What Are We Writing

What Are We Writing

By Margaret Daley

Author: Louise M. Gouge

Title: Cowboy Homecoming

Hero and Heroine: Tolley Northam and Laurie Eberly

Line:  LIH

One paragraph from the page you are currently on:

Tolley had pictured this day in his mind for the entire two years. He would kiss Mother first, of course. Shake hands with his brothers and brother-in-law. Kiss his sister and sisters-in-law on the cheek. Embrace his nieces and nephews, some of whom he’d never met. But his imaginings always stalled over how he would greet the Colonel. Maybe his father would reach out to shake his hand and Tolley wouldn’t have to decide. But then, their parting had been so bitter, so filled with anger on both sides. He could only hope and pray the Colonel had mellowed.

Due date:  August 14, 2016 Yikes!

Word count goal today: Need to cut 3600 words, oh my

Something cool learned recently from research: How to install plumbing in 1885!

Author: Patricia Johns

Title: The Runaway Bride

Hero and Heroine: Liam Wilson and Bernadette Morgan

Line: Harlequin Heartwarming

One paragraph from the page you are currently on:

They weren’t just powerful, they were influential, and they had money Liam didn’t. He could put himself into bankruptcy with lawyers and still not win this. Ike was a Morgan, but if Vince had cared one bit about the boy, he’d had three years to do something about it. If the Morgans were interested now, it wasn’t for familial love, and that realization curdled his blood.

 Due date:  October 15

Word count goal today: 3500 words

Something cool learned recently from research: 

I've been researching classic Rolls Royces. They had burl wood veneer and leather interiors... beautiful! And significantly out of my price range. LOL!

Author: Lorraine Beatty

Title: The Advocate

Hero and Heroine: Mitch Kincaid and Hannah Davis

Line:  A novella for a Barbour collection ( my first attempt at an historical)

One paragraph from the page you are currently on:

Hannah smoothed her skirts down her hair up and assumed her sweetest smile. The one that never failed to mellow her father. With a copy of the Riverton Chronicle in one hand she gathered her courage and pushed open the door to the Sheriff’s office. Her nerves quivered and her throat constricted. Finally she was going to meet her hero the famed lawman Mitch Kincaid the man who tamed a town, the man she’d dreamed about for over a year now. The reason she’d come to Riverton in the first place.

Due date:  October 1st

Word count goal today: 2000

Something cool learned recently from research:  Many town sprung up along the new rail lines as the came through the west but most of them failed due to mismanagement but the railroad companies themselves.

Author: Mary Alford

Title: Rocky Mountain Pursuit - Book Three

Hero and Heroine: Aaron Fisher and Liz Ramirez

Line: Love Inspired Suspense

One paragraph from the page you are currently on:  

Agent Liz Ramirez faced the man who almost took her life. So many questions chased through her mind, the most crucial being why. She’d considered Sam Lansford a friend. Discovering that he was the notorious terrorist the Scorpion team had been hunting for years was incomprehensible.

Due date: September 

Word count goal today: 2,000

Something cool learned recently from research: I'm learning that the Amish people once tried to settle in Alaska.     

Author:   Pamela Tracy

Title:  No Working Title

Hero and Heroine:  Jane de la Rosa and Ethan Ross

Line:  Hopefully Love Inspired Contemporary

One paragraph from the page you are currently on:  

Casually, Ethan held out a ketchup bottle.   “No, I need you to get us a new one.  The lid’s stuck.”

Not thinking, Jane took the bottle, gave the cap a quick twist, and handed it back to him opened.  

His date laughed, almost snorting.  Ethan took the ketchup bottle and scooted it to the back of the booth.  His burger must no longer need it.

There went her tip and his dimple. 

Due date:   None yet

Word count goal today: 1014

Something cool learned recently from research:   I'm on page three, no research yet.

Author: Jean C. Gordon

Title: TBD

Hero and Heroine: Marc Delacroix and Fiona Bryce

Line:  LI Romance

One paragraph from the page you are currently on: 

He had no good reason to be put out about Claire’s co-worker joining them. No good reason except he didn’t want to talk shop today. He had plenty of time for that later. He was taking the set-up and launch of his farm-to-table restaurant slow because he could afford to, and his daughter needed him to. Even more, this Fiona was the first woman he’d noticed, really noticed since Cate had died. And to be honest, that scared him.

Due date:  Proposal is due September 13

Word count goal today: 1,200

Something cool learned recently from research:  I'm not far enough into the story to have needed to do any real research yet. It's set in the same town as my other Love Inspired books.

Author: Terri Reed

Title: Agent-in-Training

Hero and Heroine: K-9 Officer Zara Fielding and Computer genius Dylan O’Leary

Line: Love Inspired Suspense

One paragraph from the page you are currently on: Dylan burrowed deeper into the heated blanket the paramedic provided. He sat on the back bumper of an ambulance surrounded by his team. The dive into the river had been painful. He’d suffered cuts, bruises and a bone deep chill. But he was alive. More importantly, Zara was alive.

Due date: officially Oct 1^st but I’ll be sending it in next week because its done

Word count goal today: revising today

Something cool learned recently from research: I learned that cars made after the late 90’s/early 2000’s have an emergency trunk release built into the car in case someone is ever trapped inside.

Author: Deb Kastner

Title: Rocky Mountain Wranglers: Mick

Hero and Heroine: Mick Dolan and Winn Davis

Line:  My first book for Gilead Publishing

One paragraph from the page you are currently on:  

Mick was almost handsome when he smiled. Who would have guessed there was rugged attractiveness under all that attitude?

