Audiobooks

I just finished working with the producer (voice actor) on the audiobook of our book, Murder...They Wrote (Agapé Jones Mysteries). We are awaiting approval from ACX on the release. It should be available soon.

Now, nine of our books are completed. The producers (voice actors) don’t just read the books. Instead, they act out the characters to bring them to life.

I worked with Paul Janes-Brown on a Hawaiian anthology I edited several years ago, Paradise, Passion, Murder: 10 Tales of Mystery from Hawaii. He did a great job on that one, and I was thrilled when he agreed to do this one. He lives in Hawaii and knows the Hawaiian pronunciations. He also enjoyed Agapé. All proceeds for Paradise, Passion, Murder go to Read Aloud America.

I also worked with Tracy Arlene on the audiobook for Savannah Angel’s A Wolf's Magic, published on Savannah’s twelfth birthday. Tracy had the perfect young voice for this YA fantasy.

I just started working with Jean Ruda Habrakovich on the romance anthology Snowflake Secrets, the first book in the Aspen Grove Romance Anthologies series.

She recorded ...And a Silver Sixpence in Her Shoe (Book 6 in the series). I loved her voice on this one, and the sample she recorded for Snowflake Secrets is dynamite.

We have some codes for free audiobooks on Audible. If you’d like to know more, let us know.

The Aspen Grove Anthologies

When the cold weather arrives, I often think of sitting, covered in a warm quilt, reading a book. My favorites are romance anthologies. I got the idea for our Aspen Grove Romance Anthologies on just such a cold night.

I wrote the prologue for the first book and sent it to an author friend, Sherry Derr-Wille. I knew her work, and I felt it would be perfect for the project. She immediately agreed. I asked a mutual friend and another author friend, Christie Shary, to join us. Snowflake Secrets was born.

Unfortunately, our mutual friend became very ill and was unable to continue with the project, so I asked another of my author friends. She agreed, but a week or so later, decided she wouldn’t have the time. Another friend, Luanna Rugh, overheard our discussion and asked me about the project. By the time we finished our conversation, she had already written the first chapter in her head.

One of Sherry’s publishers, Oak Tree Press (now owned by Start Publishing), loved romance anthologies. We had a contract for this book even before we finished it.

We decided to create a fictional town, Aspen Grove, Colorado, as our setting. I had lived in Colorado for a year, Christie’s brother lived there, Luanna had driven through the state several times, and Sherry lived in Wisconsin, so she knew all about seasonal weather. I chose Idaho Springs and Georgetown as the inspirations, but Aspen Grove is wholly fictional.

We had so much fun with Snowflake Secrets, we all decided to do a second. For this one, each of us took a different season and wrote a novella—all of them set in Aspen Grove. In our first book, each of the novellas was written in the first-person voice of the character. For this one, Seasons of Love, we wrote in third-person. (It is the only one of the anthologies written in third-person.) My novella in this one, “Winter’s Song,” is based on a real couple, Dan and Amy. I even play a role in the story. Can you guess who I am?

We liked writing together, and our publisher asked for another. For this one, we each chose a compass direction. I set mine, “Finding Love in Paradise,” in Hawaii and Japan, both places I know well. This book, Directions of Love, won the 2012 EPIC eBook Award for best romance anthology.

I had already written about Christmas, but I felt we needed an anthology dedicated to the season. For this book, An Aspen Grove Christmas, we added Cheryl Gardarian. This was her debut as a published author. This book is Luanna’s husband’s favorite, and Larry has read it many times because he enjoys it, too.

Christie decided not to join us for the next anthology, The Art of Love, so we were back to four authors. We each took an art form, and crafted a story around it. The inspiration for my story was the last name of a friend from work: Amalfatano. It sounded as though it could have been the name of a winery. This novella, “A Shot at Love,” is set in Aspen Grove and the wine country of California and features a photographer.

