The Older Heroine

Sandra here to talk to you about the older heroine. Grab a cup of coffee or hot chocolate and let’s curl up in front of the fire and talk about romance. Oh and if you happen to be in Hawaii, then let’s go sit out on the deck and listen to the waves roll in.

Bigstock photo

But let me start you out with the opening scene from my coming release.

“HELP! GRAMMY, HELP!”

Brian Roberts jerked upright. His surfboard rocked precariously as he twisted to spot the source of the child’s cries.

“Grammy!”

Water splashed toward the shoreline. Brian stretched his back and put his hand to his forehead to shade his eyes from the glare of the water.

“Help!”

A small child’s hand stretched upward out of the swell. Looked to be a boy about eight or nine. Brian bent forward and paddled hard. His board cut through the water.

“I’m coming. Don’t panic.” A woman shouted from behind him. The swell lifted her board into his line of vision.

“Over here, Grammy.”

Brian waved and shouted. “I’ll get him.”

He nosed his board beside the boy, grabbing for his flailing arms. A surprisingly strong hand grasped his. Brian yanked the young body onto his board.

“Thanks, mister.” He quickly slipped one leg over and straddled the board. Sitting upright he leaned against Brian’s chest and took deep breaths.

Water splashed from behind. The woman’s board slid next to them. She looked familiar. “Lost your board, did you?” she teased, pointing her finger at the boy. Her brown eyes sparkled with humor.

“I almost caught the wave, Grammy.”

Grammy? Are you kidding me? This was the same woman he’d watched surf these past two days, and she definitely did not fit into his mental image of grammy. But now that she was close, he could see fine lines around her brown eyes and a crease in her tanned cheek when she smiled.

surfing in Maui (Bigstock photo)

Most of you that know me, know that hubby and I travel a lot and we often park ourselves in 55 plus RV resorts. This means residents are 55 years old or more.  Now you young folks will not relate, but us older women certainly know that even after retirement, the romance does not disappear. In fact, often it increases and improves because hey—you might be retired now and you might be more rested and have more time.

Anybody here relate to that?

Who is thinking up a story right now?  chuckle

These retirement communities have so many fun activities that the residents socialize. Continually. Many of the residents could be widows, widowers or just finally finished working and ready to have some fun. What is more fun than romance?

We have many friends who met in their Golden years and are enjoying their “happy ever after”.  Being a romance writer, one of my favorite things to do is ask the people I encounter how they met their spouse. You would be amazed at all the different answers.

Friends enjoying Hawaii with us last month.

Also in these RV parks, I sell books at the craft fairs. And when I tell the prospective buyers that I write “clean and wholesome” romance, they go on and on about how they love reading romance novels.

So I know two things. Older women enjoy romance in their golden years just as much as they did in their youth. And they buy romance novels.

So why not have an older heroine? Many best selling authors have older heroines and many of these older characters are engaged in romantic ventures.  Our own Seeker, Julie Lessman, included the matriarch’s romance in each one of the Boston Series.  Marcy finally got to tell her own story of how she met her hero, Patrick.  In each book of the series we saw their ongoing romance.

Daughter of Boston Series

Debbie Macomber also includes older heroines in her series. Sometimes they are already together as was Marcy and Patrick. But often they are involved in their own developing love story.

Cedar Cove Series

There is another reason I like writing the older heroine.  As much as I hate to admit this, I am way into my senior years and it is much easier to relate to the emotions and thoughts of a fifty or late forty year old woman than a twenty year old. Okay, you can stop laughing.

But I like writing the older heroine. If you liked the scene above, you will enjoy how this older heroine finds romance in Hawaii in my December release of Love's Healing. She meets her hero while surfing.

I just returned from a trip to Hawaii and trust me, there are men and women of all ages out in the surf. I also know from experience that men and women in their golden years are very active and enjoy dancing, shows, sports, and all the same activities they did in their youth.

So tell me, do you like reading about an older heroine? Does an older aged heroine disinterest you? Please share in the comments today and your name will be put in my beach bag for a drawing of a copy of Love’s Healing when it is released December 8th.

Sandra Leesmith writes sweet romances to warm the heart. Sandra loves to play pickleball, hike, read, bicycle and write. She is based in Arizona, but she and her husband travel throughout the United States in their motorhome and enjoy the outdoors. You can find Sandra's books here on Amazon. Three of Sandra's most popular books are also audio books at Audible. You can read more of Sandra's posts here.

