Challenge by Paty Jager

All my life I've excelled when I've been challenged. When my older brother was learning to read, I sat beside him and my mom learning right along with him. He took the Hunter's Safety Test, and the next year I took the class and beat his score. ;) He excelled in band, I excelled in band.  My dad said we had to get 3 point or better GPA, I finished High School with a 3.85.

I like to be given challenges. That's one of the things I like about being an Indie author. I set my challenges

and I strive to meet or beat them. This past month, I struggled with the challenges I'd set for myself. Partly because I jumped on several multi-author projects that put a halt to my schedule. Last week, I took my challenges by the horns. With a struggle and lots of brain muscle, I laid those challenges down.

I have the fourth book in the Shandra Higheagle Mystery Series, Murderous Secrets published, with the paperback coming out in a week. I have the last of the Halsey Brother/Halsey Homecoming series available. This is a Christmas novella titled, A Husband for Christmas: Shayla's story. Those were my projects that didn't get published as I'd planned. But they are out and I can now breathe a sigh of relief.

The multi-author challenges were a Christmas anthology of Historical Western Romance Christmas Novellas Silver Belles and Stetsons on pre-order. And a box set with nine other amazing western authors. The box set, Courting the West is available on pre-order also.  Both the anthology and box set aren't new books for me. The anthology has my Christmas novella, Christmas Redemption. But I took the time to tweak it a bit and add a couple new scenes for people who have read it before. Courting the West has the first book on my Halsey Homcoming trilogy- Laying Claim. This book takes place in the Yukon during the gold rush.

With those challenges out of the way, I now have to make time to promote all the above and write the first two books in my new historical western romance series, Letters of Fate. I've started one of the books and am having fun with the concept and the characters. But it is one more challenge because I am using someone else's world to write this story. It takes some interaction with others and keeping the story true to the original.

My biggest challenge now, is to get these two Letters of Fate books written before December 21st. We're visiting our children and grandchildren for Christmas and I have to get my writing done before we leave.

What was your biggest challenge this year?  Did you face that challenge with tenacity and win?

www.patyjager.net

Writing into the Sunset

Sad to Say Good-bye by Paty Jager

My recent release is the last book in the Halsey Brother Series. I've been writing about the Halsey Brothers since the first book Marshal in Petticoats came out in 2006. It was my first published romance novel and started me on a journey with the Halsey Brothers.

When I wrote Marshal in Petticoats I hadn't planned on a series. It wasn't until the book was contracted and the editor asked me when the next brother's book would be ready that I realized I'd written myself into a series.

In Marshal in Petticoats I gave the hero four brothers, pulling names out of the air, without knowing I would be writing their stories. But as I wrote each story they became familiar, almost like family, to me. With each book there were secondary characters added who also became like family. That is what prompted the sequel trilogy, Halsey Homecoming. These are three books written about the young men who were brought into the Halsey family through marriages and acquaintances.

The final book Claiming a Heart is about the blind boy who tripped over Clay Halsey in the beginning of the book Doctor in Petticoats. He became an important secondary character in that book and Clay moved him to Sumpter, Oregon making him a part of the family.

While Claiming a Heart is the final novel about the Halseys, there will be a Christmas novella coming out in October that features Shayla, the daughter of Aileen in Miner in Petticoats. This novella, A Husband for Christmas, will give everyone, including me, the closure we need to know the family will thrive and be happy. ;)

Blurb for Claiming a Heart

Book three of the Halsey Homecoming historical western romance trilogy that is a sequel to the Halsey Brothers Series.

Callie MacPherson - or Mac - is hiding from the law. When she witnesses a group of lawless thugs beating a newcomer, she drags the innocent man into the underground tunnels of Pendleton. Caring for the man, Callie discovers she hasn’t become as hard-hearted as she’d feared.

Donny Kimball’s loss of sight didn’t blind his heart. It can see far more than his eyes ever could. His heart tells him Callie MacPherson needs him as much as he needs her. If only he can convince her of that before they both get killed.

