Sleeping Ugly... The Story Behind the Story

Years ago, when I was a teen, my middle brother was home on leave from the Air Force.  I remember staggering out of my bedroom one morning and hearing the words "Stop plucking your eyebrows like that.  You look like a..."  Wait... that's not the right story...

Another time, when he was home on leave, I stumble out of my bedroom and hear the words "You're not Sleeping Beauty.  You're Sleepin' Ugly."

My brother is funny that way.  And just so you know, he's my favorite brother* - witty comic statements and all.  (Actually, his witty statements are probably part of the reason he's my favorite.)

Flash forward about thirty years and the phrase came to mind one day when I was trying to decide what to write next.  Along with the phrase came the idea of a super model who gets cursed so that when she falls asleep at night, she turns ugly. 

That's clever, but not enough to build a whole story around.  So I sat down and did some thinking.  She can't just turn ugly and be ugly.  It wasn't enough.  So I made the curse not stop there.  She gets better looking throughout the day until she's back to herself by the time she falls asleep (or midnight, whichever comes first) and then BAM!  Ugly again.  Every night. 

But it's not just her.  The one night stand she was with the night the curse hit her got it, too.  Except his curse is slightly different.  He's ugly from sundown to sunup.  Which sucks for him because he works nights as a bouncer at a trendy nightclub. 

And then the fun begins.  Who cursed them?  Was the curse aimed at her or at him? 

And then, of course, I couldn't stop there.  I mean, that's probably enough of a pain in both their asses, but I threw another wrench in the machine and had the cops show up for something totally unrelated.  Or is it? 

Bwa ha ha.

And all of this came about because sometime back in the '80s, my brother was being a wiseass.  So, yeah, I'm dedicating this book to him.  Because he gave me the title, and it's a wiseass kind of book. 

I hope you enjoy it.

*Okay, so maybe he wasn't my favorite at the time.  He was just a jerk older brother then.  And that's okay.  Every teenage girl should have a jerk older brother.  It toughens you up a bit.  In fact, there's a jerk older brother in this book.  WAY worse than mine and still a jerk as an adult.  At least mine stopped being a jerk once we became adults.  (Or I got over myself and stopped perceiving him as a jerk.)