Books of Christmas Past

I was reflecting on the publication of my 60th title, and remembered that my very first publication was in Nov. of 2006--hard to believe it's been nine years. Even though contemporary romance isn't my biggest genre, this book will always have a special place in my heart--and not just because it was the first one I had that hit the shelves.

That year, Wild Rose Press had just opened and wanted some finished, pretty clean, holiday manuscripts. I had just sold my first book to another publisher, but they weren't interested in the shorter, contemporary seasonal piece, so I sent it off to Wild Rose, who bought it and brought it out in record time, meaning it actually came out several months before the book I'd sold a few months earlier. I started a relationship with some great people at a great publisher, and a series I loved, even if it was different from my other books. Nine years later, it's STILL available from Wild Rose. That's a pretty good feeling.

So why did I write a contemporary story as my third try at writing a novel? The first was futuristic romance, and believe me, that one was awful and will never see the light of day. Numbers two and four, both sold, were paranormal. So why the contemporary Western, with a very traditional romance feel, though it's kind of spicy? Because of my mom.

My mother was a voracious reader, loved books of many kinds, but never cared for paranormal. She called it my "woo-woo stuff" and even when she knew I was writing it, she was proud of me, but kind of grimaced at the thought of reading it. So I wrote The Cowboy's Christmas Bride for her. In it, I tried to take as many cliche's of contemporary romance as I could and have fun making them work. There's a bride, a baby, hunky cowboys, Christmas, and a Native American family ghost. I had a blast writing this story.

My mom passed away in the summer of 2005, so she didn't survive to see her daughter published. But the cowboy books, and there have been some more since, have been for her. I think of her a lot at this time of year, and cherish the memories she left me.

If you've never looked at my backlist, you might get a kick out of my somewhat unconventional cowboys. I think it's still at other e-tailers as well, but here it is at the publisher's site.

I've had other Christmas stories, because I totally love the holidays, but that first one will always be as special as the ornaments on my tree that my mother gave me.

Happy reading, and may your holidays be filled with love and light.