ABOUT A DOG

 

I recently shared about Luanna Rugh’s book, Up in Flames, in which a scarlet macaw plays a major role. She has another with a dog in a central role in Love From the Sea.

Two strangers find a near-drowned puppy buried in seaweed on the beach. They rescue him together and name him Sandy. Amber Winslow wants to keep him. However, pets are not allowed in her apartment. Wyatt Andrews has a home with a kennel, but his hours are not conducive to meeting the injured pup’s schedule requirements for recovery. They decide to compromise. Both will care for Sandy together. Over the weeks and months of Sandy’s recovery, will Amber and Wyatt find love along with their love of the puppy?

In this book, Sandy, the dog, contributes to the narrative from a personal standpoint.

We spent a delightful day at the beach with Luanna’s dog, Gina, shooting photos for the cover.

Not long afterward, Gina passed away. Luanna was delighted that Gina will be forever honored as the cover model for this book.

If you enjoy sweet romance with humor, you will love this book.

LUANNA RUGH was born and raised on a dairy in Central California. She always loved animals, cats and dogs, cows and horses, not to mention the many wild animals living in the area. At ten, she decided she wanted to become a high school biology teacher.

Her family moved to Southern California the year she entered high school. Luanna followed her path in college until the summer of 1966. She worked at a local restaurant where she met the love of her life, Len Rugh. They were married in February of 1967. A year and a half later, Len was drafted and sent to Vietnam where he was critically wounded, but that’s another story.

When Len returned to California, she finished school and earned two teaching credentials in 1984.

At age fifty-seven, she discovered she could write when she co-authored the first of the six books in the Aspen Grove Romance Anthologies. She contributed to all six of them.

After she and Len published their award-winning memoir, Promises Kept: How One Couple’s Love Survived Vietnam, she decided to stretch her wings, and write on her own. She loves writing animals as supporting characters. In Love From the Sea, a dog plays a major role. In Up in Flames, another dog and a scarlet macaw are lead characters.

Her books are available in paperback and Kindle editions. Most are also available as audiobooks.

She hopes you enjoy reading them as much as she loved writing them.

ABOUT A BIRD

Luanna Rugh is a close friend. I have edited several of her books. In addition, she participated in all six of the Aspen Grove Romance Anthologies.

Luanna’s stories nearly always include animals—usually dogs. Quite a while ago, she began a story with a scarlet macaw as a principal character. Other projects prevented her from finishing it, but I always loved it—especially the opening.

Up in Flames is a romance with lots of complications.

“Nine—one—one. What is the nature of your emergency?” “Our bird’s stuck in a tall tree.” “Young man, this number is for human emergencies only.” “It is. Honest, lady. My mom was trying to get our macaw down. Now her foot is caught and she’s stuck in the tree, too. I didn’t know what else to do.”

A young widow with a son in a new town, a bird stuck in a tree, an unsympathetic fire captain—how can this lead to romance? Lyanna Thomas and her son, Davey, have moved to Aspen Grove Colorado following her husband’s death. When their macaw, Scarlet, decides to go adventuring, a whole new world opens up for the family.

When our writing group had to stop meeting due to the pandemic, I encouraged Luanna to finish the book, and I did the final edit and formatting.

Larry designed the cover. 

Luanna knows all about macaws and parrots because she has one herself. She totally conveys their behavior. Scarlet is definitely a pivotal character in the book.

If you enjoy romance with a sense of humor, you will love this book.

LUANNA RUGH was born and raised on a dairy in Central California. She always loved animals, cats and dogs, cows and horses, not to mention the many wild animals living in the area. At ten, she decided she wanted to become a high school biology teacher.

Her family moved to Southern California the year she entered high school. Luanna followed her path in college until the summer of 1966. She worked at a local restaurant where she met the love of her life, Len Rugh. They were married in February of 1967. A year and a half later, Len was drafted and sent to Vietnam where he was critically wounded, but that’s another story.

