Many thanks to Karen Witemeyer for inviting me to be a guest blogger today to spread the word about my newest novel for Revell, Where Wildflowers Bloom.

Wildflowers is the first in the Sisters at Heart series and is set in Missouri shortly after the end of the War Between the States. When I worked up the proposal for this series, I had my characters and their occupations set in my mind. I planned that one of the characters, Rosemary Saxon, would be a nurse during the war, and then would follow the same occupation afterward. 

Well, surprise, surprise. When I began to research nurses in the Civil War, I learned that very few of them were women, and the ones who were female were generally older and/or widows. For a young unmarried woman to touch men’s bodies, even to tend to wounds, was considered vulgar. Throughout the war, male nurses outnumbered female nurses 4 to 1. The general public believed women would only be a nuisance and get in the way of the doctors.

Where female nurses were allowed, they were required to be plain-looking women. Their dresses were to be brown or black, no bows, no curls, no jewelry, and no hoop-skirts. The last prohibition made sense, since the hospital aisles were narrow. 

So, where did this leave Rosemary, who was to be a continuing character in the series? Using my artistic license, she’s attractive, not plain, but I did make her “old.” She’s twenty-seven. J In addition to her God-given gift of mercy, she’s also determined to the point of being headstrong. She needs to be to stand up to the prejudice she encounters.

In Where Wildflowers Bloom, Rosemary is the best friend of the story’s protagonist, Faith Lindberg. Oh, and did I mention Rosemary has a brother, Curt? How many of us remember having girlfriends with handsome brothers? I’ll just say that through Rosemary, Faith and Curt end up spending quite a bit of time together.

So, like Rosemary, have any of you taken a job in what is considered a man’s field? Did you encounter prejudice? On a more romantic note, did any of you ever fall in love with the brother of your best friend? How did it work out?

 I hope you’ll look for Where Wildflowers Bloom at your local bookstore, or through an online retailer. Please visit my website at www.annshorey.com for more information about Where Wildflowers Bloom, as well as my other books.

Where Wildflowers Bloom

How far will she go to follow her dreams?

 The War Between the States stole a father and brother from Faith Lindberg—as well as Royal Baxter, the man she wanted to marry. With only her grandfather left, she dreams of leaving Noble Springs, Missouri, and traveling west to Oregon to start a new life, away from the memories that haunt her. But first she must convince her grandfather to sell the family’s mercantile and leave a town their family has called home for generations.

When Royal Baxter suddenly returns, Faith allows herself to hope that she and Royal will finally wed. But does he truly love her? Or will another man claim her heart?

Ann has graciously agreed to give away a copy of Where Wildflowers Bloom today, so be sure to leave a comment in order to be entered in the drawing!

Hello Darlings,

Western writer Mr. Troy Smith has strapped on his spurs and will gallop into the Junction on Saturday, January 28th.

Mr. Troy has written a slew of western fiction so he knows a thing or two about what life in the old West must’ve been like. He’ll tell us how he came to write and a lot about his books.  He’ll share the good times and the bad as he progresses through life.

And that’s not all. Mr. Troy is toting a book to give away to one lucky person. All you have to do is leave a comment. As easy as falling off a slippery log. 

So, hitch up your wagon or climb on your horse and ride along with him.

Saturday’s the day and the Junction is the place.

I’ve owned my Kindle for just over a year now. I use it every day, though not quite like I expected when I found it under the Christmas tree.  I thought I’d buy lots of ebooks, and that my paperback shelves would be a thing of the past.  I’m sure my husband had that thought when he bought it for me. When we moved from Virginia to Kentucky, he loaded dozens of heavy boxes of books into the storage pod. By volume, the only thing outnumbering my book-boxes were the Christmas decorations.  By weight, the books won.

The Kindle was supposed to eliminate some of those books, but it hasn’t. Six months into owning it, I gravitated to buying paper again because I like to loan books.  I know you can loan Kindle-to-Kindle, but that’s not same as just handing someone a book and saying, “Here, take your time.”

Here’s what most surprises me . . . About 80% of the stuff on my Kindle consists of freebies.  I check out the Amazon giveaways almost every day, and definitely at the first of the month. I’ve downloaded tried-and-true authors, new-to-me authors, and self published authors.  Most recently I started reading a history of Alcatraz Island.  What a wild place!  I also read Water for Elephants, a book I’ve wanted to read for ages but  just never did.  Then there’s the Young Adult fiction that got my attention.  What fun to revisit the past with stories about girls and horses!

Those freebies have a strong appeal. I can’t say I’m as enamored with the price of regular ebooks. There are bargains to be had, but I get a little miffed when a bestseller in e-format costs almost as much as a hardcover at Sam’s Club. I thought ebooks were supposed to cost less…maybe not. The market’s still finding its footing.