5 Ways to Create Those Cozy Characters!

PART THREE OF OUR MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR: HOW TO WRITE A COZY MYSTERY!

Did you grow up reading any of these?

• Trixie Belden
• Cherry Ames
• Sue Barton
• Nancy Drew
• Hardy Boys
• Agatha Christie

My Cherry Ames books (some from my older sisters!) in an attic cache here on the farm.

Your kids probably read some of these (and maybe your old copies of the above!)

• Nate the Great
• Cam Jansen
• Encyclopedia Brown
• Boxcar Children
• Babysitters Club
• Bunnicula (and Friends)

Look at these! Old favorites, well-read and dog-eared, the way a good book should be!

And then we morphed to adult books... We got educated. We realized that while Arthur Conan Doyle was pretty smart, literary minds were reading coming of age (sometimes downright depressing) book-club type books. (note that I am naming no names, no offense intended... but I do have a nasty habit of THROWING THOSE BOOKS across the room. My bad.)

Now that's all well and good, but the audience for cozy mysteries hasn't gone away. In fact, with the baby boomer generation pretty much heading toward or in retirement, there's a huge and growing audience for these sweet, funny mysteries. 

The brochure from GUIDEPOSTS.COM announcing our Mysteries of Martha's Vineyard series and I love the models they used for Priscilla (second from left) and the three cousins she discovers on the island!

We talked in June about Cozy Story Structure (that blog post HERE!) and then the delightfully smart (I had to get the word delightful in there, it drives Tina bonkers.) Nancy Mehl swung by and talked about Writing the Cozy Mystery HERE... so part three of our Magical Mystery Tour is all about characters.

Have fun with your characters! They don't have to be goofy... but it's good for the reader to have Sudden Sympathy with the main character for whatever reason. If it's a series, you want that main character to grow slowly over the life of the series. Maybe gain insight. But you have to start with book one, right?

• Is your main character a man or a woman?
• Single or divorced or widowed? (He/she can be married, but you tie up an important component of conflict and emotion then.)
• Age?
• Why are they where they are? (This is a big question. In "A Light in the Darkness", my new mystery from Guideposts "Mysteries of Martha's Vineyard", Priscilla is a widowed farm wife whose family had been estranged from her Massachusetts family for decades. Priscilla hasn't been to the island in fifty years. Now she's inherited a lighthouse after a long, cold, gray, lonely winter on the Kansas prairie. She's adrift... and what better place to hang your life boat than an ocean island?)
• Friends? Friends can provide LOTS OF FUN and FRICTION just like in any story, but it's magnified in a cozy. You can give them one-liners, one can be dry, one can be prissy, one can be engaging, one could be sacrificial... You can pick and choose, because if you develop this story into a series, you get to grow these characters along with your plots!
• Family?  (Think of the conflicts that can arise if your dad is Sherlock Holmes. Or Miss Jane Marple is your grandmother. Or Monk is your socially inappropriate brother.) Does your main character have family nearby? Or are they thrust out of their comfort zone on their own?
• Pets. Pets are big in cozies... heck, sometimes the pet is solving the crime, pointing out the obvious. Folks love to "see" things through the eyes of cat, dog, bird, etcetera. Don't be too wild... but let your imagination run wild!
• Neighbors. Neighbors can be a source of irritation or inspiration, all depending on your direction. Or both! Most folks have more than one neighbor, right? And if the neighbor is an incidental pain in the bum or a motherly type who bustles and reveals clues in all innocence... Wonderful!

Love this brochure, also included in the mailing! 

Think of the future-- Yours and theirs!!!-- when casting your cozy(ies). You want the characters to have room for growth and refinement, so it's okay to let them swing a little free in this first story. Don't think about this particular plot as you develop the characters. Rather, think of the town. The neighborhood. The precinct. The parish. The community surrounding the sleuth.

The plot in a cozy is a structure, similar to romance structure. That structure can be inserted into the situation and then you tweak the setting and have the characters respond IN CHARACTER... and voila, all of a sudden, you've got the makings of a series! GO YOU!

I said before that I never thought I'd write a mystery... and then I wrote one and fell in love. With the town, with the premise, with Priscilla, a woman my age who gets caught adrift when her life takes an abrupt and unexpected turn. 

