 Every family begins somewhere, right? All the way back to Adam and Eve. Stories are no different. Characters all need a back story, a beginning, a place to come from.
Well, when Heather Greer, Regina Merrick, Erin Howard, and I all started planning out our stories, we realized this. Heather discovered a neat website where you can actually plug in names and dates and make a family tree. Since all of our stories are based on the same family, this was perfect. We could add and update as we wrote, and each could see the other's changes. Some of us even added pictures of our inspiration. Erin's the only one still needing to plug in her people, but hers are way in the future, so this could look interesting. ;)
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Do you love history? I have a fondness for it, though maybe not as much as my history teacher husband. ;) And now, my friend Heather Greer has dabbled in it too. She's taking over my blog today to tell you a bit about her newest book.  Did you know that even though potato chips were first invented in 1853, it wasn’t until 1926 that someone had the brilliant idea to package them in wax sealed paper bags so they could be marketed to the masses?
Did you know that in 1926 what is considered the first aerial bombing on US soil took place outside Marion, Illinois at the site of Shady Rest, a known gangster’s establishment? Did you know that Harper’s Bazaar was Harper’s Bazar in the 1920s? Neither did I. Not until I began writing Window of Opportunity. Being a contemporary romance writer, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I began developing Evangeline and Brendan’s story. I’d read a lot of historical fiction. Not being a fan of history class, fiction was where I learned the most about the past. But I’d never attempted to write a historical story. Too much research was involved for my liking. At least, that’s what I believed.  Have you heard the term Quadrilogy before? If you know that quad means four, you can probably guess its meaning even if you don't know for sure.
Basically, it's a work in four parts. Where a trilogy is a series of three books, a quadrilogy is a series of four. So, why am I teaching you this fun word? Because this year, I am part of a quadrilogy that will release every three months!  Do you love fairy tale retellings? I do! And today, I am pleased to introduce you to an author I just discovered myself. Rachel Kovaciny writes ... you guessed it. Fairy tale retellings. But not just as fairy tales. She puts a western spin on it. And I can't wait to get to know her with you. Read on to find out more.
Rachel, welcome! Your books are fairytale retellings set as westerns, right? How did you come up with that idea of a crossover? Thanks for having me! I had the idea of retelling the fairy tale "Twelve Dancing Princesses" as a western about ten years ago. It struck me that the hero of that particular fairy tale is a soldier returning home from the war, and I knew that many Civil War veterans went westward when the war ended, so that kind of made the story a natural fit for that era. I actually considered doing a series of fairy tale-based mysteries set in the Old West, but it never went farther than daydreaming. I had other books I was working on instead. Then, in 2015, I heard that Rooglewood Press had announced that Sleeping Beauty would be the focus for the new contest for their third anthology of fairy tale retellings. I had recently been to Colonial Williamsburg and learned about the larger kind of spinning wheels, called walking wheels, which have a large spindle that sticks out horizontally about three feet from the floor. The interpreter demonstrating that wheel made a joke about what body part Sleeping Beauty might have pricked if she'd been using that kind of wheel. That joke came back to me, along with the idea of drifting gunmen being a sort of correlation to the knights errant of yore, and suddenly, I had the idea for my novella The Man on the Buckskin Horse. I won that contest and my novella was included in the anthology Five Magic Spindles. By the time the anthology was released in 2016, I had ideas for six more fairy tales retold as non-magical westerns. I decided to write them as a series of interconnected standalones. And here I am six years later, with four books out and two to go! So exciting! Of all the fairy tales out there, do you have a favorite? Why? My favorite is "Twelve Dancing Princesses." I love that the hero triumphs because he is kind and clever.
2022 has beena bit of a whirlwind--in writing and in other parts of my life too.
Once again I had three books scheduled to release ... and they all did! Destination: Romance came out in June, starting off my three-book Roadtrip Romance series. In September, I added another novella collection called Love in Any Season. And this month, my second Roadtrip Romance, Roadtrip for Two hit the market. Whew! Even though they were all several months apart, it still added up to be a lot. But in a good way. This gives me a total of NINE releases now. I can hardly believe it. But what else have I done? You've met the main characters of Roadtrip for Two, but how about some side characters? I mean, you've already met Katie and Skye in Destination: Romance, and they don't play a huge role in this story. Though Bree talks to Katie a few times. But there are a couple other characters you see. Some fun church people in Dallas. And then, Nathan's brother Josh, and Mama Hart.
You guys, as someone who never thought she wanted to write a series, I can't begin to describe my excitement over having the second book of a series release. It's so much fun. And just look at those covers next to each other!!! I am on pins and needles waiting to see what the third one will look like with Skye and Benjamin and Boulder in the background. But more about them later.
Because today, we're still focused on Bree and Nathan.  My last Roadtrip Romance book was set in several different areas, but this one is different. Roadtrip for Two isn't supposed to be a roadtrip at first.
If you remember at the end of the first book, Bree and Nathan's friends are talking them into taking their honeymoon cruise despite the engagement being called off. And they're not telling the other one, so it will be a surprise when they both show up on the same ship. No one was expecting a hurricane to mess things up. So, when Bree and Nathan run into each other in the Dallas airport ... and get stranded by bad weather ... plans change.  Recently, I've joined a group of Christian Mommy Writers. In it, I'm discovering lots of new authors to me, like Dulcie Dameron. I can't wait to get to know her better right along with you. Her books sounds like lots of fun.
Dulcie, you say your love of writing goes all the way back to seventh grade. If you're like me, you have some stories you hope never see the light of day that were written way back when. Can you remember the premise of your favorite? Could you see yourself revamping it in the future? I actually do remember the very first story I ever started writing about ten years ago, and though I remember some of the premise, I don't know that I actually knew where the story was going myself! Haha. All I knew was that it was going to be a single mom romance/police officer romance and YES, I actually do think about revisiting that story a lot! I just wish I still had access to it to take a look at how horrible my writing must have been, haha. You live in a small town. How does it compare to the small towns in your books? It's actually very similar to the town I describe in my books. River Hollow is loosely based off of my hometown and it's where I've drawn much of my inspiration from. If you had to describe your books in one sentence, what would you say? I'd say you'll find quirky characters, swoony kisses, and small-town vibes in each one. Sounds great to me! |
This is a place for me to tell you about what I'm writing, talk about the process or where some of my ideas came from, or even have other authors come in and talk about their books.
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