What Are We Writing?

What Are We Writing?

By Margaret Daley

Author: Jean C. Gordon

Title: Still untitled. It's the third book in my Donnelly Brothers series: Josh

Hero and Heroine: Josh Donnelly and Tessa Hamilton

Line:  Love Inspired Romance

One paragraph from the page you are currently on: Josh jammed his phone back in his pocket. Dear old Dad. He had no doubt the call Connor had gotten was from their father. It fit his MO. Reappear after a bender expecting the family to welcome him home as if nothing had happened. Except this bender had lasted eight years. Dad had known better than to call him or Jared. He’d called Connor because he was a minister and took after their mother more, making him the most likely of the three of them to accept the call.

Due date:  November 2, 2015

Word count goal today: 1,200

Something cool learned recently from research:  Most Upstate NY rural volunteer fire departments have a Jaws of Life for accidents, four firefighters are usually the minimum to take the truck out, and the chief usually drives his or her own vehicle to an accident or fire.

Author: Louise M. Gouge

Title: A Family for the Rancher

Hero and Heroine: Lula May Barlow and Edmund McKay

Line:  Love Inspired Historical

One paragraph from the page you are currently on: I'm still working on the synopsis

Due date: proposal due on August 15, 2015

Word count goal today: 500

Something cool learned recently from research: Women in Texas could now (1895) own their own property. Prior to this time, they could not.

Author:  Rhonda Gibson

Title: A Pony Express Courtship

Hero and Heroine: Seth Armstrong and Rebecca Young

Line:  Historical

One paragraph from the page you are currently on:  

She thought about staying home with Andrew and Noah but she needed to get supplies for the house and if she stayed behind who would keep Seth and Jacob from coming to blows? She sighed. “Come along, Jacob. We’ll do as he asks today.” Silently she thought, but as soon as they returned from town, she’d be having a word with Seth Armstrong.

Due date:  August 3

Word count goal today:  1500

Something cool learned recently from research: I was curious about the mail delivery after 1861 when the pony express stopped running. Most people picked up their mail at the general store when they came in from out of town, kind of well known. But, I discovered in 1863 that postmen walked at least 22 miles a day, seven days a week to deliver the mail.

Author: Danica Favorite

Title: Shotgun Bride (working title-subject to change)

Hero and Heroine: Jasper Jackson and Emma Jane Logan Jackson

Line:  Love Inspired Historical

One paragraph from the page you are currently on:  

Emma Jane’s smile lit her face. How could she possibly think, that with that smile, that she was at all unattractive?

Due date:  August 1st

Word count goal today: 2,000 words

Something cool learned recently from research:  I don’t know that I have a specific fact, but because my characters in this book share a love of Charles Dickens, I’ve been reading a lot about his life, and I find it fascinating.

Author: Deb Kastner

Title: The Cowboy's Twins (working title)

Hero and Heroine: Jax McKenna and Faith Dugan

Line:  Love Inspired Romance

One paragraph from the page you are currently on:  And then there were the recurring needs—diapers, wipes and formula. Jax’s pocketbook was taking almost as much of a hit as his heart was.

Due date:  July 15, 2015 (Ack!)

Word count goal today: 2,000

Something cool learned recently from research: There are nearly 48,000 wild horses and burros in long-term holding facilities so the herds can be "managed." The end result is not enough genetic diversity and entire herds die off.

Author: Rachel Dylan

Title: Picture Perfect Murder

Hero and Heroine: Lily Parker & Rex Sullivan

Line:  Love Inspired Suspense

One paragraph from the page you are currently on:  “With this guy I think we’ve learned one very deadly fact. Absolutely nothing is off the table.”

Due date:  7/6 (Yikes!)

Word count goal today: no specific goal

Something cool learned recently from research:  Cool photography research. Makes me want to buy new cameras!

Author: Winnie Griggs

Title: TBD (Book 8 in my Texas Grooms/Turnabout series)

Hero and Heroine: Hazel Andrews (seamstress)  and Ward Gleason (sheriff)

Line: Love Inspired Historical

One paragraph from the page you are currently on:

 “Silly schoolgirl schemes! He actually had the nerve to say that to me.” Hazel paced across her shop, waving her hands to punctuate her frustration.  “The man still sees me as nothing but a schoolgirl.” 

Due date: Sept 1, 2015

Word count goal today: 1000

Something cool learned recently from research:  

Bicycling in the 1890s was one of the driving forces in reshaping social attitudes toward women's place in society and in the shape of their wardrobes

Author: Dana Mentink

Title: Danger at Cobalt Cove

Hero and Heroine: Dan (heart surgeon) Angela (Navy chaplain)

Line: Love Inspired Suspense

One paragraph from the page you are currently on: At the core of it, she was afraid. Of losing control, of the threats she saw building all around her from the Grubers and Tank, but most of all, she feared that her soul would be trapped in this dark place forever.

Due date: July 15


Word count goal today: 2,000


Something cool learned recently from research: Navy chaplains do not carry weapons. In combat zones, they are paired with soldiers (chaplain's assistants) who provide protection and support.

Author: Christine Johnson

Title: Untitled, Book 1 of Mail Order Mix-Up series

Hero and Heroine: Roland Decker and Pearl Lawson

Line: Love Inspired Historical

One paragraph from current page:

Garrett wasn’t as quick-witted as Roland, but he figured out where this conversation was headed. “No, and that’s final. I will not marry some stranger just because my children want a new mother.”

Due date: July 31

Word count goal today: 2000 wds.

Something cool learned from recent research: The preferred house colors after the Civil War were much darker than before the conflict.

Author: Teri Wilson

Title: The Ballerina and the Boss

Hero and Heroine: Ophelia Rose and Artem Drake

Line: Harlequin Desire

One paragraph from the page you are currently on:  

It was no mirage. It was her. Standing right behind him, only inches away, with her exquisite face reflected back at him in the pristine pane of glass. And somehow that diamond looked as though it had been made just for her. Placed deep in the earth billions of years ago, waiting for someone to find it and slip it around her enchanting neck.

Due date: None, but my goal is to have it in before the RWA conference in July.

Word count goal today: 1500

Something cool learned recently from research: The Tiffany Diamond, a 128-carat yellow diamond that sits on display on the first floor of Tiffany's 5th Avenue flagship location, has only been worn by two women, one of whom was Audrey Hepburn.

Author: Terri Reed

Title: TBD Book 1 of the Rookie K-9 Unit scheduled for release April 2016

Hero/Heroine: Officer Shane West and K-9 trainer Gina Perry

One paragraph from the current page: She needed to find the exit. The dark was disorienting. She closed her eyes and visualized the space, marking off the paces to the next piece of agility equipment and then the next all the way to the back wall.  She knew this arena by heart. She’d put countless canine officers and their handlers through drills that required them to move from one obstacle to another. She could do this.  She had to do this if she wanted to live. She could reach the exit by memory and escape with the puppies before he found her.

Due date: July 31

Word count goal today: 1000-2000 words

Something cool learned from recent research: Crossbows have different types of bolts and arrows. Some used for hunting others for archery. A steel tipped bolt can go through metal like butter.