What inspired Ghost of the Nile?

Thanks for having me as your guest again! Ghost of the Nile is the latest in my “Gods of Egypt” paranormal series set in ancient Egypt. For quite a while I’d been fascinated with the idea of writing a story set on an estate in the 1550 BCE era. One of the interesting things about Egypt was that for literally hundreds of years the climate and the daily life stayed pretty much the same. Pharaohs came and went but the more ordinary folk had quite an unchanging routine, linked to the Nile’s floods. I felt my hero could return from the Afterlife and fit right into his old home, although as a guest, not a resident. I thought the challenges for him could be intriguing.

The Egyptians of 3000 years ago believed that unless you were buried in the soil of Egypt and had all the proper rituals recited for you, as well as your name preserved, you couldn’t enter the Afterlife. So my hero Periseneb, who was murdered and didn’t receive the rites at the time of his death, has been condemned to roam the fringes of the Afterlife and wage endless battles against demons and giant snakes.

I’m always fascinated with the goddess Ma’at, who represented truth, balance, justice…and who happened to be the goddess of second chances. I’m a Libra myself – scales, balance…. She was one of the Judges who weighed the heart of a dead person, to see if they deserved the Afterlife. So I decided she’d need a champion to accomplish some task in Egypt, and selects Periseneb, who she believes deserves a second chance at entry to paradise. A favorite old movie of mine is the 1963 version of “Jason and the Argonauts”. I love how the goddess Hera tells Jason she’ll help him three times along the way. I decided Ma’at would help Periseneb, and you’ll see in the book how he has to call for her assistance.

The next intriguing concept this novel allowed me to play with was the ancient Egyptian idea of the terrifying nature of ghosts, or akhs. Periseneb himself is uncomfortable with being an akh returned to Egypt, and worries a lot about inadvertently loosing the evil powers he now possesses on the innocents around him.

How likely are people you meet to end up in your next book?

Not very, especially not in the novels set in ancient Egypt! I don’t draw much inspiration from my own life for those stories.

Give us an elevator pitch for your book.

Can he solve his own murder 200 years later?

Do you have a view in your writing space? 

I do have a view out my balcony, where I can see several trees and the foothills across a small valley. It’s very pleasant. I also have two cats who keep me company, bring me toys, generally supervise my writing! I also keep several statues on my desk for inspiration – a Pharaoh, an ancient Egyptian dancer, a Roman centurion on a rearing stallion and a miniature garden scene from ancient Egypt.

What do you have planned for the future?

This year I want to write and release four new science fiction romances – I have two in the works, either being edited or formatted right now, which will be out in March and April. I have a number of plot ideas for the next  book so I just have to settle on one and start writing. In the Gods of Egypt series, I’ll be releasing a novella that is currently only available in an anthology. And I’m hoping to write the sequel to Dancer of the Nile. Oh, and I’ll be releasing the next audiobook. My narrators are recording it now. Sounds ambitious and crazy busy, I know, but last year I went full time as an author so if I stay focused, I ought to be able to get most of the plan done. Knock on wood!

How far do you plan ahead?

About a year at a time. I’m not a hugely detailed planner, as you can probably tell.  I like to see what new opportunities arise, or how the publishing business is changing, rather than get locked into any one way of thinking.

Do you have any words of inspiration for aspiring authors?

Try to write at least a little every day. Don’t edit yourself too much on the first draft! And remember the publishing world is in a state of flux, with many opportunities and challenges, so be open to trying various paths to your success. Self publishing, traditional publishing, agent, no agent…there’s no one path that works for everyone, to do what feels right for you.

Please tell my readers a little bit about your book.

1550 BCE

Betrayed, murdered, and buried without proper ceremony, Egyptian warrior Periseneb is doomed to roam the gray deserts of the dead as a ghost for all eternity.

But then the goddess of truth offers him a bargain: return to the world of the living as her champion for 30 days. If he completes his mission, he’ll be guaranteed entry into Paradise. Periseneb agrees to the bargain but, when he returns to the living world, two hundred years have passed and nothing is quite as he expected.

Neithamun is a woman fighting to hang onto her family’s estate against an unscrupulous nobleman who desires the land as well as the lady. All seems lost until a mysterious yet appealing ex-soldier, Periseneb, appears out of nowhere to help her fight off the noble’s repeated attacks.

