Grace Burrowes and M.L. Buchman: Favorite Authors

Judith is the author of The Sacred Women’s Circle series, romantic fiction that honors spiritual practices that nourish the soul and celebrates the journey from relationship to romance.

One of my favorite authors is Grace Burrowes. I’ve lost myself for many hours in her historical romance novels. Imagine my surprise when Genre-ista M.L. Buchman talked about a joint project he’d done with Ms. Burrowes!

Big Sky Ever After is a Montana Romance duet. Matt’s book is Nathan’s Big Sky. I loved the story of a New York City chef ending up at a ranch in Montana. Culture shock and much more. As a reader my warning is “Don’t read Nathan’s Big Sky” on an empty stomach!

Ms. Burrowes’ Tartan Two Step has a culture shock of another kind. Magnus Cromarty travels from Scotland to Montana to check out a Phenom in the world of whisky brewing. Little does he know that the young woman he picks up at the bar is who he’s looking for.

One of the reasons I wanted to read these two stories is because I’ve enjoyed both authors’ earlier books. However, I especially wanted to read more of Ms. Burrowes contemporary romances. While I learned more than I ever knew I wanted to know about whisky distilling, in Ms. Burrowes SweetestKisses series, set in Maryland her background as a family law attorney is put to good use.

Because of my own background in child protective services I was particularly aware of how she portrayed the system that is in place to protect young people. In the child’s best interest was a concept that gained momentum during my years working in the CPS system. And Judge Jean Lewis, one of our circuit court judges, was known nationally for her work in using the “in the child’s best interest” standard in juvenile/dependency court.

I’ve completed the first three Sweetest Kisses books and am looking forward to reading the next and even more of Ms. Burrowes' contemporary romance. Not that I won't be spending time with her historical romance novels. I can see my keeper shelf holding more and more of Ms. Burrowes stories!

My caveat is this: there are child protective services workers who are conscientious, compassionate and genuinely care about the children in their caseloads. They do look at what the child wants and what is in that child’s best interest. However, I truly do understand and appreciate that if that CPS worker showed up in Ms. Burrowes’ stories, conflict and drama would be lost.

The reality is there are CPS workers as portrayed by Ms. Burrowes and there are also attorneys who do the easiest not necessarily the best for their young clients. For some attorneys working in family law or juvenile court is beneath them, drudgery, a thankless duty. I’m grateful Ms. Burrowes portrays lawyering in a child’s best interest as a higher calling. Making a positive difference in a child’s life only makes our society and our country stronger.

I'm always interested in your thoughts. Please let me know how important authenticity is to you as a reader?

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Playing well with others!

by M. L. Buchman

I feel as if this should be a constant theme in my life: playing well with others.

A writer's world is a strange and solitary one...I'm paid to sit in a corner, by myself, and fantasize for a living (a kinder way to say: I sit in a corner and make shit up for a living). I fantasize about what it would be like to fly a helicopter, to destroy a bad guy, to fall in love... Well, I don't have to fantasize about that one, because I did--twenty years ago and still besotted. But I have to think about how it would feel for others, both male and female, from a wide variety of backgrounds.

But occasionally I'm forced to emerge from the depths of the world in my head and interact with those around me. Sometimes just enough, sometimes way too much.

A few weeks ago I attended and assisted at a week-long short-story anthology workshop. Fifty writers, a dozen hours a day for 7 days. OMG! It was fantastically wondrously intensely and deeply fun. (It was also a little mortifying, my inner introvert is still in deep shock.) For 7 days we talked almost nothing except the craft, marketing, and business of short fiction. I did my best to be thoughtful, supportive, and curious. I've spoke to almost no one except my wife in the weeks following. Even at a weekly lunch of local writers (all of whom I've known for years), I still had little to say and am only now returning to normal.

But there is another way that I've been playing with others. In a prior post I discussed doing a world collaboration project with fellow military romantic suspense writer Cristin Harber. This month I've discovered the joys of writing a collaboration project with one of Regency romance's top authors: Grace Burrowes.

Okay, there's the catch...Regency.

Years ago, back when I was a much younger writer (in every sense of the word), I wrote a historical. I was very proud of that book and sent it off and about. A top editor from Mills & Boon sent me back a very kind note: "Thank you for submitting this for my consideration. I'll pass on this manuscript, but absolutely send me your next contemporary title for consideration." A couple of things here: 1) This was a top editor, who was willing to look at my next title. Back in those days this was just one step down from a sale. Fantastically cheering feedback on my level of writing at that time. 2) This was a top historical editor who asked for my next contemporary (and I wasn't the one who added the emphasis, she was). Hmmm...

Wind forward a couple of years, I'm taking a class. One of the assignments was to write a historical short story. The teacher handed it back and said, "Is this your best period?" It was. "Try again." I did. When the teacher, who is always very careful to never give career advice for fear of inhibiting a writer, returned the second draft it was with the whispered words, "Never try to write a historical again." I now understand that I don't have a single historical bone in my writing body.

But I like Grace (and love her writing, I read a fair amount of Regency) and we wanted to do a project together.

Now it was her turn. "Military romantic suspense? Really?"

So, we moved on to other topics, including our own plans for future series, until I said, "I'm about to launch a contemporary series set on a Montana ranch. Two of my key heroes, Emily Beale and Mark Henderson, are finally retiring from the military and from firefighting. They're going to settle on Mark's family horse ranch and mentor a whole new set of love stories."

"Oh! That's good. I have an idea for that."

The result?

So, as unlikely as it seems, a Regency author and a military romantic suspense author found common ground beneath Montana's Big Sky! (If you prefer print, they're available separately.)

We've had a great time going back and forth on this. They are two separate novels (except for a reader cookie here and there), but we were very surprised at all of the similarities in our voices. Maybe that's why I enjoy reading her books so much, because we're so similar in use of dialog, humor, even pacing.

On the collaboration I mentioned above with Cristin Harber, it was a challenge of finding a common voice between two very different sets of military romantic suspense characters. Here it was discovering an easy joy in each other's words.

I'm very proud of both, but for different reasons. The collaboration between my Night Stalkers and Cristin's Team Titan in Target of Mine is a kick-ass tale. Big Sky Ever After is a warm contemporary to get all wrapped up in during a chill Montana night.

Having now done two collaboration projects of this scale, I'm definitely looking forward to whatever next comes my way. Because whatever it is, it's gonna be FUN! And that is the real measure of what project to do next.

M.L. Buchman started the first of over 50 novels while flying from South Korea to ride his bicycle across the Australian Outback. Part of a solo around the world trip that ultimately launched his writing career.

All three of his military romantic suspense series—The Night Stalkers, Firehawks, and Delta Force—have had a title named “Top 10 Romance of the Year” by the American Library Association’s Booklist. NPR and Barnes & Noble have named other titles “Top 5 Romance of the Year.” In 2016 he was a finalist for Romance Writers of America prestigious RITA award. He also writes: contemporary romance, thrillers, and fantasy.

Past lives include: years as a project manager, rebuilding and single-handing a fifty-foot sailboat, both flying and jumping out of airplanes, and he has designed and built two houses. He is now making his living as a full-time writer on the Oregon Coast with his beloved wife and is constantly amazed at what you can do with a degree in Geophysics. You may keep up with his writing and receive a free starter e-library by subscribing to his newsletter at: www.mlbuchman.com