Touch Me

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BEHIND THE SCENES

By the time I’d written Champagne Rules and Hot in Here, I knew Ann pretty well.

She’s a lawyer who her friends call a workaholic. Well, I have a law degree but chose not to practice law, in part because of the pressure put on lawyers who want to get ahead. Yup, I can relate to Ann. And, with my background in psychology, I’m very interested in seeing how people - both women and men - deal with careers that are exceptionally demanding, when they also have personal needs and wants.

Also, I’m intrigued by the many different interpretations of feminism and women’s lib. Ann’s mother takes it to an extreme, whereas Adonis’s mom, who grew up in the same times, has a completely different view of what it means to be a liberated women. Have you ever heard the expression, “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle?” Well, I’ve heard it many times. Ann’s mom and Adonis’s mom both quote it, but interpret it differently.

Ann, like so many women, wants a successful career and also longs for love. She has to work out her own priorities - independent of what her mother wants for her - and find the right balance in her life.

I knew Ann needed a man who was the opposite of her mom, so he’d be the catalyst that made her re-examine her life.

I was musing about who this man might be, when I ended up in the dentist’s chair, suffering from very sore jaws. Yes, the stress symptom that triggers Ann’s visit to massage therapist Adonis is one I’ve suffered myself (turns out, it’s not just lawyers who get stressed out; it can happen to writers too!). It was while my dentist explained the problem to me that the beginning of this story popped into my mind. (Thanks, Dr. Mary-Lou!)

Unfortunately, I didn’t end up in the hands of a sexy Greek god massage therapist.

I do apologize to all responsible, professional massage therapists for Adonis’s behavior. I know real therapists don’t give the kind of, uh, treatment he did - but please remember, this is fiction. And fantasy.

I figured after Jenny getting a whole book full of fantasies in Hot in Here, Ann deserved at least one. And, after watching sensible Suze turn into Sexy Suzanne in Champagne Rules, Ann also deserved her chance at being outrageous. Not to mention having sex in the great outdoors. I’ve now used Stanley Park in Vancouver twice for a “sex in the great outdoors” scene.

One of the biggest surprises to me in writing this story was finding out that Ann heard voices in her head. What a pisser it must be to always hear a strict mom-voice lecturing and admonishing you to behave better, work harder, dress differently! But don’t many of us have those voices, whether we call them conscience or “our better judgment”? The trick is, figuring out when to listen and when to tell them to take a hike.