Romancing the West Blog Hop!

WELCOME TO THE ROMANCING THE WEST BLOG TOUR

Why do we enjoy writing and reading about the West? What is it about cowboys that is just plain irresistible? Over thirty authors and bloggers tackle these and other questions by explaining why we love Romancing the West.

But that’s not all, as you enjoy some awesome blogs and find fantastic books, for every post you comment on with your email address, you will be entered for some amazing prizes.

***PLEASE LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS TO QUALIFY***

Grand Prize: A swag pack which includes books (both ebooks and paper), Amazon gift card, custom made butterfly jewelry, book cards, magnets and much more all tucked away in a keepsake box. (Available to US residents only. Winner will be announced on February 26 at 10 PM EST)

And, as an added bonus, enter the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win my book Paradise Valley (due July 2, 2013)!

* * * * * Here's My Post on Cowboys! * * * * *

No matter how you look at it, cowboys have always been popular. You can barely count the number of western movies that have been produced over the last 50 years, the biggest share of them in the 1950’s and 60’s. Lately, remakes of famous old standards like TRUE GRIT and 3:10 TO YUMA, have done well. Then there are the famous “big screen” favorites like DANCES WITH WOLVES and HOW THE WEST WAS WON – and of course there are the unforgettable Clint Eastwood “shooters.” My favorites are THE GUNS OF JOSIE WALES, PALE RIDER and TWO MULES FOR SISTER SARAH. Then there is the name known world wide for his western films – John Wayne. Actually, my favorite John Wayne movie is THE SHOOTIST – his very last film. It’s so touching to know that was the last movie he made before he died from cancer, when in the movie he was an old gunfighter – also dying from cancer. In the movie he went out of this life in the way only an old gunfighter should go – he “went down shooting.” I, of course, cried my eyes out. 

TV got into the act during the popularity of the mini-series with LONESOME DOVE and CENTENNIAL. And of course few people are unfamiliar with the numerous TV half-hour and hour-long westerns like HAVE GUN/WILL TRAVEL and GUNSMOKE, the most famous of them all. I sure hated to read about the passing of James Arness, but he will live on forever in the form of Marshal Matt Dillon.

As far as books, few authors helped keep the genre alive like Will Henry and Louis L’Amour did. Dee Brown did a fabulous job of enlightening readers to the truth about the gradual demise of the American Indian way of life in his book BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE.

There is something about the American western frontier that fascinates, something about those pioneers that makes us proud and makes us want to keep the “right to bear arms.” We are even fascinated and in a strange way “proud” of our infamous outlaws, like Jesse James and Butch Cassidy. Even more fascinating is that there was a very fine line back then between outlaw and lawman. There were those who couldn’t say which Wyatt Earp and his brothers were … good? Or bad? How many books have you read, or movies have you watched, in which the “bad guy” was really good at heart?

Ah, yes, the American cowboy … restless, wild, roving, hard-drinking, ready for a fist fight, quick with a gun, tough, brave, rough looking yet handsome – even those who weren’t all that good looking were handsome in their own way when they wore those great hats and smoked that cheroot and stood their ground. I think the western hero has remained popular because we all identify with some part of their personality … perhaps we all daydream that we could be that rugged, that brave, that quick with a gun, that much in charge of our lives and ultimately that “free” to be whoever we want to be … that much “in control” of our own destinies and “unchained” from rules and responsibilities.

I truly believe there is a little bit of “cowboy” in all of us … and so I will keep writing books about men like that and the equally brave and tough women it took to keep up with them … or tame them … whichever they were brave enough to try. I love the American West, the American cowboy, and the American dreams they represented. It was an era when there were still frontiers to conquer, still places where man had never stepped, still gold and silver and oil to be found, still free land as long as you were willing to homestead that land, still endless horizons with no skyscrapers or smokestacks to mar the landscape. It’s the “cowboy” in Americans that makes them dare to try new ventures, dare to leave the familiar and take a new job or start their own business or move to a completely new area of the country. There is a little bit of “cowboy” in our armed forces, in that devil-may-care attitude of our veterans who fought world wars, in those who dared travel into space, in a boxer, a football player, a race car driver, even a reckless investor who risks it all on a hunch. It’s the American spirit, and a whole lot of that spirit can be identified as the “cowboy” in us. If you have a dream, if there is something you want to try but have put it off, if you want to stand up for yourself but are afraid to, if you have a good idea but haven’t put it out there into the real world, you need to “cowboy up!” Think like a cowboy, and you might be surprised where it can take you! I hope to keep that kind of spirit alive in my writing … and even though I’m told western history isn’t popular right now, I intend to “cowboy up” and keep writing what I love, because what goes around, comes around. Cowboys have always been a favorite, and although that genre isn’t the most popular right now, it will come back, and I’ll be ready!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Good Ole’ “Diva” Days!

In May I am heading for another Romantic Times Convention, this time in Kansas City, Missouri – and the entire conference is geared around the “Divas” of the 80’s – 80’s romance writers, that is. Last year I was given an award as one of those Divas at their conference in Chicago. But this year the entire era of romance writing will be highlighted, and a whole HOST of big-name authors from that time period will be at the conference – old friends I haven’t seen in years. I can’t wait to get together with a lot of them!

It was in the 80’s that romance blazed its way into publishing history and exploded onto bookshelves by the millions. Oh, how I miss those days! The most popular stories were historicals – especially westerns and stories involving Native Americans … everything I loved writing about! I still do, but alas, popular genres change and new readers come into the picture … and old dogs like me have to re-invent themselves. Actually, I never quite did that, because unlike many others from that era, I didn’t change genres, which led to lower numbers and lower sales for several years. But now I am seeing a come-back, and thanks to the social media of the internet, I am finding a host of new readers who have never read Rosanne Bittner and many of whom aren’t familiar with the good old historical romances of the 80’s. They are finding out what they were missing!!

I think younger people are thirsty for true LOVE STORIES – stories in which sex actually has meaning and isn’t gratuitous or just for selfish, momentary pleasure. And I think the reason the old sweeping romances were so popular is because they took the reader away to another place and time, and the stories brought forth all the things (especially women) look for – a real hero; a strong, brave heroine with whom the reader could identify; true romance (of which we see so little today); stories about independence and the ability to explore and brave new frontiers; exciting time periods when countries were growing and changing; and something I really miss today … nice, fat, 400-500 page novels in which the reader could get lost for days … truly memorable stories that stayed in the minds and hearts of readers for months, even years. To this day my readers still talk about my characters in my very first Savage Destiny series as though they only recently read the books – and they are 30 years old!! Just think about it. Some stories last forever, like Gone With the Wind. Why? Because they were big books involving memorable characters and were sweeping historical romances. There is so little of that today on the book shelves, and I think readers are hungry for them.

I love writing about “TRUE” love, especially the kind it took to stay together through the incredible challenges of settling America’s frontiers. I could go on for pages and pages about the hardships our pioneers endured, but you can find all of that in my books. I am just so thrilled that the R.T. convention will bring attention to that kind of writing … TRUE ROMANCE at its best, and the authors who made it happen! I make a toast to all of them, and to the hope that the sweeping romantic stories of the 80’s will make it back to today’s bookshelves!

Meantime, I’ll be promoting my own new western romance, Paradise Valley (July 2013) at the conference and mixing and meeting and mingling with the Divas of the 80’s! What fun!