Christmas in July Part II: Christmas in the Wylder County Jail

 

Some stories just write themselves…

 

When starting a new story, it’s a little like taking a journey, and you never know who is going to join you for the ride.  Well it’s that way for us “pantser” writers anyway, I suspect plotters have fewer surprises along the way.

 

Sometimes there are characters who are larger than life and can easily—if not kept in check—take over your entire story. While writing The Wylder County Social Club, my heroine’s mother, Miss Adelaide (spoiler alert: she’s the town madam) was that character.  She was fun to write for, and when she was in a scene, it was hard not to let her take over.  Her character just leapt off the pages for me.  But it wasn’t Addie’s story.  It was Eliza and Coyote’s story.

 

Meanwhile my friend and fellow author, Kim Turner, who was also writing a story for The Wylder West series (Wylder Hearts), was having a similar time with her uncle’s hero, Russ Holt.  We had already decided that Addie and Russ would be having a secret/not so secret romance and the two provided a lot of comic relief in our stories.  Well ol’ Russ stole every scene he was in. 

 

The problem with secondary characters is that they are not usually hero or heroine material.  They are fun, they can be quirky or unusual--and since they don’t have to be heroic, like the main characters, they can be seriously flawed.  So it’s tricky when they strike such a chord with readers that you find yourself being asked over and over to write their story.  How do you turn an un-heroic character into a hero or heroine??

 

And who wants to read a story about an old drunk and the town madam?

A lot of readers, apparently.

 

Which led to Kim and I putting our heads together.  After all, neither one of us had ever been in a co-author situation, or even thought about writing that way. 

 

But fast forward a bit and with a lot of talking and planning, we came up with a system that worked.  And the result is one of my very favorite stories, Christmas in the Wylder County Jail.  

 

I’ll post the blurb and an excerpt below.  If you have not read this story yet about second chance romance, and love between two flawed individuals who are no longer starry eyed young’uns, I hope you will consider doing so. 

 

~*~

Adelaide Willowby is having a bad day. It’s a week before Christmas and she has just kicked out the love of her life. Her sister and her daughter are barely speaking to her, one of her best girls is getting married, and ownership of the Wylder County Social Club is in jeopardy. Now she has landed in jail—for murder.

 

Russ Holt has relied on alcohol to quiet the ghosts from his past for far too long. His latest bender has caused him to let down both Addie and his son, and he knows something has to change. When a stranger in town is found dead and Miss Adelaide is arrested for murder, Russ smells a rat.

 

Can he battle his demons, hunt down the real killer, and win back the woman he loves?

 

 ~*~

Excerpt:

The amber liquid glugged as it filled Addie's teacup. She’d likely hate herself come morning—she already hated herself for being a hypocrite. She’d harped on Russ like an old nag about his drinking. Yet the first sign of trouble and here she sat doing the same damn thing.

Should she find him and apologize? They weren’t married, after all, despite Russ proposing every other week. The cup came to her lips as if it had a mind of its own. She swallowed it all in one gulp, welcoming the mind-numbing warmth that spread through her.

No, Russ’d show up. Sooner or later, he’d show up.

Til then, she needed to talk to Clancy. Alone. Maybe she could get him to settle for less if that lawyer wasn’t there talkin’ out both sides of his mouth.

She rose, swaying a bit unsteadily on her feet. Wind rattled the windows outside, reminding her of the coming storm. For a moment she considered waking Abraham and having him accompany her. No, that wouldn’t be right, that would only wake Em and get her all worried, then she’d tell the rest of the girls, who’d wake Aoife… Besides, she didn’t want it to look like she was tryin’ to intimidate Clancy by bringing her hired man along.

Her reticule was in the bottom desk drawer, so she grabbed it. She checked inside to see her trusty derringer. Russ had given it to her years ago and taught her how to shoot. Not that she could hit the side of a barn—’less she wasn’t aiming for it.

Aww Russ.

Agony stabbed at the back of her mind at the memory, but she forced it aside. There would be time to examine her feelings later, when all this was dealt with.

She dropped the little gun into the drawer, no sense borrowing trouble.

