The Story Behind the Story…

The Story Behind the Story…

Hello, all! I’m Cat Johnson, one of the authors lucky enough to have my story submission chosen for inclusion in Cowboy Lust. When the editor put out a call for hot cowboy shorts, I knew two things. First, I had to submit since cowboys are kind of my thing and second, I knew exactly what story I wanted to write.

I’d been waiting for an opportunity to spin a real life tale into fiction for a while. No, my real experience wasn’t quite like the finished fictional product you’ll read in my Cowboy Lust story, but it is still a pretty entertaining tale. It’s become what my friend and I now refer to as our Great Big Austin Adventure, and here it is…

It was March of 2011 and I was in Austin, TX attending the SxSW festival/trade show for business with a coworker of mine, who also happens to be an author. Now keep in mind, I’m a New Yorker. I’m used to the city that never sleeps, and taxi cabs everywhere, day and night. I never thought that when we took the twenty-minute taxi ride from our hotel in the middle of the city of Austin to the far-reaching outskirts where Rodeo Austin was being held, we wouldn’t be able to get back. But that’s how it turned out. As we were standing there in the dark waiting for a cab that never came, the sheriff  told us about the Japanese tourists who’d waited until 1am the night before for their taxi, which also never came. He’d eventually driven them to their hotel. The parking attendant told us no cab was coming to get us way out there when they could make more money staying in the city, which was teeming with people for SxSW, but if we wanted to wait for his shift to end at midnight, he’d drive us.

I was blown away the cab company wouldn’t have told me this in advance. More, that they’d swear up and down on the phone the cab was on its way but an hour later, it still wasn’t there. The sheriff suggested we walk the mile and a half to the bus station. He obviously didn’t want to play taxi again that night. The parking attendants said no, us walking in the middle of the night on the dark highway to wait at a deserted bus station was a very, very bad idea. They obviously didn’t want to be responsible for our deaths caused by bad advice.

In my frustration I turned to the sheriff and asked, “What do you suggest we do? Go back in, find ourselves a cowboy, and get him to drive us to the hotel?”

He nodded, and said perfectly seriously, “That’s not a bad idea.”

Long story short, the parking attendant handed us his phone, which had the numbers of every taxi company in the area in the contact list. He told us to call every single one and order a cab and if we were lucky, one might come. We did that, and lo and behold, one driver who wasn’t trolling the streets of Austin looking for fares, but had instead gone home for the night, got up off his couch and came to get us. Thank God he lived nearby.

But still, the erotic romance author in me couldn’t shake the story idea–What if ,while stranded at the rodeo, I had gone back inside and scooped myself a cowboy. What naughty shenanigans could that have led to?

That kernel of an idea led to the writing of “Ladies Love Country Boys”. It’s a fish out of water story, the fish being the heroine in Austin on business. Her rental car breaks down on the highway in front of the rodeo/fairgrounds. She goes inside to kill time while waiting for the tow truck and while there, finds a hot as hell cowboy to keep her busy.

I can tell you my heroine has a better time being stranded than I did, but my friend and I did come out of it with one hell of a war story… and a slightly altered perception of the  law enforcement personnel in Texas.

Cat

8 thoughts on “The Story Behind the Story…

  1. I’m originally from Missouri and moved here to TX as an adult. I’ve been here for 20 years now, but some things never cease to amaze me. Things that seem straight out of a book that really happen here. I work for a local govt agency and they have law enforcement training & conferences & board meetings. There will be an entire meeting room full of men in cowboy hats, cowboy boots, badges and guns. It’s like fiction come to life! 🙂

    1. You’re right! He did have a cowboy hat on with his uniform. He would have been a romantic figure if he’d ACTED like a hero instead of a lazy man! LOL in this real life story, it’s the parking attendant who comes out as the heroic figure!

  2. I liked your story for I was stranded at a rodeo myself when I was dating a cowboy and he hooked up with an old girlfriend in San Antonio, I was a new comer about rodeos and cowboys but coming from Chicago and being the girl doing things on my own and the help of a cowboy who also was stranded with me and his friends, I got home…met someone who became a good friend and at the time wasn’t in the mood for his sweet talking and all, I was pretty rough with him…anyways thru the years we’ve stayed friends and he always helping me out one way or another..a true friend..

  3. Loved this true-story short, and I’m very happy that you turned a bad situtaion into what I’m sure is gonna be gold…I’m dying to read this one now!!!

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