Entries by Donna
Award-winning author Donna Alward has the best job in the world: a combination of stay-at-home mom and romance novelist. In 2001 she penned her first novel and found herself hooked on writing romance. In 2006 she sold her first manuscript, and now writes heartwarming Romances from her home in Nova Scotia, Canada. Donna loves to hear from readers; you can contact her through her website at www.donnaalward.com or through her publisher. Twitter: @DonnaAlward
Years ago, when I attended my first rodeo, I had a great laugh at the Wild Cow Milking event. These days when I write rodeo scenes, it’s usually the bull riders or saddle broncs that get my attention. But when I was writing LITTLE COWGIRL ON HIS DOORSTEP, I was faced with a unique challenge. [...]
There’s a song I like called Check My Brain that starts out, “So I found myself in the sun…oh yeah. He** of a place to end my run, oh yeah…” When I sat down to write this post, that song popped into my head. It’s a neat idea, riding into the sunset. There’s a finality [...]
I write pretty short books, so there’s not always a lot of room for a supporting cast. Big families can get troublesome when you’re supposed to be focusing on the central romance. Because of that, my characters are sometimes only children, or they live away from their family, that sort of thing. In my next [...]
For my card, I decided to use a pic I took last year from the end of my driveway. There’s nothing like a white christmas, but if it can’t be white the number one thing that’s a must is very, very simple. I just live for our little family to be snug and together and [...]
We Canadians take our hockey seriously. HNIC – Hockey Night in Canada – is an institution on CBC and is the main event for a lot of people on Saturday nights. Rivalries are bitter. Flames vs the Oilers, Toronto vs Montreal – or gosh, don’t even get me started on the Sens (Ottawa Senators). There [...]
November is NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month. The challenge is to write a novel – or 50,000 words – in a one month span. Writing 50k in that amount of time means you don’t have the luxury of going over everything you’ve written over and over again. You have to keep moving forward. The [...]
Sometimes my mom will call me up and ask me for a recipe. At times I have it and will give it to her. At times, she has to deal with a bit of karma when I answer, “Well, I do this and put enough of this in to make it whatever, and bake it [...]
I kept trying to think of a topic to write about and was coming up blank. During all this scouring of my brain, I was in the process of cooking one of my favourite summer meals: Hodge Podge. And then it clicked! I’ll do a recipe post, I told myself, and give the P&P readers [...]
When I was writing my latest book, I ended up thinking about food a lot. This isn’t a new thing. Food usually plays a big part in my books, because, well, I like to cook and I like to eat. :-) My heroine is a baker – specifically a cupcake baker, and she’s “roped” into [...]
Whether it’s by shotgun or another equally pressing reason, sometimes proposals and weddings don’t come at the right time – even if they’re the right thing. Here are Donna Alward and Mary Connealy with glimpses into a few forced unions from their books! From THE REBEL RANCHER (June 2012) “I thought about it all night, Clara. Thought [...]
After I had my second child, I ended up with a really good case of Post Partum Depression. A big enough case that I was hospitalized for a short time and then treated on a regular basis for the next 6 months until being shifted back to my family doctor. A lot of what I [...]
When my new duet was in the conceptualization stage, I knew that my heroine was a social worker. I knew that because she showed up in an earlier book, PROUD RANCHER, PRECIOUS BUNDLE, as the case worker who helped Wyatt and Elli as they cared for Wyatt’s niece. She intrigued me. I had an idea [...]
I can’t wait until May. Why? Because in May my readers get to visit a brand new town in a duet I have coming out called Cadence Creek Cowboys (yeehaw!). This duet was the most fun I’ve had writing in a while. Why? Well, take a brand new Alberta small town setting, throw in some [...]
Last night we looked at the weather forecast and got very hopeful. Snow in the evening, over night, and into the morning. Not a vast amount, but enough that there was the possibility of a snow day. In the two years that my husband has been teaching at a local college, he has never had [...]
How much do I love SuperChannel? A friend mentioned that I would probably like a new series called Hell On Wheels. I checked it out (On Demand) and the husband and I watched the first episode and LOVED it. It all starts with a Union Soldier in a confessional, seeking absolution for things he [...]
I have the wonderful honour of kicking off our special event “week” of Christmas carols – which is actually not a week but 12 Days. And so how appropriate that I get to kick it off with The Twelve Days of Christmas! Of course we’re starting things off on December 19, but the first thing [...]
One of the things I love about Christmas is traditions. I’m a farm girl, and I have a lot of “country” based traditions that I remember fondly. Some of them have gone by the wayside as I bring up my own family, but I remember them with a special sense of nostalgia, and one of [...]
I started setting books in my fictional town of Larch Valley a while ago – in fact, it was the first book I did with my current editor after my first editor at Harlequin got promoted. I wrote the end of it with a cast on my arm, a glass of wine at my elbow [...]
Well, here I am back at the junction again to share another word of the month. I kind of like the idea, actually – it’s like each month I have something new to work on and develop and learn. Last month I talked about productivity and how the fall gets me all juiced up for [...]
September is one of my favourite months of the year. It’s harvest time – is there anything more fulfilling? The leaves change colour and the days are mellow and warm, the mornings and evenings crisp and cool. I start making comfort foods. It’s back to school time – and I LOVED going back to school, [...]
When I was a kid, I had a real thing about horses. I wanted one, but growing up on an apple farm meant we didn’t have a barn or pasture to keep one (or two). My solution was to suggest 4-H – using a horse from a nearby farm. But that meant having to drive [...]
Yeeehaw! It’s Stampede week once again and Calgary is rockin’ to great food, great music, and great rodeo! Stampede Royalty usually refers to the Stampede Princesses, but this year the celebration is a little extra special. Because a new Princess is in town with her new husband: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge! A lofty [...]
I write contemporary westerns for Harlequin Romance, but I think they always have a bit of a Canadian twist. It’s in our attitude, they way we view things, the things we say. There are similarities to our neighbours to the south, but I love to celebrate the differences, too. And I love love love that [...]
Deadwood was on several years ago and I didn’t watch, but we discovered Season 1 because we watch a lot of On Demand series and, well, I put the first epi on just to see Tim Olyphant. Yes, I’m that shallow. I became a huge Olyphant fan from watching Justified. By the way, Justified isn’t [...]
When I started writing HONEYMOON WITH THE RANCHER, I figured that a special kind of cowboy – an Argentine Gaucho – rode a special kind of horse. Turns out I was right, and today I’m going to introduce you to the Criollo. This native horse of Argentina descends from the horses of the Iberian conquest. [...]