She wrapped her favorite shawl around her, the one Sarah Taylor had embroidered when she first come to town. Another rattle at the window and she grabbed her cloak as well. Her favorite mother of pearl letter opener caught her eye and she tucked it into her cloak pocket. Just in case she needed it for protection.

After all, it was late, and decent women weren’t out alone at this hour.

Well, nobody had ever accused Adelaide Willowby of bein’ a decent woman.

 

Wednesday on Writing: New writing series coming soon!

 Because I have been in and around the publishing industry for so long  (uh we are talking 35+ years, people.  Which, of course, means I started in the womb! LOL) I am often asked to share some of what I have learned along the way.  Not just as a prepubbed author and a published author, but as many of you know, I also work in the publishing industry as an editor and have done freelance editing as well.  So... there's a lot of clutter rattling around the cobwebs in my brain and sometimes I think it might be nice to clean house, give some of this info away.

Stay tuned here each Wednesday as I talk not just about the nuts and bolts of writing but the how-to's of the publishing world.  How to get an editor's attention --both good and bad.  Sort of a do-this- not-that series.  

So leave me your questions below and I will do my best to address them in the series.

Til then, 

Happy Hump Day!

Nic

Friday Friends: Kim Turner with Wylder Hearts

Available December 2, 2020!

 Caleb Holt is the man to see for a good horse. Abuse an animal and he'll teach the lesson that goes with it. When he lands on top of a woman in the midst of a brawl and snags a passionate kiss, he sparks a fire he never expected. But it doesn't take the cowboy long to learn a lesson of his own… sometimes love comes with a price. 

Seamstress Laurel Adams is embarrassed by Caleb's stolen kiss. Though she is determined to raise her son alone, she wonders at the ease of falling for the handsome horseman. But when the husband who abandoned her returns, there is only one choice to make—the one that breaks her heart into tiny pieces.

                                                                         ~*~
  

The businessman bolted forward and swung a fist that made contact with his chin, leaving him off balance and staggering backward. Trying to avoid the crowd that had collected, he bobbled and went down, expecting to hit the ground. But the impact never came. Instead he landed softly to a shrill feminine scream, and the greenest eyes he’d ever beheld.

Time simply froze, the world around him a haze as he found himself mesmerized by the beauty of the woman beneath him. It had been a damn long time since he was in such a position as this.

Unable to move with the crowd about them, he apologized, allowing a slight smile to curl his lips, though he knew he should get back to the fight. He reached to tip his hat and realized he’d lost it. The feel of her bosom pressed between them stirred up a thing or two. “Beggin’ your pardon, ma’am.”

“I’m quite all right.” She pushed to rise, but the crowd surrounding them was thick.

“Actually, I was apologizing for this.” Caleb bent to kiss her, slow and searing, her lips plump and tender, holding him there a moment longer than needed. He held her surprised green-eyed gaze a moment more and then he was back to the fight.

Wylder Hearts will be released on December 2, 2020.  Pre-order here. For more information on Kim's other books visit her website or blog 

Kim Turner writes western historical romance, and discovered her passion of writing at the age of eight by writing poems, short stories and journals. Kim graduated from Clayton State University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing and holds a Master’s Degree in Adult Education from Central Michigan University. Working as a registered nurse Educator/Quality Analyst for over twenty-seven years, she enjoys studying the medical treatments of the old west as well as keeping up with the latest western movies and television. While she loves reading anything from highlanders to pirates, she claims to have an unquenchable thirst for the American Cowboy when choosing her reads. Kim lives south of Atlanta with her husband and calls her greatest accomplishment the birth of one daughter and the adoption of another from China-neither of which came easy. Kim is a member of Romance Writers of American and Georgia Romance Writers and calls her critique group from Southside Scribes the best thing that ever happened to her writing, that and a pretty wonderful group of beta readers. Kim’s debut novel SAWYER’S ROSE was a 2014 Maggie Finalist and a 2015 Golden Heart Finalist!

Kim’s Motto: It’s All About A Cowboy and the Woman He Loves.

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