Isaac: Letters of Fate by Paty Jager

Today at The Write Way Café, award-winning author Paty Jager shares interesting facts about her Letters of Fate series.


Tell us a little about Isaac: Letters of Fate.
     This book was first issued as part of Debra Holland’s Montana Sky World, through Kindle Worlds. When I wrote the first version of this book, I loved it and was sorry I had put it in her world. But Kindle Worlds closed and I received my rights back. One of the stipulations of getting my rights back was taking out all of the elements from the Montana Sky World. Which also made me happy because the other two Letters of Fate books are set in Oregon and now so is Isaac. The new setting for it is actually one of the highest payout mining areas in Oregon. The Cornucopia mines.
     As with all of my Letters of Fate books, they start with the hero getting a letter that changes his life. In the case of Isaac, he receives a letter from the daughter of a miner who died. Isaac had taken care of the man until his death and had sent his pay and a letter to the family. But the daughter isn’t satisfied that all of her father’s belongings were returned and has come to get them. The two are like water and oil until they begin to trust one another and see the others true character.

If Isaac: Letters of Fate was made into a movie, who would play your main characters, and why?
     Since this is a western…a young Tom Selleck would be perfect for Isaac, but let me see if I can find a younger actor… Christian Bale. He has the look I picture for Isaac and is 6 ft. While most of his roles have been tough characters, to play Isaac, he’d have to have a more forgiving personality. My choice for Alamayda would be Anne Hathaway. She is physically tall and thin and could do an excellent job of showing not only Alamayda’s chip on her shoulder when Isaac first meets her but she could also show the child-like qualities Alamayda never had the chance to explore since she had to take care of her younger siblings.

How is this book related to your Letter of Fate series?
     This is book 2 in the Letters of Fate series, but these books don’t have to be read in order due to the only thing making them a series is the fact the heroes receive a letter that changes their lives. There are no reoccurring characters and all are in different settings.

Who is your intended audience and why should they read your book?
     Anyone who enjoys reading about U.S. Western history, cowboys, outlaws, and romance would like these books. I make sure the stories are historically accurate, warts and all. There are gunfights, fist fights, and passion in my books.

How did you become involved with the subject or theme of your book?
     I came up with the Letters of Fate series because I wanted to put a twist on the Mail Order Bride theme. I wanted men to receive a letter that took them to the woman who would become their wife.

Who is your favorite character from your book and why?
      I love both Isaac and Alamayda. They are two of my favorite historical western characters. My favorite character in the book is a secondary character. White Hawk is an older warrior they come across. He has a wry sense of humor and deep sense of honor.

How about your least favorite character? What makes them less appealing to you?
     My least favorite character is Tulley, a new guard who tries to force himself on Alamayda more than once and falls in with two outlaws looking for the same thing Alamayda and Isaac are seeking.

Tell us a little bit about your cover art. Who designed it? Why did you go with that particular image/artwork?
     I’m proud of my cover. The background photo of the cave or actually old mine was taken by me. I saw it while driving to Bourne, Oregon an old mining area in the Blue Mountains of Oregon. I found the photo of the cowboy on one of the online photo depositories. My daughter is my cover designer. She is Covered by CLKeerins. Because the story deals with mining and they spend some time in a cave, I thought my photo made a good background for the book. My cover designer designed the Letters of Fate banner and did an awesome job with the ebook and print covers.

Give us an interesting fun fact or a few about your book or series:
     In Brody: Letters of Fate, I have the hero and heroine stuck in a cave that is ten miles from where I live. It is a lava tube cave that has a lake in it. Davis: Letters of Fate is set at the base of the Steens Mountains which are about thirty miles as the crow flies from where I live. I incorporated a real person into the book. Peter French who ran one of the largest cattle enterprises in Oregon in the mid-to-late 1800s. And as I state above, I set the beginning of Isaac in a mining area that amassed $20 million worth of ores taken from that area in the years it was mined.

If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?
     Hands down it would be Nicole McCaffrey. She was the first person to see my potential and help me hone my craft. We have been good friends since the day I received a contest entry back and she’d explained what I was doing wrong rather than just marking red everywhere and not explaining anything. She put her email on my entry and said she wrote historical western romance too. We became critique partners. I helped her with horse related questions and she helped me with craft. We’ve never met in person but I hope to see her this fall when I travel to the east coast with my daughter.

Do you have any unique talents or hobbies?
     Hmmm…. I can write backwards. I sent letters home from college written backward and would transcribe my class notes backwards. I like to sew and ride my horse.