Word count goal today: 4,000 (yes, on a very tight deadline)

Something cool learned recently from research: The sound American bison (buffalo) make. Look it up on Youtube. It's incredible. 

Celebrate Son and Daughter Day

According to checkiday,com, today is Son and Daughter Day, a day to spend with your son or daughter. No presents, please. It's not a day of gift giving--except for the gift of time.

I don't have particular plans with my son or daughter today. But my son and I volunteered together at our church's semiannual book sale this past weekend. And my daughter, granddaughter, and I plan to go shopping together--something we haven't done in a long time--at Lee Premium Outlets this Saturday.

I'm fortunate to have both of my children (and grandchildren) close by. Do you have plans with your children this week?
 
Josh Donnelly, the hero of my August Love Inspired Romance doesn't have many fond memories of doing things with his alcoholic father. And when Dad returns out of the blue seven years after abandoning his family, Josh isn't keen on creating any new memories with him.
 
by Jean C. Gordon
FALLING FOR THE BACHELOR
Tessa Hamilton never imagined the hardest part of having her best friend help renovate her small-town movie theater would be keeping her heart safe. She can't fall for a man who has no interest in a serious relationship with any woman…and who doesn't know the secret she hides. Besides, Josh Donnelly is too eager to leave Paradox Lake—especially when his estranged father returns. Tessa struggles with the turmoil, but as she falls deeper for the bachelor, she knows she must be honest if there's any chance for them. But will telling Josh put everything at risk—including their friendship?

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A Lasting First Impression

Over a decade ago, I was getting gas at a local convenience store when I saw a man walking down the sidewalk. He had a long ponytail and carried a green canvas backpack with a leather bottom. He didn’t wave or seem to pay any attention to me, but his presence sparked an interest in my writer’s brain.

Who was he? Where was he from? What did he do?

I didn’t know him, but I was curious about his story. Immediately, my mind jumped to conclusions, but then I halted that stereotypical thinking to consider maybe he was a youth pastor or an educator of some sort. Perhaps he was a pediatric surgeon or even a busker who had a passion for music...I didn’t see an instrument, but I don’t know what was his backpack.

Then, I began thinking about the characters swimming in my head—what if one of them wasn’t who she seemed? Maybe she comes across as a free spirit, but actually, she’s simply an energetic, positive youth worker who championed for the underdog. 

I started writing her story, but when I ran into plotting roadblocks and received discouraging feedback, I shelved it and moved on, writing other books and finally getting “the call.”

As I sold more books to Love Inspired, this character wouldn’t stay quiet, constantly demanding for her story to be told. After restructuring the plot (I had grown a lot in my craft since then) and strengthening the characters, I sold the story to Love Inspired. 

So, after being two of the characters I’ve known the longest, Alec and Sarah’s story is being told in Lakeside Romance, which released this month.

Lakeside Romance is the story of a cynical real estate agent who teams with a free-spirited youth worker to teach cooking to teenagers in a summer outreach program. Problem is, she can’t cook, and he hates teenagers.

By taking a stereotypical view of a stranger and twisting it, I came up with a fun heroine who tends to annoy my cranky hero...and yes, he’s been cranky since he entered my mind, but now he’s a lot less of a jerk. As they get to know each other, Sarah and Alec realize their first impressions weren't entirely accurate. 

As one of our human flaws, we are quick to jump to conclusions. We may see someone who doesn’t dress or act the way we do, and we form an opinion without getting to know her. That first impression may not be her finest moment. However, we need to be more sympathetic and compassionate because we don’t know what journey she’s taking through life. We can take the time to get to know people and realize our first impressions may not have been the most accurate. And, yes, at times, we do need to trust our instincts, especially if those first impressions signal danger.

Our paths have never crossed again that I’m aware of, but that ponytailed stranger will never know what an impression he made on me.

What about you? What kind of impression do you want to imprint on a stranger’s mind? Will you be forgettable? Or a lasting memory?

Allie Pleiter on fun research sources

Sometimes, research requires me to dig into obscure and strange places to get information.  Right now, for example, I’m looking into the Australian foster care system and pediatric prosthetics.  Other times, something just perfect pops into your life to solve a research dilemma.

One of those perfect pop-ups happened to me in doing the research for The Texan’s Second Chance.  Since this is the third book set on the Blue Thorn Bison Ranch, I didn’t need to augment much of what I already knew about raising bison.  I am delighted to note, however, that Bison became the Official U.S. Mammal during this series (hooray!).

No, I needed to learn about food trucks.  After all, Jenna comes onto the Blue Thorn Ranch to be the creative chef behind the family’s bison burger food truck.  I love doing food research.  Bison burgers—if you didn’t know—are delicious and very good for you.

One of the questions I always ask my sources is “which movies or TV shows get it right, and which get it wrong?”  Most bakers will tell you their life doesn’t look anything like “Cake Boss,” while a firefighter told me he felt “Ladder 49” nailed it. In the age of DVDs and Netflix, a writer has a host of great info at her fingertips—if she knows what to watch and what to skip.

My food truck source sent me straight to the movie “Chef” to give me a good grounding in the ins and outs of food truck life.  Not only was it a good night’s entertainment—it’s a very good movie even if you aren’t doing research—but I learns tons of stuff and came away with a pile of questions to ask my source.

My favorite reader comment so far was how hungry the book made her for several of the specific dishes mentioned.  It warms a writer’s heart to know my grilled cheese description sent you straight to the kitchen to make one!

How about you?  What’s the most interesting thing you learned from a movie lately?