Meanwhile, Periseneb’s thirty days are rushing by, and he’s powerless against the growing attraction between himself and Neithamun. But their love can never be. For his Fate is to return to the Afterlife, and Death cannot wed with Life…

A short excerpt:

In the morning, he rose with the dawn, grabbing a meat roll and a handful of dates from the communal table and heading off to walk the estate. Happy as he was to be in the world of the living again, the tour began first to depress and then anger him. Broken fences, unplanted fields, and drooping crops all spoke to the difficulties the estate was facing. He believed Neithamun was doing her best, given the limited resources, but the losing battle she was waging was all too obvious to him.

But when he topped the ridge and faced the cracked expanse of dirt and scrub grass where the marsh that gave the place its name used to be, he stopped in his tracks and swore. By the look of it, the marsh had been gone for years. Now he had the explanation why the nearest fields were fallow, since the estate had relied on the wetlands for irrigation.

He came down the hillside and walked a short way out onto the baked earth of the marsh, spinning in a slow circle to see the scope of the devastation. A few spindly trees struggling for survival in a cluster were the extent of greenery. Periseneb shut his eyes for a long moment, remembering the marsh as it was in his time—cool, green and thickly surrounded by trees, a refuge for the stately herons, cranes and ibis, stocked with fish, redolent with lotus and lilies, an amazing year-round haven in the hot, dry nome.

Cool water splashed his ankles and he inhaled the perfume of abundant lotus flowers. The cry of a startled bird sounded and he opened his eyes to find himself standing at the edge of the marsh as he remembered it. “By the gods, what sorcery is this?” He stared in disbelief, reached a cupped hand to the water’s surface, and tasted the sweet, crystalline liquid cautiously. A fish jumped nearby to catch a careless flying insect and a white ibis swooped in to snare the fish, just missing and winging away with a harsh cry of disappointment. Periseneb glanced behind him. Sure enough, there were his tracks in the dusty hillside, leading to the water’s edge. “Am I going mad? This cannot be here!” He bent to pluck a single blue lotus and as the stem broke, releasing the fragrant flower, the marsh disappeared, leaving him standing on the hot, cracked lakebed.

Holding a blue lotus.

His tattoo burned on his shoulder.

Periseneb felt a wave of vertigo, as if the ground moved under his feet. Hastily, he retraced his steps, ascending the slope, tucking the amazing lotus into his belt. Making his way to the great house, he went in search of the mistress of Heron Marsh. He found her at the grain silos to the rear of the house.

“We need to talk,” he said, striding over to her.

Buy Links:

Amazon    Barnes & Noble    Kobo     iTunes

Author Bio:

Best Selling Science Fiction & Paranormal Romance author and “SciFi Encounters” columnist for the USA Today Happily Ever After blog, Veronica Scott grew up in a house with a library as its heart. Dad loved science fiction, Mom loved ancient history and Veronica thought there needed to be more romance in everything. When she ran out of books to read, she started writing her own stories.

Veronica writes novels set in the far future, often involving a disaster to kick the action off, as well as a fantasy romance series set in ancient Egypt. Her most recent release is Star Cruise: Marooned.

Three time winner of the SFR Galaxy Award, as well as a National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award, Veronica is also the proud recipient of a NASA Exceptional Service Medal relating to her former day job, not her romances!

Mother of two, grandmother  of one, companion to two cats….

Blog: https://veronicascott.wordpress.com/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/vscotttheauthor

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Veronica-Scott/177217415659637?ref=hl

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Veronica-Scott/e/B006CUCJ92/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

Thanks for having me today! You suggested answering a few questions for your readers, so here they are in no particular order…  J

Tell us about your current series.

As a mom, I would never be able to love one of my daughters more than the others. But when it comes to books I’ve written, I have to admit that my Kilted Heroes series has been so much fun to create.

I happen to be an Outlander addict. If you’ve read the books or seen the TV show, you know what that means. So I came up with the idea of three friends (equally obsessed with Outlander) who travel to Scotland in search of adventure and romance. The Kilted Heroes series is a trilogy. I hope by the time readers finish all three books they will love Scotland as much as I do!

What is your least favorite part of writing?

That one’s easy. I really don’t like reading the final galleys…checking for boo-boos. By then I’ve looked at the same words and paragraphs so many times, I’m over it! It would be nice to farm that part out to an assistant, but since I’m a control freak, I’m stuck with it.

What did you want to be when you were a child?

