Historical Romance Interview with Lauri Robinson

 

I'm pleased to welcome a long-time author friend of mine, Lauri Robinson. We met years ago and even wrote a historical western romance book together. She is a lover of fairy tales and history,  and can’t imagine a better profession than penning happily-ever-after stories about men and women in days gone past. Her favorite settings include World War II, the Roaring Twenties, and the Old West. Lauri and her husband raised three sons in their rural Minnesota home and are now getting their just rewards by spoiling their grandchildren. Visit her at laurirobinson.blogspot.com, Facebook.com/lauri.robinson1 or X-formally Twitter.com/laurir. 

Now to jump into the questions and Lauri's great answers. 

Paty: Why do you write Historical Romance?

Lauri: Since reading The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen Woodiwiss many decades ago I was hooked on historical romances. Since then, it’s been my favorite genre to read, and it was the genre I wanted to write. I love creating heroes and heroines filled with the pioneer spirit and the strength and courage to forge ahead in lives that were not filled with the modern-day conveniences, or the complications that come along with the modern world. The past had its complications, too, and creating characters who faced those complications head-on is exciting.

Paty: You have written books in many different historical settings. Do you have a favorite period that you like to write about?

Lauri: I will forever love writing about the Old West. There is just something about the swagger and grit of an old west cowboy that makes him the ultimate hero. Furthermore, the pioneers who headed into the great American frontier to create new civilizations had such strength, courage, and belief in themselves that it’s easy to imagine each and every one of them as heroes and heroines.

I also love the challenge of writing in different eras. Each one is unique in itself. I’ve written books set during the Salem Witch Trials, all the way up the rise of Rock and Roll in the 1950’s. I do have to say that the two books I’ve written set during WW2 were probably the most emotional ones for me to write. The research that included true stories of men and women who fought, and gave up everything, for their countries often brought me to tears, and left me with a profound gratefulness to those who came before us.

Paty: What drew you to write about a Duke and his life in Victorian England?

Lauri: To be honest, I was hesitant to write a Victorian story, mainly because I was intimidated by the research needed to be completed when setting a story in a country that I’d never seen, and about the rules of nobility and society during that time. My Harlequin editor was so helpful as were other Harlequin authors who live in the UK and write Regency and Victorian. I believe this book is now my fifth one set during the Victorian era, and I’ve truly discovered another era that I’ve come to love writing about. This book, Captivated by His Convenient Duchess, is the first one in the Redford Dukedom duet (a two-book series about two brothers). The years leading up to the end of the Victorian Era coincides with what was known as the Gilded Age in America, which is where the second story, Winning his Manhattan Heiress, takes place. Myle’s younger brother, Wesley, travels to America to introduce their family’s thoroughbred horses to the horse racing world, which was the number one sport at that time.

Paty: Writing historical fiction takes an added amount of research. Do you like the research and learning things about history?

Lauri: Yes, and yes. I’m blessed that my husband enjoys visiting museums and historical sites as much as I do. I also have a wonderful best friend who is always willing to ride along on a research trip, and while in Hawaii, my son and his wife and family, were completely on board to visit Pearl Harbor with me. It’s so often the small tidbits found while researching that I love the most. For example, zippers weren’t invented until 1913. The first one was patented as a “Hookless Fastener’. After improvements, it became a “Separable Fastener’ in 1917, and was incorporated on clothes for the soldiers in World War 1, (yes, I’ve written a book set in WW1, too) but it wasn’t until the B.F. Goodrich Company created galoshes with front fasteners, and an executive tried the boots on and exclaimed, “Zip-er-up” that the word zipper was born.

Paty:  That is interesting! I've never thought to check out the origin of the zipper. Did you have a favorite character in this book? Why is that character a favorite?

Lauri: With each book, the main characters are always my favorites, and it’s not different with Myles and Anita in this story. They both come to the story with pasts, including issues that they need to overcome. Anita had a traumatic past that left her physically and emotionally scarred and Myles is the perfect gentleman to guide her through her healing. It was a joy for them both to find the love they deserve. Additionally, in this book, a secondary character whom I really enjoyed was Joshua, Anita’s driver. The two of them had a special bond that made him quite endearing to me.

Paty: I find that's true with me as well. Each set of characters we conjure up become our favorites as we are writing their stories. Have you ever traveled to a place where you’ve set a story?

