robbie is a BWWM (Black Woman/White Man) romance novel based in Las Vegas, Nevada. All of the characters, locations, and events are products of my imagination or used in a fictional, imaginative manner. I hope you love my book!