Saturday, April 6, 2013

Texas Druids people Lyn's trilogy

Welcome Lyn. Please get comfortable and tell us a little about your writing adventure.

First, I'd like to thank you, Jean, for having me as your guest today.

What inspired you to write your first book?

While living near Chicago years ago, I read about the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and was inspired to write about a young woman who lives through the fire and later moves west in search of a new life. After many false starts, this led to my first historical romance. Sadly, it went unsold despite the best efforts of two different agents, but years later I dug the manuscript out of the dust bin and radically revised the story, adding a paranormal element. In November 2010, I self-published it as DARLIN’ DRUID, book one in my Texas Druids trilogy. Later, I published book two, DASHING DRUID, and a prequel novella titled WHITE WITCH – the story of the fire.

Do you see writing as a career?

Yes, I do. Writing is actually my second career. Trained in the visual arts, I worked as a fashion illustrator and art instructor for a number of years. After quitting work to raise my children, I took up writing as a creative outlet. This hobby soon grew into a love of historical research and the crafting of passionate love stories. Now, with five books published and a sixth due out in a few weeks, I view myself as a professional author.
 
Can you give us some details about your upcoming release/s?

I’d be glad to. DEAREST DRUID, Texas Druids book three, will be released at the end of April. This book stars Rose Devlin, the youngest of three psychic siblings who are descended from a secret line of Irish Druids. Rose possesses the gift of healing, a power that draws Native American cowboy Choctaw Jack to her in desperation. Set in Texas and the Indian Territory, ca. 1876, their sizzling romantic adventure concludes this unique series.

Do you belong to any non-writing organizations?

Yes, I belong to Delta Theta Tau, a national philanthropic sorority (no college affiliation.) My sorority sisters and I raise money for charitable organizations, both national and local. I’ve served as publicity chairman and secretary for our Fort Worth chapter.

Who are some of your favourite authors?

My favourite author is Diana Gabaldon. Her Outlander series is magnificent. I adore her main characters, Jamie and Claire, and greatly admire her historical settings and writing style. Other authors I enjoy reading are Linda Howard, Iris Johansen and Judith Ivory. Oh, and for a change of pace, James Patterson.

When you are not writing, what are your hobbies, passions, etc?

Well, I’m usually writing in one way or another – blogging, chatting with other authors online, scribbling ideas in a notebook, or typing away on my current project. When I do take time off, it’s usually to read, watch movies and favourite TV series such as Castle, The Mentalist, The Good wife, etc. Once in a while I manage to squeeze in a little gardening, although not nearly as much as I used to do. And of course I enjoy getting together with family, especially my grandkids.

Share three fun facts about you that most people don’t know.

  1. I’m addicted to mint chocolate chip ice cream.
  2. I frequently talk to inanimate objects, especially my computer when it decides to give me a hard time. Darn thing!
  3. I dream of owning a summer home in Silver Plume, Colorado, a former boom town during the great silver mining era. Now called a “sleeping town” because it has so few year-round inhabitants, the hamlet sits on the side of a mountain and is my idea of heavenly seclusion. What a place to write!


Blurb

Dashing Druid (Texas Druids, Book II) ~~ Tye Devlin is an empath. Assailed by emotions from everyone around him, Tye has learned to block out most of the "racket". Yet, when he meets cowgirl Lil Crawford, he has no defense against her hidden pain, for it echoes his own.

Wounded by love, Lil guards her bruised heart behind a tough shell. When a handsome stranger with an Irish brogue calls her beautiful, she thinks he's mocking her, but she secretly wishes such a man might truly want her. Feuding families stand between the two and a perilous cattle drive pits them against menacing foes as they fight their personal demons. Is love worth the risks, and will Tye's gift prove to be a curse or a blessing?

Excerpt

Bosque County, Texas; July 1874

          “Consarned critter! Why’d you have to go and get stuck in there?” Lil Crawford muttered. She tugged harder on her rope in an effort to pull the bawling calf from the mud wallow it had wandered into. No luck. The animal was mired nearly up to his shoulders in thick clay gumbo. No matter how hard she pulled, she wasn’t going to get him out.

            Nearby, standing beside the creek that had carved out the treacherous wallow along the bank, the calf’s mamma lowed plaintively as if blaming Lil for her baby’s predicament. Sending her a baleful glare, Lil said, “It’s not my fault. You should’ve dropped him in the spring like you’re supposed to ’stead of in the middle of summer. Then maybe he’d be big enough to climb out of this dang mud.”

