Saturday, April 18, 2015

The Lure of Small Towns by Kate Curran and A GIVEAWAY!

What intrigues me about small towns? For starters, I’m a fourth-generation small-town girl, born and bred.
Living in the boondocks has its advantages. Small towns are intimate. The clerks in the grocery store, post office, and florist know you by name. You know your neighbor and probably grew up with them.
Where I live, there are four stoplights and the first didn't arrive until the 1990s. Murders are rare, schools are small and gossip is a given.
But, there are definitely tradeoffs to living in the sticks. Shopping amounts to a dollar store and grocery store. Choices for dining out are: Mexican, pizza or burgers. Entertainment is slim to none. Everything else including movies, is a thirty minute drive.
You don’t need a smartphone to broadcast everyone’s business. You only have to walk into the local coffee house or beauty parlor to hear the latest scoop. If you’ve lived in a small town long enough there will always be someone to retell your most embarrassing moment and embellish it in far greater detail than any YouTube video.
On the plus side, people are there for you when life turns sour and celebrate with you when everything is coming up daisies. They are your tribe, your community, your merry band of brothers and sisters.
I find places like Cicely, Alaska, and Stars Hollow, Connecticut, in Gilmore Girls very appealing. There is a charm, a bit of magic, and a sense of time moving slower in these places—a nirvana of sorts—that leaves a permanent stamp in my memory. A place where problems, for the most part, are solved within the constraints of a sixty-minute television show. Real life, in comparison, isn’t so tidy. 
Feeling connected to a small town lures me in. I can’t resist the temptation to pedal my bicycle down a tree-shaded lane, or to stroll down Main Street lined with wrought iron street lamps and brick sidewalks. I’m overwhelmed by the urge to grab a mocha at the cozy coffee house on the corner, sit at the umbrella-topped table and soak in sunshine on a warm spring afternoon.
KATE CURRAN

What about you? Do you have a favorite small town?
The first three to leave a comment about your favorite small town from television, books or real life wins a copy of Falling For You...Again, set in the small northern Idaho town of Paradise Falls. 
***Be sure to include your email address in your comment!
Book two of the Falling in Love series will be out in 2016.
Kate’s newest release, Leave Me Breathless, is set in Conspiracy, a small northern California coastal town.
Kate loves and writes contemporary fiction set in small towns that are deeply emotional, feel good stories, finding inspiration from movies, songs or her very own happily-ever-after.

13 comments:

Diana McCollum said...

Hi, Kate,
I see why you set your books in small towns. You write what you know. I've read all three of your books and enjoyed everyone of them. I think my favorite small town in a book would be in Leave me Breathless, Conspiracy, CA.
I'll fore go a prize as I have all your books! :))

zminor@zminor.com said...

Hi Kate,
I live in a small rural town and most of the time I find it enjoyable. No traffic, not much crime. Enjoyed your blog.

Z. Minor said...

Hi Kate,
I live in a small rural town and most of the time I find it enjoyable. No traffic, not much crime. Enjoyed your blog.

Linda Lovely said...

Hi, Kate,
Have to say your small town is smaller than the one I grew up in. But the similarities are definitely there. While I enjoy reading novels set in large cities, it's still easier for me to relate to (and climb inside) a small town, whether it's fictional or real.

Kate Curran said...

Thanks Diana. I do tend to gravite to small towns, but I also like the idea of doing small towns within a large city like the burrows in NY.

Thanks Z and I hear you, but there are times I would sure like living in a larger area.

Linda, I agree I relate better to small town living in fiction and real life.

Thanks for all great comments.

Lu Erickson said...

Great blog, Kate. I really got the feel of your small town. Living in a city, I've always had dreams of finding my perfect Mayberry.

Judith Ashley said...

Thanks for guesting with us, Kate! I've lived in smaller towns (fewer than 6K) and medium sized towns (around 10K) but still have the feel of a small town in my neighborhood in a large city. I know the people on my block (of course I've lived here the longest) and because I'm 1.5 blocks from a ridge along a golf course, I have a short walk to a view over the golf course of Mt. Hood. I see bald eagles, hawks, peregrine falcons as well as flickers and smaller birds. A chick-a-dee song kept me company Thursday as I planted geraniums in my pots.

I agree that through our writing and reading we can immerse ourselves in small town living, another country or another place in time. Thank you for writing great books that take us away to small town living!

Paty Jager said...

Hi Kate,

I grew up in a small town. No stoplights, very few stop signs. I went to school in the largest town in the county. No stoplights also. I loved living in our little canyon in the mountains, but I detested the small population. Too many people knew your business and not enough of the outside world made it into the valley to show us what opportunities there were out there. Now they have all the technology that brings the world to the community.

And coming full circle I now live in a community with only a post office and the ranches are a mile or more apart. And I love it!

Thank you for being a guest and sharing your thoughts on small towns.

Jackie Marilla said...

Hi Kate - I live outside of Na'alehu, HI, a town so small we no longer have a grocery store! I also write romance set in small towns. Best wishes on your latest release. Jackie Marilla

Kathy Coatney said...

Thanks Lu. It would be nice to find our very own Mayberry wouldn't it?

Kathy Coatney said...

Thanks Judith for inviting me. I love blogging for you guys. I love Hood River. Such a beautiful place and love the picture of it you gave.

Kathy Coatney said...

Paty isn't it funny how life can bring you full circle? What we hate we end up loving. I'm happy to be here.

Kathy Coatney said...

Hey Jackie. That is small! I've got to be close to a grocery store.