Ruth Ann Nordin's Blog, page 57

A Groom’s Promise is Now Available!

Alright, since the characters of this book have been harassing Janet and me, today I’m doing this post to let everyone know it’s ready.  Maybe now, they’ll leave us alone. :P

Amazon

iBooks

Kobo

Barnes & Noble

Smashwords

Updates on What I’m Working On

Yesterday, I finished the first draft!

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 What a relief.  I was sweating bullets over the last two weeks over this one.  I wasn’t sure I could pull it off, but at the last minute, the characters pulled through.  All is set for its release on February 21.

This particular book has one of my favorite endings.  It was one of the bittersweet ones.  The hero and heroine get their happy ending, but the hero was unable to get some land that had once belonged to his uncle.  So it was mixed.  But this issue with the land will be coming back into play in book 4 when we get the villain’s story.  The villain in this book wasn’t really a “bad guy”.  The hero sees him that way, but as they say, there are two sides to every story, and I hinted at the villain’s side in this book.

So we’ll be getting to the villain in the future.  In the meantime, I have books 2 and 3 to write.  I do believe the hero and villain will finally make amends in book 4, but we will see.  Characters can be unpredictable.

***

Now, I’m free to work on my next three works in progress….

Her Devilish Marquess (Marriage by Arrangement: Book 2)

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This one will be out May 8.  It’ll feature the good natured but mischievous doctor from The Earl’s Stolen Bride (Marriage by Deceit: Book 4).  He was Dr. Westward, and he ended up taking care of Chloe’s (Lady Reddington’s) brother and then delivering her child.

The Mistaken Mail Order Bride (Chance at Love: Book 2)

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This one is due out June 5.  This book picks right up where The Convenient Mail Order Bride leaves off.  Someone mentioned loving the heroine who is more on the plain side but very sweet (similar to Mary Larson in Eye of the Beholder).  In this case, the hero isn’t like Dave who picked her out.  In this case, he is disappointed because he had been hoping for someone more attractive and a lot less clumsy.  (I decided to make her the type who isn’t graceful.)  Don’t worry.  He is a good guy, and he will come around to finding beauty in her.

The Marriage Agreement (Pioneer Series: Book 2)

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This one is due out August 7.  This book follows Wagon Trail Bride, and since the heroine is Amanda Larson’s friend, I’ll get to bring in a Larson or two back.  I’ll see if I can somehow bring in the whole family.  You’ll meet the heroine (Laura) and the hero (Jesse) in Wagon Trail Bride when it comes out on January 3.

****

I know the books above seem like they’re a long ways off from coming out, but believe me, the time will pass fast.

In the meantime, I have turned in A Groom’s Promise (due out December 20) and Wagon Trail Bride (due out January 3) to my publisher.  I am fully done with His Wicked Lady (due out January 9) and have uploaded that everywhere but Amazon.  (I haven’t gotten that far yet.)  The Convenient Mail Order Bride (due out February 21) is now in edits.

Writing is not as easy as it Seems: Changes and More Changes in The Convenient Mail Order Bride

I can hear some of the plotters out there shaking their heads and telling me, “See, Ruth.  This is why we plot.  If you would stop writing by the seat of your pants, you wouldn’t be facing a rewrite today.” :D

To be fair, yes, plotting would have saved me today’s rewrite, but I can’t plot.  I’m serious.  Plotting is like asking me to draw a picture of a human face so that it doesn’t look like something a kindergartener did.  I can’t draw anything but a stick figure to save my life.  And it’s the same with plotting.  Even if I had plotted this book out ahead of time, it still would have changed?

Why?  Because my characters never reveal anything to me ahead of time.  I need to write the scene to know what’s going to happen next, and often, I am doing this on a day by day basis.

For example, I’ll finish the day’s writing in the middle of a scene because most of the time, I have no idea what the next scene will be.  It isn’t until I finish the scene that I know how the next scene begins.  When I say “begin”, I mean, I know the first sentence.  Maybe the first paragraph.  But I don’t know anything beyond that.

