How to Score (44 page)

The idea for this book came to me while writing BETWEEN THE SHEETS The heroine of that story, Emma, needed to change her image after being involved in a terrible scandal, and I originally intended to have her hire a life coach to help her. Emma had other ideas, however, and the story went in another direction.

The concept of writing a book about a life coach continued to simmer in my subconscious. The topic intrigued me, probably because I’m a sucker for self-improvement plans. I devour magazine articles with titles such as “Organize Your House, Look like Angelina Jolie, Behave like Mother Teresa, Become the Perfect Parent, Stay Serene as a Monk, Clear Up Your Skin, and Scorch Your Sheets in Seven Easy Steps.” (The advice never works, but hope springs eternal.)

What kind of woman, I wondered, would go beyond self-help books and actually hire a life coach? Probably a woman with problems on all fronts— problems with her job, problems with her living arrangements, problems with her family, and, most important, problems with her love life. Or lack there of. The wheels started spinning in my mind. Maybe my heroine’s romantic problem could be of her own making. Maybe she had a painful secret that made her inadvertently drive away potential partners. The wheels started spinning faster. Yes! I was onto something!

I then turned my attention to the hero. What kind of man would make the most interesting life coach? Hmmm. He had to be tall, dark, and sexy as sin—that was a given. What if he wasn’t a life coach at all? What if he was a highly structured pragmatist who thought everything could and should be solved through logic, careful planning, hard work, and self-discipline—the kind of man who thinks he has all the answers, who believes that if people would just follow his advice, their problems would all be solved? (My husband wants me to point out here that I, personally, have never known, much less married, a man like that.)

What if the hero also had a painful past that made him crave order, organization, and control? (Anyone who has seen my husband’s sock drawer will know beyond a doubt that I really, truly did not base this hero on him.)

Once the characters came to life, the story took off. I set the book in Tulsa because I used to live in Oklahoma and know that the city is renowned for its art deco architecture. The museum, neighbor-hood, and restaurants in my book are fictional, but the issues facing “recent history” preservationists in Tulsa and other cities are all too real.

The secondary romance between the two older characters in the book came as a surprise to me; I originally planned for Sammi’s blue-haired artist sister, Chloe, to have a love interest. Instead, Sammi’s landlord and boss fell in love as they helped each other deal with past regrets, find self-forgiveness, and learn that it’s never too late for new beginnings.

I hope you enjoy reading HOW TO SCORE as much as I enjoyed writing it. I invite you to drop by my Web site,
www.robinwells.com
, to share your thoughts, read an excerpt from my next novel, or just say hi!

All my best,