Here’s another cool Kindle feature: I’ve used it to store and read unpublished mss, both my own and those from fellow authors. It’s handy for the last read-through. Typos show up, especially missing words. I tend to miss that stuff on the computer screen.

Right now, I have 105 items on my Kindle organized in Collections labeled: Historical Romance, Contemporary Romance, Mainstream, Series, YA, Non Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Classics, Reference, Book Club, and Hubby’s Books.  The romance categories have the most titles, of course. And that number is growing . . . One-click shopping is the easiest thing in the world.  

I also have a couple of games. Is anyone else hooked on Every Word?  My high score playing the timed version is 34,930. Just 70 points shy of 35K!  I like Scrabble, too.

Anyone else have thoughts on e-readers? Kindle vs. Nook?  They’re here to stay for sure.  

The Women of Swan’s Nest Series…Available in the Amazon Kindle store…

Miss Ann Shorey has boarded the stage and will arrive here Friday, January 27th.

This marks the lady’s first visit to the Junction and Fillies would like your help in making her feel right at home. She’s a woman after our own heart. She loves writing western romance and the special love between a cowboy and his lady.

Miss Ann wants to tell us about her new book, WHERE WILDFLOWERS BLOOM. This isn’t her first rodeo. She’s written three others with no plans to quit soon.

So come and help us roll out the red carpet. That dern thing is heavy!

And we’ll see you right here on Friday.

Do you have a “collection” of special people in your life? People that helped you in ways maybe you hadn’t really given much thought to, but that turned out to be extremely important? One of the first milestones in my writing career—becoming a finalist in the EPIC Awards with my first novel, FIRE EYES—brought this realization home to me. I got curious. I know there are incidents in people’s lives that are pivotal to their entire careers, dreams, and goals, that, perhaps at the time, don’t seem that important. Later, looking back on it, it becomes an “aha” moment—you understand that THIS was the moment when you made the decision to do something you might not have done otherwise, or because of a word of encouragement you continued on when you’d been ready to stop.  

Most people that I’ve met in the last half of my adulthood would never describe me as “shy,” but as a youngster, I was—horribly.  That’s one reason I turned to writing.  It was a great way for me to get my feelings out without actually having to say them.  I could have someone else say it all for me. 

I imagine that’s how many of my fellow writers started, too.  I sometimes wonder what might have happened had we all known each other when we were younger.  Would we have developed into the writers we are today, or would we have found our “niche” with one another and NOT turned so much to writing? 

If you can relate to the “shy” part, then maybe you felt this way, too:  I was never competitive.  Not like so many sports contenders might be.  The things I enjoyed, writing and music, were open to everyone, I felt.  I am not a “joiner” and I am not one to enter a lot of contests.  I entered FIRE EYES in the 2010 EPIC Awards competition, and something odd happened when I did. 

From the moment I entered, my attitude about myself changed.  BEFORE I entered, I thought, “I probably don’t have a chance.”  But my mom always used to say, “If you don’t enter, you certainly are NOT going to win!”  I remembered those words, and sent in my entry that very day.  Once it was sent, I began to feel some confidence growing.  As I analyzed WHY, here’s what I came up with. 

FIRE EYES was a joint project.  I wrote it, but I couldn’t have if I hadn’t had the cooperation and support of my family—my kids and my husband.  While I was writing it, my oldest sister, Annette, was constantly asking about “how it’s coming” and she was the one I could bounce ideas off of.  Once written, my business partner read it for glaring mistakes, and my best friend of 45 years read it for moral support. The Wild Rose Press accepted it, and my editor, Helen Andrew, was so phenomenal in helping me mold it and shape it into the story that was released last May.  My cover artist, Nicola Martinez, did a superb job on the beautiful cover. My family and friends were all pulling for me, and constantly offering encouragement. With all these people behind me and my story, my confidence rose.  Whatever would be, would be—and entering the competition was a win/win situation.  Even if I didn’t make it to the finals, I would still have taken the chance and had the experience. 

When I received the news that my book was, indeed, a finalist, I thought immediately of all the people who had helped me get to this point; people in my life who had faith in me, and in my ability, and in the story itself.  I thought of that saying, “It takes a village to raise a child.”  It’s true, even in the broader sense of our lives as writers.  The experiences we had growing up, people who encouraged us even then, our spouses, our children, mentors and teachers we’ve had along the way, and peers that have helped and encouraged us.  Editors, artists, publishers and organizations such as EPIC that give us a chance to compete and strive to be better and better, along with our readers, are all part of the completed circle of a successful writer’s endeavors.

 Though FIRE EYES didn’t win that year, the experience of entering the competition and finaling in it was more important that I could have realized when I sent my entry in. It was the thing that made me understand just how many people had been involved in the entire process of writing that book. And it gave me the impetus and encouragement to move forward with the rest of my writing projects since that time. That realization was far more important than winning the contest, and has been with me every day, like a component of myself that I didn’t have before; another part of my make-up. 