Windtree Press http://windtreepress.com/portfolio/claiming-a-heart/

Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/B012BOU05M

Nook http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/claiming-a-heart-paty-jager/1122371912

Kobo  https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/claiming-a-heart

Apple https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1022242727

 

What Genre is This? by Paty Jager

As I write more books, I find myself having a harder time trying to categorize my books. I tend to mix genres or write something that doesn't really fit a specific genre. I can usually determine if they are historical or contemporary. After that, sometimes narrowing the book down to a more specific genre can be a bit of a problem.

Case in point is my latest release. Staking Claim is a sequel to the Halsey Brothers Series. The Halsey Brothers books were historical westerns. Staking Claim starts in Liverpool, England spring of 1899. The characters sail across the Atlantic on a clipper ship and arrive in New York City. From there they travel by train to Chicago where they are helped by Pinkertons. After Chicago they arrive in Sumpter, OR via train. No horses other than Hansom cabs in New York. No gun play. Nothing that makes this a western, yet I feel compelled to categorize it a western because it is part of the Halsey Brothers Series.

Anyone have any thoughts on that?

Here is the cover, blurb, and a short excerpt.

Staking Claim

Book Two – Halsey Homecoming Trilogy – Colin’s story

Deceit, contradictions, and lies

On a ship bound for America, Colin Healy encounters a contradictory woman, whose beauty and grace intrigue him.

Livie Leatherby boards the ship as an imposter to get the information she needs to save her family. Befriending Sir Colin Healy is easy with his chivalrous tendencies. But she soon realizes discovering his past marks him for death.

Forced together to stay one step ahead of the Lord set on killing Colin for his estate, can these two get past the lies and deceit that has brought them together before one or the other meets their demise?

Excerpt

“Welcome!” boomed Captain Whiteside as the young woman stepped from the gangplank onto the vessel.

“Thank you, Captain.” She touched a gloved hand to her hat, then touched her earlobe showing beneath upswept copper-colored hair.

Colin didn’t want to think he was partial to red hair due to his mother’s fiery locks. This woman’s upswept hair was a more subtle hue. He found the shiny copper color mesmerizing.

“Your name?” Captain Whiteside inquired, holding a script with names and cabin numbers.

“Miss Olivia Leatherby.” The woman’s green gaze drifted from the captain to Colin. Her eyes widened, showing she recognized him from earlier. She made no move to thank or acknowledge him, and her gaze quickly returned to the captain.

Why didn’t she at least acknowledge my presence? Colin continued to study the young woman. The more he saw, the more he was intrigued. She was a good head shorter than he, but her curves and the way she set her feet to take the sway of the ship proved she wouldn’t float away in a good breeze. 

“Miss Leatherby, you will be staying in first cabin twelve.” Captain Whiteside tooted on his whistle and the cabin boy hurried forward.  “Jack, take Miss Olivia Leatherby to first cabin twelve.”

“Aye, Captain.” The young boy waved his hand for the woman and her belongings to follow.

Cabin twelve. That was two cabins down from Colin. Being practically neighbors, bumping into one another would be unavoidable.

He’d moved back to his spot at the railing when his gaze landed on another passenger whose fashionable attire and haughty manner didn’t fit with the usual sailing passenger. He’d come across a few men like this one since his return to England and taking charge of his estate. Why would a man of this class take a clipper rather than a steamship? He was the type who would think the accommodations on a clipper ship beneath him.

The wind didn’t carry the man’s name to him by the railing as Captain Whiteside greeted the stranger. It didn’t matter. He could always ask the cabin boy or the captain the gentleman’s name.

He turned his attention to the smoke puffing out of the Compania. A dark gray cloud puffed out adding more somber gray to the day. Passengers lined the deck of the steamship, waving at the people on the docks.

He could have been on that ship, surrounded by all the people and traveling in luxury, but he preferred the slower pace of the sailing vessel. He’d used his newly acquired connections in the shipping world to obtain a first cabin on the Americana. While he didn’t need the luxuries one had while on a steam ship, he did prefer traveling on a sailing ship in first class. The rooms were slightly larger, giving enough room to not feel as if he slept in a coffin, and the food, while not being served as elegantly, was filling and tasty.

The quiet, solitude, and time would allow him to go over the ideas his cousin Denis had handed him as he left Meath Hall. Even though he was excited to return to his family in Sumpter, he had become accustomed to riding about the thousand-acre estate talking to the tenants and discussing the best ways for them to grow better crops and livestock. Growing up, all he knew was mining, but living here, overseeing the land, he felt a kinship to both the people and the land.

