Welcome western romance author, DeAnn Smallwood...

1)   Did you set any goals for 2013?

Yes. I always set goals. Do I keep them…no, not always. I set a goal to lose weight and guess what, I’ve lost 25 pounds. Still have 15 to go. I also set a goal to get more exercise and I’m now running 3 miles a day, weather permitting. Another goal is to write two books a year. I’m trying. I seem to get sidetracked with life. 

2)   Who or what has been your biggest influence as a writer?

My readers are my biggest influence. Whenever I feel my spirits dragging, and someone tells me they like my books, or I read a positive comment, I reaffirm that I can do this. I love writing. I always say next to writing, my greatest pleasure is having my books read and enjoyed. I also need to give credit here to my copyeditor, Janet Zupan. Janet has been my rock throughout my writing career. She believes in me and has the ability to say the right thing at the right time.

3)   How long does it take you to write a 50,000-60,000 word manuscript?

It’s not how long it takes me to write a 50,000-60,000 word manuscript, but it’s the editing that takes so long. I can write this size of a manuscript in three or four months. Then comes the drawn out process of editing. I’m terrible with those pesky punctuation marks. My thoughts come out faster than my fingers can type so there’s plenty of editing work to be done.

5)   Tell us about a new author you’ve recently discovered

He’s not really new, but new to me. I’ve just been introduced to Richard Evans. I’ve read his ‘Walk’ series and am waiting for the fifth in this series to come out. If you want to read some new authors that are really good, look at the SoulMate Publishing authors. These writers are very talented.

6)   Name two romances you’ve read more than once

I’ve read a couple of Nora Robert’s romances more than once. She just grabs me. She also inspires me to write. I think you could read Gone With The Wind a dozen times and still find it enthralling. I have read books by Amanda Quick more than once. Her heroes are so dashing. I did have a friend tell me she read my book, Montana Star, three times. Yahoo!

7)   Tell us about your first car

I learned to drive in an old 1954 Cheve’ pickup. I took my drivers test in it and, gulp, failed. The darn thing was missing a spark plug and every time I pulled up to a stop sign, it died. That’s a long way from my current baby…a 2013 Nissan four-wheel drive pickup. This is my first truck since the Cheve’. I’m not sure why I went from a van to a pickup. But I really love this shiny white cutie. It takes me away from being a grandmother. I’ve had it two months and I even keep it clean. And that’s a first for me.

Wyoming Heather

by DeAnn Smallwood

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BLURB:

Heather is a spirited, independent woman living alone on a ranch left to her by her parents. She is also a healer of animals, domestic and wild. A woman doing a man's work, running a ranch that everyone said couldn't be done, not in this untamed, vastly unsettled land, in the mid 1800's. The ranch had everything she needed except water. She stole that from a neighboring abandoned ranch watched over by a lonely cabin and a grave.

He rode alone, coming back after five years to an empty cabin, a run-down ranch, and a grave on a hill. A former Texas Ranger burnt out on life and afraid to love. Whip had spent five years hunting the man that took his wife's life and left him to die.

Whip and Heather meet in an explosive moment on the banks of the Powder River. Both lonely, both drawn to one another, and both stubbornly fighting the attraction.

Whip vowed he would take up his dream abandoned five years ago and make his beloved ranch profit and to put aside the sweet linger of all memories shared by him and his wife. The ranch would be a jealous mistress occupying his every thought and every minute. He had no time or desire for a woman much less a pair of runaways from The Orphan Train, stowaways in Whip’s wagon and onto the Powder River Ranch.

But fate heeds no one or no thing. The criminal from Whip’s past reemerges in the present. Now, Heather is in danger and Whip stand, once again on the cusp of loss. Fate shows a strong, willful woman, full of love and compassion, just what she’s been missing in her life. And it shows a calloused Texas Ranger that Heather and love does flourish on the Wyoming plains.

EXCERPT

 Callie was a liar. A darned good one. She didn’t set out to be one; it just happened and necessity demanded she perfect this dubious art.

 She was twenty-two when she told her first lie. After that, it was like a pebble rolling downhill, starting slow, then gaining momentum.

 The problem lay in remembering the embellishments. Just last week she’d named her imaginary fiancé Frank and, two days later, referred to him as Tom.

 It wasn’t her fault she was reduced to lying. It wasn’t her fault she’d been born the weaker sex. Weaker, bah.

 Wasn’t she a crack shot? If women were allowed to compete, she would out shoot any man around.

 Wasn’t she an expert horsewoman? Granted, she had only ridden at Miss Whitman’s Riding Stable For Young Ladies, but how much harder could it be to ride on the open plains? A horse was a horse.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 I live in Colorado with my husband and my two Yorkie kid dogs: Stormy, four pounds, and Eli, six pounds. I’m a native of Colorado, but I lived several years in Wyoming and Montana.  I draw from these beautiful states for much of my material. My historical romances are: Montana Star, Sapphire Blue, Unconquerable Callie, and Wyoming Heather.  Tears In The Wind is a contemporary romance. Then I changed genres from my beloved romances and wrote, under the pen name of D. M. Woods, my first suspense/thriller: Death Crosses The Finish Line. The second book in this ‘death’ series, Death Is A Habit, will be out later this year. Truly, I mean it when I say my greatest pleasure next to writing is having my books read and enjoyed. There are many more stories just waiting to be written and enjoyed.

facebook

http://www.facebook.com/pages/DeAnn-Smallwood-also-writing-as-DM-Woods/366637150050917

website link

http://www.deannsmallwood.com/

 

DeAnn will be awarding a $25 BN gift card to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.



Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:

 http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/10/virtual-nbtm-tour-wyoming-heather-by.html

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