Secondary Characters are C-L-U-T-C-H.
A cozy needs humor. Quirks. Emotion. Red herrings.... and these secondary characters are the best! You want your secondaries to create balance... and disrupt the smooth ride. Use a few repeating characters from book to book (if you're contemplating a series) but it's all right to bring in new quirky or solid characters. Agatha Christie made Hercule Poirot, Miss Jane Marple and the funny, sweet couple Tommy and Tuppence. 

Although isn't Hercule Poirot supposed to be dark-haired and dark-mustache???  Here's the trailer for this fall's new version of "Murder on the Orient Express"... which looks marvelous! Even with Poirot's hair!

A mystery needs suspects. Now these can be recurring characters who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, or new characters with a reason to cause harm... Or a past that haunts them. It doesn't have to be major in a cozy. They might just be stinkin' mad about the circumstances or screening a loved one... Those personalities are what engage the reader, drawing them into the story. 

You can order the first book... written by yours truly!... RIGHT HERE! And when you order the book, add MMV30 into the "DISCOUNT CODE" box and get 30% off! 

Cozy mysteries are crazy popular... like Amish romance, there is a huge audience for lighter fare as documented by this article. 

Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers created an oath for mystery authors: Do you promise that your detectives shall well and truly detect the crimes presented to them using those wits which it may please you to bestow upon them and not placing reliance on nor making use of Divine Revelation, Feminine Intuition, Mumbo Jumbo, Jiggery-Pokery, Coincidence, or Act of God?

To be part of their mystery author's group, one was required to speak the oath! I (for my own part) enjoy a bit of Jiggery-Pokery now and again. :) Whatever that is! 

Genres vary. Sales go up and down. As a small business operator, it's good for authors to spread their wings. Teaching ourselves new techniques and embracing new opportunities is like a long-standing teacher changing grade levels. Ten years teaching third grade is great, but there's a wonderful growth curve when you're thrust into fifth-grade lesson plans... and that's the kind of shake-up we authors can use from time to time. Not to change what we do... but expand our baseline.

Hey, I've got a copy of "A Light in the Darkness" to give away today, book one of the Martha's Vineyard series... and I'd love to give it to you! Leave a comment inside and let's talk about what you're doing to make your dream come true this year... if a door closes, are you hunting for that promised open window?

Coffee and peach pie are on the countertop... because what is better mid-summer than homemade peach pie? And you can find my favorite peach pie recipe right here! 

Multi-published, award-winning inspirational author Ruth Logan Herne loves to chat with folks... and write sweet books. She is also this years "Chicken Coop Builder" and is soon to be listed on the docket of "Donkey Shed Builder". She takes these awards most seriously and will (no doubt) feature a woman who isn't afraid to get her hands dirty and scuffed up in an upcoming book... which might be part of her Shepherd's Crossing cowboy series, coming in 2018 from Love Inspired! Research takes on a whole different note at Ruthy's house! :)  Find her online at ruthloganherne.com or friend her on facebook at Ruth Logan Herne where she loves to talk... and meet readers!

Your Life is a Cast of Characters

Hola, I’m Jolene Navarro.  Thank you for joining me on a discussion of craft. I love talking story and how our brain connects the dots to create something that no one else can write. Part of being a writer is being an observer of human nature. 

Just look around you. Your life is a cast of characters! 

Today we’re exploring archetypes and real life observations and how they can be twisted so your characters become real. 

How can we make our characters grow in believable and interesting ways? We want them to live on in the reader’s mind after the book is closed. 

It’s the characters we fall in love with and they are the ones that move our plot. 

The key is to make sure your characters are deep enough to have solid internal and external conflict that will take them through the whole story without becoming episodic. Easy right? LOL Ready to break it down?

To create people that will make your story zing, you need conflict that flows naturally from your characters. (Not a lost job, snow storm or foreclosed house) 

Let’s start with archetypes.

I use “The Complete Writer’s Guide to Heroes & Heroines” by Cowden, LaFever and Viders and “Archetype Cards” by Caroline Myss.

Here are the archetypes outlined in The Complete Writer's Guide to Heroes & Heroines.

