Ruthy Rides Into the Sunset

by

Well, this wasn’t what I expected when the gals graciously let me park my boots on the porch and hook my hat on the nail a few years ago because I was busily writing Westerns and loving it!

But that all changed the past two years… My new contract with Love Inspired is set in the beautiful swells and valleys of the Blue Ridge mountains, Southern to the max and I’ve been contracted for two Guideposts mystery series. One in Savannah… one in Charleston! That means I’m tucked into the south for the next few years, and the one prerequisite about being a Western Filly is to be (understandably) writing Westerns!

I realized when that last contract was offered, that I needed to focus on the South to do justice to the faith that these sweet publishers put in me. And I am so blessed by their vote of confidence!

But that means I’ve got to unhook my hat here, tug on my boots, and head for the land of Steel Magnolias, kudzu vines, peach pie, pecan waffles, sweet tea and bugs the size of my fist. 🙂 And humidity. Do you know what humidity does to my bushy hair???

 

This is one of my favorite movies of all time… this and Remember the Titans…. So maybe there’s a little Southern Belle with a steel backbone in this filly all along????

I have had so much fun over here. These women are amazing, and it’s been a wonderful opportunity to hang out with them, get to know them, and to see why they’re all so marvelously successful. Hard work and great stories are the key, and that’s what I’ve seen here at Petticoats and Pistols.

So as I delve into another and also beautiful part of our great land, in a tucked-in-the-hills town of Kendrick Creek (Love Inspired 2021) or the historic streets of Savannah (Savannah Secrets, Guideposts, my first book of this series comes out next month, A Fallen Petal….) and the beautiful settings of a vintage hospital in Charleston (Miracles and Mysteries of Mercy Hospital, fall 2021) I will miss all of you and hope you friend me on Facebook if you haven’t already.

I was blessed to be here! And blessed by the turns my career has taken, but I will miss my Filly Friends!

God bless you all…. and as a goodbye gift, I’m giving away two Kindle copies of “Welcome to Wishing Bridge”, the bestselling opening book of my Wishing Bridge series, all three of which are in the Top 10 of Women’s Christian Fiction on Amazon… so that’s a wonderful blessing, too, and I hope you guys love that series, too. It’s not Western…. BIG SMILE HERE!

But it’s really good.

 

Thank you all for visiting with me, praying with me, chatting with me. I have been wonderfully blessed by this community both behind the scenes with the Fillies, and on this side of the camera with wonderful readers.

Godspeed!

 

 

Website |  + posts

Multi-published, bestselling, award-winning author Ruth Logan Herne lives on a small farm in Western New York surrounded by grown kids, cute grandkids, cats, dogs, chickens, frogs, toads and snakes. That's why writing Westerns doesn't scare her. Not one smidge. Because she's surrounded by critters of all sorts, and has been known to teach lessons on snakes as available... She started writing Westerns by accident/invitation, and L-O-V-E-D it... matched with her love for both historicals and contemporaries, Ruthy's working on a new Western series for Love Inspired, New England mysteries for Guideposts and her historical Westerns for the indie market in 2018. She loves God, her family, her country and absolutely, positively loves what she does!

38 thoughts on “Ruthy Rides Into the Sunset”

  1. Ruthy, you have absolutely been a shining light among us fillies, and it has been a true gift to know you. We know how crazy busy you are with your farm, family, and writing caree. BUT WE WILL STILL MISS YOU!!

    Congratulations for all your successes – making the top 10 for THREE books is just amazing and a testament to your talent. Please know we all want to keep in touch as you venture onto a new side road with your wonderful books.

    Hugs, my friend. Once a filly, always a filly!

    • Pam!!!! Thank you so much. I love the new opportunities (who wouldn’t?????) but the one major requirement to be a filly is to write great books (Check that in all our boxes!) and to write Westerns….. 🙂

      I’m late because I had a Cat vs. Computer Crisis this morning when chasing cats knocked drops of soda onto my laptop….. and while most of it lived, five keys are DEAD.

      Silly cats!

      And I keep the soda in a high-sided container so it can’t possibly spill onto my laptop, but when a cat LANDS on the container (think catapulted Diet Mt. Dew) then the splash effect is like Sea World. 🙂

      So I ordered a keyboard (did you know you could do that?????) and we’ll see how that works, but in the meantime I had to power up an old laptop that’s my back-up…. and re-do every password, LOL! Oh my word, I was more frustrated to be blocked at every corner because I couldn’t get into one laptop to help the other.

      🙂

      So then I did garden therapy.

      I will miss the crowd over here, too. Writers and readers. And huge thank yous to you and all the fillies for your kindly welcomes and fond farewells.

      God bless you, each and every one!

  2. Ruthy, I hate to see you go but I am thrilled for you. Congratulations and may there be many Southern tales to be told.

    • Melanie, thank you! I will have lots of fun with these… I’d just gotten my second book done for the Savannah series, so playing in the Blue Ridge (visited last fall and fell in love!) and Charleston will be so much fun! Now if things open up so we can visit again, right?

    • Janine, thank you! I’m such a pest on Facebook, but I do have fun with readers over there. It’s a good fit for me. Twitter is not my friend… I deleted my account there because it’s all so negative.

      Life is too short to be driven by negativity.

      Bring joy!

    • Well, all y’all will have yourselves a powerful nice time with these sweet stories, you hear?????

      And of course there are gorgeous heroes and strong heroines, and the heroines are all in their mid-forties….. they all graduated together 25 years ago and they’re in town to help it heal after a wildfire….. So it’s wonderful to write older heroines… and heroes in their mid-forties, too.

