Author Jodi Linton is here today, talking about how she came up with her character Laney Briggs, and Laney’s latest adventure, Pretty Reckless.
THE MAKING OF DEPUTY LANEY BRIGGS
Often I’m asked how I came up with Laney Briggs. It’s a long story, so I’ll give the condensed version of it for now.
When we first moved to Austin from north Texas, my husband and I found ourselves thrust into a big city with small town charm. I worked various temp jobs for several months since having a bachelor’s degree in history really didn’t get the plum pickings in the job department. When it came down to the writing part of this story, I didn’t actually start typing away on the computer until I became pregnant with my first child. After several failed attempts at trying to complete a manuscript, I shoved writing aside and focused on raising my son for a few years.
Then, one day I decided to try my hand at writing again.
For the most part, the series started out with a brainstorming session I had with my husband. As I was in the middle of writing a manuscript (which will never see the light of day), I hit a wall and decided to trash the project until I could find my writing muse again. In the end, my husband suggested that I should write what I knew, and that was…Texas. My inner cheerleader wanted to shake her pom-poms when the name Laney Briggs popped into my head.
After that, it all sort of fell into place.
I grew up in a small town, so I knew the language and the fun peculiarities of small town people. Within days of that conversation with my husband, I had a clear vision of who my protagonist would be. There she was, a sassy female sheriff deputy whose sharp tongue could outwit any hunky cowboy.
Now if you want the longer version of the story, buy me a cold one if we ever cross paths later on down the road, and we’ll sit down for a spell.
Author Bio:
Jodi Linton grew up across the street from a cow pasture, where she was more likely to be seen selling Kool-Aid in a Dixie cup at ten cents a pop, or inviting neighbors over to watch one of her plays staged on her father’s Bass boat.
In 2001, she traded in the rednecks, cowboys, and mesquite trees of her hometown to chase destiny out west. After a few years of mucking it around with the roughnecks, dust storms, and droughts, she decided to dust off her boots and head home. With a History degree in one hand and a marriage license in the other, she followed her husband in 2006 to central Texas the heartland, fabulous Austin.
After settling into the Texas Hill Country with her husband and two kids, she joined the Austin Romance Writers of America, and signed with The Belcastro Agency. Today she can be found cozied up to the computer escaping into a quirky world of tall tales, sexy, tight jean wearing cowboys, and a protagonist with a sharp-tongue quick enough to hang any man out to dry.
Email:jodilinton30@gmail.com
Twitter: @JodiLinton1
Pretty Reckless
by: Jodi Linton
Release Date: 3/24
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Synopsis:
She’s dead-set on giving one bullheaded cowboy the boot.
Welcome to Pistol Rock, Texas where secrets last about as long as the sporadic west Texas rain showers.
Laney Briggs has long been considered reckless, but she’s turned herself around—she’s respectably engaged and she’s become a Pistol Rock deputy sheriff. Everything’s fine until a dead body turns up and her ex, Texas Ranger Gunner Wilson, decides to stick his boots into the town’s first murder case.
Laney will be damned if she lets Gunner trample all over her turf and her chance at a quiet, contented life. His seemingly endless ability to undermine her resolve and her libido is only outdone by her constant urge to butt heads with him. But when the bodies start to pile up, Laney has to ask the lethal bad boy for a hand—and a truce in exchange for his help.
Having an ex-boyfriend as an ally might not be the best idea, but Laney has always been pretty reckless…