Does anyone have a “special person” that helped them along the way? Not just in writing, but in your life’s goals and dreams?  What about a “collection” of special people? My “collection” of special people in my life is the thing that I am most thankful for above all else.  Without them, my dreams could have never happened.  I could never have done it alone. 

Cheryl’s Amazon Author Page:   

https://www.amazon.com/author/cherylpierson

We have a winner from Karen Kay today, also — although I did forget to announce it.  That winner is Karen.  Karen please if you will email me privately, I’ll be sending you a copy of the book LONE ARROW’S PRIDE.  The address is karenkay.author@earthlink.net.

Congratulations to you, Karen and my heartfelt thanks to all who came to the blog today and joined in the conversation.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by Wildflower Junction this weekend to make Miz Celia feel welcome. I know she had a right good time.

Once she caught her breath from all the chatting, Celia put all your names into a bonnet and pulled out two to win a copy of Angel and the Cowboy or Addie and the Gunslinger.

CONGRATULATIONS QUILT LADY & KIRSTEN ARNOLD!

First one to email Celia at CeliaYeary@yahoo.com gets to choose–but you both win.

Good Morning, or afternoon (or evening)!

I’ll be traveling to Arizona in March to an RWA meeting, where I’ll be speaking, and thinking of Arizona reminded me of — well, I guess it’s a ghost story or maybe a treasure hunt story — a true one — one whose drama took place in the superstitious mountains.  It was this very true story by the way, that served as the inspiration for one of my books, LONE ARROW’S PRIDE.

Here’s the original art work that was done for this book — originally published by AVON/HarperCollins Publishers.  Now, my husband and my brother-in-law were at one time miners, and when they told me this story, I knew it would find it’s way into a book — and it did.  The story of LONE ARROW’S PRIDE doesn’t take place in Arizona, however.  I brought the story instead to the Wyoming/Montana area — to the Bighorn Mountains and to America’s “Stonehedge,” which sets up atop a 10,000 foot mountain.  But back to the true story of the Superstitious Mountains.

As I’m sure you know, in Arizona there is a mountain range called the Superstitious Mountains, which sits just outside of Phoenix.  Some of you might be familiar with the legend of the Lost Dutchman’s gold mine.  Some may not.  But bear with me.

There are many, many miners who go into the Superstitious Mountains today, hunting for the Lost Dutchman gold mine.  Many years ago stones were found, upon which was written some hieroglyphics thought to be part of a map.  Many of these stones were discovered all over the Superstitious Mountains and all of them were thought to be part of a map that would lead others to the Lost Dutchman’s gold mine.  Today those stones are on display in a bank where all can see them and try to discern where the gold mine is.

What is not generally known, however, is that many hundreds of years previous, there were Jesuit priests in these mountains.  They befriended the Indians, and managed to get the Indians to bring them gold from these mountains, whereupon the Jesuit priests made artifacts out of the gold.  Many, many artifacts.

There priests were recalled to Spain.  Most of them refused to go and so Spain sent an army into the Southwest to drive the priests home.  The priests got word of the oncoming army and, deciding not to let the army get their gold, nor take the gold back to Spain where it would most likely be claimed by the king, they hid their treasure. It was the Jesuit priests who etched the map on the stones in hieroglyphics and left these stones in fairly inconspicuous places, thinking to come back and collect the gold at a later date, perhaps.

Recently miners have found, after using the stones on display, and digging about twenty-two feet deep in these mountain, two crosses with more hieroglyphics on them.

To date, neither the Lost Dutchman’s mine, nor the stash of gold from the Jesuit priests has been found.  Added to this is the fact that the Indians believed that the Thunder God lived in the Superstitious Mountains and in fact, up until the late nineteenth century, no one was able to go into the mountains and mine the gold without great risk to their lives.  Any white person found in the mountains was at once killed.

Another interesting fact is that earlier on, two brothers got word of the mines in those mountains and were mining one that they had found.  They made two succesful trips into the mountains and obtained a great deal of gold.  On the third trip they were discovered by the Indians.  And so the brothers loaded up all of their gold and put it into bags, which they tied onto their mules.

Of course, these two brothers were found and killed by the Indians, but the mules were let go, still carrying the bags of gold.  The last bag of gold to be found was in the 1920′s or 30′s (I forget which), and contained gold to the amount of approximately $12,000 at that time — today the find would have been close to half a million dollars.

So the question is:  Has anyone ever found the Lost Dutchman’s Mine?  Not to my knowledge.

Has anyone discovered the gold that was hidden by the Jesuit priests?  Not that we know of.  But I would have to ask you this question.  If you were there and you found it, would you tell anyone?

I’m not too certain that I would.  Would you?