      There’s a different mindset then, and I love exploring it!!!! The men are actually MATURE. 🙂

      Boy, that takes a while!

  5. I’m going to miss your posts here, but, I’ll look forward to the new books! Oh, believe me, I know exactly how humidity affects your hair, as I have naturally curly hair and live in FL, the humidity capital!!! Especially this week, where it’s not living up to being the Sunshine State!

    • Oh, Trudy, you do understand! I love working outside but I sweat like crazy (glisten, in the South, LOL!) and I have to tie a bandana or sweatband around my forehead and then it flattens part of my hair and the top STANDS UP. It’s so funny! But I figure whatever…. playing in the dirt is my therapy. Dirt doesn’t sass!

      🙂

      Well done, dirt!

  6. Will miss you…but, congratulations on your new contract. Enjoy researching the South. Our daughter and son-in-law spent two postings at Charleston Navel Station and were planning to visit there spring break this year so that their High school senior son could explore the area where he was born. Oh well, they have lots of pictures and memories even though he was still a baby the last time they lived there. A beautiful city.

    • Alice, I want to visit Charleston…. but it will have to wait until the pandemic eases. No fun visiting if there’s no place to eat or hang your hat! And we’ve opened up the farm because this is our growing season and there is stuff to do. 🙂 So we’re busy here, and we have family helping, but we still don’t go out much. We’re being careful, but spreading our wings. And then I figure we’ll let others decide what’s right for them.

      I am VERY EXCITED about getting my first hair cut in three months tomorrow! 🙂

      HAPPY DANCING!!!!!!

      You would not believe how much I butchered the front to get it out of my face, LOL!

  9. Best wishes as you write about the Blue Ridge Mountains and Lowcountry. Both of those places are close to my heart.

  12. Oh Ruthy! We will miss you and your posts so much. Thank you for all the info, stories and fun times here. I wish you well on your fabulous new stories!

    • Susan, thank you! I’m so blessed to be doing exactly what I always dreamed of doing… so if it means trading my spurs for a mint julep, a gal’s gotta know how to adapt to her surroundings! 🙂

  13. Ruthy, I am so sorry to see you leave the Junction. I have enjoyed your posts, especially since many are like a visit to my home town in Northern New York. We now live in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, so you will still be writing something close to home, just a different home. I will miss you here, but follow you on Facebook, so will be checking in.
    Take care and stay healthy.

    • I love seeing you over on Facebook… and ah, to live in the foothills of that fabulous range. It’s just a visual stunner no matter which direction you look and I often wonder what those first immigrants and settlers thought when they reached this vast land of hills and trees and mountains and forests and they came from very cultured for its day ENGLAND! Home of kings and queens and princes and all that fluffery!!!!! CASTLES!

      To a wilderness.

      Ya’ wanna talk culture shock? Yowza!!!!

  14. I look forward to reading your new books. Sorry to see you go. I plan on visiting Savannah, hopefully, in September.

    • Debra, we wanted to go this past spring, before the farm season, but of course that became impossible…. so thank heavens for internet research and Southern friends who’ve visited both cities. Hoping to head south for a week in November (we don’t go farther than the gas station during farm season. Well, church and the grocery store!) but the uncertainty has me not buying plane tickets… we’ll drive down or buy them later. I hope you get to make your visit!

  15. Oh Ruthy! I’m so sad you’re leaving us. I’ve enjoyed every second of being Filly sisters and sharing good times. I wish you well in everything you do. You’re the nicest person and full of God’s grace.

    • Linda! What a nice thing to say, thank you. That’s only because I put on my best look over here, you know. 😉 And my Sunday-Go-To-Meetin’ shoes, with all the scuffs polished off!

  16. Ruth, we will miss you for sure. Be sure to pop back in and say hi. I love your books and cant wait for the newer ones coming out. Cant wait to see some of the down south going on. Blessings and prayers.

    • Lori, thank you so much! I hope you guys love the Southern series. I know I’m loving writing them…. and getting to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg and Sevierville and Crosby last fall was clutch… I’m so glad I didn’t wait for the contract or the spring to get down there, because it wouldn’t have happened, and there’s nothing like immersing yourself in a visual that makes a place jump to life in the writer, and then (hopefully!!!) in the reader. Sending those blessings and prayers right back to you!

  17. Ruthy- I havd truly enjoyed getting to know you and your wonderful personality here on P & P. You write such amazing books with an added bonus, inspiration and blessings.
    I wish you the best, please come back often as a guest and let us know how you’re doing. May you have a blessed 2nd 1/2 of 2020 and an even better (I hope for all of us) 2021.
    Thanks for your friendship and wisdom. Love and hugs.

    • Tonya, ditto! We’ve had so much fun, haven’t we? I was so blessed to be able to join ranks with these gals, and learned so much from them. What an amazing group of women they are… We can pray for God’s blessings on the next half of 2020 and for clear hearts, heads and minds to prevail. Thank you for your kind words, Tonya!

  18. Ladies, the winners of a Kindle copy of “Welcome to Wishing Bridge” are Susan P. and Patricia B.! Congratulations, ladies! If by chance you’ve already read that one, we can do one of the other two Wishing Bridge books!

    Ruthy

  19. Ruth I hate I will no longer see you here on P&P for this is about the only blog I follow but I welcome you to the South. Come on over to my home state Alabama for a visit anytime you want.

  20. I hate to see you leave P&P but best of luck on your new series and have fun down south!? I’d love the opportunity to read your book! Stay safe in these uncertain times! God bless

Comments are closed.