Do you have any tips for readers or advice for other writers trying to get published?
     Readers: The best way to make sure an author you like continues to write what you like is to leave a review. While many don’t read every review, we do make note of how many reviews we have and the rating because that can be used to help us get ads to promote our books. We can’t write if we can’t show a profit from our writing. 
     Writers: If you love to write and want to pursue it as a career, then make sure you join writers groups and learn not only the craft of writing but also the business of writing. Whether you plan to self-publish or go the traditional route. Knowing what you need to know will help you with the self-publishing side and make an agent or editor like that you are knowledgeable about your career path.

What can readers who enjoy your book do to help make it successful?
     The best way to say thank you to an author is to write a review and put it up at the ebook vendor where you bought the book, Goodreads, and Bookbub if you are a member. Also, tell others how much you enjoyed the book. If you are on social media put up the cover or talk about the book and why you enjoyed it.

What can we expect from you in the future?
     Lottie Mae: Silver Dollar Saloon another historical western romance just published. Coming up next are two more Shandra Higheagle mystery books to round out this year. Dangerous Dance and Honeymoon Cadaver. Then I start 2019 with a contemporary western novella from the Tumbling Creek Ranch series, Wrong Cowboy to Love and a book a month coming out January, February, and March of my new Gabriel Hawke series. The next Silver Dollar Saloon book, Freedom, will be out in June 2019.


Thank you for having me on The Write Way! I enjoy being a guest and answering your wonderful, thought provoking questions.


Isaac: Letters of Fate
Historical western filled with steamy romance and the rawness of a growing country.

Alamayda Wagner’s life has left her cynical, but also vigilant, and that’s what propels her to Cornucopia, Oregon to uncover the secrets her father took to his grave. She quickly discovers her only hope includes trusting Isaac Corum. That soon proves to be expensive, and not just financially.

The last thing Isaac Corum needs or wants is a snooty woman telling him he didn’t do enough to save her father, which is what her letter implied. He’d helped the man more than most people would have, and swears he won’t go out of his way like that again. He’ll meet her at the Baker City train station, deliver her father’s belongings, and send her back the way she came.

Universal Buy Link  - Available in ebook and print.


Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 34 novels, 8 novellas, and numerous short stories and anthologies of murder mystery and western romance. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. This is what readers have to say about the Letters of Fate series- “...filled with romance, adventure and twists and turns.” “What a refreshing and well written love story of fate and hope!”

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Building a Series, One Idea at a Time by Paty Jager

The Write Way Cafe welcomes Paty Jager, who shares her strategy for writing series.

There is a process that goes on in my head when an idea strikes. My Tumbling Creek Ranch series was just such a spark of inspiration.

I was asked to write a novella for a box set. I did and enjoyed being part of a box set with contemporary western themed stories. When they asked if I wanted to be in another box set, a light bulb went off. These box sets were only up for 6 months. Then the story reverted back to me. Why not write a series and get more bang for my time spent on the stories?

And that is when I came up with the idea of a family cattle ranch turned Dude Ranch. I’m not sure why I set the Tumbling Creek Ranch series in Montana other than I’d been reading my Cowboys and Indians magazine and saw several Dude Ranches in Montana advertised in the magazine.

Then I had to populate the series with a family and decide how many books I would put out in the series. The first book, 8 Seconds to Love was a story that had been spinning in my mind for a while. A good friend’s daughter rode bulls in high school rodeo. I found it fascinating that a woman would want to do that. My character Lacey Wallis came to life. I interviewed the daughter on why she’d ridden bulls, using that and some videos of other female bull riders being interviewed, and I had my character. I gave her caring parents who had once owned the Tumbling Creek Ranch with her aunt and uncle. They sold out to her oldest cousin, who had made the ranch into the Dude Ranch. He also happens to be the best friend of hero, Jared McIntyre, in 8 Seconds to Love. He is a male nurse who had been a medic in the Army.

I gave Lacey a younger brother and her cousin, Brett Wallis, two brothers. In the first book, I introduced Jared’s single brother who will also find romance in a novella. That will make 6 novellas in the Tumbling Creek Ranch series. A good round number, and I can make 2 box sets of 3 from the 6 novellas.

After I came up with the siblings and wrote up some background on each one, I made up a small town and put it in an area of Montana that looked like a good place, on Google Maps, to give the ranch all the qualities I wanted. Good grazing, trails up a mountain, and small falls and creeks.

Using the photos I saw in the magazine, I set out to describe and draw the layout of the main house/lodge and cabins along with the barns, bunkhouse, and other outbuildings.

I put all of this in a notebook and started a timeline to keep track of what people are doing in each book and how their lives move forward.

This is a process I do for all of my series, whether they are western or mystery. When I work on a series, I pull the notebook off the shelf and begin sketching in the new characters and what will happen to the character who is already established in the series. If it’s a romance, I fill out a conflict chart. If it’s a mystery, I fill out a suspect chart.

It has taken me years to figure out the system that works best for me, and this seems to be it. I can’t use all the fancy software that is available to make things easier. I like having all the information in a notebook beside my computer as I write.