Male Archetypes:

The CHIEF— a dynamic leader, he has time for nothing but work. 
The BAD BOY— dangerous to know, he walks on the wild side.
The BEST FRIEND— sweet and safe, he never lets anyone down.
The LOST SOUL— a tormented being, he lives in solitude.
The CHARMER— a smooth talker, he creates fantasies. 
The PROFESSOR— coolly analytical, he knows every answer. 
The SWASHBUCKLER— Mr. Excitement, he’s an adventurer.
The WARRIOR— a noble champion, he acts with honor.

Female Archetypes:

The BOSS— a real go-getter, she climbs the ladder of success. 
The SEDUCTRESS— an enchantress, she charms to get her way. 
The SPUNKY KID— gutsy and true, she is loyal to the end.
The FREE SPIRIT— an eternal optimist, she dances to unheard tunes.
The WAIF— a distressed damsel, she bends, but does not break. 
The LIBRARIAN— controlled and clever, she holds back.
The CRUSADER— a dedicated fighter, she meets commitments. 
The NURTURER— serene and capable, she nourishes the spirit.

And a little about the Archetype Cards: Here is the breakdown of the  Myss archetypes.

Light Attributes would be positive attributes.
Shadow Attributes would be more negative attributes. 
 

Starting with archetypes can work well because these characters are embedded in our DNA.  We know them. We live with them. We read them. From Beowulf to Pride and Prejudice all the way to Avengers, writers use archetypes to help us connect to the characters they created.  

Mr. Darcy, a romantic favorite, is clearly a CHIEF, a born leader and decisive.

 Going to the archetype cards he is the JUDGE. On the shadow side, he starts off overbearing, inflexible and judging without compassion. 

Through his character arc in the story he remains true to his character trait but he learns to use his judgment to seek balance between justice and compassion.  He steps into the light of the JUDGE. It is wisdom. He understands there needs to be a fair distribution of power. 

Yay, Mr. Darcy. 

Another example is from my latest story, Forever Christmas Kiss. 

Xaviar, the hero, is the LOST SOUL:

Tortured, secretive, wanderer.  He's creative. To twist it, he hides behind an easy smile and a careless attitude. He needs and wants roots but has a deep fear of connections because of his experiences since childhood. 

Using the cards, I give him the trait of a Seeker.

Shadow: Inability to commit, always moving on to another path. Lost. 
Light: Thirst for wisdom and truth. Finding peace.

His heroine is the LIBRARIAN: 

Controlled and clever, prim and proper. Hiding her true self out of fear of making a mistake.  

Using the cards: Servant.
Shadow: Being responsible is used as an excuse to not life her own life. Resentment.
Light: Delights in serving others with free, loving and open heart.

He will teach her the joy of taking risks, of flying. She will give him the roots and family he longs for. Together they find the full purpose God has for them.

Now we are going to brainstorm from the beginning, using what we observe and the archetypes. I’m going to throw my friend, Teri Wilson, under the bus as an example…I mean I’m using her for inspiration. She is a girly girl. She loves glitter, ballet, and anything royal.  Not necessarily in that order. She’ll also meet me before the sun clears the horizon with her hair in a messy bun to walk on the beach. Without a second thought, she’ll pick up a tiny turquoise fish stuck in the sand with her bare hands and return him to the ocean. 

So I have these two pictures. 

  
Yes, I take pictures of people all the time for my personal files. People that surprise me, inspire me, and intrigue me are all in an idea folder I have on my computer. 

Using the pictures and archetypes, let’s go through a brainstorming exercise to develop an interesting, breathing character. 

Remember this is not Teri, but a fictional character that will have all the flaws we need to create tension and conflict that will take our heroine from living in the shadows to her light and happy ending. No static characters! 

For archetypes, we’ll make her a FREE SPIRIT.

Eternal optimist, dances to music no one else hears, she follows her heart. 
Archetype twist: Protective of her heart because she has been hurt too many times by family, church & past boyfriends.

What can we do to make her more interesting?

Archetype cards: WOUNDED CHILD: 

Shadow: resist forgiveness. Hangs on to old wounds. 
Light: Opens to the path of forgiveness. Compassion and desire to help others.
2ND Archetype: MAGICAL CHILD: 
Shadow: Lost faith. Cynical, Pessimism 
Light: Finding the sacred beauty in life. Restored faith.

Now we are starting to know her. It’s time to develop a hero just for her, one that will push her, challenge her and bring out the best in her. Help move her from living in her shadow to living in the light. She will do the same for him. We will sigh at their happy ending.

One last note - to make them real you have to find out why. Always find out why. Also known as motivation. Why? Why? Why? 

