Leave a comment today ABOUT COWGIRLS to get your name in the drawing for a signed copy of my just released romantic comedy with cowboys, MONTANA ROSE.
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Montana Rose finds Cassie Griffin facing her husband’s death and living alone with her unborn child in Montana Territory. She finds herself fair game for every ill-bred, foul-mouthed suitor in town. That is, until Red Dawson steps in to make an offer.
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I moved from Texas to the Rocky Mountains for this series—a big jump. New plants, new weather, new challenges. For a while, I had this book set near Fort Laramie in Wyoming, but the research proved too confusing. I found that Fort Laramie (the fort, not the town) was moved twice and neither location was near the town that bears its name. This conflicting information was daunting to the point that I just moved myself completely out of the state and picked a fictional town.
I moved from Texas to the Rocky Mountains for this series—a big jump. New plants, new weather, new challenges. For a while, I had this book set near Fort Laramie in Wyoming, but the research proved too confusing. I found that Fort Laramie (the fort, not the town) was moved twice and neither location was near the town that bears its name. This conflicting information was daunting to the point that I just moved myself completely out of the state and picked a fictional town.
I kept the romantic comedy with cowboys, though.Two things about writing comedy:
1) I can’t stop myself. I just always go for the sassy answer. The woman is always mouthing off, and the man is always saying exactly the wrong thing. Humor is my default writing style.
2) Humor is really hard work. General humor that runs through the book doesn’t just come off my fingertips. I’ll write in my sass, but on the second pass, I’ll punch it up and then there’s a third pass and a fourth. I do lots of tweaking to get the pace right. There’s a rhythm to comedy that I find really complex. To keep the story moving can be really hard, especially if I have a scene that’s really wacky with lots of characters and lots of dialogue.
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Sometimes when I know what I want from a scene, I almost shy away from humor because I know how much work it’s going to be to get it just right. Then, I build up my courage and just write it. The first draft is never good enough—not even close. I have to write it badly, then fix it.
Sometimes when I know what I want from a scene, I almost shy away from humor because I know how much work it’s going to be to get it just right. Then, I build up my courage and just write it. The first draft is never good enough—not even close. I have to write it badly, then fix it.
The scene in Montana Rose when Cassie lets Red’s chickens go, nearly burns down the barn and almost gets killed by a furious mama pig—I rewrote that ten or fifteen times trying to get it to flow just exactly how I wanted it. I needed to portray Red’s controlled anger and terror for the safety of his wife, himself, his animals and his ranch. I also wanted to portray Cassie’s abject regret for all the trouble she’s caused and her fear of how her husband will react. So I had to get all that emotion right, along with the action of all Cassie was messing up.
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And though the scene is riddled with angst, anger, terror, regret, and fear, in the middle of all that, I want comedy. I love scenes like that but I dread them too, because I want so badly to get it right.
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Despite very serious underlying issues, my first hope is always that the reader will have fun. That’s always my goal, to write a book that entertains and draws readers in and makes them glad they picked up one of my books.
Despite very serious underlying issues, my first hope is always that the reader will have fun. That’s always my goal, to write a book that entertains and draws readers in and makes them glad they picked up one of my books.
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A brief look at Book #2 in this series is The Husband Tree, coming in January.
Belle Tanner buries her third worthless husband and makes a vow over his shallow grave. She’s learned her lesson. No more men.Silas Harden just lost his second ranch because of a woman. The first deserted him when times got tough. Now he’s had to quit the whole state of New Mexico to avoid a trumped-up shotgun wedding and the noose of matrimony. He’s learned his lesson. No more women.
Belle needs hired hands to move a cattle herd late in the season and there’s no one around but seemingly aimless Silas. She hires him reluctantly.Silas signed on, glad for the work, though worried about a woman doing such a thing as hiring drovers, only to find out he’s the lone man going with five woman, including a baby still in diapers. After the cattle drive is over, he might as well shoot himself to speed up the process of being embarrassed to death.
A fast approaching winter.
The toughest lady rancher you’ve ever seen.
A cynical cowboy who has to convince five women he’s right for their ma. . .and then convince himself.
And one thousand head of the crankiest cattle who have ever been punched across the backbone of the Rockies.
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And Book #3 in the Montana Marriage Series is Wildflower Bride, coming in May 2010.
This heroine, Abby, has never met a man she didn’t pull a knife on.
This heroine, Abby, has never met a man she didn’t pull a knife on.
This cover is not finalized so I’m showing it to you but there may be some changes. It’ll be close to this, though.
Leave a comment about cowgirls, what’s your favorite kind.Cassie is sweet and vulnerable. Belle is just plain tough. Abby is mean, of course to cover all her hurts.
We talk about cowboys here a LOT so lets talk cowgirls. Leave a comment telling me who your favorite cowgirl in books, TV, movies, whatever. And I’ll toss your name in the Stetson to claim a signed copy of Montana Rose.
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Before the next books in the series I’ve got a Christmas romance coming, Cowboy Christmas.
Click on a cover to buy on Amazon