 I honestly don’t remember as far back as childhood aspirations, but I do know that when I was fourteen I wanted to be an interpreter at the U.N. I loved foreign languages, and I thought that job would make me very exotic. Sigh…

Do you have critique partners?

 Oddly perhaps, the answer is no. I have a very tight writing schedule, which leaves little time for passing chapters around and meeting to discuss them. I have six books coming out in 2016, only one of which is a re-release. Even my agent doesn’t read my work, unless it is a brand new project we are trying to sell.

What is your favorite dessert/food?

 I’m going to cheat and answer both. Favorite dessert? Homemade chocolate chip cookies. Favorite food? Steak, salad, and baked potato…if the meal is very good. No sense wasting calories on sub-par cooking.  J

Do you have a view in your writing space? What does it look like?

 I’m not a sit-at-the-desk kind of writer. I roam. I wander. I take my laptop all over the house. Even though I do have an official office, it’s not where I do my creative work. One of my favorite places is a chair in our bedroom where I can look out at our wooded backyard. Though I can’t see the actual Smoky Mountains, I can see the foothills. Very beautiful and peaceful.

 What do you have planned for the future?

 Some days the future seems hazy. A crystal ball would be nice! I like to plan out the year, but with many obligations, both personal and professional, there are always surprises in the mix. I feel very fortunate to be doing what I love fulltime. At the moment, I have four more books contracted with Harlequin and another four in the works with Kensington.

Having achieved your goal to be a published author, what is the most rewarding thing?

 Without a doubt, the people I have met. Readers, other writers, editors, industry professionals…so many women (and a few men) who care very much about stories with happy endings that enrich lives and bring joy to the reader. Writing is by its nature a solitary profession. But at conferences and via e-mail and social media, I’m able to connect with friends and colleagues. It’s a great blessing to be part of such a wonderful community!

Thanks for having me today. Happy Spring and Happy Reading!

Janice Maynard

HOT FOR THE SCOT

In Janice Maynard’s sweet and sexy new series, three childhood friends with a shared passion for the Outlander novels and TV show decide to travel to Scotland looking for adventure—and their very own Highland heroes…

 It’s a dream come true for schoolteacher Hayley Smith. No homework to grade, no students to corral, no social media, Internet or cell phone…just a month amid the heather and rolling hills around Inverness. A brawny alpha male in a kilt is probably too much to ask for. But Hayley is in heaven ambling around Loch Ness, gazing and then…falling into the icy water, before being rescued by a strong, chivalrous local hero…

Retired soccer star Angus Munro, aka Angus the Angler, is a little insulted and a whole lot intrigued when Hayley doesn’t recognize him. How long has it been since anyone saw beyond his wealth and fame? And how long before the macho athlete and his modern-day American damsel in distress act on an attraction that could make even the misty Scottish moors sizzle with heat? Long enough, maybe, for both to figure out if this is an affair to remember…or the start of something everlasting…

AMAZON http://www.amazon.com/Scot-Kilted-Heroes-Janice-Maynard-ebook/dp/B013NI5G90/

BARNES & NOBLE http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hot-for-the-scot-janice-maynard/1122491656?ean=9781601836250
KOBO https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/hot-for-the-scot

GOOGLEPLAY https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Janice_Maynard_Hot_For_The_Scot?id=ZbpVCgAAQBAJ

KENSINGTON BOOKS http://www.kensingtonbooks.com/book.aspx/32156

Author bio:

USA Today bestselling author Janice Maynard knew she loved books and writing by the time she was eight years old. But it took multiple rejections and many years of trying before she sold her first three novels. After teaching kindergarten and second grade for a number of years, Janice took a leap of faith and quit her day job. Since then she has written and sold over thirty-five books and novellas.

During a recent trip to Scotland, Janice enjoyed getting to know the “motherland”. Her grandfather’s parents emigrated from the home of bagpipes, heather, and kilts. Janice lives in east Tennessee with her husband, Charles. They love hiking, traveling, and spending time with family.

Hearing from readers is one of the best perks of the job!

http://www.janicemaynard.com

Rafflecopter Giveaway –  HOT FOR THE SCOT ebook

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What genre(s) do you write in and why?

 I write both medieval and contemporary romance.

Medieval draws me because of the magical and fantasy elements of knights and castles. I’ve always loved wandering around ruins and making up stories about the people who lived there.

Contemporary has a different appeal for me. It enables me to tell the stories that I see around me in every day life. It gives me an outlet to delve into issues around women that I want to explore.