Fortunately, I don’t often have to go back and do rewrites.  Out of fifty romances, I’ve only had to do this a few times (Boaz’s Wager, Wagon Trail Bride, and a couple others that elude me at the moment).  The Convenient Mail Order Bride happens to be the current one.

These characters don’t know what they want, except for the hero.  Abe hasn’t changed, nor does he need to.  But one scene the heroine seems like she’s ready to run off, and in the next, she’s determined to stick around.

For a couple chapters, it was like she couldn’t make up her mind. Now, I know in real life, there are people like this.  I have my moments, too, but this is something that can drive a reader batty.  I’d be yelling at the heroine to figure out what she wants already, so I don’t care for this kind of setup.  This is why I have to go back and smooth her moodswings out.

Then there’s the villain in the story.  I thought he was truly a bad guy, but then while writing a scene, it occurred to me he is only the bad guy in the hero’s point of view.  Point of view is truly a wonderful thing.  Abe has every right to perceive the villain (Carl) the way he does.  Carl’s father took some of the land rightfully Abe’s and gave it to Carl because Carl was the legitimate son.  Carl’s father is also Abe’s father, but Abe was conceived in the act of adultery.  More than that, Carl’s father favored Abe because he loved Abe’s mother, whereas he didn’t love Carl’s mother–and he didn’t love Carl either.

So if you flip things around to Carl’s point of view, Abe’s mother (and to a lesser extent) Abe robbed him of a father’s love.  Connect up Carl’s mother dying and leaving him without a parent who cared about him, and it only complicates things. On top of that, his father paid Abe’s mother for the stream and land, so technically it really does belong to him.  But the answer isn’t even that simple when the two can’t stand each other and want the stream and land.  So the matter isn’t as black and white as it seems.  (Which fascinates me, to be honest.  I like these kind of revelations because it makes the story more meaningful.)

Carl, by the way, will be getting his own book because of the new developments.  I am still working on the plot, and I figure it’ll take his book to resolve the matter with the stream and land.

*****

So anyway, today’s mission is to rewrite, delete, and edit.  (This is not nearly as fun as creating the first draft, and it drains me to do this.  I get energized in writing the first draft.  I lose energy doing the other stuff.  But the other stuff is just as important as the first draft.)

Tips on How to Repulse the One You Don’t Want to Date

As I promised last week, I am using my blog to promote a scene from The Bride’s Choice, my full-length novel, which is in the anthology A Groom’s Promise.  Apparently, this promo thing was slipped into the contact without me realizing it.  (Note to self: read all contracts carefully in the future.)  The characters were threatening to delay the publication of the book if I didn’t fulfill my part of the deal.

So…since it looks like my dreams of being an actress are shattered, I have nothing better to do with my time than this promo.

Reserve Your Copy Today so you’ll have it on December 20!

The Promo Spot for Jack and Maybell

If you don’t like the person your parents are trying to fix you up with, here are some nifty tips from my story in A Groom’s Promise to help you make that person run as far away from you as possible.  This way you don’t have to look like the bad guy when things don’t work out as your parents hoped.

The tips are in bold.  The parts of the dinner scene from the book are used as examples for this post.  You can read the entire scene if you click here.

Tip #1: Cook a meal and slip something gross tasting (but harmless) in their bowl or plate.  It’s important the food looks good.  (I’ll explain why later in this post.)

ID 11275450 © Cheryl Davis | Dreamstime.com

Maybell mashed the small rue leaves in her mortar and pestle. As long as they were too small for Hugh to see in his bowl, that was all he needed. It was a stroke of luck a traveling merchant happened to be selling unusual medicines in town.

The rue herb, he’d said, would be good for stomachaches, though it might make her sleepy if she took it. He’d also warned her it had a bitter flavor to it, and that was what she was after—at least for this dinner. And if it made Hugh go to sleep shortly after eating…well…there was no harm in a little sleep.

Tip #2:  Remember to only put the nasty (but harmless) ingredients in that one person’s bowl or plate.  Doing it to everyone will make your plans backfire in a huge way.

When the leaves were mashed into tiny fragments, she poured the steaming stew into the bowls. Hugh’s bowl was the one with the small chip in the side. No one would notice the distinction, but she would. She put the rue into his bowl then stirred it.

