You see, Jan is one of those girls, the ones who break plans with you at the last minute because their boyfriends called, the ones who think they're in love with every guy only to viciously malign them after the relationship ends, the one who bends over backwards for the guy she is with all while molding him to fit her perfect ideal... yet good luck getting her to do anything for you. If you're thinking she sounds like a brat, she is, but I've never know any woman who didn't have a friend like that in high school or college. I did, several actually. And thus sparked a fantasy involving my crazy friends maturing and becoming reliable, supportive, and respectable people, people like the friends I share my life with now. The fantasy of grabbing my crappy friends by the shoulders and shaking some sense into them developed into a curiosity of why some women (and men) are like that in the first place. And then I wondered, what could they really do about it? This is how Between Boyfriends was born. I like to say it's a story about finding one's way before finding the One. 

So, what did I do? Date a lot of guys? Treat my friends like crap? Spend thousands of dollars on footwear to walk a day in the life of a spoiled rich girl with no self-esteem? Ha, I wish, sort of. To be honest, I'm not really a shoe person. I know, a chick-lit writer who doesn't much care for shoes; I'm a walking contradiction, but I have excellent posture. What I did was read a lot of personal development books (yes, self-help) that explained to women how to change their beliefs about themselves and get men to treat them better. By reading between the lines, I got a glimpse into what was at the root of this addiction to dating, or like the song says an addiction to love. 

Relationship hoppers see men as validation of their worth. Good grades, money, lots of friends, a big salary, nice shoes... all of those things contribute to a positive self-image, but for various reasons the fixation becomes a relationship, and not just any relationship, but one with a boy who others think has value. It's a whole complicated thing that I'm sure Dr. Phil could explain better than I could (well, maybe), but at the end of the day this research helped me understand Jan and create a real character with deep insecurities, false beliefs about herself, and messed up priorities. Jan is someone who desperately needed to learn to get validation from herself, not men. What makes her so special is that she's willing to do the work to become a better person, and underneath she is a very sweet, compassionate, and creative individual. She's brave too and open-minded. Okay, maybe we have some things in common.

I had so much fun writing about her growth amidst all the hilarious things that happen to her. She's a character that you love to hate and then love to love.