In Nobody’s Princess, I explore the idea of how women perceive themselves to have value. I think as women we spend far too much time allowing people to value us by the way we look.

What is your favorite part of writing?

Actually, I really enjoy editing my first draft and shaping it into a second and third draft. I’m a plotter, so my first draft is more of a color by numbers exercise as I fill in the gaps between one plot point and the other. Once I have the story down on paper comes the fun part of making the characters come to life, and building the world around their story.

What is your least favorite part of writing?

I have two. I don’t love getting that first draft on paper. It seems a little mechanical to me. Working out the plot before I fill in the words is wonderful, and then making the story and characters come to life is equally fulfilling. The way I work means that I need to get that first draft on the page before I can do anything with it, so it’s often a bit of a word slog.

The next bit I don’t like is going through the galley, which is the last time I see the book before publication. Again, it’s a mechanical exercise and at that point all I’m doing is checking for typos and mistakes. Reading through a galley brings all my writer insecurities up to choke me. Maybe it’s the knowledge that I can’t change much anymore that suddenly makes me hyper aware of all the things that I should have changed before we got to this point.

What is your next project and when will it be released?

I’m tackling two new projects at the moment. As I write in two genres, I have one of each on the go.

On the medieval side, I am finishing off books 3, 4 and 5 of my Sir Arthur’s Legacy series, telling the stories of Sir Arthur’s remaining children William, Roger and Henry. Book 3, Conquering William is scheduled for release at the end of August this year.

On the contemporary front, I’ve started a new series called “The Ghost Falls Series” (I’m still working on this series title). It’s a small town romance series set on the Utah/Colorado border and the first, “Positively Pippa” in due for release summer 2017. If you’re a fan of “What not to Wear” and “Love, Lust or Run” you might be interested to know I used Stacy London as the inspiration for my heroine, Pippa.

How likely are people you meet to end up in your next book?

Very likely, so be warned. I can’t say that I’ve ever taken an entire person and put them in a book, more like bits and pieces that caught my imagination, or phrases they’ve used that I just loved.

Was your road to publication fraught with peril or a walk in the park?

A little of both. Other romance writers have been the biggest support system in my journey. Unfortunately, I might have saved myself a good portion of struggle if I’d listened to all the wonderful advice given to me before I made the mistakes I made.

No, my first manuscript was nowhere near ready for publication when I submitted it. Yes, I did make all the newbie writers mistakes in it, and no, I didn’t do my research on who I was submitting to before I went for it.

It took me a while to realize that people really did know what they were talking about, and I would have saved myself a lot of heartache if I’d just listened.

What genres are you drawn to as a reader?

I’ll read just about any genre. What draws me into a book are strong characters, and if you make me love your character, I’ll enter any world you want me to and stay there for the duration of your character’s journey.

Has your muse always known what genre you would write and be published in?

No. In fact, I started out wanting to be a modern day Georgette Heyer, and wanted to write Regency romance. Once I’d written my first manuscript in Regency, I realized that it wasn’t for me. I was much more suited to the rough and tumble of the medieval period. My husband made the suggestion that I try contemporary, and he’s unashamedly claimed credit ever since.

What did you want to be when you were a child? 

 I wanted to be an actress when I grew up. I started down that path as a young adult, only to end up doing a variety of different jobs to make ends meet. Strangely enough, writing was the one constant throughout all my career reincarnations. It seemed to be a tool I used whether workshopping theatre pieces, writing press releases when I drifted into PR, designing questionnaires for my brief stint in market research, or even drafting copy for the advertising industry.

Did you always know you wanted to be a writer?

I’ve always had this idea in the back of my mind that I would write, but it wasn’t until my fortieth birthday that I decided to pursue it seriously. My twenties and thirties are littered with projects I started and then stopped, but something about turning forty made me realize that if not now, then when.

Do you or have you belonged to a writing organization?

I’m a member of the Romance Writer’s of America, and they’ve been the most incredible support system. Everything from shoulders to cry on, through craft workshops, advise on submission and publication, and all the way to individual authors like Terri Osburn and Madeline Hunter who have gone out of their way to help me.

RWA is more of a community than anything else, and the generosity of its members to writers at all stages in their journey make it a must for anyone wanting to write romance.

Will you share some encouraging words for authors still struggling for that first contract? 

