Chopped Encounter: The Creation

One day, while I was visiting a close friend in the UK and during one of our chats, she told me about what happened to a friend of hers. At the time, said friend lived in an apartment in a council estate in London, UK, and the family was sitting on the balcony overlooking the rather large inner courtyard of the complex when suddenly there was some noise overhead. Looking up, they saw a helicopter from the Royal Navy and them some men repelled out of it in full armour. Apparently, it was a training exercise.

This story didn’t leave my mind for years. Another friend of mine who lives in the South of the United States invited my children and me to visit her. She told me a bit about what her garden and house looked like and how there was a green in the town’s center that she liked very much.

At once, my mind fused the two things, setting a US Marine training operation in the middle of a Southern small town. And right on the green sat the female protagonist with some friends holding a spiritual drum circle.

Combine this with the Weather Girls’ song “It’s raining men” and you have the perfect setting for a new, incredibly exciting romance. I mean really, how much better can it be than having the tough warrior love of your life falling from the sky, directly at your feet — quite literally?

Needless to say, I was on fire, writing the story, weaving an old combat veteran into it who functions as the guardian angel in the book and the male protagonist’s best friend who is as loyal as he is scared of intimacy.

The police get involved and prejudices are addressed. Hearts heal and challenges are overcome. There is a lot going on, including an explanation given why it is the man’s job to take out the trash — thanks to my at the time pubescent son who was constantly trying to get out of that household chore.

I had a lot of fun writing this story and when it was finally finished, I was so happy, I felt like I had really levelled up. It was my fourth romance novel and for all this, it is still very dear to me and holds a special place in my heart. I love the fact that my two friends are also woven into the story who have inadvertently given me the initial spark of inspiration for this book.

For more on my and friend’s books, visit my website.