New Release Trifecta!
Dear Readers, I’ve
known Angela for over a decade. We were first online, writing friends, but we’ve
enjoyed getting together face to face when we are at national conferences. I've loved all of her books that I've read. You will, too.
BIO: Angela
Breidenbach is a bestselling author and host of Grace Under Pressure Radio on
iTunes. Angela is the Christian Author Network's president. And yes, she's half
of the comedy duo, Muse and Writer. There's a fe-lion comedy series in their
future … but Muse is still negotiating his contract to include more catnip and
oatmeal cookies … Writer just wants him to sign so she can finally take a
vacation to Scotland .
She did promise to bring back oatmeal cakes. He's considering …
Twitter/Pinterest: @AngBreidenbach
Angie's Amazon Page so you can follow all her new releases: http://amzn.to/1n8IDwD
Welcome back, Angela. How is it you have so
many new releases happening in the last few months with more to come this year?
Good things come to those who wait … I spent a lot of time
learning the craft, getting educated in the marketing and technology. I'm
driven to keep going, learning, growing. 2014 was an incredibly difficult year.
I was in the middle of writing Eleven
Pipers Piping when my dad suddenly passed away from a stroke. It was a very
dark time for me. I still miss him. But after managing his estate full time for
5 months, I started writing again in order to fulfill a different contract by
April of 2015. Then the books and contracts just started flowing, or maybe my
pent-up writing did. I think I'm not only making up for lost time, but my dad
was a great supporter. I think he'd be very proud I'm not only writing, but I'm
writing as much as I can now.
So you had to juggle
contracts?
Yes. I set aside Eleven
Pipers Piping in order to get Bridal
Whispers to Barbour in time for The
Lassoed by Marriage Romance Collection (http://amzn.to/1RSmQXz)
to get put together. I just love that entire book from the artistic production
to the stories inside it.
Tell us about your
story in that collection, Bridal Whispers.
Bridal Whispers is the 2nd novella in The Lassoed by Marriage Romance Collection. It's the retelling of
my maternal grandparents' love story. My grandfather was married to my
grandmother's cousin first. She passed away on Christmas Day. My grandmother
had been given her inheritance, the hand-blown amethyst Swedish pitcher and
tumbler set, and told to go make her way in the world at 16. So she did. In
fact, she put herself through nursing school. Then about 10 years later, she
was called home to care for her family. While helping care for the family store
so my grandpa could work the farm, the town started gossiping about them … about
one year later, they married. The family story is that the gossip caused it.
But they stayed married until my grandpa passed away 54 years later at 99 ½
years old. All that is true. Oh, and so is the battle between speaking Swedish
and English. When I was 16, my grandma (moor moor) taught me a little kitchen
Swedish. She whispered the whole time because Grandpa didn't like it. Ironic,
because by that time he couldn't have heard us speaking it. The marital
disagreement was so engrained about that topic that I had to include it in
their story. But anyone who knew them as a couple admired their devotion, love,
and longstanding marriage.
I fictionalized that love story, moved it back in time 30
years, and imagined their conversations based off of conversations I had with
them growing up. But writing this story gave me the chance to enjoy being
"with" my grandparents again. It's a pretty special story to me.
Now you have several
audiobooks out as well. The Debutante
Queen (http://amzn.to/1n8IuJt), (http://amzn.to/1n8IvwY),
and Taking
the Plunge (http://amzn.to/1Ovqn9O)
which releases in February. What took
you in that direction?
First, I love books in any form. I love writing them,
hearing them, and seeing movies made out of them. Again a little irony. I'd
hired the acting team of Forrest and Tristan Leder (though they are my son and
daughter-in-law, they both hold performance degrees from the University of Montana Montana 's history in a
way it hadn't been done before. But I didn't want it to be only in book form.
As I finished the sequel, Eleven Pipers
Piping, I asked Tristan to voice it. Then with the popularity of series on
Audible, I decided to go for it and have each one done as an ebook and
audiobook. I've been absolutely delighted with the results.
Do you plan more
audiobooks then?
You betcha! I not only love writing, but I love that readers
can get the books in any form they like experiencing them.
Any form?
Yes. I will begin taking then to screenplays in the near
future as well.
You enjoy writing in
any form as well?
I love writing in any form from fiction to non-fiction to
articles. But it's the communication I love. That's why I started my podcast,
Grace Under Pressure Radio (http://GraceUnderPressureRadio.com
or on iTunes). It's yet another form of communication that I hope touches
hearts and helps people.
What's your podcast
about?
It's about becoming a woman of courage, confidence, and
candor. I hope it helps women embrace who they are made to be and to do the
dreams God placed inside of them. I consider myself a late bloomer. I hope to
help other women that feel like they are late bloomers too.
Tell us what your Montana
I'm really having fun with the Montana Beginnings series!