I want to share the same words of encouragement I heard at my very first Romance Writers of America conference – just keep writing. Write, write and write some more and you’ll get there in the end.

Nobody’s Princess Book Blurb:

Sarah Hegger is back with another delightful Willow Park Romance, but this time the road to love might be a little bumpy…

Tiffany Desjardins has a plan. Well, she had a plan, until her past and all its complications came back to haunt her. Her not-quite-ex-husband, Luke, is missing, and suddenly everyone needs to find him–including Tiffany, if she wants to marry the true man of her dreams. Then there’s Thomas Hunter, Luke’s brawny friend, who won’t take “no road trip” for an answer–and who won’t stop showing up in her daydreams…

Thomas couldn’t care less about Luke’s personal life, but he needs to find him if he’s going to make his fledgling minerals and metals company a reality. And if that means following Tiffany, who’s taken off in Luke’s rare Lamborghini Miura, he’s more than willing–especially if there might be a chance to negotiate some of Tiffany’s lovely curves. As Tiffany and Thomas speed along without a map, the only destination that seems certain is being together…

“Sarah Hegger’s voice is rich and witty and in a word, addictive.”–Terri Osburn, author of the bestselling Anchor Island series

 Buy Links:

 Amazon: http://amzn.to/21ShazC

 Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1M5pErn

 Kobo: http://bit.ly/1lxWVGX

iBooks: http://apple.co/1lSiOjM

Author Bio:

Born British and raised in South Africa, Sarah Hegger suffers from an incurable case of wanderlust. Her match? A hot Canadian engineer, whose marriage proposal she accepted six short weeks after they first met. Together they’ve made homes in seven different cities across three different continents (and back again once or twice). If only it made her multilingual, but the best she can manage is idiosyncratic English, fluent Afrikaans, conversant Russian, pigeon Portuguese, even worse Zulu and enough French to get herself into trouble.

Mimicking her globe trotting adventures, Sarah’s career path began as a gainfully employed actress, drifted into public relations, settled a moment in advertising, and eventually took root in the fertile soil of her first love, writing. She also moonlights as a wife and mother.

She currently lives in Littleton, Colorado, with her teenage daughters, two Golden Retrievers and aforementioned husband. Part footloose buccaneer, part quixotic observer of life, Sarah’s restless heart is most content when reading or writing books.

She loves to hear from readers and you can find her at any of the places below.

Website: http://sarahhegger.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarahheggerauthor/?ref=hl

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Sarah-Hegger/e/B00KC50U9Y/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1449772560&sr=8-1

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SarahHegger

Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/sarahhegger

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahheggerauthor/

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Where do you get the ideas for your stories?

Ideas for stories usually arrive in my sleep/wake state at four a.m. Years back, I learned from my Harlequin editors that romance readers want the hero and heroine to meet right away, so my brain took care of that. In the opening of Rye’s Reprieve, mid-scene…

Reflexively Rye glanced her way. The redhead. She beaded down on him with a big-bore rifle. Naked, gleaming, and armed. She drew back the bolt with a snap. “I said—”

“I’m not, I’m not.” He reached for his stud’s trailing reins, took a step toward the stirrup.

Metal clicked when she shot the bolt. “Don’t you move,” she demanded.

He froze.

Missouri Harper and her three sisters had just come off four months of travel crossing the prairie and they were sprucing themselves up in, as it turns out, Rye Rawlin’s favorite fishing hole and reflecting pool on Morgan’s River, about five miles from the gold mining camp where Rye works. He’d been out hunting. The sisters hadn’t planned on a good-looking man in a western hat and boots showing up at their private bathing spot, toting a rifle.

Planning to meet their widowed aunt in town, they couldn’t wait to find safe harbor at Auntie’s luxurious home and ranch. But the luxury home the sisters were bound for? The place wasn’t exactly a mansion. I’ll leave you to discover what happens.

Back to how this novel came about…

I rose when the muse struck (with spurs). I wrote for several hours, until the scene was complete, including setting, the central idea of the story, and the key characters—the four Harper sisters, their prize horseflesh, Rye, and his stud Black Bart, named after a poet-outlaw from San Francisco.

The next event in my publishing adventure was life-changing. I sent the scene to my friend Debra Holland. She took it on the plane en route to a conference in Florida, where she met with the people from Amazon’s Kindle World. During that meeting, blame it on my muse, Debra’s Montana Sky Kindle World came into being. And now you can buy my first historical novel. I share this honor with 13 other Montana Sky Kindle World authors.