“I guess you can take the boy out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the boy.” He grinned and headed to the first-class section of the ship. There would be a few more hours of spring sunlight streaming through his port hole. He’d best take advantage of the light to read the ideas Denis submitted.

He entered the covered stairwell and stopped. Angry words flowed up the opening.

“I heard you were late.” The steely deep tone sounded like a threat.

“Ah had to say good-bye…”

He knew that soft wispy voice. Colin hurried down the stairs.

Buy Links:  Amazon / Kobo / Apple / Nook / Windtree Press

Website: patyjager.net

Blog: Writing into the Sunset 

Cart Before the Horse by Paty Jager

Every book I write comes about in a different manner. Some I get a great idea for a title and conjure up the characters and plot. Others the characters jump into my mind and won’t let me go until I stew and brew and know their life story and come up with a how the hero and heroine meet and what conflicts try to keep them apart.[whew, long sentence and thought] My least favorite is when a story idea catches my eye and I have to come up with the right characters, the right setting, and make it all work in a plausible fashion.

When a title comes to me, I have a completely blank canvas, or in the case of writing, blank screen where I can conjure up every element of the story and make it mine. This is the best scenario for me to write. It gives me freedom to go wherever I want and form the characters to fit the situation.

Having one or two main characters appear in my head and start arguing or battling over a situation, starts the story forming in my mind. The restrictions on this type of story has to do with how the character, who has formed as a person to me, will react and behave when situations are presented to them. There is not as much freedom in this kind of writing as the overbearing characters have to be catered to or the story will feel stilted or unrealistic.

Story ideas that catch my eye aren’t as daunting to write as the stories where I've written myself into a situation where I have to come up with a story using characters from previous books and following situations I set up earlier not expecting to have to deal with the convoluted background I gave a character.

That time has come. The book I'm currently working on. Staking Claim, Book Two of the Halsey Homecoming trilogy, has a hero who was a twelve-year-old in my book Miner in Petticoats. At the time, giving him and his mother a wonderfully mysterious background and slowly revealing all the interesting twists was fun. 

Now, I have to use those mysteries and interesting twists to write Colin's story and it has been a buggar!  I'm not a huge fan of Regency set stories and therefore have had to do a lot of research on titles, language, and even some customs to make my heroine, a factory worker from the slums of Liverpool, sound and act realistic when she is pretending to be a titled young woman. And then there's the villain, Lord Canfield, who is after the hero's estate in Lancashire. 

All the characters are on a Clipper ship headed to America. So along with the above research, I also have been researching travel by clipper ship and steam ship as well as the the larger cities in America where they land and take trains on their way to Colin's reunion with his family and the Halseys. 

As readers how much realism do you need to make a story ring true for you? The hardest part of this for me is getting the heroine's dialog to sound natural with a little bit of the Liverpudlian dialect. 

This book will be released the end of June if all goes well. That's also when we have to be moved off our seventy acres we just sold. So wish me luck with deadlines! 

WHO'S REALLY IN CHARGE?

As writers, we live with a few false impressions. For instance, some of our readers think we sit down at the computer and the words literally flow from our fingertips onto the keyboard, our thoughts go from beginning to book in a matter of days. No. We have future story ideas oozing from our pores. I wish! One of the biggest misconceptions, even for a writer, is that we are in control. Not even close.

Fellow Smart Girl contributor, Paty Jager, posted recently about her Halsey Brother Series. When she started her book, Marshal in Petticoats, she had no idea her hero had brothers. Through writing her story, each new character revealed themselves and thus a series was born. Well, not quite "thus". Sorry, Paty, for the over simplification.

I've said in previous posts that I started writing my book, Code of Honor, few years back. Said book ended up in a box, under the bed for a while. When I brought it back to the light of day, I figured I knew the story and the people inside out. Wrong. The original hero had died and a new one had taken his place. What??Also, several foster siblings appeared along with a couple of stray friends who popped in to help move the plot along. Lucky for me the siblings each brought with them their book titles which helped in naming The Texas Code Series. Another bit of over simplification. There was some head scratching, hair pulling, and hand wringing in the search as I recall.

