Jan Scarbrough's Blog, page 4

Cocktails on Last Chance Beach

I’m more of a wine drinker, not much on cocktails. Let’s face it, I was raised in a non-drinking family. So, when the Last Chance Beach: Summer’s End box set authors were asked to come up with an original cocktail for our FREE promo ebook, I panicked. Enter my trusty editor, Karen Block. She told […]

Last Chance Beach: Summer’s End

I’ve had so much fun this summer working on a publishing project with fourteen romance writers. I’ve joined the ladies from the Romance Gems Blog in a summer beach read set at fictitious Last Chance Beach. Last Chance Beach: Summer’s End is box set of fourteen stories releasing in early August. It is available only […]

New Releases: Ghost Mountain Ranch

Sometimes a simple suggestion leads to a two-year writing project. That’s what took me and my character Hank from the setting of the McKenna Ranch in Paradise Valley, Montana, into Gallatin Canyon which is across the mountain. It didn’t hurt that my husband and I had spent three days at the Covered Wagon Ranch in […]

Good people find their way to Alley Cat Advocates

Once again I’m updating an old blog because Alley Cat Advocates is about to reach its dream of a dedicated facility for “community cats.” As a volunteer, I’m so excited about the new facility. Alley Cat Advocates has accepted the opportunity to rent a freestanding building of approximately 4,500 square feet on the new campus […]

The Annual Christmas Letter: A Family Tradition

With the advent of email, FaceTime, Facebook and other social media—the practice of mailing Christmas cards to family and friends has slowed. Or stopped. I can keep in touch with folks I haven’t seen in years simply by clicking my Facebook Timeline. But it doesn’t matter. I continue to write and send an annual newsletter […]

My Thanksgiving Blessings

It’s popular to give thanks this time of year. I’m thankful for the basics—God, country, and my health. I’m especially happy for family—a husband who’s put up with me for almost twenty married years. I give thanks for two wonderful children and two wonderful stepchildren, who have given us a total of TEN grandchildren, all […]

Betting on Love gets another makeover

Third time’s the charm! Writing a novel takes a little bit of talent, but a lot of practice. Critique partners, beta readers, and a good editor can provide feedback to make a book better. But, sometimes because the novelist simply gets better by writing more, she can see ways to improve the original text. That’s […]

American Cowboy, the Legend

Why do we love the legendary American cowboy? Answer: Because he (or she) is who we want to be. Real cowboys (and cowgirls like Annie Oakley) became romanticized in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, because the public admired the qualities they represented. A book by Duncan Emrich entitled Folklore in the American Land lists these […]

Writing books for my age group

I once received a fan letter (yes, I do have a few fans) that said, “I really appreciate the fact that you have written a book about a woman in my age group.” As Baby Boomers retire, they have more free time. And I contend that women readers of romance enjoy books about women like […]

Write what you know, they say

First shared in the Gems in the Attic blog, Friday, July 14, 2017. Now I’m blogging at Romance Gems. Novel writers are told to “write what you know.” I suppose that’s why I write books set in Kentucky and enjoyed my vacation last summer to Montana where I visited the setting of my Montana McKenna […]