Women's Work or Finding a Job for My Latest Heroine

Last month I talked about authors choosing a location for their books. This month's topic is along the same lines, except this time I want to talk a little bit about choosing a profession or line of work for our characters. My next book is set in Dallas (Present day) and Galveston (1900). Yes, I’m finally going to write that Time-Travel that’s been rolling about in my head for many years.

The job selections for the heroine, which I’m talking about here, can be varied or somewhat limited depending on the era in which the story takes place. A woman living in the early twentieth century or before could be a housewife, a seamstress, washer-woman, or possibly a stenographer. Nowadays, there are a plethora (love this word and wanted to use it) of choices. A woman today, as we know, can pretty much choose any career path she wishes to follow.

Most of the time, whether the characters go back in time or come forward, we portray them as a fish out of water. Since I’d used that premise with my last book, Laurel: Bride of Arkansas, where a mail order bride from Philadelphia society married a widower living on an Arkansas farm, I didn’t want to use it again this soon.

Inspiration for Faith Daniels

My heroine, Faith Daniels, needs to have a career she loves in the twenty-first century that she can draw on when she travels back in time.

Inspiration for Faith - 1900

Lately I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the home remodeling and do-it-yourself shows on certain channels. One in particular holds me captive each week, where the star of the show rehabs old homes to their former/original glory. Sooooooo, one day the “lightbulb” came on over my head and stirred the what-ifs. Aha! By jiminy, that’s it. 

Faith is a modern-day house rehabber living in Dallas. Her friend, Alice, travels with her to Galveston to see and work on the turn-of-the-century house she’s bought in a blind auction.

Inspiration for house Faith buys in auction.

Now, if you know me, you know that isn’t all Faith is going to go through. It seems to me there was a little storm passed through Galveston in 1900. She’s going to meet a special, tortured gentleman, Joe Benning, and I wonder if they’ll get together. Will she stay in the twentieth century or will she come back home to Dallas? The working title for this time-travel is, The Texan’s Redeeming Faith.

I’ll keep you posted on all the goings on just in case you’re interested. Do you like time-travel stories? Let me know.

Carra

Carra's Amazon Author Page

A LITTLE ABOUT ME AND MY BOOKS

by:

I'm a sixth generation Texan on my mother's side. My ancestors helped to settle Dallas in 1845 and stayed in the area. I am proud to be a member of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.

Matelyn Gloria Roddy and Phillip Arthur Carr met in Dallas in the summer 1942. She was 14 and he was a much older man of 18. They dated, with my grandmother's permission, until he enlisted in the Army in February 1943. A very determined young girl, my mother boarded the train a few days after her 15th birthday and headed  for North Carolina to say, "I do".

Matelyn and Phil Carr c.1943

Gloria Lynn Carr (Cope) aka Carra Copelin about 9 months old in this snap.
I'm proud to say I've managed to maintain my girlish figure. 

I came to Dallas on December 6, 1947 at 11:55 am, via Florence Nightingale Hospital.

My first abode - 1022 Kings Highway

My parents lived with her family in a beautiful old home in Oak Cliff, a suburb of Dallas.

Mother and Daddy bought their first house in 1951, in the newer neighborhood, where my brother made his appearance in 1952. We lived there until 1956 when we moved to the little town of Arlington. My dad wanted his children raised away from the big city.

Carra in 3rd grade

 I attended school there from 2nd grade through the 12th and graduated from Sam Houston High School.  

Jerry Cope about 10 months

Now, oddly enough, I met my future husband, Jerry Cope, at the local A&P Grocery in 1966 and as folks do we got to talking. He was born at Florence Nightingale Hospital, lived in Oak Cliff and moved to Arlington in 1953. Turns out we've always lived within five miles of each other.

Jerry in 3rd grade

Jerry and I married in May, 1967 and started building our home in 1969, in Arlington. Where else? It remains our home today.

Our daughter, Amye, came along in 1972 on Thanksgiving morning and our son, Brady, was born in 1976 in the Bicentennial year. 

I worked as a Medical Laboratory Technologist from 1965 (I did start in high school) until the clinic I worked for sold the lab in 2008. Since Jerry was already retired, I decided to stay home, too. Why should he have all the fun?

Writing became my focus and my first book, Code of Honor, Texas Code Series, Book One ,was published in July 2013. Three other titles followed with a fifth due out soon. I'm a member of RWA and serve as President of Yellow Rose Romance Writers.