In the Christmas Carol we don’t see just one hard hit, but a series of scaring emotional events that shape Scrooge into a bitter old man. 

It’s fun to dig deep and get to know your characters. It’s so much more than their favorite color or ice cream. Unless it has to do with a dead sister!

Back to our brainstorming!

I already see scenes even without having our hero fleshed out yet. Are you seeing them? In the intro, he sees her all put together, her public image of the beautiful graceful dancer. He’s the youth minister at a mega church. She has some experience that makes her cynical of big powerful churches. They are on opposing side of something. 

Now their second meeting: His mother has asked him to pick up his niece from dance class.

Opening the door, he bumps into the heroine in baggy oversized workout clothes. Her hair is in a sloppy bun and she has no make-up on…in her hand she is calmly holding a praying mantis. 

His niece is close behind, tears in her eyes. 

The heroine will become awkward and uneasy because she doesn’t have her public armor on…he sees the real her.  

His niece hasn’t spoken since the car accident that killed her parents. Standing next to the heroine, she speaks. “Mr. Bob was going to kill it.”

Right there, I think the hero will start to fall in love with her. 

Can you see how we used their traits to set the scene and we are showing instead of telling the reader who they are. We can see so much character in this small action that all comes from our inspiration and playing with the archetypes. We flipped our princess and we gave our smart and serious hero a vulnerability.

Of course, it still needs lots of layers, but we have the bones of real characters that we can cheer for and watch fall in love. To ensure you have a power packed story you need threads and conflicts that stay connected and build on each other.

Character traits that are aligned and oppose to the internal and external goals will have your story popping and sizzling throughout the journey. All neatly intertwined, as you build to the climax. The characters will move from their shadow to their true essences, into the light, fulfilling the purpose God had for them since the very beginning. 

Let’s apply what we talked about. It’s your turn. 

What archetypes would you use for our hero in order to create the best possible tension for our Free Spirit, wounded heroine and help her find her light? 

There are no wrong answers. 

Jolene Navarro's life, much like her stories, is filled with faith, family, football, art, laughter, dirty dishes and all of life's wonderful messiness. She knows that, as much as the world changes, people stay the same. Good and evil. Vow-keepers and heart breakers. Jolene married a vow-keeper who showed her that holding hands and dancing in the rain never gets old. When she's not teaching art to energetic middle-schoolers or hanging out with her four kids, she loves creating stories of love and faith in her much loved Texas.

And if you want to chat more about story, you can find her at her favorite place – Facebook at Jolene Navarro, Author.  


Leave a comment today for a chance to win an ecopy of Forever Christmas Kiss or a print copy of The Soldier's Surprise Family. Two winners.

And a bonus giveaway! Jolene will send Caroline Myss Archetype Cards to one person who mentions they'd like to win them in the comments!

 Winners announced in the Weekend Edition.

 Unexpected Daddy 


Texas state trooper Garrett Kincaid is a lone wolf—until he becomes an instant father of two young children. The former soldier never knew he had a son…or that his little boy has a baby sister with nowhere to go. His landlady, lovely widow Anjelica Ortega-Garza, offers to help, and suddenly Garrett's life is all about nap schedules and baby bottles and trying to make his traumatized son smile. Falling for Anjelica isn't part of the plan. Yet even Garrett can't deny that love has begun building a family of four right around him.

Best of the Archives: Characters Welcome

By Mary Connealy.













Today I’m going to talk about developing three-dimensional characters.

I’m going to point out three distinct things I need to do to make my characters come to life.

I give them a backstory (which should NEVER BE EXPLAINED IN ONE SCENE).

I give them a goal (which is the heart of the story I plan to tell).

I give them a quirk.

I’ll use my heroine in Cowboy Christmas as an example.

About a year ago I listened to Angela Hunt say she wanting to get married very young, her parents told her no. I remember Angela saying, “They were my spiritual leaders so I did as they asked.” And I thought, “But what if (when you're a writer it’s always ‘what if’ isn’t it?) What if your spiritual leaders weren’t trustworthy? At what point would you have to defy those leaders?

This was my starting point. I made Annette a ‘good girl’. She’s been working with a traveling mission group, singing. New leaders take over the mission group. These leaders act like Christians at first, but they press Annette to act more and more against her faith. Nothing big at first. Wear brighter colors. Sing patriotic songs, not strictly Christian songs. Inch by inch they ask her to step farther from her belief system. And then comes the day when they ask too much. They finally ask something of her she cannot do. And they’ve set the stage so there is no safety for her. To defy them will put her in terrible danger.

