Nevertheless, this author persists

I’m in the home stretch of The Cowboy’s Lost Family for Tule Publishing and as always, the experience is a combination of excitement (it’s going to be so great!!) and abject terror (I will never un-knot this mess, what was I thinking, sob, grovel, check Facebook.) 

The Creative Process

There is no Dark Night of the Soul for my characters until I feel it as their creator. There is no resolution for them until there is resolution for me. And the satisfying ending they reach will be nothing to the triumph I’ll feel upon writing THE END.

This is an important series for me. (Now I feel disloyal to the others!) I try to access some truth in myself for all my books, but in this one, I find myself digging deeper. I’m exploring subjects that have a lot of emotion attached to them.

The Search for Identity

These three books (though I may have to go begging for a fourth to tell it fully) are about adoptees searching for identity. But they’re also about the backstory, what it’s like for the mothers and fathers forced by circumstances to relinquish their children. About the grandparents who were part of that decision. About the micro-culture that determined social rules—and the cost of breaking them. The stories of the lost Malones of Grand, Montana, are about fear, pain, shame, regret… and also about discovery, joy, forgiveness and love. 

Speaking the Truth

All authors work to tell the truth about human experience. Romance authors work to tell the truth specifically about the experiences of women. Our genre is about women discovering what they want, and then taking action to get it. It’s about courage in a world where many women’s voices still remain secondary. Where they’re told (directly or indirectly) that they should sit down and let someone else decide what’s best for them. 

So, here’s me, getting into the final push of this book, taking courage from someone who refused to sit down and shut up, because Nevertheless she persisted. She believed in the power of her words. I believe in mine. I believe in yours. Whatever you’re struggling with today, reader, persist.