Maybe it was the title, maybe it was the underwear on the cover. I clicked on “Good-time Girl” by Leslie M. Rollins and wow, what a read this book turned out to be! My innocent eyeballs!
I doubt you’ve ever read anything like Good Time Girl before. From an editorial review:
-Blue Ink Review
Two occurrences happened back in the early 2000s—I was let go from a full-time job (NOT for shooting a chair!) and I spoke to a NY agent who was screening people for his pitching-to-agents class. Based on the manuscript I’d submitted, that he thought good enough to call me on directly, he suggested I turn it into a Chick Lit-style format that was popular at the time (Bridget Jones). But I didn’t want to change my male hero to a heroine and punch up the love story. That wasn’t what I’d written, which was more Lit fiction. When I told him that, he declared that I will NEVER be published and was quite emphatic about it. He made me so angry that I went to my computer, thinking, “Oh, I’ll give you Chick Lit, pal!” and started typing his stupid story. But I created a Chick Lit Anti-Christ who was inappropriately old, not cute, who lusted after men inappropriately young. Marriage was not her goal and she was pissed off enough to buy a gun. Thus, Leah was born.
Her story poured out of me in a year’s time, which was fast writing for me. I toned her down after submitting to my writers group.
I did try submitting her to agents many times over the years and reworked her story, but the rejections got to me, and I shelved her for a long time. I feared her story had become too dated and passed its window.
Last year, I realized I could kick the bucket and no one would know about ANY of the stories I’d labored over. My computer would get wiped or trashed, and it would be like they never existed. And I wanted my nieces to read my writing when they got older.
So I took the two most finished novels, Good-time Girl and THE MAN DANCE, and self-published last spring. I polished and packaged them so they’d be as good as any book in a store. I’ve had them up on Net Galley to collect feedback. Marketing has been a grind since I do freelance graphic design full-time. I am 64 and can’t afford not to work…! My husband passed nine years ago.
Currently, I’m working on a sequel to THE MAN DANCE because it is pouring out of me, and I’m going to be working with a development editor on it in the new year—which I’m very excited about! I think…!
Oh, and I did submit a Good-time Girl manuscript to that NY agent for his class and, of course, he accepted it. However, I chose not to take his class and pay him any money. But I did dedicate GTG to him.
Leslie Rollins has tackled feelings and desires in another book, The Man Dance. Her focus is on a young boy and man, George, who must deal with his passions. Yes, Ms. Rollins can create a fifty-year-old female and a young boy, and make us care about both of them.
Despite a useless Fine Arts degree, Leslie M. Rollins has spent much of her career in the world of Direct Marketing and Graphic Design. Her writing was done on the side, in the car, in bathrooms-yes, no keyboards! With the help of sadistic writers’ groups, she learned to hone her craft. The muse drove her mad. A great procrastinator, yet she completed two novels (so far), Rollins has also managed her own business, traveled, and put her big toe on the path to Enlightenment via several Buddhist retreats. She has survived marriage and widowhood, and the loss of some lovely dogs. She currently resides with cats in Virginia.
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I am a writer, blogger, book reviewer, and bon vivant and encourager. I have lived my entire life in Tropical Ohio. My goal is to make friends with everyone in the world. I wrote a fiction series, The Golden Age of Charli, that presents the problems and praises, and the love and laughter of family life and retirement. My passions are blogging, reading and reviewing, and writing. My life is a WIP.
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