Everyone has a story about how they started out. I started like most people. I collected form letter rejections. Then there was a call for submissions. A novella? Easy enough. And I had the germ of an idea that involved a snowstorm and being stranded in Memphis.

Then the King took over. I dreamed up a hotel. I wrote the story. And it was accepted.
Then in an amazing stroke of luck, my editor asked if I had any other stories set there.
I did not. But over a weekend, I built three of the strongest ideas I could. I emailed them, they were accepted and I was up against my very first deadline. That story, Stuck on You, will be out in April.

It really does not get any better than that.
Along the way, I’ve had some real Elvis immersion. I found this great video for Stuck on You. And I watch it now and then because it totally gives me the whole Elvis hot burnin’ thing. I think I was driving home on Thanksgiving and listening to the Elvis channel on XM radio (free on that weekend, yay!) broadcasting directly from Graceland itself and I heard this song. And I cannot get it out of my mind now. I sing with this video (but the photos make me think how rough the 70s were on most people. I was born in the 70s but quickly transitioned to PacMan shirts, two pairs of socks, and high-top Reeboks…the style choices weren’t really that much kinder in the 80s, were they?)
Please enjoy “It’s Your Baby, You Rock It” from Elvis’ country phase. And if this one doesn’t stick with you, try “Stuck on You”. It makes me want to pull my hair and scream and cry and possibly faint. Not really. But if you’d seen me when the New Kids on the Block were hot, you’d believe me.

I’m thinking of putting an excerpt up from the first chapter of Stuck on You on Friday. Come back!