Lauri: Yes, several. I’ve had a few books, including a series of roaring twenties stories that were set here in Minnesota. Many of my westerns were set in states throughout the Midwest that I’ve either visited or lived in, and a trip to Hawaii allowed me to visit Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial. That was truly the most memorable, and I was extremely lucky to have an uncle who has a condo in Hawaii and is a retired service man, so he was able to take us to additional places that we wouldn’t have otherwise been able to visit.

Paty: That's wonderful you had someone to get you even better information that you could have gotten on your own. I find that invaluable in writing. Who are some other Historical Romance authors you enjoy reading?

Lauri: That list is very long, so I’ll just mention a couple. I know her books are very old school, but my favorite historical romance author will always be Katheen Woodiwiss. I also love Linda Lael Miller’s and LaVyrle Spencer’s historical stories. I also love reading new authors and have discovered many wonderful ones.

Paty: LaVyrle Spencer's books are what made me want to be a historical romance author. Just for fun – Tell us what is your favorite thing to do besides writing and reading, because we know that’s a given. 😉

Lauri: Well, yes, those are two of my favorite things. I belong to a book club that I absolutely love, because of the wonderful people as well as the opportunity to read books I wouldn’t have chosen myself. I enjoy many different things. Sewing, cooking, my flowerbeds and fruit trees, crafting, and mowing the lawn. (I know that sounds crazy, but I have plotted out many books mowing the lawn with my John Deere riding mower.) However, my favorite thing to do is head up north to our camp in the woods. Our family has forty acres up there, with four campers (two are under a large pavilion) and a cabin/bunkhouse, and another cabin. At least one or more of our three sons, (often all of them with their families) as well as nieces and nephews, join us for weekends or longer up there. We fish, hunt, ride four-wheelers, go hiking, and gather around the campfire every night. A few years ago, when our grandson was about five, he was hiking with me and his sisters, and I was telling them the names of different trees/flowers, etc. I’d pointed out wild irises and wild roses, etc. before we came to some cattails, and Connor asked me, “Grandma, are those wild corndogs?” That’s the part I love the most. The memories we make up there.

Thanks so much for having me visit today, Paty!

Captivated by His Convenient Duchess

The duke must marry…

But not for love!

In an accident that killed her parents, Lady Anita was left with a permanent leg injury, and at the mercy of her loathsome uncle. Bartering her to the Duke of Redford is a new low, so when the duke suggests a convenient marriage, she seizes the chance to escape.

Myles is determined his new wife won’t distract him from his ducal duties, but the woman who arrives at his estate is not the meek bride he expects! Society may have overlooked her, but now his spirited, determined duchess is all Myles can see! 

Buy links:  Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CNWDDT2N

Google books https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Lauri_Robinson_Captivated_by_His_Convenient_Duches?id=NC3lEAAAQBAJ&pli=1

Kobo https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/captivated-by-his-convenient-duchess

Apple books https://books.apple.com/us/book/captivated-by-his-convenient-duchess/id6472891204

B & N https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/captivated-by-his-convenient-duchess-lauri-robinson/1144404307

Harlequin https://e.harlequin.com/shop/books/9781335539700_captivated-by-his-convenient-duchess.html

Second Times Around? By Gail Eastwood

One of the beauties of increasing age is that we can see the horizon. (I’m resisting the temptation to joke about being over the hill here….). The perspective helps us to focus on what things we still want to accomplish in our lives, what things really matter to us. If we are lucky, or determined (or both), second times around are one of the gifts that can come with aging. I’m on my second time around with this writing career thing. If you count my very first writing stint as a journalist, you might even say this is my third time around!

I wrote romances for the Signet Regency line between 1994-2002. Life interfered—my dad died, my mom, my husband, and my younger child all developed different but serious health complications, and every time I tried to get back to my writing another new crisis seemed to occur. I did not write another new book until 2018.

Do I wish I could have those 16 years of lost writing time back? Of course. But the only direction to go is forward! Recently I’ve been telling people that my “biological clock” is ticking again, and since I’m well past any child-bearing age, it surprises them (at least if they are not fellow aging writers). What could I possibly mean?

It means I am aware that my brain is not as sharp and quick as it used to be, and over time that’s likely to get worse. Writing novels becomes harder, because there is so much we rely on our brains to keep track of as we go along. What was the hero’s younger sister’s name, and did I mention her way back in chapter three? (I hadn’t planned on her existence.) Did my heroine already explain her resistance to the hero, in the same words, 50 pages ago?

