What I do remember very clearly is last winter, when Jane called me and asked if I'd like to take part in a brand new publishing adventure--YES, I said. And when she told me the venture in question involved romance luminaries Lilian Darcy and CJ? YES YES YES, I said.
Cut to May, when we all went to Flathead Lake, Montana, and spent a fantastic week getting to know each other, brainstorming the first Montana Born Books that would kickstart Tule Publishing, and working very, very hard, as you can see in this picture. That's me and CJ. It was a grueling schedule!
You can check out the novellas we wrote as a result of our week together here.
But CJ was also working on a longer trilogy of books set in our fictional Montana town, and the first of these has just come out! Here's a Q&A with CJ about the first in her Carrigans of the Circle C series, Good Together:
What inspired you to become a writer?
Love of books, stories and the process of writing. I began wanting to write mysteries like the Trixie Belden series that I adored as a young girl! Then I read my aunt’s Harlequin Romances and wanted to write those!
What is your writing process?
I start each story with a central question...something I find compelling. Like...what if you thought you’d found the love of your life, but then you discovered he was married? (Promise Me, Cowboy started like this.)
Another thing I love to do at the beginning of a story is to collect pictures on Pinterest. They can relate to the setting or the characters or other story details, but I have found this a really helpful tool for the beginning of a story.
Something else I do is to create a story chart – basically outlining in very rough form the main turning points (dramatic events) of the story. Once I have that in place, I start thinking about the characters, though I find they don’t fully evolve until after the first draft.
What is your favorite thing to do when you aren’t writing?
I love to be outdoors, hiking, walking, kayaking, biking...enjoying the beauty of the Alberta Rocky Mountains and also Flathead Lake, Montana—my two favorite places in the world!
Tell us a little about your new book, Good Together, from the Carrigans of Circle C series.
Hawksley Carrigan, owner of the Circle C Ranch south of Marietta, Montana, always wanted a son to carry on the family name. Unfortunately for him, he ended up with four daughters.
Mattie Carrigan’s Story (Good Together)The eldest of the Carrigan girls, Mattie married right out of high school and moved north of Missoula to live on her husband’s ranch. She and Wes, a rodeo cowboy, had twin daughters who just this fall left for college. At thirty-eight Mattie is suddenly faced with an empty-nest—and the realization that she doesn’t really know her husband anymore.
As Mattie’s life falls into chaos, the only steady presence is her gorgeous neighbor, Nathaniel Diamond. Nat’s always been there for Mattie when things went wrong on the ranch. Why is he suddenly avoiding her now?
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