Tip #3: People like to be with attractive people.  Make yourself as unattractive as possible.

ID 14936137 © Konstantin Kamenetskiy | Dreamstime.com

She loosened her bun and shook her hair until it was one big mess. There. That should make her look unappealing.

She unfastened the top three buttons then refastened them so that they were uneven. Then, for good measure, she went to the worktable, took a bit of parsley, and stuck it between her two front teeth. If that didn’t help dissuade Hugh, nothing would.

Tip #4: If one of your parents suggests you aren’t attractive, take the offense.

Her pa was the first one into the house, which wasn’t unusual since Jack often came in a couple minutes later. When he took in her appearance, he frowned. “What are you trying to do, Maybell?”

Sitting at her spot, she said, “I made something to eat, just like I always do.”

“But your hair…and your clothes…”

“Are you saying I’m not pretty?”

Tip #5: If your parents persist on bugging you about your appearance, remind them that it takes more than a beautiful face to secure a sustaining relationship.  (Remember, you can’t be super hot all the time.)

He shook his head. “You know very well what I mean. Why are you trying to look unattractive for Hugh? He’s a good man. He’ll make a good husband.”

“If that’s true, then he won’t mind my appearance. He’ll accept me as I am, faults and all.”

Tip #6: If your parents are still persistent about your appearance, tell them this:

“This is a test, and a good one at that.  A man who can’t accept me at my worst doesn’t deserve my best.”

Tip #7: If you have parsley between your teeth, don’t let your parents see it.

Recalling the parsley between her teeth, she put her hand over her mouth so he—and her pa—wouldn’t see it.

Tip #8: If this person is late, remember to be super polite and sweet so your parents don’t suspect a thing. (But don’t freak anyone out by smiling too widely.)

ID 33269506 © Sebastiangh | Dreamstime.com

Setting her napkin aside, Maybell stood up. “I’ve been keeping your food warm. You set yourself down and I’ll bring it in.”

She brought in his bowl of stew and set it before him. God willing, that rue herb would do the trick. If men were as concerned about eating tasty meals for the rest of their lives as Ada said, then it would.

“Thank you,” Hugh told her. “I appreciate you keeping this hot for me.”

Hopefully, that would be the only thing he’d appreciate this evening.

“Maybell?” her pa called out, turning her attention to him.

“Yes, Pa?” she asked.

“Why don’t you take what’s left of your stew and sit beside Hugh?” With a sly grin, he winked. “You two need to get better acquainted.”

“But Pa…” She tried to think of a way to argue with him without arousing Hugh’s suspicions. It had to be his idea things would never work between them. She couldn’t very well do that if she didn’t do what her father wanted.

To her horror, Hugh stood up and pulled out the chair next to him. She glanced at her pa again who waved her over to the spot. Then her gaze went to Jack, noting the way his brow furrowed in confusion.

Unfortunately, she didn’t have a choice. She had to do this. She sat down next to Hugh and smiled at him, showing him her teeth—and the parsley—in all its glory.

Tip #9: Remember why you only wanted to put the nasty (but harmless) ingredient in the person’s food?  Because then you can do this…

She bit her lower lip. Did she put in enough rue? Was it as bitter as she hoped?

He quickly swallowed, grabbed the glass, and drank most of it down in several large gulps. He coughed, shuddered, and downed the rest of the water.

She breathed a sigh of relief. Good. It was as bitter as she wanted!

“This is my best stew yet,” she told him. “I used my special recipe. What do you all think?” she asked her pa and Jack.

“It’s good, as always,” her pa replied.

(Side note: See?  Now your parents think you’re wonderful, and this person is the one with the problem.)

Tip #10: Follow up Tip #9 with this technique to let the person know this will be repeated for as long as you both live unless the person bails out of this relationship…

Gesturing to his bowl, she asked, “You’re going to finish it all, aren’t you?”

Hugh’s mouth hung open for a moment, and she could swear he gasped at the thought.

“It’s very important that the man who ends up with me enjoys what I make.”

“Maybell prides herself on her cooking,” her pa said. “As she should. She did outdo herself tonight. I hope she makes this more often.”