The recall used to be pretty easy. Now I am inventing new ways to help myself keep track of everything –more spreadsheets, different kinds of timelines, etc., not just the chapter outline I’ve always relied on in the past. A time will eventually come when I can no longer produce “book babies” well, or even at all. But in the meantime, I still have a long list of stories I want to tell!

During the gap in my career, the book business turned upside down. The Signet line closed, my editor retired, ebooks were invented, and self-publishing became a thing anyone could do. Bookshops closed by the hundreds (thousands?) and the behemoth of Amazon became a global online book warehouse. Moving forward meant mastering a lot of new technologies. But with them came a kind of joyful freedom in creating fuller stories without the restraints of publishers’ “product line” mentality. I actually love self-publishing my books and having total control over the stories, the covers, the deadlines, even though it is a lot more work!

I think a lot of people seize the chance to reset their lives for second rounds, whether that means a new career or some other new phase. One part-time job I used to juggle along with writing was managing a church office. A pastor I worked with there had been a nurse practitioner. As she got older she decided that she really wanted to go to seminary and become a clergywoman. So she did! All of the years she had spent in nursing certainly enriched her abilities as a pastor. Yes, the late start meant she had a shorter career in the church than in her previous profession, and she eventually retired, but not before she accomplished some very worthy milestones in her ministry, such as leading our small church to add an entire new sanctuary to our existing building, an amazing feat of faith.

Both of the lead characters in my newest historical Regency romance, His Lady to Love, are attempting to redirect their lives towards new pursuits, careers of their hearts, so maybe this theme has been in the back of my mind for a while! My heroine, a young widow, wants to use her new freedom to become a published artist. My war-weary hero, an ex-army officer, wants to become a clergyman. Falling in love will be an obstacle neither of them is looking for! Especially heroine Lissie, whose late husband has left her a substantial inheritance to free her to do as she pleases. In this time period, a married woman and everything she owned belonged to her husband. Trying to protect her legacy and preserve her independence make Lissie very wary when she finds herself attracted to our hero!

I’m trying to teach myself to write faster (and do fewer other things!) so the stories on my list will get told. They’re like unborn children waiting for their turn! I’m grateful that even though I have some health issues now, none of them prevent me from pursuing my second round at doing what I love.

Are you in a second round at this stage in your life, or do you have one in mind when you look ahead and see the horizon?

Tales of Little Macclow

Tales of Little Macclow:

The Tales of Little Macclow series is set in a small village off the beaten path, where ancient traditions are still celebrated and people care about each other–ordinary people living out their lives (or just passing through). How does Love enter into the lives of those who are lonely? Or even those who aren’t seeking it at all? And–is it getting a special boost from a mysterious source found only in Little Macclow?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08FPS69P5

 Award-winning author Gail Eastwood started writing stories as soon as she learned to put words together on paper, and blames Beatrix Potter and A.A. Milne for making her a devoted Anglophile at a very early age. After detours into journalism and rare books, she finally found her path writing romantic stories set in Regency England. Her current series, Tales of Little Macclow, is about people in a small village in Derbyshire instead of the elegant ballrooms of London.

Website: www.gaileastwoodauthor.com

Newsletter: https://eepurl.com/gbknuH  (get a free short story!)

Amazon: www.amazon.com/Gail-Eastwood/e/B001KDU86M

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/gaileastwoodauthor

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/gail-eastwood

Blog at: www.riskyregencies.com

Facebook (page): www.facebook.com/gaileastwoodauthor

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/LadyCatherinesSalon/

 

(Picture credits: Pixabay.com and the author)

What I Look Forward to As I Age ... by Delsora Lowe

It’s finally September! My favorite time of the year is fall, despite the fact that soon cold weather will descend and with it snow and ice and… Well, you get the picture. I’d much rather enjoy warm sunny days that cool off at night.

I’d rather enjoy colorful leaves and fall flowers and harvesting vegetables and picking apples.

And, my birthday is in the fall, reminding me what one year older can bring. I remember teen years when I couldn’t wait to go away to college, not realizing how fast time flies, the older you get.

I remember summers, when I juggled several jobs while raising kids. I couldn’t wait for autumn to arrive so the kids, now old enough, would be back in school all day, so I wasn’t running from job to nursery school to pick up kids, dropping them at the sitter and back to job number two.

