How Michael Phelps Inspired On the Edge!

“I wanted to write about that guy, the one with zero time for anyone or anything except his own interests.”

When the winter Olympics came to Vancouver in 2010, I heard something that might have been urban legend, but it sparked my imagination. The rumor was, bowls of condoms had been set out in the athlete’s village and they had disappeared at an alarming rate.

The assumption was that athletes from less progressive countries were stocking up, but the very idea that bowls of condoms had been set out like bonbons on end-tables made me highly curious about what went on behind those walls.

I started thinking about all those healthy, ripped, gorgeous athletes meeting strangers who were also in peak condition. Maybe they didn’t speak the same language, but they lived the same lives of pursuing excellence. They all wanted release from the pressure of training four years for the most important competition of their lives, maybe needed comfort if things hadn’t gone as well as they hoped….

I tucked that idea in my back pocket and brought it out when I started writing On The Edge, the first book in my new series for Montana Born, Blue Spruce Lodge. I loved the idea of Rolf coming from that life of non-stop training in harsh conditions. The narrow focus, ignoring pain, overcoming injury and other obstacles, letting nothing matter but gold.

“Rolf might be retired, but he’s still in tip-top condition and under her bulky sweaters, Glory has a yoga-toned figure and a romance-author’s fertile imagination for love scenes.”

I also loved the Michael Phelps death-stare memes from the Rio Olympics. I wanted to write about that guy, the one with zero time for anyone or anything except his own interests. Rolf is selfish, rude even, but he does what it takes to get what he wants.

Then I made him want the heroine. Bad. And I gave Glory every reason to hate him, so he has to dig deep and learn to compromise if he’s going to win her heart.

Glory has her own version of gold. Not everyone is Eddie the Eagle and just decides to try making the Olympic team in ski jumping. She’s more like the rest of us, worried that if she goes after what she wants—which is to write romance—that she might fail.

As she watches how Rolf refuses to let anything get in his way, however, and recognizes that she allows just about everyone and everything get in her way, she begins to make changes and go after greatness. Along the way, she and Rolf use a bowl or two of condoms.
Rolf might be retired, but he’s still in tip-top condition and under her bulky sweaters, Glory has a yoga-toned figure and a romance-author’s fertile imagination for love scenes.

Look for book two, From The Top, on Feb 27^th where Ilke trains her whole life for South Korea only to fail spectacularly. She returns to Blue Spruce Lodge to pick up the pieces. Grab a box of tissues. You’ll need it.

Award winning and USA Today Bestselling Author, Dani Collins, has written more than two dozen romances ranging from sexy contemporary for Harlequin Presents, to romantic comedy, epic medieval fantasy and even some erotic romance. Lately she has also been writing rancher romance for Tule’s Montana Born. Since she’s a small town girl at heart, this makes her feel at home.