Here is book one in the series:

8 Seconds to Love
Book one of the Tumbling Creek Ranch series
Lacey Wallis has put blood, sweat, and tears into her dream of making it to the National Finals Rodeo and isn’t about to let an injury stop her. However, she didn’t expect the ER nurse to be the man she had a crush on years ago, or to discover that crush hadn’t been one-sided.

Jared McIntyre lived through loving and the death of one thrill-seeking woman and wasn’t about to let that happen again. Especially, not to Lacey. But that would mean he’d have to allow himself to love again.

Which will it be, a life-long dream, or the love of a lifetime?

Universal link: https://www.books2read.com/u/b5M1Ep
Available in July


Love Me Anyway
Book two of the Tumbling Creek Ranch Series 
Melanie Trask ran away from an abusive husband and is hiding at a remote dude ranch. When she and the ranch owner can no longer deny their feelings, he offers to help her divorce her husband. But she has one more secret she hasn’t revealed…

Brett Wallis has fallen hard for the quiet, competent woman who landed at his ranch when he needed help. But will he be able to choose between Melanie or the ranch when he discovers the truth behind her secrecy?

Preorder universal link: https://www.books2read.com/u/mgLl7q


Now available in a box set!

The Wrong Cowboy to Love
Book three in the Tumbling Creek Ranch Series
Computer geek Ruby Cutter feels like a fish out of water with a makeover her cousin put her through for the bachelorette party and wedding. The only reason she went along with it…her high school crush will be at the wedding. She’d fantasized for years over him and plans to make him see her.

Dillon Wallis is minding his own business getting ready for a gig at a bar when a tipsy, blonde who is with a bachelorette party and doesn’t realize she’s gorgeous, tumbles into his arms and captures his heart.

The only problem…she’s in love with his cousin.




Box Set
Do You Take This Cowboy?

For Better… For Worse… 
In Sickness and health…

Falling for a cowboy is easy, but when weddings happen on the ranch, anything can happen and often does! Roping, Fireworks and Magic…Enjoy seven wonderful tales of love and marriage by some best-selling and award-winning Western Contemporary Romance authors.

Available in Kindle Unlimited https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DH69BYZ/

Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 34 novels, a dozen novellas, and numerous anthologies of murder mystery and western romance. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters.

This is what Romance Junkies has to say about the Tumbling Creek Ranch series: “There are twists and turns to the story with a nice flow and a depth to the characters. The vivid scenic descriptions made me feel like I was there… I hope to return to Tumbling Creek Ranch over and over again.”

Blog / Website /  Facebook / Paty's Posse / Goodreads / Twitter / Pinterest / Bookbub


 

Tuesday Special: Artful Murder by Paty Jager

Paty Jager

http://www.patyjager.net/

Secrets… Scandal… Murder…

An autistic boy and his brother need potter Shandra Higheagle’s help when a teacher’s body is found after a confrontation with the older brother. Shandra knows the boy is innocent. Digging into the teacher’s life, she and Ryan turn up scandal.

Detective Ryan Greer has believed in Shandra’s dreams in the past, but she can’t always be right. When his investigation uncovers a principal on the take, females being harassed, and parents kept in the dark, he discovers more suspects than the brothers. 

Shandra’s time at the school is coming to an end, and the killer has struck again.

Book ten in the Shandra Higheagle Mystery Series

https://www.books2read.com/u/bapvjq

Paty Jager is the award-winning author of the Shandra Higheagle Mystery series. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Paty and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it. This is what Mysteries Etc has to say about her Shandra Higheagle mystery series: “Mystery, romance, small town, and Native American heritage combine to make a compelling read.”

Blog / Website /  Facebook / 
Paty's Posse / Goodreads / Twitter / 
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Tuesday Special: Haunting Corpse with Paty Jager

PATY JAGER

www.patyjager.net

Desertion…Wrath…Murder

A runaway bride, murder, and arson has Shandra Higheagle sleuthing again. Sorting through the debris of her best friend’s childhood, Shandra believes she must solve the murder before her friend becomes the next victim.

Stumbling upon a dead body, Detective Ryan Greer is determined to bring the killer to justice before Shandra becomes too entangled in her friend’s dysfunctional past. He hopes he’s not too late. Her deceased grandmother has already visited her dreams, putting Shandra in the middle of his investigation and danger.

Universal buy link

Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 32 novels, 6 novellas, and numerous anthologies of murder mystery, western romance, and action adventure. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. This is what Mysteries Etc says about her Shandra Higheagle mystery series: “Mystery, romance, small town, and Native American heritage combine to make a compelling read.”

Blog / Website /  Facebook / 
Paty's Posse / Goodreads / Twitter / Pinterest

What Do You Do? by Paty Jager

The Write Way Café welcomes Paty Jager, who researches characters by asking real people: What do you do?

