WILDFLOWER HEARTS - Vickie McDonough - Free Book

Welcome back, Vickie. It's always a pleasure to feature you on my blog. What are some of the spiritual themes you like to write about?

Forgiveness, God walking beside you during difficult times, keeping faith in God when all seems lost, Trust.


What other books of yours are coming out soon?

The Anonymous Bride released on April 1st. Mail-Order Christmas Brides releases September 1st, and Second Chance Brides releases October 1st.

If you could spend an evening with one contemporary person (not a family member of yours), who would it be and why?

Josh Groban, so I could listen to him sing.

I'd like to be with the two of you. What historical person would you like to meet (besides Jesus) and why?

I’d like to sit down with my grandma. She was born in 1876. I’d love to listen to her stories of what life was like for her as a young person.

I'm sure you'd take notes for historical novels. How can you encourage authors who have been receiving only rejections from publishers?

All authors receive rejections. It’s a sign that you are submitting, and that’s a good thing. But, rejections are painful. If you get any feedback in the rejection letter, take it to heart and see if there are areas you can improve your writing. Join a critique group so that you can get feedback on your writing. And keep writing and submitting. You’ll never sell a book if you don’t submit proposals.

Tell us about the featured book?

Wildflower Hearts is a compilation of three novels set in historical North Dakota. These books were originally released to the Heartsong Presents book club. They tell the story of the McFarland siblings who own a ranch in southwest North Dakota.

Here’s the blurb from Amazon:

Experience how the west was won in the North Dakota Badlands where the three McFarland siblings face interesting predicaments in romance. Adam challenges the research of a popular dime novelist who surprises him by being a beautiful female. Anna has to try to convince a deputy marshal that she isn’t involved in outlaw activity. Quinn is asked to enter into a marriage ruse to save an innocent woman from jail time. Will the siblings get out of their predicaments on wings of love and faith?

This really sounds interesting. Please give us the first page of the book.

Chicago, 1893

“Of all the nerve!” Mariah Lansing crumpled the letter in her fist.

Her grandmother scrunched her white brows together as she glanced up from the new Montgomery Ward catalog resting in her lap. “What is it, dear?”

“A letter from a reader.” Mariah crossed the parlor and dropped onto the couch beside her grandmother. “A rancher—Mr. McFarland—from North Dakota. He says I don’t have my ranching facts correct.”

“I would imagine the man knows what he’s talking about.” Grandma crossed her wrinkled hands over the catalog. “You knew when you decided to write dime novels that you would have an uphill climb in a man’s world. It doesn’t help that you’ve been raised in Chicago all your life. Perhaps it is time for you to take a trip out west.”

Mariah shrugged. If only she could travel out west. But her grandma was too old to make such a journey, and Mariah wasn’t about to leave her alone. “I’ll just have to do more thorough research.”

Grandma peered at her over the top of her round spectacles. “Did the man state anything specific that you got wrong?”

Smoothing out the letter, Mariah scanned the rest of the missive then gasped. “He’s invited me to visit his ranch in the Badlands.”

“What a wonderful opportunity. Perhaps you should consider it.”

Mariah’s gaze traveled around the parlor they had recently redecorated in pastels. Her grandmother loved to read, and Mariah had wanted to make her a cozy room for entertaining her closest friends and for relaxing. The soft blue wallpaper, hand painted with a myriad of butter, peach, and rose-colored flowers with sea green leaves brightened up the walls that had once been a faded gold shade. Could she really leave home again and leave the only family she had left, even for a short adventure?

Such a journey would enhance her ability to write about the West and make her stories more authentic. But no, she couldn’t—wouldn’t—leave her grandmother. She owed her too much to go running off the first chance she got.

Grandma chuckled as she held Mariah’s letter up so that the light from the nearby window illuminated it. “I fear, dear, you may have met your match with this gentleman. He says that men are the true heroes in the West, not women, and if you want men to keep reading your novels you need to change your way of thinking.”

A very unladylike snort erupted before Mariah could contain it. “That’s just one man’s opinion. I see nothing wrong with a woman being the hero of a story.”

Grandma gave her a patronizing look. “Surely you realize that more men than women read those paperbacks. Perhaps you should take Mr. McFarland’s advice and let a man save the day sometimes. Men do have delicate egos, you know, especially cowboys and ranchers who live such a rough life. I imagine they see themselves as the ones who do all the rescuing.”

Mariah would consider her grandmother’s advice, but not some faceless stranger’s. It had been a woman—her grandmother—who’d come to her rescue when her parents died. Her hero was a woman, so why not in her stories?

I can hardly wait to read this collection. How can readers find you on the Internet?

My website is: http://www.vickiemcdonough.com/
I’m also a regular contributor to the Bustles and Spurs blog: http://www.bustlesandspurs.com/ 

Thank you, Vickie, for spending this time with us.

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