Which Wildflower of Scotland Are You?

Which Wildflower of Scotland do you most closely identify with and why?

Thistle Down?

Wild Rose?

Blue Belle?

Shy Violet?

Or, for you men, Sweet William?

One commenter will receive a free e-copy of Blue Belle!

Why DO I Write What I Do? Good Question…

Here it is! The answers you’ve been waiting for to the questions you didn’t know existed!

1) What am I working on? Now that Blue Belle has been released, I’ve been working on Shy Violet again. Shy Violet is my third Wildflowers of Scotland novel, and it takes place at Eilean Donan Castle and in Dorney, Scotland, on Loch Alsh, just before you get to the Isle of Skye. I started Shy Violet in November and am a little over half done – and loving it!

2) How does my work differ from others of its genre? There are two things that set my work apart from others in the romance or romantic suspense genre. One, my characters range in age from their early to late thirties to their mid-forties. My stories are second-chance at romance stories about characters who have been there, done that, maybe even been burned or badly hurt, and are brave enough to give love another go. Two, my stories contain a unique, real-life blend of typical Midwestern culture, family, and faith, and real, vulnerable, not perfect, messy people – which includes sometimes steamy, sexy scenes. My stories are character based, and since each character is different, so are their stories. As a result, my books are hard to classify, tend to mix elements of different sub-genres, and cross lines that some might not feel comfortable with (on both sides of the spectrum).

3) Why do I write what I do?  I’ve always been a bit of a rebel, and shall we say, unique? I write what’s in my heart, and that includes characters who are as one of a kind as I am, stubborn but not afraid to change, and complex. My books have been called the thinking woman’s romance. I also write what I know, and tend to include elements like old-fashioned bicycles, a favorite quilt, Victorian or medieval architecture, ethnic foods, bed and breakfasts, or other funky things, places or props to make my stories fun. I am NOT my characters, but the way I think and feel about things is very much reflected in their responses and choices and reactions to the obstacles and dilemmas they encounter. When people say they don’t like my books, or the kind of books I write, I often think, then you really don’t like me.

4) How does my writing process work?  I live in 2 different houses, 85 miles apart, and write on the run whenever I have a spare minute. If my husband is driving, I usually have my laptop propped on the door of the glove compartment, working on a scene. I don’t get much writing done in the summer, when my B&B is at its busiest, so I try to make up for it in the wintertime. Once I have my rough draft done, I do extensive editing and smoothing out, including writing my transition scenes, and at least one session of reading the book out loud.

 

Thanks to Dellani Oakes for nominating me! Please check out her blog and her answers to these questions at www.dellanioakes.wordpress.com.

I’m tagging two Iowa authors to carry on the blog tour:

Stephen L. Brayton, who I met at a booksigning last Sunday at La Vida Loca Winery in Indianola -www.stephenbrayton.com, www.stephenbrayton.wordpress.com, www.braytonsbookbuzz.wordpress.com

Stephen L. Brayton owns and operates Brayton’s Black Belt Academy in Oskaloosa, Iowa. He is a Fifth Degree Black Belt and certified instructor in The American Taekwondo Association.

He began writing as a child and has written numerous short stories both horror and mystery. His first novel, Night Shadows (Feb. 2011), concerns a Des Moines homicide investigator teaming up with a federal agent to battle creatures from another dimension. His second book, Beta (Oct. 2011) was the debut of Mallory Petersen and her search for a kidnapped girl. In August 2012, the second Mallory Petersen book, Alpha, was published. This time she investigates the murder of her boyfriend.

And, Jordyn Meryl, who I enjoyed getting to know at our last Writers Retreat at the Blue Belle Inn – http://facebook.com/jordyn.meryl

Jordyn’s Bio:  Once living under the guise of a passive, quiet, school librarian, books and kids were the passions which kept her mind fresh. One day she decided to spread her wings and live the dream of her heart. Sitting in front of her computer, her fingers bring to life the voices in her head. But it is when the night muses visit Jordyn, her spirit rises up to wrap around the stories that float in her dreams. Land locked in the mid-west she envisions days on a white sandy beach with a laptop to write all her tales. Crossing many genres she spins chronicles of romance, paranormal and fantasy, for they are stories worth telling, even at the risk of revealing true feelings. http://jordynmeryl.wordpress.com/

Jordyn Meryl’s Blog

jordynmeryl.wordpress.com

Blue Belle’s in Bloom!

