The Bachelor...

People who know me well know I am a huge fan of the Bachelor and Bachelorette TV reality show Mondays at 7pm ( Illinois time). I can't help it. For whatever reason I love the whole process of one man or woman selecting their perfect dates week after week. And yes, there are hysterics and tears and well, drama.

Would it be possible to find love everlasting in 6 weeks (or whatever the length of time is...) Well, I believe there is that initial connection people have for each other. What's behind that? What else is there? Well, that's a whole other story.

Still...in our busy crazy worlds, I honestly believe that if 6 weeks were devoted just to dating...it is possible. I mean they don't have to entertain the dog, drag home the groceries, clean the house and whatever else we all do. Even their clothing is selected and ready for them...all they have to do is show up and let Mother Nature take charge ....

And for these reasons and because I am a hopeless romantic, I tune in every week and cheer or sit on the edge of my seat, not quite believing all that is going on.

I love the show so much I wrote a new novel about my own version. If I could change a few things...which I say every week when I watch. First of all, I would have a Bachelorette who would be a little older. With fewer options simply based on her age and how just possibly time has slid by as she crawled her way through the work force. Even without a demanding career, an older Bachelorette would know in her heart that there just aren't as many opportunities for her as there were when she was younger.

I'm not saying she wouldn't or couldn't be gorgeous or stunning ... but there is that next crop of younger more stunning girls right behind her. I'm not saying her immersion in the work world would limit her play time ... it might. And maybe she has found all the old ways of meeting the man of her dreams have gotten stale... Regardless, I just think if they cast a little bit older Bachelorette, she wouldn't be tossing the men away quite so quickly...

Now do I think the world should be paired up? Sometimes I do. Other times I feel we are who we are and that is just fine. But one word creeps in all the time and that is lonely...

Here is my story, it will be out in a few weeks and I hope you will enjoy it :

Welcome to Make Me Over

Mega star interior designer Hallie Great constantly hears clients demand she make over their homes. Yet her own personal life is nonexistent until her meddling friend Jinx enters her to be the next Bachelorette. Not that Hallie watches TV or even knows what this means. But the coveted slot of bachelorette includes a serious personal make over…

Paths cross for two women with entirely different careers. Both realize they have devoted every waking moment to their jobs—and find just one complaint: they are lonely. Amy is a reality TV producer for the Bachelorette Show; Hallie owns an interior design mega business. The producer and designer both understand what it took the other to claw their way to the top of their fields—and that is enough to form a friendship.

Can the failing reality show be saved with a new twist--an older, bit more desperate bachelorette? A not quite so picky bachelorette, even if she is there by force? Bachelors are professional men, older; it goes without saying, and hopefully willing to relocate to the home of the interior design maven. There are no roller blading dates. Dates are at trade shows so the interior designer can not only keep working, but the men get a true feeling for what they may be in for.

One of the bachelors is a disgruntled employee of the bachelorette—so out of sight in her empire, she doesn’t even recognize him. This is his chance to get back at her for all her demanding ways—but what if he starts falling for her?

And the producer is cheering for one mystery author—maybe because she has taken a liking to him …

Dating is always difficult, but the older one gets the rougher the whole dating machine becomes, with or without the help of reality T V.

From a gorgeous Edwardian Mansion, being made over for the Junior League, to sunny California and the Bachelorette Mansion.

Welcome to Make Me Over

Jacqueline Gillam Fairchild--author: The Scrap Book Trilogy, Estate of Mind, and Make Me Over.