Excerpt:

Paul made a derisive noise. “You are talking to the only Michelin rated short order cook on the planet.”

“You are not Michelin rated.”

“I can dream.”

Drew pushed through the door.

“Yes, I can see it now. The Michelin Guide to West Virginia,” Alex said, heading out.

“More likely to be the Goodyear guide to West Virginia.”

Michelin is a French tire company. As a marketing tool, they started producing a restaurant guide to convince people to take road trips. The Michelin guide became so successful that people stopped associating it with the tires at all. As it is a French restaurant guide, the rating of chefs was very important so to be a Michelin rate chef is a huge honor.

Goodyear is also a tire company. They used to be made in Akron, Ohio (also the former home of Firestone) and many West Virginians went up route 77 to Akron to find jobs in the tire factories. Thus, the joke about a Goodyear Guide to West Virginia.

Waiting For a Girl Like You available now.

The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck was the third of the trio of books that made such an impression on me that I nearly burst into tears in front of my Brit Lit prof. It’s not my favorite of the three, but I still don’t think I’ll ever plant chrysanthemums in my garden.

Waiting For a Girl Like You available now.

Marc is smart. Very smart. But he’s not the musician he wishes he to be. Much to Marc’s great misfortune, Jason is the musician he wishes he to be. Every damn day he has to wake up to the fact that he’s never going to have the gift that Jason does. Or even the gift that Brian does. He’s clever, but he’s not brilliant. He’s good, but he’s not great, and no amount of hours spent practicing or studying other great musicians is going to change that. On his darkest days, he believes that he’s the weakest link in the band. But he’s accepted what he considers to be his handicap and he’s making the best of it. His talent, whether he likes it or not, is business.

How can you not love a guy like that?

Marc is a tall, struggling ex-smoker. He’s older than the other members of the band by a few years so he’s always been the elder. There’s a lot of Joe Elliott (Def Leppard) in him, but without Mr. Elliott’s terrific case of foot-in-mouth disease. There’s also a smidge of Jonathan Cain (Journey). I tried to mix in a little Paul McCartney (do you need his resume?) which comes out in his defensiveness though. I know, I know, Paul McCartney? Defensive? Trust me. Or don’t and dig into the story behind “Silly Love Songs.” Lennon makes a smart ass, bitter remark in the press and Paul writes a hit song in his own defense.

OMG, Joe Elliott, Jonathan Cain and Paul McCartney all in one. I may faint.

Waiting For a Girl Like You available now.

The root of the dynamic between Jason and Marc had its roots in two guitarists I happened to know. One of them is an extremely gifted player. The other is not so gifted, but extremely determined. I haven’t seen him for many years, but I’m sure of two things. One, he’s probably single and two, he’s still plugging away.

Player One* managed to screw up his life in the most shocking turn of events I’ve ever lived through (and if you watched my highlight reel, you’d be really horrified by that statement.) He was at the top of his (admittedly small) field. The best blues guitarist in our city. Taught <famous guitar player> of the <well-known, current group> to play guitar. Standing gigs that went for years. Many fans who were friends. Lots of guitar students. Married to a beautiful woman. Gorgeous house in the country, yet still close enough to everything, which he had bought from his parents for, most literally, a song. And then. You knew there was going to be an “and then,” didn’t you? And then he cheated on his wife. He didn’t want children and his wife had been willing to forego children for him. His mistress got pregnant. Divorce. He lost the house to his ex in the divorce mostly because his parents were pissed at him. Those friends who were fans and students? Well, when you do something so awful as to cheat on your wife, whom everyone loves, and have a child with your mistress, whom everyone recognized long ago as smarmy, you tend to lose those friends slash fans, who are the bulk of your audience. When you lose your audience, you lose your gigs. Poof.

Player Two was always a good guy. Reliable as the sun. I doubt Player One ever realized there was any rivalry between them, but Player Two did. He was acutely aware of every gig the other one got, every fan, every time someone stupidly opened their mouth in his presence to compare them and he came up short. (He had a little twitch at the corner of his mouth that gave him away.) He practiced constantly and researched. Last I heard, and I haven’t been around for a long time, he had a girlfriend, but it was a very low-key affair. Before that he had been in a serious, monogamous relationship with his craft. He was always good looking, in a tall, serious way. Not as flashy as Player One. No drama for him.

Personally, I can see the appeal of both sides. (Obviously, I wrote books using both character types.) Big drama, big loss. No drama, less risk. Of course, poor Marc ends up with big drama anyway, but that’s because he chooses a chick with baggage. In the end, that means he gets the big love after all. What would you choose?

*Names withheld to protect the innocent and not so innocent.

Waiting For a Girl Like You is available.