Thank you for having me at the Write Way Café!

The best part of writing for me is research. I don’t mean researching history.  Though I am an American History buff and love to dig up unique things about an area where I set a story.

The research I love to do is one that comes from my time as a freelance human interest reporter. While I’m an introvert and prefer to hide in a corner or the back of a room when in a group, I love one-on-one time with people and asking them questions about their occupations.

That’s what I’ve had to do several times when giving a character an occupation or ethnic background that I’m not familiar with.

The most recent was preparing to write a book about an amateur sleuth who was half Native American. This is a contemporary story and I wanted to discover how a person growing up in the 21st century with this background would feel. I happened to run into an author who had lived a life similar to what I wanted to use. We conversed at a conference and she emailed me with her feelings and thoughts on growing up not a full blood American Indian and not Caucasian. After discussing it with her, I realized it was an emotional ride. One I didn’t think I could fully write. Knowing this, I still made my character half Native American and half white but had her brought up ignoring her American Indian heritage at the request of her White mother and stepfather. This way I could have her discover her roots with an inquisitive and hesitant heart, much like I could see myself doing.

I wanted this character, Shandra Higheagle, to be an artist. I decided as a nod to her heritage she would be a potter. But I wanted to make her a unique potter. Discussing this with my artist brother, he put me in contact with a potter who digs and purifies the clay he uses in his work.  I spent an informational and fun afternoon with “Olaf”. He told me how he finds good clay soil and the tedious process of cleaning the clay. To use this type of clay, helped to show my character’s love of the earth and her art. The steps Olaf showed and explained to me, gave me a greater appreciation for all that he, and my fictional character, go through to prepare and make an artistic piece. He showed me kilns he’d made and purchased ones as well as the different ways to fire pottery and ways to change glazing effects during the firing process. I came away from my time with Olaf more versed in clay, pottery, and the dedication an artist puts into a piece of pottery.

An interview I did six years ago was one of my most fun interviews. I came up with the idea of a story about a bareback bronc rider. Since four-time National Bareback Champion Bobby Mote lived only twenty minutes from me, I called him up and asked if I could interview him to understand what my character would be like and how he would live and go about his occupation. I was thrilled when he agreed and we set up a time for me to go to his house. I was greeted by Bobby, his kids, and his wife, Kate. He was very forthcoming about his workout routine, his family routine, and his rodeo schedule. I learned what goes through a bronc-rider’s mind as he climbs onto a horse, how they treat their body like any other athlete and was given a family’s view of the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. Kate told me what it was like to travel with and watch her husband compete and what it was like dealing with kids on the road. While my character isn’t married, I gave him a married traveling partner. Not only did I get realistic and firsthand knowledge of a rodeo participant, I was able to draw out emotions and thoughts that I could use in my character.

I use interviewing people whenever I come up with an idea for a book and I don’t have the knowledge or am unable to discover the personal information I want to make my character ring true.

These are only a few of the interviews I’ve done over the years to makes sure my characters behave as they should in their occupations.

You can get the first book of the Shandra Higheagle Mystery series, Double Duplicity, free at all ebook venues.

I re-released Bridled Heart, this month. It’s the contemporary western romance I wrote after interviewing Bobby Mote. It’s available until December 10th  for $0.99.


Bridled Heart
Contemporary western romance

ER nurse, Gina Montgomery, uses a self-imposed vow of celibacy to keep from getting too close to anyone. Music saved her from an abusive past. But that same solace compromises her solitary life when her piano playing draws the attention of a handsome bareback rider.

Holt Reynolds let his sister down when she needed him most. Seeing similarities between his sister and Gina, he can’t get visions of the woman or her poignant music out of his mind. He vows to find a way to free her of her past and prays it doesn’t resurface and destroy their chance at happiness.

Buy Links:  Amazon     Kobo    Universal Link



Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 25+ novels and over a dozen novellas and short stories of murder mystery, western romance, and action adventure. She has garnered a RomCon Reader’s Choice Award for Contemporary Western Romance, and an EPPIE Award for Best Contemporary Romance and a RONE Mystery Award. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. She and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.

Blog / Website /  Facebook / Paty's Posse / Goodreads / Twitter / Pinterest

Paty Jager: Letters of Fate

Paty Jager joins us today at The Write Way Café, sharing how her new series was born from the success of an earlier series. 

Tell us a little about your Letters of Fate series. 

     My Letters of Fate series came about from seeing so many people say they enjoyed Mail Order Bride books. However, I wanted to do a twist but couldn’t figure out a Mail Order Groom premise, but I came up with the idea of a letter changing a man’s life and in the course of following that he finds a feisty woman who captures his heart. After writing a series that dealt with a family, I liked the idea of the only thing tying this series together is that each man/hero receives a letter and that’s how I, with the help of my niece, came up with the series title Letters of Fate. Not having anything connecting the books other than the letters, they can be read in any order another bonus for readers. No matter which book they pick up they won’t be in the middle of anything other than that story. 

