A KISS FOR CADE - Lori Copeland - Free Book

LORI COPELAND and her husband, Lance, work closely with their oldest son and daughter-in-law in Hidden Bluff Ministry (inner city children) School for the Nations and the Kagora people of Mali, West Africa. Situated on twenty acres in Ozark, Mo, the donation funded ministries continue to grow and serve God.

Lori has published in both secular and Christian markets with popular series like The Western Sky series, Brides of the West, Men of the Saddle and Belles of Timber Creek. She’s been the recipient of the various industry awards including Romantic Times Career Achievement, Holt Medallion, Reader’s Choice Award, and she was a Christy finalist in 2006. Ms Copeland was inducted into the Missouri Writers Hall of Fame in 2000.

I'm pleased to feature one of my long-time favorite authors. Welcome, Lori. Why do you write the kind of books you do?

I write what I like to read; I think most authors follow their hearts when they start a book. There was a time when I wrote in various genres, but the last few years I’m focusing on stories and settings that really touch my heart.

Besides when you came to know the Lord, what is the happiest day in your life?

There’s been so many; I have been so blessed. I could say, the day I married Lance, but then I didn’t realize what a blessing that would turn out to be. The day each of my children, grandchildren and last year, my great-granddaughter was born. Days and hours with friends—really close friends where we did nothing but share our feelings. The day I sold my first book; I had no idea how God would change my life that day, but it was a happy time. Everyday should be the happiest, but that isn’t always possible, but increasingly I’m trying to find something unique about each day and thank God that he’s allowed me to experience it.

How has being published changed your life?

It did change my life. Drastically! Before I was the mother of the three sons, worked for a bank, read but never thought about writing a book. That would have been the farthest thing from my mind. But when my last son was in high school, a friend suggested that I write a book. I had a good laugh about that and then—for my entertainment only, wrote Playing for Keeps for Dell Publishing Company. The book sold, and I have been writing since that day.

What are you reading right now?

Going Rogue, Sara Palin.

I bought that for my husband for Christmas. Now it's my turn to read it. What is your current work in progress?

I’m finishing up a rewrite of an older ABA title Marrying Walker McKay for Harvest House. The new title—and completely rewritten book with Christian content is titled Walker’s Wedding. The book will be out June of 2110, and it’s the last book in my Western Sky series.

What would be your dream vacation?

Cruising the Hawaiian Islands. Will some cruise line PLEASE fulfill my dream! LOL

I'd love to go with you? How do you choose your settings for each book?

I’ve fallen into a comfortable time period shortly after the Civil War where I set most of my westerns. The country was starting to rebuild, so much was going on yet for some reason my characters take over and very little is noted about historical facts. I write about people and emotions.

I like writing in the period between the Civil War and the turn of the century. If you could spend an evening with one person who is currently alive, who would it be and why?

I was thinking about this the other night, and this is going to blow the readers away, but I would choose Glen Beck. He fascinates me, and he makes me laugh. And cry. I don’t agree with all he says, but he’s a man who lost everything to alcoholism and he pulled his life back together, through Jesus Christ, which he readily gives credit.

What are your hobbies, besides writing and reading?

Knitting. I’m not good, and my friends are thoroughly sick of getting my dishcloths, but knitting loosens the knots in my brain.

What is your most difficult writing obstacle, and how do you overcome it?

English skills. How I wish I had learned more in school. It would make my job so much easier. Young people, if you happened to read this, listen up in English! It will serve you well all of your life.

What advice would you give to a beginning author?

Patience, and write for the love of writing and not the incessant goal to publish. I can’t tell you how many good, wonderful, beautifully written stories go unpublished. The best advice that I could offer anyone is: writing chooses you. If you choose it, you may be disappointed. It isn’t an easy process ( in most cases). I had the right product at the right time. I started my career in a time when romance was a hungry market, and while genres are always a good market, it’s a tighter market today.

Tell us about the featured book?

A Kiss for Cade is another refreshed ABA title in my Western Sky series for Harvest House, coming out Jan 1. It’s a story about a bounty hunter, Cade Kolby who can never come home, but the love of his life, Zoe Bradshaw is there and not likely to go away. The story features pure Lori Copeland characters—fun, sobering and a tad bit whacky.