“Oh, I will, Pa,” she replied. “I promise.” She turned her gaze back to Hugh. “I just might make this every week from now on.”

Tip #11: Remind the person how repulsive you are.  This works especially great if you’re next to them and no one else can hear or smell you.

ID 24386275 © Flexflex | Dreamstime.com

Then, for good measure, she smiled again, showing him her teeth, and let out a belch so low that only he could hear it.

*****

Those are the awesome tips you’ll find in The Bride’s Choice by me (Ruth) in A Groom’s Promise. :)

Jack and Maybell (Hero and Heroine in “The Bride’s Choice” in the Anthology A Groom’s Promise) Are Not Happy With Me!

And I’m in trouble. :(

No need to panic. This will still be available on December 20. You can reserve your copy today if you click on this cover!

I was so caught up in my dreams of stardom and fame that I neglected to pay any attention to them.  Apparently, someone (we’ll blame Janet Syas Nitsick) hasn’t been paying attention to her inbox.  So when I got up this morning and saw them knocking at my door, I knew this wasn’t good.

Jack who isn’t very happy with me at the moment. Why, oh why, did I sign that contract with them?

Jack Warren: You bet it isn’t good.  In your contract with us, you promised you would promote us.  Now, we don’t care that you gave Janet’s characters no marketing love.  But we are the ones you created.  We are the ones who matter.  It’s right here in this contract!

Maybell Smith: Jack’s right.  When we agreed to be the heroine and hero in your full-length romance in this anthology, you insisted on giving us a contract to sign saying we would not resign from our roles.

Ruth Ann Nordin: Yes, that was because Mr. Malcolm Jasper tried that trick.  It caused a ton of lost hours in rewrites with another hero I’ll never use.  I’m busy.  I work on three books at a time.  It’s not like I have time to redo these.

Maybell: But our time counts, too, Ruth.  After we’re done with your s0-called masterpiece, we have other books to move onto.  We need to pay our bills just like everyone else.

Jack: Exactly.  Our time is money, just like yours is.  Too many authors complain about their plight of wanting to sell books.  Well, you know what?  Without the characters to fill in for the roles of those books, the books don’t get done.  So it seems to me, you’re much better off working with us than doing senseless projects like auditioning for the role in a movie.

Maybell: Besides, Janet’s right.  You weren’t any good.

Jack: Yeah, can you imagine what would happen to us if we didn’t follow the script given to us?

Ruth Ann Nordin: Now, hold on a minute.  You two didn’t follow my script.  You improvised.  My original idea was for Maybell’s father to marry you and Maybell, with you being the very reluctant and ultra-shy groom.  But did that happen?  Nope.  You were practically all over Maybell halfway into the story.

Jack: *gasps* I wasn’t all over Maybell!

Ruth Ann Nordin: Sure.  *rolls eyes* I’m surprised you didn’t carry her up to the barn loft and have your way with her.

Jack: That’s not true.  I was a perfect gentleman.  I didn’t do anything more than kiss her until we were married.

Maybell who is attracted to Jack in real life!

Maybell: He’s right.  He was.  And I’m the one who had to get the ball rolling on the kissing thing.

Jack: I didn’t want to overstep my boundaries.

Maybell: Oh, it was totally worth the wait.  Those scenes still make my skin tingle. …  * notices what I wrote under her picture*  You can’t put that for the caption of my picture!

Ruth Ann Nordin: Why not?

Maybell: Because I was acting in the book.  I was attracted to him in the book, not real life.

Ruth Ann Nordin: Oh puhleaze!  Don’t think I didn’t notice the little kisses you were giving each other when I was writing.  You two fell in love with real life.  I wouldn’t be surprised if you ended up getting married for real.

Jack: Well, we do have the wedding night already practiced out.   I have to say Maybell was awesome.

Maybell: *blushes and giggles*

Ruth Ann Nordin: So you see?  Instead of being upset, you should be thanking me.  If it weren’t for me, you two would never have met, and if you had never met, you wouldn’t be together today.

Jack: Alright, we’ll accept that, but we demand our promo time.

Ruth Ann Nordin: I can do that.  In the next blog post, I’ll put up a scene from the book.  Your choice.

