Welcome to Teaser Tuesday, the blog series where I share snippets from my novels, old, new and in progress, and occasionally let author buddies take over.

After a couple of weeks of terrific guest authors (thank you Fiona McArthur and Vanessa Carnevale), it’s now my turn to share a juicy snippet from one of my books. I was going to share a few lines from Wayward Heart but after a bit of contemplation I decided to try something different.

I’m currently working on Chrissy and the Burroughs Boy, a cute follow-on to Santa and the Saddler, featuring Danny’s brother Nick, aka Numbnuts. I’m loving it but I have to admit the execution has given me a bit of grief.

From the moment the story sprang into my mind I knew how it would start. I could picture the scene vividly, so when it came time to write it down, the words flowed out easily. All good, or so you’d think. Somehow, as I started on the second chapter, the idea that I’d started the story in the wrong place started to nag. A feeling that grew and grew until I was convinced I’d gone about it all wrong.

So I wasted spent another week perfecting a new opening chapter. When I was confident I had it right, I placed it in the book’s master document file.

Only to then pull the rotten thing out again because I decided it was wrong, wrong, wrong and the original start was better.

Yeah, I know. I could clip myself around the ears too.

So, for your reading pleasure, and to remind me what a twit I’ve been, here are the opening paragraphs from that now-deleted chapter one of Chrissy and the Burroughs Boy.

The red-back spider was half-way down the Australian Arms Hotel’s grand interior staircase when Chrissy James spotted it. She paused with her hand on the bannister, studying it for a moment, then grinned and bounded up. Recognising her, the spider scampered down with equal delight, fat felt legs bouncing jauntily with each step.

They met on the central landing and fell into a fierce hug.

‘Chrissy!’ said the spider, holding her at arm’s length to look her over. ‘You look great.’

‘Thanks. And you look…’ How to describe him? Shiny black Lycra sheathed Terry’s arms and legs. A satin-covered carapace rounded his chest, belly and groin. Crowning his head was a bulbous black headpiece, its scarlet stripe glowing with danger, but that was nothing compared to the two plastic fangs curving the side of his face from hairline to chin. She twanged the point of one. ‘… like an arachnophobe’s nightmare.’

He laughed and rotated to show the back of the costume and its wide red stripe. ‘Like it?’

‘Very spidery. Just don’t go hanging around any loos,’ she quipped, referring to a much-loved Australian song about a red-back on a toilet seat. ‘You might get squashed. Anyway, aren’t you a bit hairy-faced for a red-back?’

Terry stroked his beard. ‘I’m a unique breed.’

‘Indeed you are.’ Chrissy lifted a stuffed leg, inspected it and let it drop. The whole ensemble was quite well done for a homemade effort, but Terry Henderson’s mum had always been handy with a sewing machine. ‘You do realise that only female red-backs have the stripe?’

‘Like I said, unique.’

All going well, Chrissy and the Burroughs Boy will release later this year but you can catch up with the first Burroughs boy, Danny, and the girl of his dreams, Beth in Santa and the Saddler. Available in print from Booktopia, Bookdepository or direct from me (simply email for details) and ebook from Amazon, iBooks, Kobo, Nook and Google Play.