Please give us the first line of the book.

“Well, if that don’t beat all. Cade Kolby, showing’ up after fifteen years as if he hadn’t been gone a day.”

How can readers find you on the Internet?

http://www.loricopeland.com/ . I’m also on Twitter and Facebook.

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

Readers, here's a link where you can order the book. By using this link when you order, you'll be helping support this blog.

Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book.


Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 6 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.

If you’re reading this on Feedblitz, Facebook, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment. Here’s a link.

http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com/

THREE TIMES BLESSED - Lori Copeland - Free Book

Welcome to my blog, Lori. I've really enjoyed reading many of your books. Tell us how much of yourself you write into your characters.

Probably more than I care to. I have a quirky sense of humor, and it inevitably comes out in my work, even though I sometimes start a project thinking I’ll do a serious story. My readers like my western historical. In this formats, I can feature women who aren’t as savvy as today’s women. They’re bright, intelligent, but they’ve retained a naiveté not easily found today. I enjoy writing these stories more than I do heavier subjects. Life has enough problems :-)

What is the quirkiest thing you have ever done?

Many years ago I wrote a book for Harlequin and featured a couple of dogs P.O.V. Today so much emphasis is put on writing in the proper P.O.V., first person, third person, multiple—the ways to write a book are numerous. At the time, I had no idea you couldn’t write in an animal’s P.O.V. but my readers seemed to enjoy the change.

When did you first discover that you were a writer?

Somewhere around my 40th birthday. I had never thought of writing, had written little more than a grocery list, but I loved to read. One day a friend asked why I didn’t write a book, and so, for my personal entertainment, I sat down and wrote one. It was a small Dell Candlelight, it sold within 6 weeks, and I’ve been under contract since them. Mine is a fairy tale story. Today, the market is very tight and sometimes it takes years to find a publisher, if ever. So I was blessed—and discovered a gift that I didn’t know I had.

Tell us the range of the kinds of books you enjoy reading.

I’ve always loved biographies and medical suspense. I devoured Robin Cook’s books when I read a lot. These days it’s hard to find time to read anything that isn’t research material. I like anything by Travis Thrasher, a new author with great potential.

What other books have you written, whether published or not?

I’m approaching my hundredth published book. With great humility, I can say that I’ve published every book I’ve written. I’ve had proposals rejected, but I haven’t written a book that wasn’t already contracted for. I honestly don’t think that I could now. Writing comes hard to me. I’m not a natural writer, I’m a storyteller. I need help with the mechanics of writing, and God has always placed me with an editor or house that was willing to give that help.

I'm a storyteller, too, but I've learned a lot of the mechanics. How do you keep your sanity in our run, run, run world?

Can’t. Lost sanity years ago :-) Thank goodness you don’t have to be sane to write, you just need a good imagination and much perseverance. The greatest sacrifice in writing is giving up so much of your personal life. Friends, family, church activities all take time and effort, and a writer doesn’t have those luxuries. Many of my friends assume that I sit down, strike a “Best Seller” key on my computer and voile! I’m free to go lunch, shopping, the spa or planning meetings. How I wish!

How do you choose your characters’ names?

This is an area I need to work on. I grab them out of the air, and often I repeat the same ones in new books! I have various sources on hand, baby name books, I keep all high school and college graduation programs, but since I write so much in the old west the newer names aren’t helpful. So I draw back to my Grandma and Grandpa’s days, and people they knew with quirky names. For instance, my dear aunt was Myrtle Independence Smart. She was born on the fourth of July. You don’t hear many Herschel, May, Edgar, Lulu (my grandparents neighbor was Lulu) Josephine, Pearl or Othel these days.

What is the accomplishment that you are most proud of?

In the writing world? It’s hard to pick just one. I suppose the greatest elation occurred a couple of years ago when my book Monday Morning Faith was a finalist for the Christy Award. Now you have to understand, I don’t write ‘award winning books” just fun entertainment with a Christian message. Nominated for a Christy was a goal I thought would never happen, so the blessing was great. I didn’t win, but I had my chance and that meant a lot to me.

In 2000, I was inducted into the Missouri Writers Hall of Fame. My pictures in the library next to Mark Twain! I take my grandchildren there and point me out, knowing that someday, God willing, they’ll be able to take their children there and say “that’s your great grandmother”.