That’s where the book begins. I don’t give you any of that backstory in my book at the outset. Instead, my book begins with a defiant, terrified Annette being knocked down by the villain.

Why she’s being beaten isn’t important in that first scene. Annette’s fighting for her life. WHY just doesn’t matter. And enough of the WHY is revealed by a description of the shameful dress Claude Leveque wants her to wear to that night’s performance and Annette shouting, “No, I’ll die first.”

Actually, I just re-read this scene. It came out pretty good if I do say so myself. I got a little weepy.

So Annette gets away but, trouble is pursuing her. Her goal, to get to her father for safety. Her worthless rejecting father who sent her away from home to school back east after Annette’s mother died (I'm weaving in the backstory. By the end of chapter three the reader knows the bare bones of this). And along the way Annette meets Elijah Walker. The cranky man who doesn’t trust women.

I could write what all brought Elijah’s crankiness on but I’ll let you find out yourself.

Annette has her backstory.

Now she needs a goal.

Her goal is to live fearlessly for God and bear the crosses God gives her. She’s not real good at it. She keeps fumbling the crosses, usually dropping them on poor Elijah’s head. But she keeps trying and Elijah keeps rescuing her and Claude keeps coming.

There’s our story.

Except to me, the thing that brings a character to life fully is quirks. Annette's quirk is that she sings when she’s emotional. When she’s happy, sad, scared, excited; her reaction is to sing. A second quirk is that she's practicing being brave with poor Elijah. Snipping at him makes her feel courageous.

That's it, that's my character for Annette Talbot in Cowboy Christmas:

Annette’s got backstory, goal and quirks.

Her backstory that makes her who she is. The good girl who always thought if she’d just been better her father would have kept her with him. So she keeps trying desperately to be good.

Her goal, to learn to live courageously for God, even at the cost of her own life, which amounts to defiance, something she sees as the opposite of being good.

Her quirks, that singing, that sass.

Now I want you to think of a character in your book and tell me those three things.

