My novella, The Last Straw is free on Amazon Kindle for 5
days starting today. This book started with a magazine article about a woman PI
who specialized in employee background checks. I cut out the article and her
photo and stuck it on my bulletin board. The fresh-faced, strawberry blonde
stared down at me all summer.
Then one day my husband and I were heading over to Half Moon
Bay to go to a party, but just as we were accelerating up the freeway on-ramp,
the car skidded. We thought that was weird! Then we noticed the engine heating
up so we took the next exit and pulled into a gas station. Turned out the
radiator hose had broken and we had skidded on the dumped engine coolant.
While we waited for a tow truck, I told my husband (plot
generator extraordinaire) about the character whose story I wanted to write. He
came up with the undercover FBI agent who disappears idea and also with the stolen
intellectual property idea.
I wrote the story but set it aside to focus on my day job
and my life, which was full of caregiving for the next few years. But last
fall, after I left my day job, my critique partner suggested I write something
short for The Wild Rose Press and asked me what I had. I told her the basic
premise and she loved it. She helped me brainstorm how to do it with the
suspense in the background.
The Wild Rose Press contracted the story and I started a new
phase of my writing life. I love this new phase and am working on more romance
stories, a bit longer but not full-length novel yet, with a touch of suspense,
spicy and on the lighter side.
The Last Straw is available here: http://amzn.to/164srhC
by Nia Simone
Thank you for sharing how you came up with your story idea, and what happened before you got your contract. I am getting my free copy right now and I can't wait to read it! :)
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