Now, I look back and realize how much I missed as my children grew up way too fast. But now I have grandchildren who are doing the same. One is looking at colleges. The other two sophomores in high school. All busy falling into young love, working hard at studies, and excelling at various sports teams. Of course, they are excelling. They are MY grandsons.

Oldest Grandson - now 17 - My Dad's 90th Birthday - 2009

It seems like yesterday, they were lying on the floor, playing with tiny cars and making zoom, zoom, zoom sounds, learning to count to one-hundred, and excited when they got to nibble on favorite snacks—my youngest grandson loving chunks of cucumber and olives with the holes where the pits were. He would put an olive on each fingertip and methodically eat each olive, one by one. Or the special events like coloring Easter eggs at Grammy’s table. Now they are self-sufficient.

To me, those memories of my own days in high school and college seem so far away, yet just like yesterday.

So, what do I look forward to as I age?

Top of the list? Not feeling as though I am aging. Also…keeping busy, communicating with others, not isolating, learning new things.

This is where writing comes in, as I can accomplish all of the above through writing.

Learning and Hanging with Writer Friends Through Zoom

I belong to four virtual writing groups in Maine, Rhode Island, New England, and New Jersey. Each group of romance writers meets monthly. It used to be in person. Now it is through ZOOM. The cons, I miss seeing my writer friends in person, but there are times in a year, when we meet up at writing conferences. The pros are without ZOOM, I would only see my writer friends once a year at the aforementioned conferences. Now, I see them and hear their voices and have actual conversations monthly. Sure, we don’t get to hug each other or gather around a table and enjoy a cocktail and chatter. There is nothing that compares to face-to-face.

A few years ago, after retiring, I joined a local organization that has programming for both teens and those of us over 55. The organization has a group named Write on Writers. We have anywhere from fifteen to twenty-five who attend weekly. Each of us writes a 5-minute or less piece, whether fiction, non-fiction, or verse of some sort. We then read aloud our work at each session. And we can submit our work to appear in the monthly organization newsletter that gets distributed around town.

The fun of this group is that I get to try different types of writing, than my normal romance novel writing. And every now and then, I will write a 5-minute romance story and submit for publication
. But I can also read those at my local group. And now, I have over sixty 5-minute romances I have written since 2010. Those I am editing and expanding to collect into a short romance anthology...SOMEDAY!

So, what do I look forward to as I age. Meeting weekly with my writing group. Continuing to write both short stories and longer works to release as books, hanging with my grandchildren and trying to figure out a way to stop their growth and aging so I can keep them close forever.

Okay – if anyone has ideas on how to do just that, let me know. Because, if they don’t age, neither will I!

Oh, as you can see, in spite of the slowing down and the need to nap I’m also trying to figure out how I can live forever, because right now, I’m having a ton of fun with this aging business.

No matter our age, we all continue to age on a daily basis. What words of wisdom can you impart when you think about what you have learned over a lifetime?

Amazon (also in print)

https://www.amazon.com/Love-Left-Behind-Hartford-Estate-ebook/dp/B08L5N5DS9/

Books2Read   books2read.com/u/mglVqK

 

~ cottages to cabins ~ keep the home fires burning ~

Delsora Lowe writes small town sweet and spicy romances and contemporary westerns, from the mountains of Colorado to the shores of Maine.

Author of the Starlight Grille series, Serenity Harbor Maine novellas, and the Cowboys of Mineral Springs series, Lowe has also authored short romances for Woman’s World magazine (most recently, an Easter romance in the April 1, 2024 edition.) The Love Left Behind is a Hartford Estates, R.I. wedding novella with Book 2 on the way. A Christmas novel (The Inn at Gooseneck Lane) and novella (Holiday Hitchhiker – the youngest brother of the Mineral Spring’s ranching family) were the most recent releases. Look for book 3 of the cowboy’s series, as well as book 2 of the Hartford Estates series, to be released in late 2024 or early 2025.

 

Social Media Links:
Author website: www.delsoralowe.com
Facebook Author page: https://www.facebook.com/delsoraloweauthor/community/
Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Delsora-Lowe/e/B01M61OM39/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
Books2Read Author page: https://www.books2read.com/ap/8GWm98/Delsora-Lowe
BookBub Author Page: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/delsora-lowe-93c6987f-129d-483d-9f5a-abe603876518
Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16045986.Delsora_Lowe 
Instagram: #delsoralowe / https://www.instagram.com/delsoralowe/ 

Photo Credits:
Delsora Lowe