Showing posts with label Cowboy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cowboy. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Favorite AND Most Challenging First in Writing ... by Delsora Lowe


I have a first book ever written (2001), along with many written full manuscripts, still sitting under my bed. But my first book to be published was The Legacy of Parkers Point, released in 2016. My novella, published in an anthology (Welcome to Serenity Harbor), was part of a compilation of novellas by members of the Maine Romance Writers. As one of the project managers on this project, I learned a ton.

The excitement of publishing a first book is beyond description.


When the anthology ran its course in early 2017, and we all received back our rights, I was soon able to experience new excitement. I republished the novella as my first indie-published book. I did the soup to nuts work, same as we did on the anthology: re-editing with a professional editor, working with a cover artist and a formatter, and promoting my “first-born,” as I did the same for two more newly written novellas that would make up the series. The three books, published individually, came out as the Starlight Grille series over the months during the fall of 2017. And then the three were published as a collection with a new short story added in 2018. Scary but exciting, for sure!


The learnings from being one of the project managers on the anthology were expanded as I indie-published The Legacy of Parkers Point and the other two books in 2017. Each book I put out has its own excitement. But that first book—there are no words to describe the feeling.Following is a blog, originally published here on Romancing the Genres (and updated), about my experience as the co-manager of the anthology. The book that kicked off and catapulted me into published-author territory.

Working on an anthology is an entirely different beast. Think Beauty and the Beast. You start out with a quarrelsome, growly, domineering chunk of words that need to be tamed into one cohesive book.

Picture this: Beauty dreaming of finding her hero. Every August the Maine Romance Writers partake in a brainstorming retreat. Okay, so it’s like a huge slumber party. We arrive with sleeping bags and pillows and laptops and snacks (salty and savory) and wine. Did I mention laptops? Yes, we do work. We spend all day either brainstorming our next story in small groups, or sitting on the deck or down by the lake writing on our current work. We break every few hours to exchange writing tips, eat, or take a boat ride around the lake. Oh, and sip wine 😊

Two years ago, we sat on the deck, sated with food and talk and wine (just a little <WINK>,) with the sound of loons on the lake and the full moon arrowing a golden path across the lake and right up on the shoreline in front of us. The setting was one of those perfect end-of-summer evenings.

Our host suggested we might like to try writing an anthology. Within minutes we’d created a town, brainstormed names of the town, set a few guidelines, and we were off and running…

Or so we thought.


The reality is the work we did that night was Beauty’s fantasy. Then the Beast appeared. All the details of actually putting together an anthology. The writing was the easy part—Beauty’s fantasy. Managing a project, was the roaring and untamable Beast.


I am happy to say we did finally tame the beast, and named it Welcome to Serenity Harbor. Beauty and the Beast are now living happily ever after. But as with all good marriages or committed relationships, one must open their eyes, negotiate, persevere over the hurdles, and make a strong commitment to reach that Happily Ever After.

As one of two project managers, working with a group of six committee members and all the authors who were excited about the project, here are the things I learned: (caveat, not all anthologies revolve around a town, like ours did. Some have a theme. Some are made up of a group of authors and there are no rules around story content.)

The following are my suggestions from the experience of working on the anthology, but most of this can also relate to individual works

♥ Map out the project, and plot exactly what the project will look like.

·         Set rules, such as genre of anthology (ours was contemporary), length (we chose short novellas, 15 – 25K words).

·         Write a contract. Include costs, such as professional editor for each work, (authors absorbed that cost), due date of manuscript, anticipated release date, budget (cost of formatter, cover artist, and promotion, for which we shared cost), and production timeline.

·         Determine as a group, parameters around the theme (story bible,) such as name and details of town that all authors will set their story in, name of overall anthology, type of promotion, voting on book cover design, etc.

♥ Research

·         What anthologies are being sold now, how are they set up, etc.

·         Talk to other authors in anthologies to understand their process.

·         Find professionals, editors, formatters, cover artists, etc.

♥ Communicate

·         As a committee, agree on the process.

·         Communicate with all authors each step of the way.

·         Vote on any spending.

♥ Evaluate at the end. Our learnings included:

·         Make sure you factor in realistic expenses, such as copyediting and project manager costs up front.

