I found another book that I thoroughly enjoyed. I received an advanced copy of Bring A Cowboy Home to review. I love a good December romance and this is better than good. Gloria Doty has two non-fiction books to her credit Not Different Enough and A Bouquet of Devotions this is her first novel. I’ve ask her to come and talk about Bring a Cowboy Home and tell us her creative process. It will be coming out on February 11^th. Here’s a bit about the book from the back cover.

Relationships are never easy, especially when everything seems to be conspiring against you.

Louisa Crowder is a successful businesswoman from Chicago. When she meets Cal Frasier, a handsome rancher from Magnolia, Texas, it feels like someone’s lit a match on a forest fire. The only problem: Everything seems to stand in their way.

With the opinions and objections of their adult children, their totally different lifestyles, secrets from their pasts, and their completely opposite views of their faith in Jesus Christ, can Louisa and Cal fan the flames and find happiness, or are their obstacles too insurmountable to overcome?

By the way I love those boots, Gloria. Take a seat at the kitchen table while I steep some Chocolate Chia Tea. Help yourself to a Blueberry Danish.

After reading Bring a Cowboy Home I have a few questions I am dying to ask.

Why a romance between a couple as I like to refer to them circling 60? Most romance focus on couples somewhere between 20 and 40 years old.

I thought with the millions of ‘baby boomers’ in our society, perhaps they were tired of reading about the young and beautiful people. Perhaps they would enjoy reading about a romance that is a ‘second chance at love.’ Many people have the mistaken idea that once a person is 50, 60, 70, 80 or beyond, they don’t need love or romance any longer. Nothing could be further from the truth. My characters are healthy, viable, sexual people.

You live in Fort Wayne Indiana but you settings are Texas and Illinois. You actually put Lucy (Louisa) in a home in Batavia, Illinois. That’s the next town over from Aurora where I live. Why there? And how did you research these two places to get the geography right?

With Lucy’s business, she had to be in a large city. Chicago is the closest to me. It also has a reputation for dishonest, unscrupulous government. My sister and her husband live in Batavia and we have had many discussions about the perfectly good houses that are torn down to build a new and larger one.

My daughter and family live in Cypress, Texas. It is close to Magnolia, Tomball, Montgomery and Spring, Texas. I have enjoyed visiting these towns when I visit my daughter, so I used them in the story.

How long did it take for the idea for this story to grow into a novel?

The idea formed in my head on the way home from a writers’ meeting, where I was a guest. I went home and began the story. I knew the end line before I filled in the rest of it. I wrote it in 3 weeks. I fell in love with my characters and their lives, so I continued the story for 2 more novels. They were written over a short time, also.

Lucy refers to Cal as Marshal reminiscent of the old Gunsmoke TV show. In your mind does Cal look like James Arness ( the actor who played Marshall Dillon) or someone else?

No, not James Arness. In my head he looks like Dylan Neal who plays Jack on Hallmark’s Cedar Cove. I purposely asked the cover designer to NOT use ‘people pictures’ on the covers because I want each reader to visualize Cal and Lucy and Ben and the others, for themselves.

Cal didn’t look like Dylan Neal in my head, nor Marshall Dillon. You’re right, readers see the characters in the head much differently than the author does. 🙂

Tell me how you decided on the character traits of Lucy and Cal and why those particular characteristics?

With the exception of being wealthy, Lucy is a lot like me. Obstinate, headstrong, impetuous and has an “I can take care of myself’ attitude. Cal needed to be someone I could fall in love with…and I did. Too bad he isn’t real. He is patient, loving, and still, a man’s man.

Are you a plotter or a pantster?

Actually, maybe a bit of both. I like to works a scene out in my head to see if it feels right, but sometimes, my characters have a tendency to go off on their own.

What do you hope readers will take away with them after journeying with Lucy and Cal?

I sincerely hope they will realize there is no age limit on falling in love or on romance. People can be faced with many situations, but their love for each other will remain strong. Cal and Lucy do pray a lot together, also. I didn’t want the Christianity to hit people over the head; I wanted it to be evident that prayer can be an integral part of a relationship.

I know you have two more books planned in the series. Are Cal and Lucy still the main characters or do you share someone else’s story?

Cal and Lucy continue with their lives in the next two books. They face many things that typical people struggle with every day. Many of those things involve their adult children and grandchildren. These books are already written and with the publisher. The second one comes out in June and the third one in the fall.

I’m already looking forward to reading them.

Now, it’s time to ask the question I usual ask all the authors I interview. What is one tip you would give to a new novelists?

You can write about anything but make certain it is something or some character you feel a kinship with. It will be easier to describe their feelings and thoughts if you are ‘there’ so to speak. Also, find people who know the facts about an item or circumstance, if you don’t. I asked a friend who is very knowledgeable about guns for his expertise on the revolver Lucy carries. He told me what kind, as it was given to her by her grandfather, and what it was capable of doing. I found a person who works with EMTs to send me copies of the exact words an EMT would say to a mother about to give birth at home. (Second book) Even though you may be writing fiction, it still needs to be believable.

A Giveaway

Gloria will be giving away both and e-book and a paperback copy of Bring A Cowboy Home. Just request to be put in the drawing in the comments here or on my Facebook page. Winners will be announced on Friday. Don’t forget you can purchase a copy after February 11^th. It’s already available on Amazon in e-book. Pass on this blog in social media and comment that you did and receive an additional chance to win.

More About Gloria

Gloria Doty is a Christian author, freelance writer, blogger and speaker. She has written articles for many magazines and is a regular contributor to a quarterly devotional. Her non-fiction book, Not Different Enough, was published in 2014 and was awarded the Writer of the Year award by the WTP Writer’s Conference. It is the transparent telling of the first thirty years of life with her daughter with autism, Asperger’s and intellectual disabilities. Gloria and her sister co-authored A Bouquet of Devotions, published in 2015.

Bring a Cowboy Home is her first fiction romance novel. Her love of Texas and the towns included in the book were her inspiration. Gloria has five children and thirteen grandchildren. She writes from her home in Fort Wayne, IN.

Contact Info: Gloria Doty

gloriadotywriter@gmail.com

http://www.writingbygloria.com/ blog on this site: Montage Moments

http://www.gettingitright-occasionally.blogspot.com/ Blog about life with my daughter, Kalisha

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