     The first book I wrote for the series is Davis. It is set in the area where I live. I use a real person from history in the area as the catalyst that causes the external conflict in the story. Peter French ran a large cattle dynasty in southeastern Oregon for a California doctor. He fenced land that was between parcels they owned and kept homesteaders out. He was not a popular man as he worked hard at acquiring as much of Harney Valley and the Steens that he could. I set the story up that he was trying to take a widow’s ranch. The hero has lost his family and feels the eyes of his community on him. His sister sends him a letter suggesting he come marry her friend (the widow) in a marriage of convenience to help her save the ranch for her children. He accepts and while they get off to a rocky start since he’s a city slicker and the heroine has been freighter’s daughter and a rancher, the sparks of animosity turn to sparks of interest.

     Isaac is the second book I wrote for the Letters of Fate series. This book was written to be in the Kindle World, Montana Sky Series by Debra Holland. When I received the information about her world, I made my hero a mine guard. He friends an older miner who becomes sick and dies. After sending the man’s pay to his family, Isaac feels he’s done all he can. Then he receives a letter from the man’s oldest child. The woman makes an accusation her father would still be alive had Isaac given him better medical help, and she is coming to collect his things.  He decides to meet her at the town with the railroad and hand her the one set of dirty clothes from her father before placing her back on the train. She has other thoughts. She’s come to collect her father’s things for a reason and that reason isn’t in his dirty clothes.

  

If Davis: Letters of Fate was made into a movie, who would play your main characters, and why?

     I’m not good at this. I don’t watch that many new movies. I would say Brook Shields for Mariella, the heroine. Because Brooke is six foot and a strong build. She’s played roles that showed vulnerability and strength. And can jest and have fun.  Davis, he’s harder.  Perhaps Ryan Reynolds. Because he has strength of character but can be gentle. At least he portrays that well in the movies I’ve seen him in.   

What or who has been instrumental in or to your writing journey?

     As I think about this there are three people who were instrumental in my writing journey. The first was my mom. She told me I could do anything I put my mind to. That’s the mantra I’ve had as I’ve been on this writing journey. I just wish she was around to share my journey with her.

     The second was my high school English teacher.  She gave us an assignment to research a historical figure and write a paper from their point of view. I wrote Joan of Arc’s burning at the stake. Come to think of it, that was my first heavily researched historical writing project. The teacher picked my story to read out loud to the class. There wasn’t a sound in the room when she finished. Even the class clown was sitting still. That was when I learned the power words can have.

     The third person is one of my critique partners. When we first met she was a judge in a contest I entered. She was the first contest judge to tell me what I was doing wrong rather than rearranging my sentences and not saying why they did it. I contacted her and discovered we both wrote historical western romance. I had knowledge of horses, ranches, and the west and she had the writing knowledge. We became critique partners and friends. She encouraged me to send one of the books she’d critiqued to a small press and I became a published author. I owe her my writing career.

What’s the best writing advice you’ve been given?  What’s your best writing advice for others?

     The best advice I’ve been given is write what you know and you don’t always have to agree with a critique but if more than one person makes a comment on the same thing, dig deeper and find out why.

     My advice to other writers is learn your craft and know your genre.  You can be a good storyteller but if you don’t make that story shine with good grammar and word choices it won’t get you the agent, editor, or good sales. And know your genre. There are many writers who write in a genre they know nothing about. I’m not saying you have to be a demon to write demon stories but know something about those types of worlds, same goes with westerns. I’ve read several where the author had no clue about horses or cattle. That pulls me out of the story and makes me not read another of their books. 

What “keepers” are in your home library?

     Agatha Christie collection, Nora Roberts, The MacGregor Brides and her trilogy Born in Fire, Born in Ice, Born in Shame, LaVyrle Spencer’s  Hummingbird- It’s the book that started me writing historical western romance. L.V. McWhorter’s  Yellow Wolf: His Own Story. A Little Bit of Wisdom: Conversations of a Nez Perce Elder by Horace Axtell and Margo Aragon.

Characters often find themselves in situations they aren't sure they can get themselves out of. When was the last time you found yourself in a situation that was hard to get out of and what did you do?