·         Set deadlines and stick to them.

·         Hire a copy editor, and have one person, not an author related to the anthology, determine if the book fits the criteria and is edited properly

♥ Make it your own

·         One fun thing we did, was to insert the mention of a sheep into each story. Look at the back cover and you will see a rendering of a sheep that says “find me,” designed by one of our authors.

Although, as a group we bumbled our way through the process, for me it was an incredible experience of teamwork and learning about self-publishing. And although the Beast still growls once in a while, the Beast is also loving and tamed. And he and Beauty are living happily ever after.


Although the idea was conceived at our brainstorming retreat, the book is not a product of the Maine Romance Writers, but of a group of writers, some members from out of state, whose bond is through MRW.

Now that it has been several years since we took on this project, I can look back on the process with clarity. This project was indeed hard. One of the hardest things I’ve ever tried, starting from scratch, and learning along the way. Despite the intense undertaking, I learned so much and gained the confidence to go on and publish more books, and for that I am grateful.

 

The Rancher Needs a Wife


https://www.amazon.com/Rancher-Needs-Cowboys-Mineral-Springs-ebook/dp/B07YXB5C4W/




~ cottages to cabins ~ keep the home fires burning ~

Delsora Lowe writes small town sweet 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.


Beauty – Blue Dress: https://cdn.clipart.email/15667992f55f25a3ff416a014ad7a001_beautiful-woman-girl-icons-png-free-png-and-icons-downloads_1840-2400.png


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Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Everyday Heroines Who Make Life Special... by Delsora Lowe


The world is filled with heroes and heroines, many famous, but most ordinary people like you and me. Those people who plod through daily life, working jobs, taking care of families, and volunteering in their community. The unsung heroes and heroines of the world. Every now and then, one does something extraordinary enough to be called out to the world as a heroic figure
.I have many personal heroines. Some I’ve mentioned, like my aunt who was an actress, WWII pilot, as well as a journalist and a ghost hunter, to name a few of her occupations that made her interesting. But her most heroic deed, was taking her nieces under her wing, as a second mother, since she had no children of her own. Every year I sent her a Mother’s Day card. I’ve talked about her in other blogs, so know that she will always be my heroine.
My heroine, Aunt Virginia. 
     But today I’m going to talk about fictional heroines.
As writers of romance, we write about heroines and heroes every day. We share their insecurities. Show their faults. Build their redeeming qualities so that those characters around them want to share a life with them. And we show all they go through to find and believe in love.
They might not be the people who make the front page or the evening news, but they are heroines to the people they love and those who love them.

The heroines I write about are superwomen in their own worlds. No, I don’t write paranormal or fantasy. I write contemporary. My heroines are ordinary mortals, who don’t do anything more than most of us do in daily life. But my goal as a writer is to make each heroine in my stories, someone readers can relate to. That someone who will mirror the heroine (or hero) within each reader.

Not only do I want readers to relate to my characters, but I want readers to see in themselves that the ordinary things they do in life are heroic.

Lynette Mercer, the heroine in The Rancher Needs a Wife, is an ordinary woman. She’s a widow of a war hero, a single mom, a business owner, a daughter, and a friend. I won’t give away her little acts of heroism, but I'll give you a few clues. Know they have to do with caring for her daughter and a family who has befriended her in her new town. She’s also a heroine to a woman who has drifted for the last few years and needs a friend and a job. She cares for each person she touches in different ways.

Cue in a frantic bride (hint: heroine from book one) in need of a dress and wedding planning.

Our heroine helping her new friend make a wedding dress.
            Cue in a serious and sometimes controlling (in that annoying, protective way) cowboy rancher, who, yes, is a hero.

Lynette gives poor Carter a run for his money, especially when he goes into protective mode.
           Cue in a new lingerie shop in a ranching town where ranching women are excited to have a bit of frill in their lives, and strong cowboys fear to tread.

A lingerie ladies night at Lynette’s shop, the Pink Petunia.
All of the above are the little, everyday ways my heroine helps others in her new home town.

To me, the qualities of a heroine are women who are true to themselves. As we all know, in true life and our stories, this is part of growth for every individual, and part of the story arc for each of our main characters. A heroine must face problems (and in our books, we tend to throw a lot of problems at our heroines.) The more problems, the more the story holds the attention of readers. And…the more fun we have developing a character.