What advice do you have for other authors wanting to self-publish?

At book-signings, I used to sign my novels, “Go for your dreams.” I still ascribe to that advice.

Be willing to let others help you get there. I’ve found that writers in Orange County, California, where I live, are generous with their time to critique, advise, guide, share books sales figures, and more. The OCC/RWA group, one of the largest in the nation, is full of authors with 25-50-100 books to their credit. Seek a group close to you and reach out for the help and encouragement you need.

After you write your book, your success affirmation might be: Gather a team of brilliant people who are following the vision you create, and be definite about your purpose. Secondly, don’t focus on the fight, focus on the dream.

Do you have critique partners?

I run two professional critique groups, but I have no critique partners for my own writing.

However, New York Times best-selling author Debra Holland and I are long-time friends, I am her developmental editor, and she learned to write novels in my critique groups years ago. So while I was writing Rye’s Reprieve (The Harper Sisters, Book 1) at my dining table in Orange County, Debra was right there at the end of the table, working on her computer, writing her books. I say books because, during those months that I wrote Rye’s Reprieve, she completed two projects, the upcoming Mystic Montana Sky (on pre-order for June 28, 2016) and the novella Mail-Order Brides of the West: Bertha, which released in February 2016.

As she completed sections of her projects, I developmentally edited them along with working on my book, and she also edited some of the chapters of my book. In addition, I had my novel professionally copy- or line-edited for typos, misspellings, etc.

This was the first time in my writing career that I enjoyed the pleasure of good company while I wrote; and the first time I hired a copy editor prior to publication. In years past, my contemporary novels were edited by my former publisher, Harlequin, and the process was much more lonely.

By the way, the days of in-house editors working on your book are slipping away….

Give us an elevator pitch for your book.

Log line for Rye’s Reprieve:

In 1886 Montana Territory, a surgeon’s secret keeps him from the rancher he loves—a woman who must remain a spinster to protect her land and family.

My elevator pitch for Rye’s Reprieve:

In 1886 Montana Territory, gifted surgeon Rye Rawlins is trapped by a tragic secret so painful that he denies his profession and buries himself in a gold mine. Veterinarian and horse rancher Missouri Harper endures dangerous storms, privation, and wild predators to protect her three beautiful sisters and an ailing aunt. As they fall in love, Rye’s secret and Missouri’s promise to remain a spinster to protect the land for her family force them to look within to discover the cost of love.

Do you have a view in your writing space?  What does your space look like? 

I have a view, and it’s pastoral. In my yard: orange, peach, apricot, and pomegranate trees, grass, and a white picket fence. Down over the slope: a creek with ducks and a family of white egrets that frog-gig at dawn, a running path to the ocean, a meadow of grass, ornate slides and other playground equipment, and sycamore trees. I sit at my dining table to write, and when I need to rest my eyes and my mind, I gaze to my right through the patio slider and see this view, with kitties in the foreground. I was once a photographer. A view is everything.

Tell us about your hero.  Give us one of his strengths and one of his weaknesses.

In the mining hamlet of Morgan’s Crossing, nobody knows Rye Rawlins is a gifted surgeon. They think he’s a gold miner with a penchant for mending broken fingers and dispensing herbal remedies. He’s hard-working, warm-hearted to people and animals, fond of his favorite fishing hole, and cannot turn away a person in need.

But he tells lies, too. Those lies protect him from a painful, tragic past. He is unaware, though, that his boss, powerful mine-owner Michael Morgan, knows more than Rye thinks he does and can use that knowledge to his own advantage.

Tell us about your heroine.  Give us one of her strengths and one of her weaknesses.

Because Missouri Harper is so focused on protecting her sisters and their legacy of the horse ranch they have come to Montana Territory to establish, it never occurs to Missouri that she can accept a proposal AND prove-up the land.

And yet, she’s right to hesitate where the handsome gold miner is concerned, because she doesn’t know he’s a gifted surgeon from a leading San Francisco family, a surgeon who has good reason to run from his past. She’s loyal and driven. Sometimes those qualities blindfold her to life’s possibilities.

What genres are you drawn to as a reader?

My reader-meter is related to my demanding eclectic writing-muse. They are brothers. I read suspense, romance, historical, contemporary, literary, gardening and fishing nonfiction, and any old thing that looks good. See my answers about my muse….

