The Story Behind the Story

Do brainy men make you sweat? With apologies to Willie Nelson, my heroes have always been geeks, an affliction that started with my first high school BF.

For much of my life, I was a geek, too, working as a technical writer who specialized in building online help systems. Before tech writing, I spent seven years in radio as a DJ, back when you really did need to be at least a little geeky to work in the industry. I can still recall taking the FCC third-class license exam at the federal building in downtown Boston. Yes, to work at most radio stations BD (before deregulation), you had to have an FCC license or, as we called it, "a third-class phone." The "phone" part referred to the full, official name of the license, which I now forget.

I still have the peach-colored piece of paper that forever declares me licensed to broadcast at a radio station where I am responsible for hourly transmitter readings.

But--back to software. I was working a Boston-area contract in 2001, a very geeky tech writing job, and it served as the first glimmer of the idea that became HOT TO TROT, which Loose-Id released today. At the time, I was also taking riding lessons, and had a male friend who was as horse-crazy as I was, so the main characters developed an equestrian hobby. (Horses are actually more of an addiction, but that's beside the point.)

A lot of time, sweat, and tears later, HOT TO TROT was born, and Loose-Id agreed to publish it. So, with no further ado, here's the book's story. Please do stop by my Yahoogroup for details on how you can win a copy.

"Exes Patti North and Dylan Decker adore each other. Her problem? He cheated. His problem? Her temper. Fixing things will take more than spankings and hot sex, though that’s a good start.

HOT TO TROT, set in the often funny-weird worlds of Boston high-tech and equestrian hobbyists, tells the story of two exes who still adore each other—and still annoy each other—more than any other twosome on the planet."

Barrie Abalard
Stories of love that hurts so good...
http://www.barrieabalard.blogspot.com
http://www.barrieabalard.com