     Tough question.  I guess it would have to be at the Left Coast Crime conference in Phoenix this past February.  I was a moderator for a prestigious panel on Sunday morning. I did my homework and had insightful questions to ask. I came down with the flu Friday after arriving in Phoenix.  I wore blisters on my feet walking around looking for a pharmacy. Yes, I won’t hire a taxi for short distances, only for transportation to the airport. Saturday I nursed the flu and my blisters and only attended the dinner, leaving before the awards ceremony.  I woke feeling better on Sunday but I had hardly any voice.  I arrived early to the panel and let the authors know I could barely talk. I would introduce them and direct my main questions to them and would one of them repeat questions from the audience, please.  I managed to pull it off. The authors said I had thoughtful questions and the audience said it was one of the best panels. So while I felt like a failure, it seems the panel went well.

We’re adding books to our Café menu.  Would your book be a drink, an appetizer, an entrée or a dessert?  What would you call it?

     An entrée. It is a full and filling story with loss, redemption, family, and love. Redemption Roast.  

What is your favorite social media?  Why?

     I’m not a fan of any of the social media because I have a hard time keeping up with them. But I would have to say I like Facebook the best because I’ve been able to keep up-to-date with family and close friends since we moved to SE Oregon. 

Do you have any compulsions you must do for no particular reason?

     You could probably say my need to have a cup of hot chocolate in the morning, like most people have coffee, a compulsion.  I even take packets of hot chocolate with me on trips in case the hotel I stay at doesn’t have a complimentary breakfast or hot chocolate.  I have to have my cup of hot chocolate or my day doesn’t go right.

Tell us about the book in your closet.

     I have a couple of books in the closet. The oldest two are murder mysteries. That was my first love to read and write, but I ended up in Romance Writers of America and wrote romance until 2014 when I went back to writing mystery.  The first two mysteries actually were written to kill a person who in real life was on my not-a-favorite-person list. She’d cheated on her husband, and when he confronted her, she named my husband. But my husband had witnessed her and the real person fooling around in a car. I think she was hoping to discredit his account of what he saw. Anyway, it blew things up between my husband and his friend and our kids who were friends. To take out my anger on this person, who I’d thought of as a friend, I murdered her in two books. ;) I still like the main character in the books, but they were before I’d had workshops on craft and realized I had a lot to learn to be a writer and a published author.

And now for the fun stuff! 

If you aren’t a full-time writer, what is your day job?

     I help my husband take care of our 280 acres and half an irrigation pivot that produces alfalfa hay. I also help him with his job of managing three irrigation pivots of alfalfa hay for a dairy.

What is your biggest shopping downfall?

     I love cowboy boots. I have five pair. One for work, one for going to town, and three for events.

Are you a glass half empty or glass half full personality?

     I’m a glass half full. Life is a wonderful thing and with a positive attitude you can accomplish anything you set your mind to do.

Are you a dog/cat/other person?

     I’m a dog person. I like having a big dog for outside and a lap dog for inside.

If you had to write with a pen instead of a computer, what type of pen would be your preference?

     I love the gel pens and prefer the color purple. Gel pens write smooth and the color purple makes me happy.

Davis: Letters of Fate

Historical western filled with steamy romance and the rawness of a growing country.

Widowed with two small children and a ranch to run, Mariella Swanson knows she needs help, but isn’t sure her heart, or neighbors, will accept her marrying a stranger. When the greenhorn shows up, smoking a pipe and wearing a derby hat, she can’t help but wonder if agreeing to this marriage may prove to be her biggest mistake.

When Davis Weston receives a letter from his sister asking him to marry a friend, he scoffs at the idea. However, losing his wife and son has left him a lonely man, and the whispers from others that he didn’t do enough to save his family has gone on long enough. His arrival in Oregon may be worse—these neighbors are doing more than whispering. Guns and horses aren’t his forte. He’s willing to learn, but is he willing to love again?

Windtree press       Amazon      Apple         Kobo        Nook

Award-winning author Paty Jager and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. She not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it. All Paty’s work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Her penchant for research takes her on side trips that eventually turn into yet another story.

You can learn more about Paty at:

her blog Writing into the Sunset

her Website

Facebook

Newsletter Paty’sPrattle

Goodreads 

Twitter  

An Interview with Paty Jager

The Write Way Café welcomes author Paty Jager, whose books for the holidays take readers back to times that were romantic in their own way.


When did you first have the thought you'd like to write a book? Was that first thought related to writing romance?
I’ve been writing since I was a youngster. My first attempt was writing plays for my stuffed animals to act out. It was when my children were small that I thought about writing books. The first books I wrote were children’s stories. I attended a Highlights for Children writer’s conference and was told I wrote too adult. Since my first love is mysteries, I wrote two mysteries. I had trouble finding help with the craft of writing through any mystery groups. I started reading Nora Roberts and then LaVyrle Spencer and that’s when I decide to try and write western romance. I found Romance Writers of America. They helped me hone my craft and learn the business of writing.

