What Next?

        Most writers have moments when they suffer from writer’s block. It is very frustrating, but equally frustrating is having so many stories to tell you don’t know which one to write first. 

 

        That’s my dilemma. Sometimes I feel like writing all the ideas on separate cards and then tossing them into the air. Whichever card falls closest to me is the story I will have to write next. I have had my moments of thinking about quitting completely, but that is usually not from writer’s block. It’s from discouraging sales or from hurtful comments from an editor who just doesn’t “get” my writing. One editor’s comments about BLAZE OF GLORY were so biting that I decided her real problem was that she hated men. Really. She didn’t “get” Jake at all, while 99% of my readers love the man to death. I just ignored her inability to understand men and the affects of a tortured childhood. So be it. I paid no attention. 

 

        Nothing truly discourages me other than time to write everything I would like to write. And sometimes I wonder if I should try to write a different genre. However, I can’t get away from my love for American history and the Old West and Native Americans. So, as I explained not long ago, I think my next book will be IF I LOVED YOU, an Indian/white historical romance, something people tell me is their favorite storyline from me.

 

         Meantime, I am re-reading THIS TIME FOREVER to see if it would work for an Amazon reissue. It was published back in 1989 by Warner Books (Popular Library). Wow, that was a long time ago. The story is based loosely on the true tale of a woman who traveled west with the Mormons but was not herself a Mormon. She became a well-known singer and my husband and I visited her mansion years ago in Wyoming. My character’s name is Lilly Brannigan, from Scotland. The hero is Charles (Chase) Mitchell. Time and circumstances bring them together and then apart, and Lilly vows that if she ever finds Chase again, this time it will be forever. I would be interested to know how many of you remember the book.

        I feel blessed that so many of my back issues have been reissued more than once and with new covers. That has kept me on the virtual “shelves” for years, with many of my very first books still selling, including Savage Destiny. I expect most of them will keep selling long after I am gone, which will benefit my children and grandchildren. That warms my heart, and is a way of being with all of you for as long as you keep reading my books.

 

        SHADOW TRAIL is doing well, and I can’t help wanting to write more about Evie and Brian, since I have never gone deeply into their marriage other than everyone knows what happened to Evie and how Brian handled it. He is such a kind, understanding, patient man – such a contrast to Jake in so many ways. But he has always understood Evie’s adoration of her father, even though Jake is so drastically different from Brian. I love that “We are nothing alike, but I respect you” relationship between Jake and Brian. I have never explored Brian deeply, other than when he had a heart-to-heart with Jake when Jake thought Miranda might die from breast cancer. And, of course, they had another talk when Evie was kidnapped by outlaws who so brutally abused her. It just seems like so much had to happened in all the Outlaw Hearts books that I never got the chance to explore that Jake and Brian relationship.

 

        I guess I am rambling a bit. Just letting you, my very important readers, know what writers go through, especially ones like me who get deeply involved in their characters. I make mine so real that it is important to be sure they remain true to their character/personality through the years that are covered in my series books. It’s not always easy, but I get inside the head of every single character, even many of the cowhands. I would even like to write more about some of them.

 

        If I could live another 30 years I would probably write 30 more books. I am up to 76, so 24 more would make 100, but that will never happen. Still, it’s a nice idea and something to aim for if God allows me the health to do so.

 

Blessings.

 

Rosanne