Jack: Great!  I pick the wedding night!

Ruth Ann Nordin: No, Jack.  This is a PG blog.  I can’t do that.

Maybell: How about the one you ran a couple months ago that everyone forgot about since you neglected us for so long?  The one that has a lot of humor because I don’t want to be paired up with that boring Hugh character who was too scared of my pa’s shadow to tell him no?

Jack: He was weird.  Then he was so sick for almost a week that he couldn’t make it back to the farm.  And if he went five minutes past dinner without eating, he was going to die.  That’s all pretty lame.

Maybell: I didn’t like Hugh at all, especially what he thought when he looked at me.  I was good enough to make his meals, but I wasn’t at all attractive from his point of view.

Jack: Hugh was an idiot.  He’d rather take that string bean Winifred Better-Than-Everyone-Else Preston over the friendly and curvy Maybell.  *He winks at Maybell who giggles*

Ruth Ann Nordin: Jack, don’t be mean about Winifred.  I had no control over that character, nor did I control Hugh.

Jack: Well, someone needs to tell Janet a woman who knows how to cook good meals and is blessed on top is very sexy.  I’m tired of all these model thin women in Hollywood who look like they never eat anything.  I want a woman who has curves.  Curves is beautiful.

Ruth Ann Nordin: Being a curvy woman myself, I thank you.

Jack: So you’ll put up the sex scene?

Ruth Ann Nordin: No.  We’ll go with the funny dinner scene where Maybell intentionally dissuaded Hugh from being attracted to her.

Jack: Bummer.

Maybell: At least she’s willing to do some promotion on our behalf.

Jack: True.  We’ll take it.

Ruth Ann Nordin: *whew* At least they’re happy.  Now I can work on casting more characters for my upcoming books.

*****

Picture Credits:

Jack: ID 31407780 © Vladimir Nikulin | Dreamstime.com

Maybell: ID 46894163 © Voyagerix | Dreamstime.com

A Bride for Tom gets an Upgrade (And Random Thoughts About Why I Write What I Do)

Remember way back (years ago) when I said I was going to update A Bride for Tom so there’s a sex scene at the end?  This way people won’t stumble upon it and assume I write clean/sweet romances.

Once in a while I get a comment or email about how excited someone is to find a “clean” romance author and think, “Uh oh.  This person has yet to read anything else I’ve done.”  So I really did need to put the wedding night in the book.  I don’t want to give anyone the wrong idea of what I write.  Sorry, guys, I happen to be a spice kind of gal.

I did upload the new version, but it hasn’t gone up on some of the retailers yet, such as iBooks when I checked today.  I expect it will take another week or two to make its way to all the retailers.

You can download it on Smashwords at this link now if you wish.  (All I did was add the wedding night and fixed a few minor things.  The story itself is the same.  And this book will stay free.)

Stephannie Beman revamped the cover for me!

I’ll let you know when the new version is up on all retailers and put links in for them.  And, for fun, I’ll bring Tom on to see what he thinks of it.  (I love the Larsons, so it’ll be fun to see him…and Joel, who we just know can’t keep from picking on poor Tom…again.)

Anyway….

The Why I Write The Way I Do Portion of this Post

While I was working on this book, I was thinking of Adam Sandler (yep, the actor).  This probably happened because I just watched Pixels, which I really enjoyed.  It’s a fun movie. My point, and I do have one, is that as I was thinking of Adam Sandler a couple days later was that he’s not afraid to do things his way.  I really admire that about him.

He likes 80s music and having the same people in his films.  I don’t necessarily care for every single movie he makes, but I do appreciate how well he’s stuck with his brand and has, on occasion, stepped outside his brand to try something new.  It’s obvious he enjoys what he’s doing.  There’s a passion in his work that can’t be faked.

That’s what I want to be as an author.  I have my own preferences, and for the most part, I stick with them.  My first love is romance, specifically historicals, and I have an appreciation for the marital relationship between a husband and wife (hence why my characters often marry early on in my books).