Don’t forget to pick up your copy of the new ebooks, LAKOTA SURRENDER and LAKOTA PRINCESS at:  http://www.samhainpublishing.com/retro-romance.htm

Celia Yeary is with us today with a great post on dime novels. Celia is a dear friend of mine and an excellent writer, with a slew of wonderful books and short stories to her credit.  A fifth-generation Texan, she’s understandably proud of her heritage and most of her stories take place in her home state of Texas.  Now here’s Celia to give us a bit of insight into where western writing all began–the DIME NOVEL. (And y’all be sure and leave a comment with contact info, cause Celia plans to give away two of her “dime novels”!)

A “dime novel” was an inexpensive and generally sensational tale of adventure sold as popular entertainment in the 1800s. Dime novels can be considered the paperback books of their day, and they often featured tales of mountain men, explorers, soldiers, detectives, or Indian fighters. Despite their name, the dime novels generally cost less than ten cents, with many actually selling for a nickel. The most popular publisher was the firm of Beadle and Adams of New York City.

The heyday of the dime novel was from the 1860s to the 1890s, when their popularity was eclipsed by pulp magazines featuring similar tales of adventure. Later, comic books had a part in the trend.

Critics of dime novels often denounced them as immoral, perhaps because of violent content. But the books themselves actually tended to reinforce conventional values of the time, such as patriotism, bravery, self-reliance, and American nationalism.

Today, Western Historical novels and Western Historical Romance novels hold to the same standards: Truth, Justice, and The American Way.ie, treat women and children with respect, as well as your neighbor, protect the downtrodden, and carry out justice within the law…if at all possible. 

Today, Western Historical Romance novels and true Westerns are published as Dime Novels at “Publishing by Rebecca J. Vickery” through the imprint Western Trail Blazers. The Dime Novels are shorter stories, perhaps novellas, priced at 99Cents.

The idea intrigued me. Since I had nine full-length novels published traditionally, along with two novellas and three anthologies, I found myself writing 22,000 word stories with catchy titles. As of this moment, I have two as WTB Dime Novels:

http://westerntrailblazer.com/dime-novel-store.php    

ANGEL AND THE COWBOY–

 http://www.amazon.com/Angel-and-the-Cowboy-ebook/dp/B0058VZTWU/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1309546603&sr=1-11

He needs a wife…
Because the sheriff summons him, U.S. Marshal Max Garrison rides to town. He resents learning he must supervise a young man just out of prison who will work at his ranch for a time. But when he meets the beautiful young woman who owns the teashop, he knows his trip is not wasted. Max decides she’s the one for him.

She faces more loneliness …
Daniella Sommers lives alone above the book and teashop her English parents left her. When U.S. Marshal Max Garrison walks in and asks for tea, she almost laughs. Soon, her merriment turns to hope. Then Daniella learns a shocking truth about herself. If she reveals her past, will Max still love her?
Is it time for miracles and hope?  

 *~*~*~* 

ADDIE AND THE GUNSLINGER– 

 http://www.amazon.com/Addie-and-the-Gunslinger-ebook/dp/B006LXB6GW/ref=sr_1_13?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324161074&sr=1-13  

He’s not looking for anything except freedom.

Ex-gunslinger Jude Morgan lands in jail in a far-flung West Texas town. On the fourth day in his cell, the sheriff arrives with a beautiful woman dressed in men’s pants and toting her own six-shooter. Adriana Jones claims he is her worthless husband who married her but never came home.

She need a stand-in for a husband.

The young woman makes a bargain with Jude in front of the sheriff. Jude is to come home where he belongs, and she will have him released. When they’re alone, she explains his job is to pose as her husband to thwart the marriage advances of her neighbor, wealthy rancher Horace Caruthers. The older man wants her ranch to join his, because the Pecos River runs through her property.

To seal the bargain, Jude wants a kiss. During the next few weeks, however, Jude and Addie learn that the kiss meant more than they meant it to be. Then, Addie’s life is in danger.

Will Jude rescue his Addie? Or will Addie save herself and her gunslinger?

~*~*~*~

Future Dime Novel releases are:

Charlotte and the Tenderfoot

Kat and the US Marshal

 Thank you Petticoats! This site has been one of my Favorites since I found it two years ago. I appreciate the opportunity to post among so many successful authors.

Celia Yeary-Romance…and a little bit ‘o Texas 

You may find me here: 
http://www.celiayeary.blogspot.com
http://www.celiayeary.com

http://sweetheartsofthewest.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Celia-Yeary-Author/208687145867971              

A hearty thanks to all y’all who stopped by Wildflower Junction this weekend to make welcome Miz  Janet Dean.

From out of the ten-gallon hat, she pulled two names for copies of An Inconvenient Match. LORI  D. and CATHY SHOUSE,    please contact her at janet@janetdean.net

Enjoy your books, and thank you, Janet.