A Good Man is Hard to Find started out as a writing exercise.  I was having trouble with the book I was working on and decided I needed a break from it. Not wanting to take a break from writing altogether, I started working on the writing prompts in Judy Reeves' book, A Writer's Book of Days: A Spirited Companion & Lively Muse for the Writing Life. 

This particular prompt simply said, "Write about bathing."  For whatever reason, that directive created a vivid picture in my mind: I saw a large, claw-footed porcelain bathtub in the upstairs bathroom of a brothel in the Old West.  Crazy, huh?  The picture was so complete that I knew there was a story there.

A few months later, I decided to try to write it for an anthology that was seeking entries.  I completely outlined the plot before sitting down to write.  The heroine was a women who grew up in a brothel, but who had been away for many years.  Recently returned, she was taking a bath in that claw footed bathtub.  All I needed was for the hero to walk in on her -- accidentally.  The hero was Kade.  He was to start out the story in the saloon.  Much to my chagrin, I couldn't get him to leave. He simply would not go over to the brothel.  I found this very frustrating, to say the least.  I just couldn't understand it -- it all worked so well in my outline.  Why couldn't I get him to go to the girl?

About that time, I read in the news that a little movie called Brokeback Mountain had won at the Venice Film Festival.  Maybe it was because they were both cowboy-type stories that I made a connection -- could the problem with my story be that simple?  As I began to really think about Kade, it became clear that it was indeed.  Kade didn't want the woman in the brothel; he was in love with a man.

I was a bit trepidatious about the new direction my story had taken.  Although I have been a BIG fan of m/m romances for a while, I had never considered writing one.  In the end, I really fell in love with Kade and Ren and their story has become very special to me.

It all started with the prompt, "Write about bathing."  I guess this tells you a little something about my writing process.  I may start out with a plot idea, but my writing is very character driven. 

Postscript: The woman in the brothel is still waiting -- I may tell her story some other time.  I haven't figured out who she's waiting for yet.

Because I had been writing A Good Man for an anthology, I had a strict word limit I was working with.  As a result, a lot of information about Kade and Ren's past was hinted at, but not fully explored.   Some readers have suggested that I write a prequel -- I may end up doing that at some point as well.