A Love Scene is More Than Sex

I’m not afraid to add that I enjoy adding sex in them.  I like knowing how the characters respond to each other during sexual play or the actual act.  I realize some people consider this unnecessary, but for me, it is necessary.  I learn a lot about my characters when they are intimate (aka vulnerable) with each other.  The sex isn’t about the sex: it’s about delving in deeper into the psyche of the character.

There’s so much going on within the scene that has absolutely nothing at all to do with the sex, but it’s subtle.  For example, while writing The Convenient Mail Order Bride the other day, I worked on a sex scene, and at the end of it, I realized the hero never, in his entire life, ever felt like anyone had ever accepted him.

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I couldn’t have gotten that revelation without that scene.  Characters often reveal who they are best when they’re being intimate.  That is why I have a hard time writing books without sex in them.  I can only manage it if the characters either marry at the very end of the book or don’t marry at all.

Characters Guide Me (I Don’t Guide Them)

The thing is, I don’t tell the characters who they are.  I don’t give them what they think or feel.  They have to tell me this stuff.  This is why I can’t plot.  I have to write by the seat of my pants, and I only have a vague idea of how the book is going to go, which is why my description is often changed during the course of writing the book.  I try to stick with the main things (beautiful heroine; ugly hero; marriage of convenience), but everything else is fair game.  If you gave me an outline to go by, I guarantee you it’ll be useless by chapters 2-3.  Sometimes the first paragraph in chapter 1 is where everything takes another turn.  But often, it’s chapter 2 or 3.

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For example, yesterday as I was writing Her Devilish Marquess, I suddenly realized the hero and heroine are automatically attracted to each other, something that wasn’t supposed to happen.  This took place in chapter 2, and my entire concept for the book is gone.  I do know he scandalizes the Ton whenever possible, so that point stays.  I know she is scared to death of her reputation being harmed, so that point stays, too.  But the point is, they LIKE each other.  They weren’t supposed to like each other.  And this will change the entire course of this book.  How?  I don’t know.  The description still works, but the contents will shift to make room for whatever the characters are going to throw my way.

I can’t know until I write the book what will happen.  This happens in most of the romances I write.  Each time, the characters pull it off, and they do a better job than I would have done.  But, it’s always a process to finding out HOW they’ll make it work.  This is probably a plotter’s nightmare, but for me, this is why writing is so much fun.

Sometimes, someone will ask me why a secondary character did or said something in the book, and honestly, I don’t know.  Unless I can write in that character’s point of view, I have no idea why they do and say the things they do.  I know that seems weird, but it’s how  writing works for me.

In Conclusion

So what is the point to all of this?  I want to be like Adam Sandler.  I like how he does things.  He has fun doing it.  You can tell it by his enthusiasm, and he’s prolific.  He has a ton of stuff out there.  I just finished my 50th romance, and I love writing more today than I did when I got started.  The more I write, the more I appreciate the characters and the more I have fun writing their stories.  When I reach my goal of writing 100 romances, I want to be able to say I’m even more excited about writing than I was when I hit 50.

Chronological Order of Books According to the Characters Who Show Up In Them

The benefit to having written fifty romances at this point is that I get to play around with characters.  I’ll bring a secondary character from one series and merge them into another series.  This is fun because it means they continue to live far after the series is complete.  It means I never have to say the final goodbye to any of them because I might see them again.  (One of the saddest moments of finishing a book used to be saying goodbye.  But with all the books I’ve done, I never have to.)

So for those interested, here is a list of the chronological order in which these characters pop up in their own books and in other series…

Please note: as I continue writing, this order may change.

Regencies: All of these books take place in the same world, but they are divided up across series to best categorize them.  Here is the current chronological order of the books:

The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife

A Most Unsuitable Earl

Her Counterfeit Husband (this is not part of the series because there is no interplay between the characters in this book and the others)

His Reluctant Lady

The Earl’s Secret Bargain (due to the wager exposed in His Reluctant Lady)

Love Lessons With the Duke (due to the exposure of the wager)

Ruined by the Earl (due to the exposure of the wager)

The Earl’s Scandalous Wife

The Earl’s Stolen Bride

His Wicked Lady – editing

Her Devilish Marquess – currently writing

His Wallflower Bride – to be written

more to come

**********************

The Larson Family

Wagon Trail Bride (Richard Larson’s book)

