Summer Fun! Awards and An August Bride returns to Mule Hollow

Hi Everyone Debra Clopton here!

Like the others who have posted I returned from RWA and have also been busy busy busy!
The conference was wonderful and I saw good friends, editors, my agent and also learned a lot. I also came home with an unexpected award! My historical mail order bride novella AN EVER AFTER SUMMER won the National Readers Choice Award. I was so pleased and completely surprised. It was an honor to win the award. Other winners were Brenda Novak and Jodi Thomas among others who were hoping for the unique Tombstone award. I'll head to ACFW in September where the novella is a finalist in the Carol Award also and I'm just honored to be nominated.

I'm in between Love Inspired books right now  but  I do have a very cute novella out this month  from Zondervan and the Match Makin Posse of Mule Hollow have gone to Corpus Christi to Esther Mae's niece's beach  wedding and they have their sites set on Esther Mae's other niece Kelsey! I really think this is a very good story and all my readers and new readers will enjoy it! RT Mag reviews give it 4 stars.

Order Today



As far as Kelsey Wilcox is concerned, her last cowboy was the last cowboy.

Kelsey Wilcox has had enough of cowboys. After the last one broke her heart, Kelsey traded in her boots for flip-flops, and the open range for a bistro on the beach.  Her life on Corpus Christi’s gorgeous beach might be a little lonely, but at least it’s heartbreak-free. At least until her cousin’s beachside wedding bucks Kelsey right back into the rodeo.

When unlucky-in-love Brent Corbin packed his groomsman’s tux for his friend’s wedding, he brought his boots and belt buckle with him. Brent isn’t exactly looking for love, but when he sees what appears to be a mermaid in distress, he jumps right in to rescue her.

So Kelsey finds herself plucked from the sea—and certain-drowning—by a gorgeous groomsman . . . in soaked cowboy boots. She’s quick to say thanks, but no thanks.

Brent dedicates the weekend to pursuing Kelsey—and Kelsey spends the weekend trying to deny an obvious match. She’s as stubborn as a wild horse, but Brent’s determination may tame her yet.

Until next time live laugh and seek God with all your hearts!!!
Debra Clopton

Movie News for Debra Clopton's Book, OPERATION MARRIED BY CHRISTMAS staring LeAnn Rimes

Hi Everyone! Debra Clopton here waving excitedly. It seems like its been forever since I blogged and I have some news that I believe will make readers of my Mule Hollow Series with Love Inspired happy! One of the number one questions I get is how wonderful it would be to see Mule Hollow come to life in a movie--well thanks to some wonderful really cool folks~~ OPERATION: MARRIED BY CHRISTMAS may very well do just that! I found out recently that it has been optioned by VAST Entertainment for an ABC Family movie starring LeAnn Rimes!

Vast Entertainment is excited about it as are all those involved. The wonderful reality is that it has been: Optioned by Vast. Picked up by Orly Adelson. Distributed through ABC. And the lead is Lead: LeAnn Rimes.

So--stay tuned and if you are interested in being in a drawing this month to win a copy of the book go to my website debraclopton.com and leave a comment beneath my post. For a second chance to win a copy leave a comment here on this blog post! I've had a lot of comments about the movie and the number one misconception is that I'm in charge :) not so. Actually, I'm just sitting back in awe that they chose my book for this honor. I can't wait to see who plays all of the roles. It will be fun to see who they come up with for the other fun quirky characters from Mule Hollow--got any thoughts of who could play them :)

Also, excited for my new release of Book 1 of my new series Cowboys of Sunrise Ranch RT Magazine gave it 41/2 stars!!! I hope you'll all be excited to meet my new cast of characters from Dew Drop, Texas I've worked hard to give my readers the fun, homey feeling they loved from Mule Hollow but with a little twist :) check it out http://debraclopton.com/coming-soon/

Have a great Thursday!!! Summer is almost here down in Texas :)

Don't You Love Spring!

Hi Everyone!!! Debra Clopton here to say, "Yay! Spring is here! And that makes me one happy girl." What a beautiful day yesterday was...I hope everyone had a blessed Resurrection Sunday aka Easter :)

I love spring and summer with a passion, they are my favorite times of the year. You know I love road trips :) and these shots I've posted are from a drive through the country looking at the beauty of God's creation. Spring is, I'm sure everyone's favorite season...summer probably not so much--because yes, Texas summers are hot, hot, hot (but I still love them.) By the end of July and all of August things are really crispy here in good ole central Texas with an average week hovering near or over 100 degrees most of the time...but still, I love it. Then again I don't have to work out in it so my heart always goes out to those who have no choice but to work in the heat all day. They, I'm sure have favorite times of the year too and I'm sure its spring, fall and even winter.