Backstory, goal, quirks. And do it in once sentence-each. I don't want a chapter long backstory dump showing up in the comment section. BOIL IT DOWN.

~~~

 This post first appeared in Seekerville September 1, 2009. Comments are closed today so we can catch up on our writing and reading. We hope you enjoy the post.

The 12 Brides of Summer Collection: 12 Historical Brides Find Love in the Good Old Summertime


Meet 12 adventurous Victorian era women—a beekeeper who is afraid of bees, a music teacher whose dog has dug up a treasure, a baker who enters a faux courtship, and six more—along with the men they encounter while making summertime memories. Will these loves sown during summer be strengthened by faith and able to endure a lifetime

Click for Free Copy

The Boden Birthright
FREE

A city slicker on the run from a powerful family that wants his son.
A beautiful ranch woman who wants the boy and may have to take the father to get him.
A little boy who needs a home

No Way Up
Excerpt!

When Cimarron ranch patriarch Chance Boden is caught in an avalanche, the quick actions of hired hand Heath Kincaid save him. Badly injured, Chance

Coming July 3rd

demands that his will be read and its conditions be enforced immediately.

Without anyone else to serve as a witness, Heath is pressed into reading the will. If Justin, Sadie, and Cole Boden don't live and work at home for the entire year, the ranch will go to their low-down cousin Mike.

Then Heath discovers the avalanche was a murder attempt, and more danger might follow. Deeply involved with the family, Heath's desire to protect Sadie goes far beyond friendship. The danger keeps them close together, and their feelings grow until being apart is the last thing on their minds.

Long Time Gone

The Boden clan thought their troubles were over with the death of a dangerous enemy. But with new

Click to Pre-Order

evidence on Cole's shooting, Justin can't deny that the plot to take their ranch was bigger than one man. While the doctor and his distractingly pretty assistant Angelique DuPree help Cole, Justin has to uncover the trail of a decades-old secret as danger closes in.
The trouble is Justin sort of saved Angelique's life (well probably not really, she'd have lived, but still... he caught her when she fainted and carried her around for a while) So now he can't quite forget how perfect she felt in his arms. And the bad part of that is, finally a woman had come to the Cimarron Ranch who is perfect for....his big brother Cole.

http://www.maryconnealy.com
I've updated my website to include excerpts for some books!

Tigger, The Muffin Man, and Me

By Pam Hillman

Tigger bounced into the front office, hand outstretched, an infectious grin on his face. “How are you today, Ms. Johnnie?”

The receptionist couldn’t help but respond to his energetic step, his jovial manner, and his wide grin. He even kind of looked like a Tigger. He was tall and lanky and middle-aged, and just bouncy. But the similarity ended there. He was a cardboard box salesman.

But he acted like a Tigger, and he brought a smile to the entire office as he peddled his wares. And over the years it became apparent that he wasn’t friendly and bouncy and interested in us just to sell boxes. No-siree!

He genuinely cared about people.

These two adorable babies aren't Tigger, but goodness, if anything reminds me of Tigger, they do!

One time my husband had a life-threatening injury that kept him in the hospital for ten days. Tigger dropped by the office while I was out. He was so concerned for my husband (whom he had never met), that he got the number to the hospital and called to check on us. You don’t forget Tiggers like that. I haven’t seen Tigger in several years, but I will never forget him, and I’ll always think of him as Tigger, and when I do, I will smile.

The Muffin Man was another one of our favorite salesmen. I dubbed him The Muffin Man because he brought us to-die-for muffins from The Beagle Bagel Café.

Oh.My.Stars! 

They were the size of dinner plates and so moist, they just melted in your mouth. One would hold you all day…if you could manage to stop at just one. If The Muffin Man visited in the morning, forget about lunch. I just skipped the healthy stuff altogether and ate a Beagle Bagel Café blueberry muffin with a fresh-brewed cup of coffee. Yum!

The Muffin Man shared pictures of his beautiful daughters, his latest hunting escapades, and his turkey calls and always asked about my boys. Eventually we got around the purpose of his visit, talking about stainless steel.

Good men, good salesmen who took the time to get to know their customers, who sometimes came bearing gifts, and always came bearing smiles, the gift that keeps on giving.

I’ve met more Tiggers, Muffin Men, and friendly Winnie the Pooh types over the years, but I’ve met a few Eeyore types as well. Don’t get me wrong, Eeyore is so cute and cuddly, and we want to fix him, and make him feel better about life.

But in real life, having an Eeyore around who never, ever has a good thing to say about anything would put a damper on things for sure. I don’t know about you, but I like to be encouraged. A bit of encouragement goes a long way. But on the flip side, discouragement and a toxic attitude does as well.

The very un-remarkable un-memorable salesman who replaced Tigger was the exact opposite of Tigger. He talked slow, he walked slow, and he acted like he was selling something as bland and unappetizing as a cardboard box. Well, he was selling boxes, but still, he was the closest thing to an Eeyore salesman that I’ve ever seen. I literally dreaded to see him coming. No personality, no excitement about anything. Just ho-hum, do ya wanna-buy-a-box boring.

Now, I’ll be honest. Having a hard-core Tigger bouncing around me all the time would drive me insane, but on the flip side, I’d go bonkers and have to be in a strait-jacket with Eeyore as a side-kick as well. In the words of Goldilocks, I relate more to someone with a “just right” personality. Maybe someone more like Pooh Bear.

If our attitude is so easily swayed in one direction or another by someone else, then it stands to reason that others react to our attitude the same way. One character can be swayed by another. Our readers can be swayed by our characters. A good story has a well-rounded cast of characters, some Tiggers, Eeyores, Pooh Bears, Piglets, and even a few Muffin Men. Are the Tiggers in your story that way simply because it’s his personality? Is there an underlying reason Eeyore seems depressed all the time?

Those characters need concrete reasons for being that way. So give ‘em reasons. And your readers will love your stories just as much as they love Winnie the Pooh and the Hundred Acre Wood.

CBA Bestselling author PAM HILLMAN was born and raised on a dairy farm in Mississippi and spent her teenage years perched on the seat of a tractor raking hay. In those days, her daddy couldn't afford two cab tractors with air conditioning and a radio, so Pam drove an Allis Chalmers 110. Even when her daddy asked her if she wanted to bale hay, she told him she didn't mind raking. Raking hay doesn't take much thought so Pam spent her time working on her tan and making up stories in her head. Now, that's the kind of life every girl should dream of. www.pamhillman.com