Her Heart’s Desire (Sally Larson’s book)

A Bride for Tom (Tom Larson’s book) – in the process of adding the wedding night so don’t read it yet

A Husband for Margaret (friend of the family)

Eye of the Beholder (Dave Larson’s book)

The Wrong Husband (Jenny Larson’s book)

Shotgun Groom (Joel Larson’s book)

To Have and To Hold (second Dave Larson book)

His Redeeming Bride (Neil Craftsman’s book)

Loving Eliza (Eliza was in His Redeeming Bride)

Isaac’s Decision (Isaac Larson’s book; ends feud between Dave and Neil)

Boaz’s Wager (features Eva Connealy who was interested in Isaac in Isaac’s Decision; also has Rachel Larson)

Off to the side:

Falling In Love With Her Husband (this does not directly involve the Larson’s, but it has Kent Ashton who later gets woven into the Larson family)

—————Another side note: Ann and Todd Brothers show up briefly toward the end of Brave Beginnings

—————Also, Jake Mitchell from An Inconvenient Marriage overhears Kent talking to Rebecca in Falling In Love With Her Husband and talks to Ann’s father about the matter

Kent Ashton’s Backstory (shows his side of things in Falling In Love With Her Husband)

Back to the Larsons

Catching Kent (Rose Larson’s book where Kent is the hero)

His Convenient Wife (Harriett Larson and Stan Craftsman’s book)

—————-Another side note: Jeremy Graham from Bride of Second Chances talks to Dave Larson and his son, Jacob Larson who owns the mercantile by this time, for a brief moment in the story

*********************

The Native American Series

Meant to Be – minor characters, Cole and Penelope, play a role, and they become more prominent in the Native American Series

Restoring Hope (Woape’s book; Woape befriends Penelope while she’s on the run)

A Chance In Time – I go more into depth on Cole and Penelope’s relationship and show another angle to the friendship Penelope and Woape shared

Brave Beginnings (Julia and Chogan’s book)

———–During Brave Beginnings, Julia and Chogan meet Ann and Todd Brothers from Falling In Love With Her Husband

Bound by Honor Bound by Love (Citlali and Onawa’s book; Penelope and Cole come back)

*******************

I think that’s the connections I have set up at this time.  The other series I have are pretty self-contained.

I’ll make this a page on this blog post and try to add more to it as I find more connections or write more books where I make them.  :D

Second Audition Bloopers

Here are some bloopers from the last post:

and

and

 

Second Audition Tape on my way to Fame!

I will not be deterred from pursuing my acting dream.  Even if Janet Syas Nitsick doesn’t want me as the role of Annie Lee in her work-in-progress, The Bride List, I just know some Hollywood producer will find this and recognize my talent!

A star is born!

Here’s my fabulous second audition tape.  Soak in the wonderful, raw talent that will have people lining up to get my autograph.  Matt Damon will be vying for the lead role as Jimmy Boy, just so he can kiss me.

For the sake of time, I ended it under 2 minutes.  We continued arguing about “booping” for the next hour, and I didn’t think anyone wanted to see it.

Why Does Janet Have to Crush My Dreams?

Can you believe Janet Syas Nitsick’s cold and heartless response to my audition?  I was awesome, but she totally failed to see it.

I mean, after her mean reply to my wonderful audition, she forced her way into my house and threatened me!

Janet ready to clobber Ruth on the head with a hairspray can

And I was like:

Ruth scared for her life

And I said, “Use your words, not violence, woman!”

So then she said:

“You’re not actor material, Ruth. Stick with what you’re somewhat good at: writing books.”

But I didn’t get to where I am today by giving up.  I’m the same author who started out with historical romances so modern people thought I chose the wrong category when I published them.   I even went through the process of making them contemporary until those who loved them convinced me to make them historical again.

This is just another bump in the road like what I faced early on with my historical romances.

I got better with writing historical romances, and I know I can get better with an audition tape.  So that’s what I’m going to do.  I’m going to send out a second tape, and this will be better than the first.

*The whole thing with Janet ready to hit me with hairspray is fiction.  The part about the historical romances, however, is true. :)