Blue Belle is now available in paperback and electronic versions! Here are some links: Kindle http://amzn.com/B00K33ND3K – Smashwords (any e-format including Nook) https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/434398 – Amazon Paperback http://amzn.com/B00K33ND3K – Second Wind Publishing http://www.secondwindpublishing.com/product_info.php?products_id=241 . I have copies of all three books at the Blue Belle Inn B&B and Tea House and I’ll be at La Vida Loca Winery in Indianola, IA on Sunday from 1 – 5 p.m. for a book signing.

Blue Belle is the 2nd of my Wildflowers of Scotland novels, following Thistle Down (a short prequel novella) and Wild Rose.

From the back cover:  Isabelle doesn’t want to be found. Michael doesn’t want to be found out. When Damon starts searching for the centuries-old gold he thinks is buried in the bay, it won’t matter what walls they’re hiding behind. Rocks will fall. Castles will crumble. No secrets will be safe.

Blue Belle Cover Reveal!

 

Blue Belle should be available shortly! I will have copies to sell by next Tuesday, and I”ll keep you posted on the online availability as I hear updates, but in the meantime, I wanted you to see the beautiful cover. The photo is of Duart Castle, Isle of Mull, Scotland, where Blue Belle takes place. I will forever remember the day I photographed it, and the brilliant blue of the sky. I’m so excited that Blue Belle is finally in print, and that everything has come together so perfectly.

Sleep Deprivation and Other Random Happenings

About 10 pm, I left work. My last words were, “I’m going to blog, and then I’m going to bed.” I’ve not been getting enough sleep lately and I have to be back at work at 7 a.m. tomorrow morning to receive a shipment.

It’s now almost 2 am. I fell asleep in my chair.

So the moral of the story is…

Sometimes I think it would be nice to be Superwoman – to do everything I want to do and be everything for everyone I love.  But it just doesn’t work that way.

I’m more Supernova than Superwoman.

So get it while you can. Read “Wild Rose”.

Just as the night is darkest just before the dawn, perhaps the light is brightest just before it fades from view .

 

 

Beauty in Your Own Backyard

My first published book – Night and Day – is set in Blooming Prairie, Minnesota and Copenhagen, Denmark with a brief interlude on Prince Edward Island, Canada. My tagline, “It’s midnight in Minnesota and Daybreak in Denmark”, speaks to the fact that Jensen and Anders connect via the internet, each from their own corner of the world.

My latest release, Wild Rose of Scotland, is set at St. Conan’s Kirk on Loch Awe.

The second book in my Wildflowers of Scotland series, Blue Belle, takes place in Tobermory, a picturesque old village whose rainbow-colored storefronts are reflected in the waters off the Isle of Mull.

For a writer / innkeeper / restaurateur / pastor’s wife whose life is too busy and complicated to plan a vacation anytime in the foreseeable future, “traveling” to these exotic locales in my mind is like taking a mini-vacation. Hopefully, my readers will also enjoy visiting the quaint spots that provide a backdrop to the adventures of Jensen and Anders, Ian and Rose, and any other of my characters who are lucky enough to find their homes in such beautiful places.

But we all can’t live in Colorado. Nor can we go on vacation all the time. My Maple Valley trilogy – Stormy Weather, Waterlily, and Merry-Go-Round – are all set in a fictional town patterned after Osage, Iowa, just 11 miles from where I live. The stage for these books is set with cornfields, cabbage patches, and contented cows grazing in pastures. The secondary characters are small town… well… characters. And it’s not one bit boring. To the contrary, writing about my hometown and the area surrounding it has been very enlightening.

Looking at my very ordinary world through the eyes of my characters has shed a whole new light on what was once deemed plain. These people see things in my world that I never would have noticed. With their help, I’ve discovered a whole new meaning to the phrase, Beauty in Your Own Backyard. It’s amazing, the things I see when looking through the rose-colored glasses of the three Jones sisters.

