Doing the Deadline Dance
There is something so satisfying and invigorating about finishing a long-term project. After investing countless hours of hard work, creativity, and great deal of hair-pulling, seeing a whisper of a dream become reality is a joy like no other.
Maybe you’ve restored a battered antique to its former glory, or endured a kitchen remodel. Maybe you’ve quilted a family heirloom or prayed a child through college. The more time, effort, and love invested, the sweeter the moment of completion feels.
Yesterday, I experienced that sweetness when I turned in Book 2 in my Texas Ever After Series. This will be a Cinder-fella story set in Palo Pinto, TX in 1889. There’s a cattle king trying to marry off his daughter, a cowboy trying to protect his stepmother from being evicted, a secret villain willing to take deadly action to ensure his own happy ending, and a boot that goes missing at the cattleman’s ball.
I had so much fun playing with the classic Cinderella story. First with the names. Since this is a role reversal, I played with Cinderella options for our hero and decided on Asher Ellis. Asher plays on the Cinder metaphor as well as being a strong, biblical name, and Ellis is reminiscent of Ella. For our heroine, I wanted something to play on the “charming” motif without being too on-the-nose. I ended up selecting Samantha Dearing – Dearing like endearing or charming. Samantha is the feminine version of Samuel which comes into play in the story since her father’s name is Eli.
The other thing I really wanted to do in this retelling was to redeem the stepmother character. Fairy tales have painted stepmothers with a terribly dark brush, and I thought it only right to give loving and kind stepparents their moment to shine. So Mama Bess, as Asher calls his stepmother, is a loving, supportive, generous soul who adores her stepson as much as her own two boys. This brought an added benefit of leaving the villain in the shadows and readers guessing.
Recently, my publisher informed me that they’ve agreed to let me keep my working title for this book, which makes me super happy. I just couldn’t think of anything more perfect for a western Cinderfella story than a line Woody from Toy Story made famous.
If the Boot Fits won’t be out until March 2024, but Book 1 in the Texas Ever After series is coming in June. Preorder from Baker Book House for a 40% discount!
Baker Book House | Amazon | Christianbook.com
What large projects have you been working on
or recently completed?
