Or, as as the third book in the cruise series (see Real Women Wear Red and Chasing Moondoggie), I could start out with this version of “Previously…”, especially since it is more connected to the hook (see Write Naked, Chapter 18 “The Right Hooks and Warm-up Jabs”).

But this version also seems more about catching the reader up than really explaining the hook (why she thinks “she’s not that good.)” That’s what chapter 1 (coming up next) does so maybe neither version of “Previously” is needed. But it also features the “Sandy Brown” character as the heroine instead of a secondary character. I must have changed my mind about her early on and would have to make a lot of edits to keep this character as the heroine. But it was supposed to be her book back when my agent asked me to write a 3-book series. So maybe it should be her book and that’s why I stalled on finishing it.

We’ll chat more about this later.

She’s Not That Good

Previously…

Not that long ago, okay, maybe a year or two or three… I boarded a ship bound for the Caribbean and the first thing out of my mouth was, “My name is Sandy Brown and I’m addicted to Coppertone.” I kid you not. The weird thing is the person I said it to turned out to be my mother. How did I know that when I boarded that ship, I’d stumble across my birth mother and we both loved to wear red.

Okay, so maybe I had a bigger chance of loving the same color as my mother than actually finding her on a cruise ship.

And I fell for a guy named Troy, practically the first guy I met after my divorce from Cliff, as in “jumping off a cliff” when I married him in the first place.

But that’s not all. Oh no, later I take another cruise with my mother and Millie. Have I mentioned Millie yet? Oh she’s quite a hoot, just another random woman I met on that first cruise. Anyway, this time we cruised Hawaii. I know, gorgeous, right? So then I fall for this guy named Adam Troy. I should have known that wouldn’t work out.

Okay, that’s enough catching up for now. But, oh, yeah, there’s one more thing you should know about me. That hangup I had from high school about not being good enough, yeah, well, it’s ballooned into unbelievable proportions now. But more about that in the next chapter.