Jerry and I this past summer on our Arkansas vacation.

I enjoy getting together with friends, critique partners and my bridge group. Our grandkids come over frequently, oh and Jerry is now a chicken farmer. He has twelve chickens out back in their area we call, Cackleberry Farms. Save your cartons, we have plenty of eggs.

Angel and the Texan from County Cork, a novella, is the third book in the Brides of Texas Code Series. It will be available on Amazon Kindle and Apple iBooks in August.

Blurb:

 Jamey O'Donnell has reached a crossroads in his life. It's time to make his own way and stop living off the charity of others, specifically from his brother-in-law, Ian Benning. Off to find his new life, Jamey stops to help an old friend only to find out the friend has been killed. Can he help the widow restart her life and then walk away? Will he be able to ignore the newly awakened emotions she brings to the surface?

Angel Rivers buried her first husband on the trail after a short three month marriage. Now, one year later, her second husband, Will, has been shot and killed leaving her to fend for herself, to work a ranch with little to no knowledge. When the stranger shows up in her barn on the coldest day she's ever experienced, can she trust that he's her husband's friend and not a henchman sent by her neighbor? The same one she suspects of the killing? Will she embrace her bad luck in marriage and bury the feelings stirred by the stranger to live a life alone?

Hugs, 

Carra

Find me: Carra Copelin Website, Carra's Blog , Carra's FB page , Carra's Twitter Page

Book One, Katie and the Irish Texan is available at Amazon:

 http://www.amazon.com/Katie-Irish-Texan-Brides-Texas-ebook/dp/B00LD0XRPG/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1437200392&sr=1-1&keywords=carra+copelin

Book Two, Matelyn and the Texas Ranger is available at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Matelyn-Texas-Ranger-Brides-Code-ebook/dp/B00R0OA99Q/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1437200392&sr=1-3&keywords=carra+copelin

 

What Is Your Reading or Writing Weather?

The weatherman forecasted ice and lots of it for days ahead of the ice storm here in Dallas.

My first thoughts: No problem, I have a computer and I'll spend the weekend inside starting my next WIP. Right?

Wrong!

After spending several days inside hibernating with the family during our ice storm this weekend in Dallas, I have exactly one paragraph written.
I can't focus on anything but what's in the kitchen! I've raided the fridge and everything else in sight.
Grateful that we managed to keep electricity, I surfed the web, played on Facebook and even wore out the Lifetime channel, but nothing provided inspiration.

So, I picked up my iPad and finished Fling, an anthology that I'd started earlier in the week. It's a great read and I highly recommend it. I found it inspiring for my current WIP.

Disappointed that I had valuable time to write and couldn't make good on my commitment, the question arises as to what exactly is your Reading or Writing weather.

Is it snowed in like we are right now? Trapped, with the knowledge that life outside has come to almost a complete pause?

Or, are you the kind like me apparently, that needs movement to energize your brain?

I suddenly realized that my brain shut down with the rest of the world. Lacked inspiration! Lacked mobility.

When I retreat to my writing cave, the window by my desk still satisfies my need to see movement with the neighbors coming and going or the school children passing by. That's subconscious movement.

When I write outdoors on the patio, the waterfall is so soothing, but 23 degrees is too cold to sit outside, even with a fire in the chiminea. I tried, but I couldn't hang!

Where do you enjoy reading and writing? Does the change in weather bring you inspiration or bog you down like me?

I'm grateful for the time with the family and even had a good time laughing at them with their attempt at TUBBING.
Nope, that is not a typo. Our kids were actually using a storage tub to ride behind the truck. I clearly have to say, DON'T try this at home.

Here's the video of them acting like idiots. Seems that I'm not the only one that is house crazy. No, I didn't try it.

 

 

I hope that you and your family are warm and dry during this winter blast and that the time indoors has been good for you, whether that be spending precious time with family, reading, writing, knitting or catching up on your long winter's nap!

 

Thank you for stopping by and reading my ramblings!

 

Until next time, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 

 

Hugs,

 

DeLaine

 



 

DeLaine Roberts

Find me at:

www.facebook.com/delaine.robertsauthor

Twitter: @delaineroberts

 

Stories Behind The Story

Getting To Know The Story Behind The Story 

When I pieced together the story of Alexandra Morrison and Grayson Brooks in Running To You, I had no idea that it would become a series and carry over into Two Sides of a Heartbeat. In fact, the last thing I thought about was Grayson having a twin, Harrison, or that I would even be writing a story about Harrison. But, that is exactly what’s happening and My Confession, will hopefully release in December.