So, wherever it is you find yourself, take a look around. Whether you’re reading – or writing – a book set in Windermere, England, Apple Valley, Minnesota, Moonstone Beach, or Weedpatch, California, there are beautiful sights to behold no matter where you go in the world – a simple wildflower, a spectacular sunset, the moon glinting off a lake (or maybe even a mud puddle).

And next time you’re lucky enough to be able to take a vacation to some lovely new location, by all means, take your camera, your moleskin journal, your steno pad, or your Alphasmart. Take photos, record each memory, soak in every ounce of scenic beauty that you can.

All I’m suggesting is that when you come home, keep your camera out. Try looking at your own, everyday world through the eyes of someone who’s seeing those same, familiar haunts for the very first time. Take notice of the extraordinary, and you’ll discover all kinds of unique beauty – right in your own backyard. Learning to see the Cinderella side of your soot and ashes world, to appreciate the sights you take for granted, will make you a better writer, a better mother, a better lover, a better everything under the sun.

Sherrie Hansen

http://www.SecondWindPublishing.com

A Rose Parade by Sherrie Hansen

Long ago, as 2008 was turning to 2009, I wrote a piece on the color rose for a group at Gather.com called Rainbow Connections.

The group was born out of my love for rainbows and each week, I explored the nuances and associations  of a different color. I didn’t know Wild Rose of Scotland back then, but recently, as I reread what I’d written about the Rose, I felt like I was getting to know Rose – the color, the character, and the flower – in a whole new light.

If you’re as intrigued by Rose as I am, you can see more of her in Wild Rose, the first of my Wildflowers of Scotland novels.

Rose… a name, a flower, a color, or none of the above.

Rose means different things to different people.

Grandma’s fluffy slippers… Pretty, little cookies…

Cheeks pink fresh from the cold…

Parades and petals… A bride’s bouquet… A hat, a favorite bathrobe… A silky comforter… Rose fills us with an effervescent glow…

Rose gives us a sense of well-being…

Maybe we are looking at the world through rose-colored glasses…

Maybe we just like the color rose.

Whatever the reason, whatever the season…

Rose makes us feel better…

It cheers us up, gives us a sense of direction…

It fills us with radiance…

Rose comforts us.

Rose makes us whole again… ..

Whether “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming”…

Or, a Rose by any other name…

What does Rose mean to you?

Here’s to a Wild Rose… available now through Second Wind Publishing.

Wild Rose Has Arrived!!!

Wild Rose has arrived!

Now available at Amazon.com, Smashwords.com, or my publisher’s website. Enjoy!

 

Exciting news! Wild Rose, the first of my Wildflowers of Scotland novels, is now available in paperback at http://amzn.com/1938101421 and as an ebook at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/315638. You can also buy my books directly from http://www.SecondWindPublishing.com. I will have copies for sale at the Blue Belle Inn in about 10 days.

The prequel, my novella, Thistle Down, the intro to my Wildflowers of Scotland novels, and the first scene of my upcoming release, Wild Rose, are still FREE at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/310079, and 99 cents for your Nook at B&N – http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/thistle-down-sherrie-hansen/1115202229?ean=2 or for your Kindle at Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Thistle%20Down%20by%20Sherrie%20Hansen%20Kindle
Download away! Thank you.

Back Cover Blurb for Wild Rose:  When Ian MacCraig tries to capture the thief who is stealing artifacts from his kirk in Loch Awe, Scotland, the last thing he expects to find on his video is a woman engaging in a passionate romp under the flying buttresses. Rose Wilson is mortified to learn that Digby, the online friend she met for what she thought was a harmless rendezvous, is a common criminal.

Now that Ian, the board of Wilson Enterprises, the constable, and half the town have had a glimpse of Rose in all her naked glory, it seems even her family looks at her differently. What remains to be seen is how far Ian will go to defend Rose’s honor and if the church ladies will forgive Rose now that they know who she really is… and if Rose can believe she’s worthy of someone as good and kind as Ian MacCraig.

Wild Rose and Pastor Ian MacCraig… a match made in heaven or one hell of a predicament?