So, I recently restarted the second book in the Code Series, Code of Conscience, which has also been keeping the dust bunnies company under the bed. I'm reading what was previously written, writing new, reading paper napkin notes, writing . . . wait a minute. Are you kidding me? The hero tells me he's in love with someone else. That I should have known the heroine wasn't right for him. Their personalities are too close and if I don't let him have the woman he wants, he'll either do something drastic or hang me out to dry. The more I think about it the more I see his side of it. He probably is more suited to another character and since I really would hate to be flapping in the breeze (for those of you who remember clothes lines in the back yard), I acquiesce. A new hero has made the scene and I already like the story better.

Bottom line, we are never in control. It's all an illusion that sucks us into the vortex called writing. So to all my friends and fellow writers - Happy Twirling!

So tell me, how do you feel about series? Do you like continuing stories or connected, stand-alone books? Please leave a comment and sign up for my newsletter on my website to win a copy of, Code of Honor and a $5 Amazon Gift Card. (Don't forget to leave me your email addy)

Thanks for stopping by today,
Carra
fall in love under Texas skies

Buy link:  http://tinyurl.com/muln4r9
Find me on my website: http://carracopelin.com
Facebook: http://facebook/carracopelin
Twitter: http://twitter/CarraCopelin
Blog: http://carra-copelin.blogspot.com

The Problem with Intentional Series by Paty Jager

When I wrote my first published historical western romance, Marshal in Petticoats, I didn’t write it with the intention of writing four more, and eventually three more, books about the Halsey family. Back in those days, all I knew about a story when I started writing it was the hero, heroine, where the book was located, and that I needed to have a climactic ending.

 

I didn’t even know Gil had four brothers when I started the book. I just knew he was hiding from his past. When his past smacked me upside of the head and I discovered he had four brothers and then they each one came on the scene, I played with the idea of them each having a book, but still didn’t think too much about it. Then Marshal in Petticoats was picked up by a publisher and readers started asking for another Halsey Brother book. I decided which brother would have the next book as I finished one and came up with a (for the time period) manly occupation to give each of the heroines. And that was as far ahead as I thought about the series.

Now, when readers wanted more of the Halseys, I came up with the idea I could write a book about each of the young men who became a part of the Halsey family’s life. I thought about the three young men and having left an opening in the last “Petticoat” book, Logger in Petticoats, to have Jeremy, from Marshal in Petticoats, in Alaska that book idea started taking root. I made him coming home and decided to title the trilogy, Halsey Homecoming, to one: show it was part of the Halsey Brother Series, and two: the Homecoming decided the next two books would have to deal with the other two characters coming home or back to the Halsey family in some way.  

Wow, that was more than I’d thought about a series before.

Because, in this day and age, people want to see what is coming…I came up with titles Laying Claim, Staking Claim, and Claiming a Heart. And we have the cover of the second book even though the story is only in the infant stages. I’m still trying to figure out what to put on the cover of the third book.

I decided knowing the books in a series ahead of time was a good plan. That brought to fruition the Isabella Mumphrey Action Adventure books. I came up with where I wanted the books set and came up with titles that dealt with Native American people in those areas. Secrets of a Mayan Moon, set in Guatemala; Secrets of an Aztec Temple, set in Mexico City; and now Secrets of a Hopi Blue Star, set in Arizona, starting on the Hopi Reservation and traveling to the southern end of Arizona. 

The problem with coming up with titles ahead of time, is I had an idea of what I wanted to put in the book, but then incorporating that as I wrote was more mind-bending than I’d thought it would be.

I’m thinking my original organic growth of a series was easier, but I think being ahead of the game and knowing the series evolution helps to put in snippets that can carry over into the next book.

Secrets of a Hopi Blue Star released this week. 

Here is the blurb:

The truth doesn’t always set you free…

Landing in the underground world of human trafficking, anthropologist Isabella Mumphrey learns her own past is as sordid as the predicament she’s uncovered.

No one is who she’d believed them to be—not her parents, her cousin, her aunt. The only constant in her life is her fiancé, Tino Constantine, and now their enemy is using her to lure Tino to his death.