In the personal realm, it would be the knowledge that my children, and all my grandchildren who are at the age of accountability, know and have accepted the Lord.

If you were an animal, which one would you be, and why?

Ummm. Is a bird an animal? I’d be a hummingbird. Quick, pretty, harmless, and I have a fierce sweet tooth. Second choice, I’d be a house cat. They’ve got it made.

What is your favorite food?

Sweet and Sour chicken, all white meat with a crab rangoon on the side. I could eat it every day.

That's some of my favorite Chinese food, too. There's a little place near where I live that has the best Sweet and Sour Chicken I've ever eaten. What is the problem with writing that was your greatest roadblock, and how did you overcome it?

English skills. When I wrote my first book I’d forgotten everything that I knew. I hadn’t used it in years so I’ve had to try and learn it again. English is a tough language because words can have so many different forms and usage. Most people think that the publisher does all the editing, and that’s true to a point, but you don’t send in work with a multitude of glaring errors. Some editors are lovely about helping you along, but in my earlier years of writing I have worked with those who have shamed me. Once I used the word who’s for whose. The young editor had me in tears. I went to hiring someone to go over the manuscript, but then the prices became more than I made, so I had to stop that practice. I’ve learned a lot in twenty-years, but I still depend on editorial assistance. Thank goodness I have terrific editors now.

What advice would you give to an author just starting out?

Patience. Learn your craft. If possible, hire a good agent, one who truly believes in your work. And teach yourself this one thing, repeat it over and over. Not everyone who writes will be published. It’s not a given. It’s not a promise. It’s not God-given right. It isn’t always the best books that get published. Unfair but true. If you keep this in mind, and write from your heart, you have given yourself great joy whether the manuscript sells or not.

Tell us about the featured book?

Outlaw’s Bride is one of my earlier books published in the secular market. Harvest House has given me the opportunity to rewrite this book (The Bride of Johnny McAllister) and two others for the Christian market. I love the assignment. This past year I’ve had two surgeries that left me flat on my back for awhile. I had ample time to think, to consider what I loved to write because the joy had left me. I was tired. I felt as though I was on a gerbil wheel. When the opportunity came along to rewrite some of my older titles, I found new joy in my work. Outlaw’s Bride is the format that I wrote in the beginning, whacky, lighthearted stories meant to bring a smile, and a moral message. Every author has a “voice.” Be true to your voice, and don’t try to write what others are writing. Readers tastes comes in cycles, and eventually the tastes always cycle back to your passion. In the busyness of writing, I’d forgotten that rule.

Please give us the first page of the book.

Prologue
Barren Flats—formerly Paradise, California
July, 1876

Ragan Ramsey watched the trail of dust disappear, and then let the curtain drop into place. “Thank goodness that one’s gone.”

Judge Procter McMann—known to most as “Procky” chuckled and drew deeply on his pipe, the scent of cherry tobacco filling the parlor. “I have to admit that was a test of endurance.”

With a sigh, Ragan started for the kitchen where breakfast dishes awaited her. She’d been the judge’s housekeeper for three years, and she loved Procky like her father, but why she’d ever let him talk her into writing a book on Rehabilitation for the Unlovable failed her. The past two years they’d taken in one after another criminal—both old and young, men who had shown the propensity for change in hopes of gaining the inner workings of the troubled mind. Sixteen year old Max Rutherford returned to jail this morning after a brief but angst-filled stay. Good riddance. None of their subjects has lasted more than a few months and she didn’t know why the judge insisted that they complete the book.

Judge patted his knee and the cat bound into his lap. “Things should settle down for awhile.”

“For a good long while, I’d hope.” Ragan was still complaining when she entered the kitchen. “You promised, Procky. No more 'subjects' for a while.” Her patience was stretched thin by hoodlums, miscreants, and the just plain mean. “You have to make it clear to Judge Roberts that we can’t handle one more hoodlum for the time being.”

Sounds interesting. How can readers find you on the Internet?

www.loricopeland.com, Facebook, Twitter.

Lori, thank you for spending this time with us.

Readers, here's a link where you can order the book:

Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book.

Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 6 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.

If you’re reading this on Feedblitz, Facebook, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment. Here’s a link.

Http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com