A Man in Uniform

There’s something about a man in uniform that always perks the interest of the ladies.

I remember in my younger days, late 20s, I was given a speeding ticket by a hunk of a police officer on the Oregon coast. It was an accident, my speeding, because I was unfamiliar with the area and hadn’t yet seen a speed limit sign. The moment I did, I began to slow… but, alas, it was too late.

Hoping the police officer wouldn’t show up to court, I drove over to the coast on the day of my court date to contest the ticket. Alas, the hunk was there, in his short-cut honey-blond hotness, and the judge would have none of my explanation. So, instead of the ticket I agreed to take an online traffic course and pay for the court fees.

Outside of the courtroom at the cashier window, I noticed the hunky officer heading my way. In fact, he navigated through the crowd coming and going from the courtroom in order to approach me. Unfortunately, I don’t remember exactly what he said to me. It was something to the effect that he did not want me to be angry or annoyed. I have the impression the brief conversation was not only polite, but on the flirty side. Nothing came of it because my parents showed up (we had journeyed together to make a weekend of it), and the hunky officer excused himself.

When I was still single, I found myself often wondering what could have happened if I had taken a pro-active approach and given him my phone number… or something… ANYTHING. But this is the first time I have thought about this little… life moment and its possibilities as a novel.

Don’t ask me what started me brainstorming a fresh novel idea from this slice of my life, because I couldn’t possibly tell you! Once the writer instinct hits you and the ideas begin swirling around your brain, there is little recourse other than to grab a pen and paper (or your laptop) and start rambling things into some semblance of order. That’s what I found myself doing on my commute home today.

With this little moment from my own life.

It felt refreshing and wonderful to begin ruminating on a fresh novel idea simply for the novel and nothing else. No NaNoWriMo, no Script Frenzy, no Camp NaNoWriMo or anything else. It was an idea for an idea’s sake, no strings attached. So now I have to run to create a spreadsheet to help me organize the names, goals, locations, and storyline ideas that I came up with for this contemporary romance about a man in uniform and a down-to-earth girl who just wants a dream to come true once in her life.

Possible titles thus far:

• True Colors / True Blue
• The Dating Formula / The Rankin Formula
• Blogger & the Beast ~ HAHAH~
• Formula Breaker
• The Formula
• That’s the Ticket
• Trooper of Love ~ HAHAH~