Wild Deadwood Reads

 Deadwood, South Dakota never disappoints.

Over the years I've been to many events there, or just driven there for dinner. It's always a good time. 

Wild Deadwood Reads has to be my favorite event. Even if this year was the first time I attended.  I have been wanting to go for the past few years but always have to work that weekend. This year I took vacation time and was happy to spend a few days among some great authors.

I had a great talk with Laura Scott and Lori Handeland. I by chance sat next to them at the bar while having dinner. Naturally, I had a ton of author questions for them. (They humored me well) They gave great advice and were awesome gals.

I met a lot of new people and finally got to meet several that I've been hoping to meet one day. I was horrified when I was driving home and realized I never made it back around to several tables to get signed books to match my kindle books. (I had to run to the car for more money and got sidetracked when I came back in)

But I still came home with a bunch of books. I was glad this event brought so many great authors to one location near me. A few of the cover models attended as well.

I was so thrilled to finally meat Shanna Hatfield and Pam Crooks!!!   I wish we could have had more time to talk. I probably could have chatted with them for hours.

With any luck I'll be able to attend again next year. Maybe even have a table there. It was fun to go around and see what authors bring for gifts and how they set up their area. I loved the author banners. There was such a variety of how authors displayed their books and goodies.

I now have a Wild Deadwood Reads shelf at home. I have lots of reading to do!

For the love of Romance

Once upon a time.....

 

That is how it all begins. We first fall in love with fairy tales and happily ever after. Our love for story telling grows into "it was a dark and stormy night". 

From fairy tales we branch out to our favorite genre. Mystery, Paranormal, Romance, and more. I fell in love with romance. Western romance specifically.

The very first romance book I read was Apachee Caress when I was about 12. Took it from my mom's shelf and snuck to my room to read it. Loved it. And I read the rest of Georgina Genty's Panorama of the West Series.

  Do you remember your first romance book? Share in the comments.

Then came Betty Brooks. I loved her books as well and read them all. (Exept one that I am searching for)

Then I discovered Victotia Thompson and Jodi Thomas. And my own desire to write took over. I was passionate about telling stories of strong people in the Wild West.

 

What I loved most about these authors and the way they wrote their books is that they all tie together in some way. Characters from other books appear throughout the series. Each title is a stand alone but reading them in order gives the sense of knowing the characters on a deeper level. Several authors added Paranormal elements to their books and I loved it. My books all tie together and many have paranormal elements.

    These amazing authors were my inspiration to start my own writing.

    I've read many, many books since those teenage years, but those books published over 30 years ago are still my favorite ones. I have every book of every series (except that one elusive Betty Brooks book) on my shelves in my office. A constant reminder of my original inspiration. 

      Outlaw’s Redemption is the first book in the Wild Love Series. The second generation of my Rimrock characters. The families of the Rimrock Series span three generations so far. I love the familiarity of the characters I’ve spent the last 25ish years writing about.