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Guest Blogger: Cat Johnson
Wednesday, May 11th, 2011

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I’M NOT MY CHARACTERS BUT MY CHARACTERS MAY BE PEOPLE

by Cat Johnson

There’s been some noise in the romance community lately which only reinforces my opinion that non-writers truly do believe erotic romance authors are—or at least do all the things their book characters do. Of course that’s ridiculous. First of all, unlike my heroine in UNRIDDEN where in New York State just an hour from Manhattan am I finding bull riders to have threesomes with when I rarely leave my PJs or my laptop long enough to go out and buy food for my family? Second, if I wrote murder mysteries would they assume I was killing people for research? Of course not, but apparently researching sex scenes is a different story in people’s minds.

So no, I am not my characters, however my characters are often people. Not verbatim but at least in part based on or inspired by real people. Case in point Jared, the hero of my latest release of the same name, the fourth book in the Red, Hot & Blue series with Samhain Publishing.

Jared was written into JACK (Book 2) and JIMMY (Book 3) in the Red, Hot & Blue series as a side character, the younger brother of SpecOps Jack and Jimmy Gordon who chose his first love, horses, and stayed home to run the family breeding farm while his brothers were off saving the world in the military.

Writing the character of Jared was a pleasure. I mean, who doesn’t love a man who loves horses? And the image of him working his farm, shirtless and glistening in sweat, wearing not much more than cowboy boots and jeans, is pretty nice too.

So who inspired Jared, you may ask, since I already confessed I don’t get out all that much. It was the son of the farmer who delivers my hay. See! I didn’t even have to leave home to find him. Gotta love when characters fall in your lap like that. Seeing that hay truck pull up with 200 plus bales stacked high and tight, and the farmer’s son jumping up on top of all that hay to fling the bales (weighing at least 30 lbs each) two at a time through the hay door high up in the wall of my barn, was some nice inspiration.

If I didn’t have to stack those bales once they hit the floor inside I would have just stood and ogled him. I guess I did pay too much attention to the vision since I nearly got pummeled by a few bales flying in from above when I wasn’t paying attention. It was a bit like that game Frogger but I didn’t write that part into my story. In the book the heroine isn’t sweaty, hacking and covered in dust like I was. Oh no, my heroine gets to enjoy the scene from afar. See how we authors create a fantasy from the facts? You’re welcome! LOL.

Anyway, I know what some people are thinking about me and the farmer’s son all alone and sweaty on my 5 acre farm—but no I was not alone here with the farmer’s son. His dad was here too, helping stack those bales and huffing and puffing pretty heavily, enough to make me wonder if I still remembered my CPR training. You see the son was here because his dad had recently had a heart attack. But when you make a living being a farmer, you’re back on the horse—or the hay truck—or you don’t pay the bills. So there you have it, life is not nearly as nice and clean or hot and sexy and we write it, and aren’t you grateful for authors taking those liberties.

Cat Johnson
www.catjohnson.net

Check out the newly released JARED (Red, Hot & Blue, Book 4) available in eBook now.

Everything is just right…until she turns his life upside down.

It doesn’t take anything fancy to make Jared Gordon a happy man. A slice of his mama’s pie, a pretty girl, a well-bred horse. Life on the farm is just how he likes it. Simple. Until a big city girl blows into town like a tornado hitting a trailer park.

Quintessentially small-town Pigeon Hollow has everything LA producer Mandy Morris needs for her new reality show. A smoldering deputy sheriff, a quirky diner owner and a horse farm complete with a hunky horseman. If her own instant attraction is any indication, Jared will have the female demographic glued to their sets.

Except the red-hot cowboy is cool to the idea of cameras in his face. And the harder she negotiates, the deeper he digs in…until their head-butting strikes sparks that fans a prairie fire of unexpected passion. She doesn’t usually mix business with pleasure, but as Pigeon Hollow’s charm works its magic, the youngest Gordon brother has Mandy rethinking many things.

Like happiness doesn’t have to end with the word “cut.”

Warning: Contains one hot shirtless cowboy taking a city girl for a roll in the hay…and a few other places.
This book has been previously published and has been revised from its original release.

11 comments to “Guest Blogger: Cat Johnson”

  1. Dawn Jackson
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    1
    · May 11th, 2011 at 9:49 am · Link

    Love your books Cat! Keep’um Cummin…LOL



  2. tammy ramey
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    · May 11th, 2011 at 10:03 am · Link

    sounds like an awesome book and i can’t wait to read it. thank you for the great post.



  3. Jeana
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    · May 11th, 2011 at 10:07 am · Link

    Love your books Cat. Gotta love those hot men in nothing but blue jeans and cowboy boots. Honestly the appeal of fiction and romance in particular is the fact that it’s not real life. If I wanted real life I would watch the news or read non fiction. but I like something to take me away from it all and feed my fantasies.



  4. Brandi
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    · May 11th, 2011 at 10:26 am · Link

    Love reading your books and finding out the inspiration behind your stories are! Enjoy your life in your jammies and helping the farmers son when ever you have the opportunity! 😉



  5. desiree
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    · May 11th, 2011 at 10:42 am · Link

    I love your books and I can not wait to read Jareds story.
    Your real life Jared sounds yummy too I will just think of him shirtless, wearing jeans, boots and a hat. Can not leave out the hat or the sweat just dripping off of him. 😉



  6. Marika Weber
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    · May 11th, 2011 at 10:43 am · Link

    I love this series. There is nothing sexier than a cowboy working. 😛 So authors don’t sit around waiting for the pool boy and eating bon bons? I’m disappointed. 😉



  7. Helen Seely
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    · May 11th, 2011 at 10:46 am · Link

    I love how people think you actuly get a chance to do the thing’s in your book.. If so your husband must be very understanding… lol On to Jared i’ve been waiting for his book and i’m sure it will be just as awesome as the rest of them. I ordered it last night and am exercising great patients i’ve yet to read it i have 5 orders i’m working on and 2 foster a dream quilts to get done this week. But come friday or in the middle of the night sometime this week Jared will be mine… LOL I’ll let you know what i think when i get it read.. P.S keep up the Awesome work your rock..
    Helen Seely
    Cute and Cuddly Quilts 😉



  8. Maria D.
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    · May 11th, 2011 at 11:11 am · Link

    Very interesting post Cat! Love hearing the stories behind the story.



  9. Becky W
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    · May 11th, 2011 at 11:44 am · Link

    I love your books, Cat. This book sounds great and I have already added it to my list to get. I never thought that the authors actually did do the things that they wrote in their stories. I had always figured it was their imagination or fantasies that was used to create the scenes that took place.



  10. Cat Johnson
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    · May 11th, 2011 at 12:55 pm · Link

    Wow! Lots of comments. Thanks to everyone for stopping by. I’m on the front porch with the laptop (wearing jammy bottoms but I did put on a bra and shirt so I’m counting that as dressed!). No hay delivery or farmer’s sons around today though 😉 . LOL

    Cat



  11. Jen B.
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    · May 11th, 2011 at 8:20 pm · Link

    I love this series. I haven’t had the chance to read Jared yet. Now I will think of Jared as the boy who stacked your hay!



Comments are closed.