True Canine Tales...with Lisa Plumley

People often ask me if my books are based on real-life people or events. And my typical answer is...it depends. Which is the truth. I mean, a few details can’t help but sneak in here and there. The tricky part is, I don’t always realize it until later. Which is what happened with my book, Let’s Misbehave.

According to the back cover copy, Let’s Misbehave is a contemporary romance about a fun-loving heiress who enters "shopaholic rehab" and as part of her therapy has to get a real job...as a nanny/housekeeper for a macho single-dad NFL quarterback and his three rowdy kids. Fun, right? And it really was fun. I had a great time pairing up hoity-toity (but affectionate) heiress Marisol Winston with bossy (but gorgeous) jock Cash Connelly. (Pssst...you can read the entire first chapter at my Web site, http://www.lisaplumley.com/)

Anyway, in many of my books, someone (usually the hero) has a dog (sorry, people who love their cats, but we’re allergic in this household, so I have no experience with felines—it’s nothing personal, I swear), and Let’s Misbehave is no exception. Cash’s lovable old German Shepherd, Dump, is getting up there in years. He’s a little creakier than he used to be. He can’t hear so well anymore. And he can’t eagle-eye the neighborhood cats as fast as he used to either. But Dump can still jump up on (Marisol’s) bed for a surprise snuggle. He can still “woof” and romp with the troublemaking Connelly triplets. And he can still run to greet Cash the minute he gets home after a tough, sweaty day at football training camp. I loved Dump! But it wasn’t until Let’s Misbehave was finished that I realized why.

Dump is the alter ego of my dog, Cidney (Cid for short). Cid was a Dalmatian/Greyhound mix, a dog we inherited fifteen years ago from my husband’s coworkers who were moving overseas. When we went to meet her (yes, her—the mysteries of naming a female dog “Cid” are beyond me), it was love at first sight. From the moment Cid came home, she unofficially adopted me, and I returned the sentiment wholeheartedly. We were inseparable. Cid went with me on long walks around the neighborhood—and on hikes in the mountains here in Arizona. She took car trips. She followed me around the house and barked protectively at the FedEx guy. She ran super fast and could catch a tennis ball in midair with true acrobatic finesse...but she could not comprehend “people talk” like “sit,” “stay,” or “stop shedding.”

When I typed “The End” on my first-ever manuscript, Cid was lying in my office next to me. When I made my first sale, she was perplexed by my hooting, hollering, and jumping around...but was plenty game to celebrate with a Milk Bone. When I finished Let’s Misbehave and mailed it to my editor, Cid tromped down to the neighborhood mailbox with me. But when the book hit the shelves, Cid was gone.

After a long and happy life filled with tail wagging, searching brown-eyed gazes, and patient waiting for the dropped scrap of T-bone that never came (I’m a vegetarian), Cid developed a neurological disease, became paralyzed, and died last year. It was a very difficult time. I still miss Cid. But I’m doubly glad that I paid tribute to her in Let’s Misbehave. So yes...sometimes fiction is based in reality. And sometimes it’s even better than reality. Dump, for instance, will always be waiting in the pages of Let’s Misbehave, ready to offer a big doggie snuffle at any time. And I’m pretty happy about that.

Have you hugged your dog or cat (or horse or turtle or parakeet or ferret or goldfish) today? Do it!

Thanks for letting me visit, and let’s chat!

~Lisa

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Bestselling author Lisa Plumley has written more than a dozen books for Zebra Books and Harlequin Historicals, including contemporary romances (Mad About Max), western historical romances (The Rascal), and stories in romance anthologies (Santa Baby, on sale now!). Her funny, warmhearted style has been likened to such reader favorites as Rachel Gibson, Jennifer Crusie, and LaVyrle Spencer, but her unique characterization is all her own. Her latest release, Let’s Misbehave, earned a 4½-star Top Pick! rating from Romantic Times BOOKclub magazine and was chosen as one of Booklist’s Top Ten Romances of 2007. Please visit Lisa at http://www.lisaplumley.com/, be her friend on MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/lisaplumley, or drop by her blog at http://lisaplumley.wordpress.com/ today.