This time last year I was working on my book which just came out on the 1st of April, HER LONE STAR COWBOY. What is weird or the behind the book story of this book is that our spring started out just a bit dry which got me to thinking about some new twist for my book that I was working on. I knew a little about toxic plants and drought...and since it was a dry spring it got me to thinking about the fact that I'd never put a drought in Mule Hollow. Soooo, I decided it would be a twist to do just that and have it themed around toxic plants threatening the livestock on the Holden Ranch and other ranches in the surrounding area of my little town Mule Hollow. Great idea except I had no idea what so ever that Texas was about to go through the worst drought its been through in what a hundred years or so!

Truly, this book was created in real time as I worked on the drought going on in Mule Hollow here in Texas we were drying up and looking more like Arizona than Texas! Here on our small 300 acres we almost had no grass by the beginning of summer and it was really bad by fall. I was researching toxic plants and having no trouble since every monthly farm and ranch publication I receive was talking about and warning about the dangers of toxic plants during drought. It made for easy research. Plus I had the expert help of local veterinarian Lisa VanReenen who knows her plants as well as my heroine Gabby Newberry. I was as impressed by Lisa and my hero Jess Holden was with Gabby. The book isn't just about killer plants but also fun at the county fair--or I guess that should be chaos at the county fair!

I'm hoping that you are loving this weather as much as I am and that you're looking for a road trip you'll grab a copy of HER LONE STAR COWBOY and come join me and the gang in Mule Hollow for a few hours of reading pleasure. http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/easy_find/1285572356?Ntt=Debra+Clopton&N=1014644&Ntk=keywords&action=Search&Ne=0&event=ESRCN&nav_search=1&cms=1&search=

I have a couple of things I'd be interested in knowing about you--what is your favorite time of year? And also have you been to the county fair and had and "Incident" something funny that happened to you?

What does a Cover Say?

Hi from Texas! Debra Clopton here hoping you have a blessed day. First I'd like to congratulate the Harlequin art department for bringing my hero of my September book Her Rodeo Cowboy to life in this cover. It was announced this month that it won the Judge a Book By Its Cover Contest in the Inspirational Category, sponsored by the Houston Bay Area RWA Chapter. Whoo Hoo! I think the art department did a great job with the cover because Luke Holden is a great guy inside and out and I thought the look in his eyes conveyed a steadfastness in him...this was the 1st book in the Mule Hollow Homecoming series. You can read the interview with Luke here or visit my website
www.debraclopton.com/about-debra/interviews/

This is the cover of the 2nd book in the Mule Hollow Homecoming series HER LONE STAR COWBOY out March 20. What do you think about Jess?

These are brothers in the series, and they have two completely different expressions. At first I worried what readers would think about Jess's expression. What does his expression say to you? I'll give you a cheat sheet but would love to hear what your first reaction to Jess was. He is actually a fun loving guy, determined not to let his past affect him. He and Luke and Colt, whose story will come out in August 2012 do have a hard childhood that they each have dealt with in their own way. So, what do you think of his expression? What do you think he's thinking about?

You can read about the story at my website under coming soon.

And the big question is, do you judge a book by it's cover?

I will tell you that years ago someone gave me a book with a horrible cover and told me I just had to read this book. The cover was so bland that it just really turned me off. I set the book to the side and forgot about it. About a year later I saw a friend reading a book, something about the cover looked familiar to me. She told me it was a wonderful book and started telling me about it and how it was affecting her. Suddenly it hit me--and I went over and dug the book out from under a stack of books--it was the same book I'd been given. I read the book and loved it!!! It is to this day one of my favorites and I always think about that terrible cover and how it almost caused me to miss out on this wonderful book. How about you--do you have a bad cover story?

(I'll have an interview here next month with Jess from Her Lone Star Cowboy if you want to find out what he's really thinking about)

Just Saying Hello!

Hello everyone! Debra Clopton here poking her head out of deadline, deadline and more deadline crunch to say I hope this is going to be a blessed August for everyone. This has been a hard couple of months for me but I feel so blessed to have this opportunity to write my books, deadlines are hard but wonderful :) This post is basically to say hi since I'm still swamped and just can't take my head out of the Mule Hollow Book I'm creating. God has been good and readers have been wonderful to buy my books. I pray with each one that I meet the expectation for both the readers and for what God is expecting of the books. So I hope you'll forgive me once more for this short blog but I have to get back to it! If any of you haven't read my Mule Hollow series I hope you'll give it a read and I hope they make you smile. Until next time live, laugh and love God with all your hearts.
Debra Clopton