Buy links:  Kobo / Nook / Kindle / Windtree Press

You can learn more about Paty at her blog; www.patyjager.blogspot.com  her website; http://www.patyjager.net or on Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/#!/paty.jager , Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1005334.Paty_Jager  and twitter;  @patyjag.

Blatant Promotion- Please Excuse Me.

I was sitting at my computer writing a reply to a comment on one of the blogs I'm on for a blog tour promoting my new release, Laying Claim, and I glanced at my date book and noticed I had to get a post pulled together for this blog, tomorrow! Eek! Did that ever sneak up on me! 

I am posted out from writing interesting posts for my blog tour. If you would like to read the ones that are up already, you can go to my blog, http://www.patyjager.blogspot.com/2013/11/laying-claim-blog-tour.html and find all the blogs on my tour and read about the research I did to write Laying Claim, a historical western romance set in Alaska and the Yukon in 1898, during the Klondike Gold Rush. The tour is Nov. 10th to the 16th.Here is the cover, blurb and an excerpt of Laying Claim:

Jeremy Duncan commits to haul one last load of supplies across the great interior of the Yukon before heading home. But, he has to trade his pack animals for sled dogs and leave Skagway in the middle of a blizzard due to one strong-willed, business-minded beauty.

Determined to find her older brother, Clara Bixbee doesn’t care how she gets across the pass, as long as she does, and soon. Hiring handsome pack guide Jeremy Duncan seems to be her best choice. Especially after she saves a young girl being beaten by the local gang leader and needs to escape Skagway fast.

Excerpt:

    “Who’s there?” a female voice questioned through the wood barrier.
   “I have a trunk for a Clara Bixbee.”
   The door swung open. A girl stood in the opening. 
   He blinked. 
   No. A girl didn’t fill out the front of a dress like this one did. But she was small. Tinier even than his sister, and she barely came to his shoulder. 
   “It’s about time you brought my trunk. I’ve been waiting hours for it to arrive.” Her green eyes snapped with anger.
   “I don’t know who you asked to pick this up, but I found two thieves rummaging through it on the beach and saved it.”
   She gasped, then her small pink mouth set in a grim line. “I paid the clerk downstairs to have someone bring it to me.”
   No wonder the man had a startled look on his face when Jeremy hauled the trunk up the stairs. “Where would you like me to put it?”
   The woman stepped back, opening the door wider. “I cleared a spot over there. I’ve yet to meet my roommate but will have a word with her about this mess when she comes back.” 
   Jeremy set the trunk on the floor and turned to the woman. Her blonde hair was pulled up into a working woman’s bun, but her clothes, the ones she had on and the ones he’d sifted through in the trunk, were not working-class clothes.
   She stood with her hands on her hips, her head tipped back, eyeing him. “How did you know this was my trunk?”
   “After I chased the men off, I took it to my livery where I had some light and looked through it until I found the Bible with your name in it. Then I left it in safekeeping and started asking for you at the hotels.” 
   Her smooth, creamy skin flushed a deep pink. “You went through my trunk?” 
   “Would you rather I left it to the thieves who wouldn’t have brought it to you even after they took all they wanted from it?” While the woman was soothing on the eyes, he wasn’t keen on her attitude.
   She gasped and dropped to her knees in front of the trunk. Her tiny fingers clasped the broken latch where a key had most likely locked the box. She unclasped the other latches and dug down to the bottom of the trunk shoving the clothing, causing them to spill over the sides.
   Jeremy watched in fascination as she burrowed into the contents. She pulled out an oilcloth jacket and pushed her hand into a pocket. A smile crept across her face. Her hand reappeared empty. He’d guess she had money stashed in that coat. 
   He cleared his throat and she jumped. In her urgency to make sure she hadn’t been robbed, she’d forgotten he was still in the room.
   “Mr…?”
   “Jeremy Duncan. Miss…?” He hoped she didn’t say she was married. It would be a shame to have rifled through a married woman’s unmentionables. It would make fanaticizing about her not near as much fun.
   “Bixbee.” She frowned. “You know my name. Why are you asking?”

   He smiled. “Just figuring out if you’re married.”
   “I am not, and it isn’t proper for you to be in my room.” She pushed to her feet and stood, again, with her hands on her narrow hips. 
   Jeremy nodded to the open door. “The door isn’t closed so you haven’t been compromised.”

