I Don't Write THAT!

Book spammers are the bane of nearly every author's life. I'm no exception. Except, I have to give one spammer a huge thank you for sparking an idea for a new book.

I opened up my inbox for my author account and saw email after email from names I didn't know—until there was one that I did recognize. I'm actually mutuals on social media with this author. Curious, I opened the email and started laughing. This was not my online author friend. Instead of saying, “Dude, don't know who you are, but you aren't Author So-and-So” I answered the email requesting information about my writing journey.

“I'm sorry, R. I can't talk shop today. I'm busy writing my newest book. I think you'll get a kick out this…” and I proceeded to create the most ridiculous premise I could possibly think of. Historical paranormal rom-com. Frontier lawyer in the small mountain town of Moonrise in the Wyoming Territory. He's a werewolf. He's married to a vampire. No one ever believed they'd have kids. They have quadruplets. His law partner is a ghoul. One of his boys believes he's British aristocracy. One daughter sees ghosts. His other son can't quite shift out of wolf sometimes and this month, he's stuck with wolf ears. His other daughter is vampire, through and through. And, Moonrise isn't exactly small town USA, either.

Figured that would be the end of it. I'm telling a friend about this ridiculous premise and we're both howling with laughter (pun fully intended). Then, my friend says, “You know, it might be paranormal, but it has all the earmarks of what you write—found family, a place to belong, finding identity.”

No. I have never written a rom-com. I've written fantasy romance under a pen name but rom-com? And the longer I said “no” the more my friend kept saying “yes, write it.”

The coup de gras? The cover mock-up. Oh, fudge…this could work.