Trying My Hand At A Series

I'm thiiiiiiis close to finishing my current WIP - A Firm Hand - which is Book 1 in the Bedford Brothers series.  My first series! Up until now I've only written stand-alone stories. Totally unrelated. But last year, from that mysterious place where story ideas emerge, Tyler, Jace and Blair Bedford appeared. Aussie brothers, country guys, each involved in a different area of the rodeo world.

I like to have a cover in mind when writing my books this was is the perfect image for me to write about Tyler. If I end up self-publishing this series (if it's rejected by the publisher I'm submitting to), then this will be the cover of Book 1.

When the Bedford brothers first nudged my imagination I was thinking of having the family involved in horse racing but quickly dumped that idea as the sport can be cruel has a lot of opposition on many fronts and I didn't want to alienate potential readers.But I liked the idea of horses and each brother being involved in a different aspect of the business, so they became a rodeo family. Tyler breeds quarter horses. Jace trains them and Blair is a rider.

I'm loving the challenge of creating an over-arching storyline that ties them all together, yet giving them all their own love stories. I haven't even started to plot the other two stories yet, but as I introduce each brother into Tyler's story, little ideas start to form, and that's exciting.

Now that my mind is in 'series mode', while I was writing my vampire romance (at the same time as writing A Firm Hand because can't just write one thing at a time), I realised that I'd love to write two other Paris vampire stories to tie in with it.

So many ideas. Now I just need to learn how to write faster so it's not a year between books 1, 2 and 3.

Here's a little snippet from 'A Firm Hand'.

Ty  eyed the outdoor shower at the back of his house but decided against it. No point getting all cleaned up when he’d be spending most of the night in the nursery stable. If it was just him and his mum, he wouldn’t even change his shirt. She was used to the dirt and smell that came with a horse life. She’d even admitted to liking it. But he doubted Molly would have the same appreciation for the pungent aroma.

She obviously wasn’t a city princess, but a visitor deserved better than smelly farm hand.

    He stripped off his work shirt and ran a wet cloth over his face, chest and underarms. That would have to do tonight. As he buttoned a fresh linen shirt, Ty tried to recall the last time there’d been a woman, other than his mother, in the Bedford kitchen.

So now it's just fingers crossed that the publisher will like submission, and the series idea, and on to writing Book 2 - Bound To Me - Blair's story.

Find Andra's other books on her Amazon page