The Truth About Dolly Parton And James Patterson's Friendship

Dolly Parton may be in her 70s, but she has stayed extremely active in recent years. The Country legend has championed for vaccine research during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, broken world records, and guest-starred on "Grace and Frankie" in 2021, according to CNN. She is showing no signs of slowing down and is adding even more to her plate by becoming a novelist.

In August 2021, Parton announced that she'd be teaming up with good friend and best-selling author James Patterson to release a novel titled "Run, Rose, Run." Per Parton's website, the novel is loosely based around the "Jolene" singer's life as a young girl chasing her music dreams. "I cannot be more excited about the release of my very first novel 'Run, Rose, Run' with the great James Patterson," Parton said in a press release. "I also have a new CD to go along with the book. All new songs written based on the characters and situations in the book. I hope you enjoy the book and the songs as much as we've enjoyed putting it together."

While fans will have to wait for the novel to drop on March 7, 2022, let's take a look at how Parton and Patterson's friendship came to be.

While Dolly Parton is a superstar in her own right, James Patterson is not so shabby himself, having authored novels such as "Along Came a Spider," "Kiss the Girls," and "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas" — all of which became New York Times' Best Sellers, according to Business Insider. Given his legendary reputation in the literary world, it's no wonder Parton teamed up with him to co-author her debut novel. But besides thinking highly of his talent, Parton also has a lot in common with Patterson.

In an interview with People, Parton said her and Patterson are "very similar in the fact that we like to have a good time and we don't take the work so serious we can't enjoy it." Parton revealed it was actually Patterson who proposed to her that they work together to which she responded with, "Why not? I'm doing everything else." However, writing a novel wasn't as easy as Parton thought, but the two managed to develop a good working relationship with each other through countless writing sessions.

"I'd get good title ideas from some of the things that he'd write, and then I would write something about that and the situation, and then he would expand on the characters and on more of the story," Parton said, adding the process was "beneficial" for the both of them. Based on this duo's track record, it seems that we can count on Parton's book becoming a bestseller when it drops in March.