What was your path to getting this book written and published? What type of research did you do?
This novelette is a compilation of two short stories that started in two different ways. The first story, The Christmas Promise, started as a paragraph using five words that Maggie O, the manager of a Western Romance Kindle Forum, tossed out for the authors on the forum to write a western paragraph. The second story, New Year’s Eve Kiss, was written as a short free read on the website Free Reads from the Genreistas. This blog has a new free short read up every month by the authors of the Romancing the Genres. This book is a self-published book.

Why did you pick the setting you did?
I’ve found writing historical western romance stories not only gives me a chance to do research on a time period I am interested in, but it is easy for me to get into the character’s POV because I’ve lived rural my whole life.

Are your main characters completely imaginary or do they have some basis in real people? Do they reflect aspects of yourself?
Many of my characters either main or secondary have something that I’ve witnessed in others or found interesting in other people. They depict the good and the bad people that I’ve ran into during my lifetime. I tend to make my heroines more bold and outgoing than I am but there is usually a bit of me in them.

What have been surprises you've encountered while writing the book and after?
There wasn’t any surprises while writing, but trying to get the book free at Amazon took much longer than I thought it would. I don’t understand why an author can’t make their book free if they want to give it as a gift to readers.

What did you learn? For instance, what did you learn about yourself, your process, the writing world; about historical western romances, the holidays, and wedding proposals?
I enjoyed finding a game that was played in the late 1800s that would work like the current “Spin the Bottle” game.  It was a rather risqué game for the time.

What are some of your favorite books and why?
I enjoy Lauri Robinson’s historical westerns. Her characters are unique and the humor is subtle. Kathy Otten’s historical westerns are always unique with main characters with foibles and downtrodden lives. Diana McCollum’s fantasy romance stories have good witches as the main characters. I’ve always been interested in good witch stories since reading Mary Stewart’s Witch of Blackbird Pond.

What are you working on now?
I’m currently working on a mystery series. The first two books are written and I’ve started the third. The amateur sleuth is a Native American Potter who lives in a resort community. The handsome county detective who catches her at a scene of a murder become interested in her for more than a suspect. The first book, Double Duplicity, will be out in pre-order November 15th and will release January 10, 2015.

What aspect of writing gives you the most trouble?
Promotion! It takes so much time away from writing and uses a completely different set of creative skills.

I hope you take advantage of my FREE novelette. My Western Holiday Duets is free on all ebook outlets.

Western Holiday Duets
Two historical western romance short stories.

Christmas Eve Promise
Sheriff Jubal Denton promises Suzie Harper they’ll marry Christmas Eve. Two weeks before Christmas a breakout at the Willow Bend jail sends Jubal across the state in an attempt to capture the outlaw. Christmas Eve arrives. Other members of the posse have returned, but where is Jubal?

New Year’s Kiss
Edda Rae Bartlett is pacing back and forth on New Year’s Eve waiting for her beau, Cort Haywood. He said he had something important to tell her before the end of the year. And there are only a few hours left to this year. Her best friend arrives, dragging her to a party and into a game her friend learned while traveling. Edda Rae likes the fact she is elbow to elbow with Cort, but soon learns everyone in the room knows something about the game but her.

Amazon       Barnes and Noble       Apple        Kobo 

Native American Spirit Trilogy by Paty Jager

Learn about the book of her heart, a book in a trilogy focused on a band of Nez Perce, by author Paty Jager, who The Write Way Café welcomes today.

Growing up in an area rich in Native American history has made me curious and empathetic to the band of Nez Perce who summered in Wallowa County many generations before Lewis and Clark entered their lives.

The Wallowa, or Lake Nimiipuu as they call themselves, are a band of the Nez Perce(Nimiipuu) who moved like nomads across the Pacific NW and into the plains with the seasons. They wintered along the Imnaha River in the lower warmer regions of Wallowa County, spent the early spring in the camas meadows of Idaho, and summered at Wallowa Valley, fishing the Columbia in the fall and returning to their winter home before the snows became too treacherous. The warriors and some of the women went out on hunting expeditions to the plains for buffalo.

They were nomadic, but they had a fierce love of the land in their hearts.

Spirit of the Mountain, the first book of the trilogy, shows their love of the lake area and how they came to carry it so deeply within them. The heroine, in this book, carries the mountain in her heart and when she falls for the spirit who looks after the mountain and its occupants, she loses her heart to him as well.  (I will give one lucky commenter an ebook of this book. So leave a comment to get entered in the drawing.)

Spirit of the Lake, is the second book in the trilogy. This book deals with the Whiteman encroaching on their land and the way the Nimiipuu are willing to look the other way to avoid being forcefully taken from their home.

Spirit of the Sky, is the third and final book in the saga of the sibling spirits and the freedom of the Nimiipuu. This book takes place during the exodus of the non-treaty Nez Perce.

The spirit entity in these books is all a figment of my imagination, but it felt real to me. My fascination with the Native American culture, their healing herbs, chants, legends, myths, and vision quest all primed my imagination when I came up with the spirit siblings who are the main characters in the books.