When Len returned to California, she finished school and earned two teaching credentials in 1984.

At age fifty-seven, she discovered she could write when she co-authored the first of the six books in the Aspen Grove Romance Anthologies. She contributed to all six of them.

After she and Len published their award-winning memoir, Promises Kept: How One Couple’s Love Survived Vietnam, she decided to stretch her wings, and write on her own. She loves writing animals as supporting characters. In Love From the Sea, a dog plays a major role. In Up in Flames, another dog and a scarlet macaw are lead characters.

Her books are available in paperback and Kindle editions. Most are also available as audiobooks.

She hopes you enjoy reading them as much as she loved writing them.

HOW I WRITE HISTORICAL ROMANCE NOVELS

 

Today my friend, Shirley Skufca Hickman is my guest on my blog. I had the privilege of editing both of her historical romances as well as several of her other books. Welcome, Shirley. I asked her about how she writes historical romance.

 

I’ve written two romance novels, Sarah Darlin’ and The Tangled Web of Love. I like researching the time period, creating the main and minor characters, and developing a plot.

Often twenty pages of research may become a single paragraph in the book. I like to discover historical characters who can interact with my fictional ones.

For my first romance novel, Sarah Darlin’, set in San Francisco during the Gold Rush, I found Tom McGuire, a real person, and used him to hire my fictional characters, Sarah, Patrick, and Katie O’Malley to sing and dance in his Jenny Lind Theater. Much of the action in the book takes place there. When the theater burns down, it triggers a painful memory for Patrick O’Malley.

Sarah O’Malley and Richard Moresby, are attracted to one another, but the O’Malleys left Ireland during the potato famine because of the injustice and cruelty of British landowners. Understandably, they despise the British. Sarah is fascinated by Richard, a British aristocrat, but is torn between her loyalty to the O’Malleys and Richard’s appealing charm.

My second romance novel, The Tangled Web of Love, set in England in 1812, is one of my favorite time periods because its stratified society offers limitations and opportunities.

In researching this time period, I found Richard Wellesley, former Governor General of India. He helps my fictional character, David, sign a lucrative contract with the East India Company, and Elizabeth translates for Wellesley’s French wife.

David Stedfeld, an orphan forced to steal as a child to survive, is now a sea captain and one of the richest men in London. Lady Elizabeth Reneau, the daughter of a duke, was born into wealth and privilege, but after her parents died and their estate sold, she is forced to live with her licentious uncle.

She runs away and waves down David’s coach to ask for a ride to London. She refuses further help and secures a position in London as a seamstress. She borrows a gown to attend a ball, but David accidentally spills wine on it, ruining it. She is dismissed, charged with theft, and sent to Newgate Prison, David fights to free her and offers her a position as his housekeeper. As their mutual attraction grows, Elizabeth knows David desires her, but will he ever love her?

After the research is complete, main characters determined, and a basic plot outlined, minor characters are created. Fortunately, or unfortunately, sometime they tend to stay longer than I intended.

I introduce Brandon Ratliff so Elizabeth has someone to dance with at the duchess’s ball, but he continues to intrude upon her life and competes with David for her attention.

Sean, in Sarah Darlin’, also refused to leave. I used him to illustrate how sailors were fleeced by unscrupulous landladies, but when the O’Malleys meet Sean, wrapped only in a blanket, they can’t leave him in the street, so they take him home, give him clothes, and help him find a job. Soon he becomes Richard’s rival for Sarah’s affections.

I never planned any of this, but Sean became so interesting to some readers, they requested a sequel to find out what happened to him.

Will the O’Malley’s accept Sarah and Richard’s love for one another? Will David and Elizabeth find enduring love despite their social differences?

Of course, they will. My responsibility as a romance writer is to make sure my characters live happily ever after in my books.

 

SHIRLEY SKUFCA HICKMAN grew up in a Colorado coal mining town, during World War II. As an adult, she wrote about the war from a child’s point of view in Don’t Be Give Up.