Has your muse always known what genre you would write and be published in?

My muse is an eclectic little brat. It wants me to write contemporary fiction (the best-selling Mail-Order Mate and others); nonfiction (a handbook on Point of View that is written but not yet released, many trade magazine feature stories, press releases, and technical reports); literary fiction (“Cora Lee” made it to #5 in Amazon’s Top 100 Short Fiction in January 2015); fantasy sci/fi (“Atlas Shrugged Again” takes place in a fantasy-generating lab at a space station), and now historical romance (Rye’s Reprieve, set in Montana Territory in the late nineteenth century).

My muse lives in chaos and is extremely demanding, and I am its slave. Because if you’re a writer, you can’t just not write. The muse will bug you till you do, often with spurs.

What are you currently working on?

Next on my plate is Book 2 in the Harper Sisters Series, planned for launch in August 2016. Help! I need a title. If you’re commenting, please leave me a few ideas!

The heroine is a slight woman with suffragette leanings, a writer with midnight hair and blue eyes. Jessamine “Jess” Harper was raised by an independent-thinking Presbyterian mother.

Her hero is a very large, strong, bearded fellow with the unusual name of Bethesda “Beth” Janes, a Jewish man of Polish roots who works in the gold mine in Morgan’s Crossing. He is Rye’s best friend. The hidden side of Beth Janes is that he’s an artist-metalsmith, working with wrought iron and gold, and he loves music.

Jess and Beth meet in Rye’s Reprieve at a dance to welcome Bertha to the mining camp.

As soon as we come up with a title, I’ll post more about this book on my website, www.LouellaNelson.com

Other avenues for conversation:
Twitter: @LouellaNelson
Facebook: Louella Nelson Author/Louella Nelson

Do you or have you belonged to a writing organization?  Which one?  Have the helped you with your writing?  How?

My key organization is the Romance Writers of America. My local chapter in Orange County, California, is filled with supportive, loving fellow writers such as Debra Holland as well as Linda Carroll-Bradd and Patricia Thayer, authors in Debra’s Kindle World.

Many of my writing students end up becoming members of OCC/RWA, so the monthly meetings are an opportunity to be among friends, talking shop and learning tricks of the trade. I served as chapter president and I also served as conference chair for one of our illustrious national conventions. The organization provides a foundation for everything I do in publishing, including enjoying the honor of being part of Cynthia Woolf’s blog.

Rye’s Reprieve Amazon Link: http://amzn.com/B01BLWL8X8

Blurb:

Rye’s Reprieve
(The Harper Sisters Book 1)

by Louella Nelson

In 1886, gifted surgeon Rye Rawlins is trapped by a tragic secret so painful that he denies his profession and buries himself in a gold mine in Montana Territory. But saving people is second nature, whether it’s doctoring a man mauled by a mountain lion or battling a wolf to save a child.

Veterinarian and horse rancher Missouri Harper suffers through the worst winter in Montana history to provide for three beautiful sisters and an ailing aunt. Dangerous storms, privation, and wild predators make survival precarious.

Rye comes to Missouri’s aid, putting his life in danger and Missouri in his debt. As they fall in love, his secret and her promise to remain a spinster to protect the land for her family force them to look within to discover the cost of love.

Louella Nelson’s Bio

Louella Nelson is an award-winning University of California instructor, best-selling author, and developmental editor for Amazon and numerous best-selling and aspiring authors.

A writers’ mentor, teacher, and editor, Louella Nelson writes romantic fiction, literary fiction, and nonfiction such as BestSeller Secrets for Novel and Memoir Writers (a series of handbooks in development), blogs, and other instructional materials.

Her novel-writing credits include Rye’s Reprieve (Feb 2016) and the best-selling novel Mail-Order Mate, among others; the Amazon best-seller “Cora Lee: A Short Story” and other shorts; and poetry as well as scholarly works for the journals Onyx and Calliope.

She is a former president of the Orange County RWA and coordinator for the national RWA conference. In addition to speaking regionally and nationally, she hosts seminars, class series, editorial consulting sessions, and critique groups for fiction and creative nonfiction/memoir writers.

On the personal side, Lou enjoys nature in all its wildness, danger, and beauty, especially cats and horses wild and tame; fishing; bears, oceans, rivers, lakes, woods, the desert if it’s not too sizzling–and all the creatures therein except scorpions and spiders, which she leaves to the expertise and appreciation of the entomologists