In the first book, Spirit of the Mountain, I use the vision quest as the means to bring the chief's daughter to talk with a white wolf, the hero and spirit of the mountain. In her vision quest, her weyakin (the spirit who visits her) is a white wolf. So when her life is thrown upside down by her believing her vision quest means she must marry a warrior from the enemy Blackfeet tribe, she feels talking to the wounded white wolf she encounters is natural. When he turns into a handsome warrior, doing her duty becomes harder as she must leave the mountain and spirit of her heart.

The second book, Spirit of the Lake, has Wewukiye (Bull Elk) as the hero. He is the white wolf's younger brother and a spirit as well. He lives in the lake as the antlered legend who comes out of the lake and takes bad children. Yet he is the fun loving practical joker of the three sibling spirits. In his book, he befriends a Nimiipuu maiden who has been raped by a White man and becomes pregnant, but the band believes she is not telling the truth to avoid trouble and perhaps being tossed from their land because the treaty of '68 was not signed by Old Joseph, yet the government believes the other chiefs who signed spoke for all the Nez Perce.

Sa-qan (Bald Eagle) is the youngest of the three. She soars in the sky above all the Nimiipuu land watching over them. In the third book, Spirit of the Sky, she is desperately trying to keep the Nimiipuu from annihilation as the U.S. Army chases them from their homes on a four month, 1400 mile trek where they fall short of freedom and end up on reservations far from home. During the campaign she falls in love with a cavalry officer and together they try to save the Nimiipuu.

This spirit trilogy is my proverbial book of my heart. I spent countless hours on research to make sure the Nez Perce culture is correct in the books and the historical information is accurate.

Blurb for Spirit of the Mountain
     Evil spirits, star-crossed lovers, and duty…which will prevail?
     Wren, the daughter of a Nimiipuu chief, loves the mountain and her people—the Lake Nimmipuu.  When a warrior from the enemy Blackleg tribe asks for her hand in marriage to bring peace between the tribes, she knows it is how she must fulfill her vision quest. But she is torn between duty and her breaking heart.
     Himiin, as spirit of the mountain, watches over all the creatures on his mountain, including the Nimiipuu. When Wren shows no fear of him as a white wolf, he listens to her secret fears and loses his heart to the mortal maiden. Respecting her people’s beliefs, he must watch her leave the mountain with the Blackleg warrior.
     When an evil spirit threatens Wren’s life, Himiin rushes to save her. But to leave the mountain means he’ll turn to smoke…

Buy Links:       Nook      Amazon      Apple      Windtree Press      Kobo 

Blurb for Spirit of the Lake
     Can a spirit set upon this earth to see to the good of the Nimiipuu stay true to justice when revenge burns in his heart?
     Wewukiye, the lake spirit, saves a Nimiipuu maiden from drowning and bringing shame to herself and her family. Learning her people ignored her accusations against a White man who took her body, leaving her pregnant,Wewukiye vows to help her through the birth and to prove the White man’s deceit.
     Dove slowly heals her heart and her distrust as Wewukiye, the warrior with hair the color of the sun, believes in her and helps her restore her faith in her people and herself.
     On their quest for justice, Dove reveals spiritual abilities, ensnaring Wewukiye’s respect and awe. But will these abilities seal their future or tear them apart?

Buy Links:     Nook     Amazon      Apple      Windtree Press  

Blurb for Spirit of the Sky
     Can enemies not only work for peace but find love?
     Sa-qan, a Nimiipuu eagle spirit, must take a human form to save her mortal niece when the Nimiipuu are forced from their land by the U.S. Army. Sa-qan strives to remain true to her spirit world and her people, but finding an ally in a Cavalry Officer has unraveled her beliefs.
     During battle with the Nimiipuu, Lt. Wade Watts finds a blonde woman hiding a Nez Perce child.  He believes she is a captive when her intelligent eyes reveal she understands his language. Yet she refuses his help. Their paths cross several times during the skirmishes, and he finds she is his savior when renegade warriors wound him.

Buy links are not yet available for Spirit of the Sky; 

please watch Paty's website for more information!

About the Author
Award-winning author Paty Jager and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon.  On her road to publication she wrote freelance articles for two local newspapers and enjoyed her job with the County Extension service as a 4-H Program Assistant. Raising hay and cattle, riding horses, and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.

Her first book was published in 2006 by Wild Rose Press since then she has published seventeen novels, two anthologies, and five novellas. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Her penchant for research takes her on side trips that eventually turn into yet another story.

Learn more about Paty 
-- at her blog Writing into the Sunset
-- at her website http://www.patyjager.net
-- on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/#!/paty.jager
-- at Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1005334.Paty_Jager
-- on twitter @patyjag.