Buy Links

Kindle http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GK50QWG

Nook http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/laying-claim-paty-jager/1117353101?ean=2940148913771
Another release I have coming out on the 18th but can be pre-ordered at Amazon is: Sweetwater Springs Christmas: A Montana Sky Short Story Anthology. Ten other authors and I wrote Christmas short stories set in Debra Holland's fictional town of Sweetwater Springs, Montana. We used her setting and some of her locals, but added our own new and some old characters. My story has Zeke and Maeve Halsey from my book Outlaw in Petticoats as secondary characters.

Because I took up so much room with Laying Claim, I'll leave you with the brief blurbs for each story in Sweetwater Springs Christmas.

E. AYERS - A CHRISTMAS FAR FROM HOME
Far from home and a young Wyoming rancher and the daughter of a Montana railroad businessman learn the true joy of Christmas is in giving. www.ayersbooks.com

LINDA CARROLL-BRADD - WISHES ON A STAR 
Will a wish on a star foretell the future of a young suffragette and a visiting rancher? www.lindacarroll-bradd.com

MJ FREDRICK - ABIGAIL'S CHRISTMAS ANGEL
A lonely widow and a lonelier marshal make peace with their past.   www.Mjfredrick.com 

DEBRA HOLLAND – THE GIFT OF MUSIC 
Can two reserved people overcome their limitations and find love? 

drdebraholland.com

DEBRA HOLLAND - A FAMILY FOR IKE 
A newly-orphaned boy finds and unexpected family.   drdebraholland.com

DEBRA HOLLAND - THE JOY OF CHRISTMAS
The town banker learns that perhaps some things are more important than money. 

drdebraholland.com

PATY JAGER – A CHRISTMAS TO REMEMBER
Ida doesn't remember the last two years, but her husband is determined to find her and reignite their love. www.patyjager.net 

JILL MARIE LANDIS - UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR
A spinster discovers it's never too late to embrace love and the surprises life has in store. www.jillmarielandis.com

TRISH MILBURN – A NEW HOME FOR CHRISTMAS
A woman scarred in face and heart finds love with a cowboy.
www.trishmilburn.com

LINDA MCLAUGHLIN - THE BEST PRESENT
A grieving ten-year-old girl anticipating a sad Christmas receives some holiday surprises.www.lindamclaughlin.com

BEV PETTERSEN - THE CHRISTMAS CROSSING
With a little Christmas magic, two searching hearts discover they can bridge much more than a raging river.www.BevPettersen.com

TORI SCOTT – A PROMISE FOR CHRISTMAS
Faced with her first Montana winter without her husband, Rachel Tanner and her young son need a miracle.http://toriscott.blogspot.com

CYNTHIA WOOLF - SUGARPLUM DREAMS
Julia Bosworth travels west to fulfill a special dream and finds her heart’s desire.www.cynthiawoolf.com

Pre-order link:

http://amzn.com/B00G06W3SA




Paty Jager

www.patyjager.net

When should a series die? by Paty Jager

I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about the Halsey Clan who are the center of my Halsey Brothers Series.

Someone suggested that I put a family tree in the front of the trilogy, Halsey Homecoming. So I lay in bed, thinking about how to make the lines for the family tree. I figured I could use Publisher to draw the lines and put in names, marriages, births, and deaths.

After that problem was solved, I started thinking about the five books I've already written and how much of the family members of the women who married the Halsey brothers do I need to have on the tree. The Halsey Homecoming will have Darcy's brother, Jeremy; Aileen's son, Colin; and the blind boy, Donny, from Doctor in Petticoats. I could also do spin-offs for Kelda's brothers from Logger in Petticoats. But my heart isn't in writing Kelda's brothers' stories.

I have an idea for a family of six sisters growing up in the wheat country in Oregon. The idea for the oldest girl has been in my head and jotted down on paper for nearly ten years. That could make another series and I'm more interested in that than continuing the Halsey's after the Homecoming trilogy.

I've read several series over the years and you can tell when an author gets tired of writing about the same family. The stories aren't as interesting and the characters as dynamic.

When as an author do you know to quit a series and when as a reader have you had enough?

This month you can purchase the five book Halsey Brother Series as a box set for $.99.