Back Cover Blurb for Thistle Down:  Can tenderhearted Pastor Ian MacCraig keep a pair of prickly sisters from marrying the wrong men? Emily Downey has found the perfect groom. If only she loved the man… Chelsea Downey is wild about her boyfriend. Trouble is, he’s two-timing her and everyone sees it but her.

Their thorny situation gets even stickier when the church ladies come up with a plan.

Can Pastor Ian MacCraig weed out the thistles and get to the heart of the matter in time to save the day?

Don’t Keep me Hanging Too Long!

In the little town of Saint Ansgar, Iowa, where I’ve lived for 20 years, a conscientious Christian has posted a sign on the way into town that announces “The wages of sin is death.” Not exactly the greeting you might expect…

On the back of the sign, which you can’t possibly see until you leave town (unless you can spin your head around and drive at the same time – I can’t), is the rest of the story:  “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ Our Lord.”

The Bible verse (Romans 3:23) is one of my favorites. When read in its entirety, it has a beautiful message. But I hate the way the sign leaves me dangling. What if I don’t leave town for several days, two weeks, or a month? What if I leave town by a different route? What if it’s dark? I might never get to the good part. I might never know the rest of the story.

As a reader – of signs and books, I don’t like to be kept waiting too long. If the beginning of a book is too depressing or slow-paced, I might not keep reading long enough to get to the good part. If a climax builds too slowly or drags on for too long, I might stop caring before I get there. If a book contains too many cliff hangers, I’m going to be very frustrated, especially if I have to wait a year or two to finally find out what happens. Even in a series where each book comes to a complete end, with the next installment starting up with a new character or generation of the same family, I don’t like to be kept waiting too long. I forget pertinent details, names and relationships and connections between characters.

And what about those books that have multiple story lines about several different characters and so many sub-plots going all at once that by the time you get six chapters down the road and are finally taken back to the main storyline, you can’t even remember what was going on? Next time I pick one of them up, I’m going to read Chapters 1, 5, 9, 13, 17 and 21, then go back and hit Chapters 2, 6, 10, 14, 18, and 22… and so on. It’ll be much less irritating.

Am I the only one who gets impatient if I’m left dangling too long?

The third and final book in my Maple Valley Trilogy, Merry Go Round, was released about a month ago, and it’s been surprising to me how many people have bought all three books at once. “We’ve been waiting until the trilogy was complete”, they’ve claimed. “We hate having to wait between books, so we don’t even start a series until we can read the whole thing from start to finish.”

I wrote as fast as I could when I was working on Stormy Weather, Water Lily, and Merry Go Round, knowing that those who had started the series were clamoring for the next in line. My publisher worked with me as much as possible to get each subsequent book out quickly. I do understand where those readers were coming from, and am glad I could oblige without leaving anybody waiting for too long.

If the owner of the “Wages of Sin is Death” message is reading this, my advice is to get a second banner and post them like the old-fashioned Burma Shave signs… “The wages of sin is death,” and then a few yards up the road, a second sign with the hope-filled conclusion, “The gift of God is eternal life…” I don’t mind being left hanging for a few yards, but I don’t like to be left waiting for too terribly long, or the point is lost on me.

A little suspense is great, but don’t keep me on the edge of my seat forever. A nice, slow build up to a tender love scene is very sensual, but don’t dash my hopes too many times or I may not even enjoy the happy ending when it comes. As a reader and a writer, my opinion is that once you have the momentum going, it’s best to keep on climbing at as brisk a pace as you can manage.

And as for my neighbor, if you’re going to tell me the bad news, you’d better find a way to share the good news now – not later!

Water Lily now Available on Amazon.com!

The long awaited “Water Lily” is now available on Amazon.com! I should have copies soon, too. When you get to Amazon, search for Water Lily by Sherrie Hansen. Make sure you’ve read Stormy Weather first! While each book stands alone, Water Lily is the second in the Maple Valley trilogy, and may “spoil” Stormy Weather for you if you don’t read it first.

http://www.amazon.com/Water-Lily-Sherrie-Hansen/dp/1935171186/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1281536303&sr=8-6