Number six in the series, and probably the last, came about one day when Luanna and I were talking about the old rhyme: Something old, Something new, Something borrowed, and Something blue. I mentioned that you don’t often hear the last line: …And a Silver Sixpence in Her Shoe. We called Sherry and Cheryl. Each of us had one stanza we liked best. I took “Something Old,” inspired by my mother’s wedding dress. When the cover artist couldn’t find a photo of exactly the right dress, I sent her a picture of my mother in hers. It is now on the cover of the book.

So, if you are looking for a sweet romance to warm a cold, winter night, or you know someone who enjoys romances, please consider one of these as a gift.

Meet Sherry Derr-Wille

This week, meet Sherry Derr-Wille, another of my co-authors of the Aspen Grove romance anthologies. Sherry participated in all six books in the series. We met at a conference in 2006. She lives in Wisconsin. I live in California. I read a couple of her books, so I knew she would fit with the kinds of stories I wanted to tell in the anthologies. She was the first person I asked to be a part of the project. Thank goodness, she said yes. I hope you enjoy getting to know a little about her.

When did you first start writing?

I was a sophomore in high school in the fall of '61, and the teacher said if we got an A on the first test, we could sit in the room and write for a year. I was never told to stop the assignment, and forty years later, I found out I was the only one who liked the it. OOPS, it was a little too late as I'd already signed seventeen contracts. You might say I became an overnight success after forty years of writing.

What do you like about storytelling?

I just love to bring characters and stories to life. As I go back and read previous books I've written, I am amazed that these are really my works.

Where do you get your story ideas?

Some just come to me, some are things I've seen or heard about, and others begin as dreams. Each one is different.

How do you create your characters?

To be truthful, my characters create themselves. What I have in mind when I start, usually changes as their personalities come to light. Are they based on real people? Some are and some are a combination of many people. No matter which they are all visible in my mind.

Besides the Aspen Grove romance anthologies, of which you are a co-author, what other books or series have you written?

The Becky Series, The Birdsinger Series, The Quade Series, Those Gals From Minter Wisconsin Series, The Double M Series, The Rhonda Pohs Series, The Secrets Series, The Outlaw Series, Summer’s Child, Donegal’s Mistress, Port of Fear, Transplanted Love, When Their World Died..., Never Too Late for Love, Never a Bridesmaid, Family Secrets, The Tour, RX Love, Mockingbird, Mistaken Identity, Montana Rose, A Father's Love, and Blue Eagle Feather. I think I have all of the Sherry Derr-Wille books, but if I've missed a couple, I apologize.

Aspen Grove is based on two Colorado mountain towns.

Have you created any other fictitious locations for your books? Most of my towns are fictional. The most famous is Minter, WI based on Milton and Janesville, WI. I've also created fictional worlds when I'm writing fantasy.

Did you enjoy writing as part of a group? Why or why not?

I do, and I don't. I love the challenge of writing as a group, but to be truthful, I'm a solitary author. I've had fun with the Aspen Grove anthologies and have learned a lot from my writing partners.

The Aspen Grove romances are collections of novellas. Do you like writing at that length? Why or why not?

It depends on the day. There are stories that unfold in the shorter version and others that need 30,000-70,000 more words to come to fruition.

       

Of everything you have written, what is your favorite book to date?

That's a loaded question. It's like asking who is your favorite child/grandchild/great grandchild. In a pinch I guess I would say Summer’s Child, Donegal’s Mistress, Mistaken Identity, and The Outlaw Series, but to be truthful, I love them all.

Sherry Derr-Wille is a country girl at heart but gave that lifestyle up when she married her high school sweetheart, Bob Wille, 52 years ago. After living in the small town of Milton, WI for over 30 years, they moved to the big city of Janesville, WI [population 60,000]. Together they have three children, nine grandchildren, and four and a half great grandchildren. Sherry is the author of seventy-six books in the genre of romance, family epics, murder mysteries, and naughty books. Books number 77 and 78 are The Return of the Ancients, a work of science fiction, and Sky Eyes, a Native American story.