Craftie Ladies ~ Love Inspired HIstorical January Release

Jean C. Gordon here with what's new from our talented Craftie Ladies Love Inspired Historical writers. To buy this wonderful book, just click the book cover. And to learn more about the author, click on her name.

For the Sake of the Children
by Danica Favorite  
THE NANNY AGREEMENT 
Widower Silas Jones needs a mother for his daughter, and marriage could help his former sweetheart repair her tattered reputation. Yet he can't blame Rose Stone when she refuses a marriage of convenience after he once broke her heart, marrying another woman to save his family's farm. He's blessed Rose agrees to be his nanny. If only she'd look at him again with the warmth she shows little Milly…
Rose's tarnished past hasn't quelled her spirit. She's building a good life in Colorado with her infant son—and the glimmer of a future with Silas. But when his in-laws try to claim Milly, Rose must decide if the makeshift family she and Silas have forged can reopen her heart to love.

Writing a Novel Backwards

Have you ever had one of those inside out days? You know, the kind where you walk out of the house with one black sock and one blue sock on? The kind where everything seems to go backwards or in the entirely wrong direction?

When I wrote The Wyoming Heir, I intentionally wrote my story backwards. No, that doesn't mean I began with chapter twenty something and worked my way down to chapter one. It means that when I planned the story, I went about reversing some of the usual norms for a novel.

You see, after writing my first novel, which is set during the French Revolution, I wanted to try something set in the United States. And what better way to set a novel in the US but by writing a story about a cowboy? After all, cowboys are about as American as you can get, right? But therein lay my problem. It seemed like everyone was writing a story about a cowboy. Numerous cowboys stared back at me whenever I walked down a book aisle or browsed various book lists on the web. So if I was going to write a story about a cowboy, how was I going to make it different enough to stand out?

That's when I decided to reverse my novel. Instead of having the fancy eastern woman go West where she falls in love with a rugged cowboy and gets an education as to how much fun rustic living can be, I decided to have my cowboy come East, where he gets an education about the importance of women's education (along with a few other things) and learns how much fun citified folk can be.

The Wyoming Heir turned out to be a fun story to write as I could take some elements of the classic western-era novel and completely flip them around. (For more information, I've got a book description and excerpt up on my website.)

As for the ending of the story, I won't comment one way or another about whether my cowboy and school teacher end up in Wyoming or New York. You'll have to read the book for that. ;-)

What about you? Have you ever taken a trend and intentionally bucked the norm? Did you feel a bit out of place doing so? How did your experience end up? I'd love to hear your stories in the comments below.

It's like a dream come true

Years ago, I began to read those wonderful books by Mary Stewart and Victoria Holt (who didn't love Nine Coaches Waiting or Bride of Pendorric?) and any of those wildly romantic, sometimes historical, always suspenseful novels. Ooh, especially if they had a castle, a cliff and woman on the run in a white gown. Oh, how I loved them!

This is making me all nostalgic for those great novels again. I devoured Barbara Cartland and her historicals. Cadfael novels were candy to me. I absolutely adored them!

So, naturally, I wanted to write one.  And at that know-it-all age of fourteen, I knew I could. Well, I got about 250 words in and had my heroine racing all over Continental Europe, making it to England from Switzerland in less than two days (snort, like that happened in the 1300s) for some enigmatic reason that no doubt made sense at the time. Then I got bored and moved off to other things. Writing an historical obviously took time and you actually had to have a plot. Who'd have thought that?!!?
Well, my dream slipped away as life took over. I grew up, had a career and children before I revisited that dream. My hero stayed the same, though. He got tossed back a few centuries, as I have always loved Medieval settings, but he was always strong and brave.
Then, last year, God plopped me down at my computer. And with his help, I wrote steadily for several months and produced a tale of my hero, still strong and brave, but facing an enemy like no other. A hurt and vulnerable woman in need of God's love in her life.
I found an agent, and I just knew that Love Inspired Historical would publish Bound to the Warrior, then called Her Norman Husband.

It's a tale of God's love for us, and our love for each other. My heroine doesn't dash about Europe. In fact, she's never left her keep and nor does she run away from a mysterious castle in a white gown. Instead, she finds God's love in an unlikely place - her Norman husband.
But, with those memories of Victoria Holt and Mary Stewart echoing inside of me, my hero and heroine face suspenseful dangers that could destroy their budding love.
Cadfael would be proud.
Bound to the Warrior comes out in early March. I hope you'll check it out and enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.