Sometimes, I think I’m weird. Seriously. These characters talk to me. What they forgot to tell me happened to be that most readers do NOT like cliffhangers in their romance novels. So, I suppose I could sound even weirder by writing that my characters played a nasty trick on me. Running To You ended in a cliffhanger. Two Sides of a Heartbeat picks up exactly where Running To You left off. I’m not certain that I will ever do this again, because I’ve been listening to the readers and trying to give them what they want.

While I tried to wrap their story up in one novel,  it didn’t happen that way and I’m so glad it didn’t. Two Sides of a Heartbeat is featured in a new box set, 9 Ways To Fall In Love currently climbing the charts and I couldn’t be more thrilled to be included with such great company.

 

In Books 1 and 2, Alexandra’s character has a day job like my own, a medical sales rep. I encounter many physicians yearly, and have only encountered a handful that I was certain had taken ASSHOLE 101, twice!

I tried to give Grayson a bit of that edge: Difficult to encounter, tough office personnel to navigate through and a rough exterior with a soft interior, like many endearing physicians that I have come to adore professionally.

 

What I didn’t expect happens to be the outpouring of requests for stories involving the side characters of the series: Harrison and Cooper, so I’m working on Harrison’s story now.

Last weekend, I attended a book festival in Atlanta, GA. I couldn’t have been more excited to have readers approach our booth and exclaim “I have your book on my Kindle.” This put me over the moon. I'll never get tired of that!

What's coming up:

• Chasing Air will be out in October, a stand-alone novel
• My Confession will be out in December, Book 3 of the Running Series
• I'm also working on a Bartender Series, titled Bad Boys 'n Bars.

I look forward to delivering more stories that readers love. I love to hear from you. Please reach out to me.

Virtual hugs,

DeLaine

www.delaineroberts.com    @delaineroberts   www.southerncomfortromance.com

Location, Location, Location

 

Finding a location in which to plop our characters has tremendous bearing on the story, but can be a bit of a dilemma for the author. Several elements come into play and must be considered. For instance what is the time period? Is the story a historical, contemporary, or futuristic? Is the story a time travel or paranormal?

I decided early on and stated on my blog that all my stories would take place in my native state of Texas. This worked for me because first and foremost I'm comfortable writing about Texas and would need little additional research. Next, the state has any terrain I might need for any time period and with its multiple areas to choose from, each story can be unique unto itself.

When it came time to choose an area in which to base my Texas Code Series, the natural choice for me was right here in North Central Texas. The history of the Bennings and McTiernans started back in 1859 when Ian Benning and Dermot McTiernan came from Ireland with its political unrest to start their lives anew in Texas with the land grant amended in 1850. The Texas Emigration and Land Company offered 160 acres to single men, plus a free cabin, seed, and musket balls.

 

North Central Texas Land - Peters Colony

 

 

The two men received their land located north of Dallas in the originally named Peters Colony. Each generation will have a chance to tell their stories in and around the fictitious town of McTiernan, along with the ever changing landscape that will either be a blessing or a challenge all the way to present day when the first novel, CODE OF HONOR, takes place.

 

El Paso, far west Texas, a beautiful area of desert and Mountains, is the location of, Book Two, CODE OF CONSCIENCE. CODE OF JUSTICE, Book Three, is set in Dallas, back in North Central Texas, and Book Four, CODE OF LAW, may be in the lush land of The Hill Country.

 

 El Paso, Texas and the Franklin Mountains

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                        Dallas, Texas, City Skyline

Two other areas of this great state range from the mountains of Big Bend, to the coast at Galveston. 

 Big Bend National Park

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Galveston, Texas

 

Anyway, you see what I mean about the choice of location. My stories could be located anywhere in our beautiful country. The details might change depending which area is chosen and that has the potential to redirect a storyline. My choice was logical for me and I hope resonates well with you the reader.

 

Thank you for visiting with Smart Girls Read Romance today. I hope you'll leave a comment to tell me your thoughts on this subject. Love hearing from you!

Carra

 

 CODE OF HONOR can be found on Amazon for kindle and print at http://tinyurl.com/muln4r9

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