As I’m writing this, I have a favorite Hallmark movie on in the background. Cooking with Love is full of character development. Watching movies and reading books, for both writers and readers, is a great way to not only be drawn into another world, but an opportunity to study what challenges can be thrown at characters to make them stronger.

In the scene of the movie where the hero goes over the heroine’s head at work, then gives a lofty and somewhat cavalier apology, the heroine responds with an absolutely-no-problem type of response. As a viewer, one has to wonder why she is buckling under, until the scene progresses, and she, without apology, proves she also has gone over his head to get him back on track. The look on the hero’s face and his actions are one of I’ve just been one-upped. And that look gives the heroine courage to find her own voice, gain respect, and become a success at work. And, of course, they fall sweetly in love.

In a scene in my new book (releasing on October 20), Lynette proves to Carter that she’s not just an overly feminine, “too pink,” kind of woman, but a woman who just might have the qualities of a rancher’s wife. Loyal. Hardworking. Cares about family and work. Knows how to show love.

Cue in plumbing is not woman’s work. Note: the hero comes to the rescue to fix a sink, but, ta-da, the heroine has everything under control.
Finding a photo or clip art of a female plumber turned into an impossible endeavor. The only females associated with plumbing were on ads for a school recruiting underrepresented women plumbers and one for a plumbing company which showed a woman sitting by a sink with her palm plastered against the side of her forehead in an “Oh, what will I do?” pose. Hence the need for heroines who can plumb.
Lynette might not be a heroine in the eyes of the world that is conditioned to look for overly heroic deeds, but she is a hero in the life of her daughter. And she will prove she can be a heroine to Carter with her words, actions, and good deeds.

Of course, as an author, all my heroine’s traits mimic those of the real-life, every day heroines who are part of my family, and my work and community life.

Who, like my aunt, is the real-life heroine in your world? And what words, actions, and good deeds does your heroine do to show her heroic side?

~ cottages to cabins ~ keep the home fires burning ~
Delsora Lowe writes small town sweet 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.

The Rancher Needs A Wife
preorder now or purchase on October 20

 Social Media Links: Author website:
Author FaceBook page: 
Amazon Author page:
Books2Read Author page: 

Photo Links:
Sink:
Lingerie:
Carter:
Cover: 
Seamstress:

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Monday, May 4, 2015

Cowboy, Remind Me – Summer Read

If you’re looking for a summer read that a teenager all the way up to a grandmother would love, you’ll find it in Danita Cahill’s Cowboy, Remind Me. This novel is a sweet contemporary western set in a Rodeo town in Montana.

The story has heart and humor along with a good helping of believing in yourself.  This story is for everyone who has ever come through a tragedy and wondered if their life could go back to normal and for everyone who has had to learn to stand up for themselves. The witty dialogue, real secondary characters, charismatic hero, and realistic heroine make for an uplifting read.

Blurb for Cowboy, Remind Me

FAIRY TALE WEDDING... 

Leah Poole never wanted a fairy-tale wedding, so when she finds herself smack dab in the midst of planning her own big, over-the-top wedding she starts to shut down. Nothing feels right. She can’t even find a wedding dress she likes. 

HE LOVES ME...HE LOVES ME NOT... 

Leah loves her fiancé, Colton Rafferty. She’s been fond of him since they played together as children. Leah can’t believe he’s chosen her to spend his life with – Colton is a handsome, successful, wealthy businessman, while Leah’s a full-figured, low-income, hometown cowgirl. But as Colton and Leah’s wedding date draws nearer, it feels less and less like they’re a match made in heaven, and more and more like they’re a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces. 

THE COWBOY BROTHER… 

Colton’s brother, Clay, is a rodeo cowboy, an Oregon ranch hand, and a temporary maintenance man at Pine Creek, Montana’s grand old Milton Motel – the venue where Leah and Colton plan to exchange their vows. Bumping into Clay over and over surfaces a flood of buried memories, and Leah starts questioning herself. Is she marrying the right brother? And will she figure out the answer before she’s exchanged vows with the wrong man? 

Buy Link: Amazon


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