In 1947, the mine closed, forcing the family to move. Living in three rooms and sleeping in the kitchen with her two older sisters, she wondered if they’d ever have a real home again. Whenever her father made life better for the family, he’d ask: Is Everybody Happy Now? This became the title of her next memoir.

She enjoyed her high school years until her father’s death devastated the family. Without his love and financial support, they might have lost their home. Family is Forever is about their love for one another and how they coped.

Shirley graduated from college and became a teacher. She wrote Fall in Love With An Orange Tree or a Book about a teenager who lived in the shadows because she was in the U.S. illegally.

When parents asked her to recommend a book to help their children, she wrote: School Success: Five Hundred Ways Busy Parents Can Help their Children in School.

She also wrote Sarah Darlin’, a romance novel set in San Francisco during the Gold Rush. Before Sarah and her lover could be together, they must deal with prejudice, a fire, and a terrible secret from Sarah’s past.

In 2020, she published Rocky Road is More Than a Candy Bar about her courtship with her husband, Joe. Another moving memoir from this author.

Her greatest joys are her son, his wife, and their two boys.

For more information, contact the author at hickman@ocsnet.net

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 Luanna Rugh

Today, I interview Luanna Rugh, another of my co-authors for the Aspen Grove romance anthologies. Luanna’s first published book was Snowflake Secrets, the first of the series. She has appeared in all of the Aspen Grove books. Welcome, Luanna.

When did you first start writing?

In 2002, I joined my husband in writing our autobiography, Promises Kept: How One Couple’s Love Survived Vietnam. (He had been working on it for over twenty years.) I went kicking and screaming all the way, until I found out I really liked writing.

What do you like about storytelling?

The more I write, the more I enjoy telling stories, especially if an animal is one of the characters.

Where do you get your story ideas?

The characters seem to seep into the creative part of my brain and begin to write the story themselves.

How do you create your characters? Are they based on real people?

I never write about real people. I don’t like invading other people’s lives. My characters manufacture themselves. Sometimes I need to give some direction, but most of them do their own thing. Descriptions, personalities, how they feel about the other characters manage to come together to make it all work.

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

I co-authored Promises Kept: How One Couple’s Love Survived Vietnam, our memoir, with my husband. I just published my first solo book, Love from the Sea. It is the first in a series to be called “Love, Left Coast Style.”

Aspen Grove is based on two Colorado mountain towns. Have you created any other fictitious locations for your books?

I like to write about places I know, have lived, or have visited. Again, my characters decide where they want to live. 

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

I enjoyed working with others, especially when the four stories are somehow intertwined. I liked trying to figure how the pieces of four different stories come together.

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

I guess I never gave much thought about the length of anything published or stories I’m writing. Only when I wrote in The Aspen Grove series was I concerned about word count.

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

That’s easy. It will always be Promises Kept: How One Couple’s Love Survived Vietnam, our autobiography.

Luanna Rugh was born and raised on a dairy in Central California. She always loved animals, cats and dogs, cows and horses, not to mention the many wild critters living in the area. At ten, she decided she wanted to become a high school biology teacher. Her family moved to Southern California where Luanna followed her path in college until the summer of 1966 when she met the love of her life, Len Rugh. They were married on February of 1967. A year and a half later, Len was drafted and sent to Vietnam where he was critically wounded. When Len returned, she finished school and earned two teaching credentials. At age fifty-seven, she discovered she could write. She co-authored the first of six books in the Aspen Grove romance anthology series: "Snowflake Secrets," "Seasons of Love," "Directions of Love," "An Aspen Grove Christmas," "The Art of Love," and "…And a Silver Sixpence in Her Shoe." She and Len published their memoir, "Promises Kept: How One Couple’s Love Survived Vietnam." "Love From the Sea" is her first solo work. She hopes you enjoy reading it as much as she loved writing it.