Welcome back, Donna. God
has really been moving in your writing life. What do you see on the horizon?
I’m hoping this book will be a stepping-stone to writing and
publishing full-length historical mysteries. I love the genre, and so many
readers have told me they also enjoy the combination of history and mystery.
Tell us a little
about your family.
I am married to a wonderful man who was a grandfather when
we wed, so I am also “mom” to two beautiful daughters and 11 grands. I am the
oldest of 5, daughter of a nurse and an engineer, who somehow managed to get
everything backwards. I finished college at 36, learned to swim at 37, married
at 40, first published at 48, learned to paint at 60, ate s’mores for the first
time at 61, and now celebrating a book launch at 61½ .
Has your writing
changed your reading habits? If so, how?
Writing changed my reading habits in an irritating way: if I
see a typo anywhere, even on a billboard, it grates on me like fingernails on a
blackboard.
What are you working
on right now?
My next book will be part of a collection featuring damsels
and covered wagons.
What outside
interests do you have?
I love to paint using oil. My studio is my “happy place.”
How do you choose
your settings for each book?
I choose places where I’ve been. And then I look around for
mysteries or unanswered questions in those areas.
If you could spend an
evening with one historical person, who would it be and why?
Dame Agatha Christie. I’d pick her brain and find out what
stories she never got the chance to write.
What is the one thing
you wish you had known before you started writing novels?
That it doesn’t end with one completed novel. The stories
still scream to come out, even after almost 30 novels and novellas.
What new lessons is
the Lord teaching you right now?
Patience. With myself. With Him. And anger management. Too
often I let my frustration control me.
What are the three
best things you can tell other authors to do to be successful?
Read. Write. Go to conferences.
Tell us about the
featured book.
In May of 1880, Becky Campbell leaves her wealthy New York
lifestyle in search of her father, only to learn he was murdered in the small
town of Silver Valley, Colorado. Unable to return to her mother in humiliation
and defeat, she determines to fulfill her father’s dream—to make the Double
Jeopardy profitable. Zeke Graumann, a local rancher, is faced with a
hard decision regarding his land and his dream. After several years of poor
weather and low cattle prices, he will either have to take on a job to help pay
his overhead expenses, or sell his land. He hires on with this Easterner for
two reasons: he can’t turn his back on a damsel in distress. And he needs the
money. Becky isn’t certain Zeke is all he claims to be, and after a series of
accidents at her mine, wonders if he isn’t behind it, trying to get her to sell
out so he can take over. Zeke finds many of Becky’s qualities admirable and
fears he’s losing his heart to her charms, but also recognizes she was never
cut out to be a rancher’s wife. Can Becky overcome her mistrust of Zeke, find
her father’s killer, and turn her mine into a profitable venture—before her
mother arrives in town, thinking she’s coming for her daughter’s wedding? And
will Zeke be forced to give up his dream and lose his land in order to win
Becky’s heart?
Please give us the
first page of the book.
1880 Silver Valley , Colorado
Dead. Dead as her dreams and her hopes.
Dead as a doornail,
as her mother would say.
Just thinking about the woman drove a steel rod through
Becky Campbell’s slumping back.
Perched on a chair in the sheriff’s office, she drew a deep
breath, lifted her shoulders, and raised her chin a notch. She would not be
like the woman who birthed her. Pretty and pampered. A silly socialite finding
nothing better to do with her days than tea with the mayor’s spinster daughter
or bridge with the banker’s wife.
No, she’d much rather be like her father. Adventuresome.
Charismatic. Always on the lookout for the next big thing.
Now her breath came in a shudder, and down went her
shoulders again. She tied her fingers into knots before looking up at the
grizzled lawman across the desk from her. “There’s no chance there’s been a
mistake in identification, is there?”
He slid open the top drawer of his desk and pulled out a
pocket watch, a lapel pin, and a fountain pen, which he pushed across the desk
to her. “He was pretty well-known around here. I’m really
sorry, miss.”
Becky picked up the timepiece and flicked open the cover.
Inside was a photograph of her family, taken about ten years earlier when she
was a mere child of eight and Father stayed around long enough to sit still for
the portrait. Her mother, petite and somber, and she, all ringlets and ribbons.
She rubbed a finger across the engraving. To R. Love M. Always.
Yes, this was his.
I love history and
mysteries. How can readers find you on the Internet?
www.HiStoryThruTheAges.com
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What
Can Be Online University: online courses on the craft of writing
Etsy
online shop of original artwork, book folding art, and gift items
Thank you, Donna, for sharing this book for my blog readers and me. I'm eager to read it.
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