I'm choosing a lesser (or unknown) part of Montana history and building a story around
that lost tidbit. We had newsies, a Victorian plunge (indoor hot spring pool),
amazing battles in becoming a state, and some of the most colorful or
astounding people. The history of Montana
is fascinating and fun. So each story deals with something special about our
state. The Debutante Queen is set as Montana earns her
statehood. That story brings the newsies to life. Those little boys have a
statue in our capitol because they were so important at that time. Eleven Pipers Piping shares about the
mines and the drive of our people to bring tourism to the state as mines began
to shut down (started in book 1). But those little newsies captured my heart
and the heart of readers. So we find out what happens to them in book 2. Then
the 3rd book, Taking the Plunge, is
set in the astoundingly lavish Broadwater Hotel and Natatorium. The builder and
owner, Charles A. Broadwater, was a hugely important figure in Montana history. So my
characters interact with him as their employer at the resort. And the newsies
have a cameo. I'm currently writing the next book set in 1895, Bitterroot Bride, that we plan to
release through Forget-Me-Not-Romances in early March (also to audiobook).
But if you're
following the series, you'll realize there's a time gap.
There's a very good reason. Seven Medals and a Bride sold to Barbour for the Blue Ribbon Brides Collection. That's my
1893 story. It'll be coming out Jan. 1st, 2017. As the Montana Beginnings
series was forming, this particular book actually occurs more at the World's
Fair in Chicago .
Many Montana
women left the state to attend the major event. And so, though it's the story I
want to tell, it didn't quite fit into the Montana Beginnings series that's
completely set in Helena , Montana Montana is a very
entertaining place ;)
Do you have any
special events lined up around your books?
Yes! I coordinated a 9-week Lassoed by Marriage
Author Event with a bookstore just outside of Chicago, The Vine. But the cool
thing about it is that anyone can participate by clicking into the Google
Hangout each Monday night. If you miss one, you can still catch the author's
chat and the Q and A on Youtube. Here's the entire schedule and the links are
added the week before the event. You can watch it live or later. I'm having so
much fun learning more about my sister authors in this collection and helping
the store create a brand new book club. The whole world is invited via Google
Hangout On Air or Youtube. Definitely the most challenging and interesting
event I've ever done because of the coordination skills I'm using and learning
each time! Please come! Here's the link to the schedule… (http://angelabreidenbach.com/lassoed-by-marriage-live-event/)
Here's the link to the Youtube page for past videos of each
weekly author chat:
Books and
descriptions:
The Lassoed by Marriage Romance Collection http://amzn.to/1RSmQXz
Nine historical couples find themselves suddenly married.
After beginnings involving a bride swap, the gossip mill, angry brothers,
ulterior motives, a child’s parentage, jail time, a family feud, mistaken
identity, and a well-played trick, can love possibly grow for these couples who
have married as virtual strangers?
Taking the Plunge (Book 3, Montana Beginnings series)
A progressive thinker in 1892 Montana , Delphina O'Connor believed in
God-given dreams for women didn't stop at marriage and children. Hers might not
include a husband or family at all. So when Hugh Thomas rescues the new
swimming instructor at the elegant Broadwater Natatorium from near drowning in
the plunge, how can anyone believe the freedom to enjoy swimming, competition,
and a healthy body is an appropriate activity for a proper lady? Hugh is about to
find out status quo is the starting line for a courageous woman with a dream!
Taking the Plunge explores the real-world question: What do you do when you think differently from the world around you?
Taking the Plunge explores the real-world question: What do you do when you think differently from the world around you?
Eleven Pipers Piping (Book 2, Montana Beginnings series)
What would you do if you were given eleven rowdy street
newsies and told either you turn them into model citizens or they get sold into
indenture or sent to the military? Of course, start a pipe and drum corps! Eleven
Pipers Piping is the story of a sweet music teacher and eleven boys
given one chance or else, but one boy doesn't seem like the others. And just
who is his father?
(Did you read Snowflake Tiara: The Debutante Queen and wonder what happened to the newsies, Frankie and Joey? Find out in Eleven Pipers Piping,Montana
1890.)
(Did you read Snowflake Tiara: The Debutante Queen and wonder what happened to the newsies, Frankie and Joey? Find out in Eleven Pipers Piping,
The Debutante Queen (Book 1, Montana Beginnings series)
1889 (Helena , MT ): Calista Blythe enters the first Miss Snowflake
Pageant celebrating Montana
statehood to expose the plight of street urchins. But hiding an indentured
orphan could unravel Calista’s reputation, and her budding romance with pageant
organizer, Albert Shanahan, if her secret is revealed. Will love or law
prevail?
It's my pleasure, Angela. I'm going to join you in making some of my books audiobooks, and soon I'll be turning one into a screenplay.
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