            Arms crossed, she studied the situation. She considered letting Major, her buckskin gelding, drag the calf out but feared injuring the little mite, possibly even breaking his neck. She sighed in disgust. There was no help for it; she’d have to get down in the mud and wrestle the calf out. It was either that or leave him there to die a slow, miserable death.

Dropping to the ground, she tugged off her boots and socks. She set them near the edge of the wallow, then rose, unbuckled her gun belt and laid it atop her footgear, where she could reach her six-shooter if need be. Her hat joined the pile for good measure.

            Lil took a deep breath, set her teeth and stepped into the wallow, cringing as she sank up to her knees in the gooey muck. It squished between her toes and clung to her legs, plastering her britches to her skin. It also stank of rotting grass and other things she’d as soon not name.

Crooning softly to the frightened calf, she wrapped her arms around his middle, coating her hands, arms and shirt with mud in the process. She braced herself, preparing to wrestle the animal free.

             A man’s deep-throated laugh caught her off guard. Jolted by the sound, she cried out in surprise and struggled to turn around, fighting the mud that imprisoned her legs. Once she succeeded, she stared, slack-jawed, at the stranger grinning at her from atop the most broken down nag she’d ever laid eyes on. The dude himself was a sight to behold. Togged out in a funny checked suit, with a derby hat atop jet-black hair, he made her lips twitch. However, her humor fled when she met his eyes. Brilliant blue, they shot sparks of light, brighter than the toothy grin splitting his handsome face.

“Sure’n I must be dreaming,” he said in a lilting Irish brogue. “Or are ye truly a lovely faery maid sent to enchant me?”

             His foolish question broke Lil’s frozen stare and roused her anger. She knew she was far from lovely, and right now she was covered with nasty muck besides. “Mister, I’m no fairy and I don’t take kindly to strangers who ride up on me with no warning. So you can just turn that bag of bones around and git. Right now!”

“Ah, colleen, will ye not grant this poor beggar a few moments of your company? ’Twould be my pleasure to help ye with the wee animal if ye like.”

             She snorted at his offer. “No thanks. I can get him out by myself. ’Sides, you wouldn’t want to muddy up your fancy suit, would you?” she drawled with a smirk.

 He looked down at himself and grimaced. “I take it ye don’t care for my fine attire.” Fine came out sounding like foin. “Well, you’re not the first. A layer of mud might not be such a bad thing, eh? With that in mind, will ye not reconsider and allow me to lend ye a hand?” He gave another roguish grin and splayed a hand over his heart. “In truth, your beauty so captivates me that I fear I cannot turn away.”


Lil bristled at his absurd comment. Certain he was making fun of her now, for her beauty would never captivate any man, she narrowed her eyes. She’d teach him, by criminy!

Without a word, she plowed through the mud over to where her belongings lay piled. She hastily wiped the worst of the mud from her hands onto the grassy embankment, then reached under her hat and drew her Colt. Coldly calm now, she turned to face the impudent stranger. It pleased her to see how fast he sobered with a gun aimed between his eyes.

“This is Double C land, mister. You’re trespassing. I could shoot you dead and nobody’d blame me. So unless you want a hole in your head bigger than your mouth, you’d best get moving.”

         Sighing, he crooked his lips. “As ye wish.” He tipped his hat to her, clumsily reined his horse around and started to leave, but then he pulled up and glanced at her over his shoulder. He held up his hands when she cocked her gun. “I’m going, colleen, never fear. But first, could ye be directing me to the Taylor place, by any chance?”

            Lil stared at him for a moment while questions raced through her head. Normally, she didn’t poke her nose into other folks’ business, but in this case . . . . “What do you want at the River T?” she demanded.

He frowned testily. “I mean no harm, if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m merely trying to find my sister. She’s wed to David Taylor. D’ye know him?”

Lil drew a sharp breath. “You’re Jessie’s brother?”

             “Aye, that I am. So ye do know them.”

             “I know them all right,” she gritted. She should’ve guessed who he was from his damned Irish accent and those blue eyes that were so much like his sister’s. The two looked a lot alike in other ways, too, except Jessie’s hair was dark red instead of black. And he was handsome, not beautiful.

Fiddlesticks! She didn’t care what he looked like. And she didn’t cotton to the way he was staring at her now, as if he was trying to see inside her head. It gave her an uneasy feeling. She wanted him gone. If giving him directions would get rid of him, so much the better.

           “Follow the creek. It’ll take you to their place,” she snapped, jerking her head in the downstream direction. “Now leave before my trigger finger slips. On purpose.”

He blinked and seemed to come back to himself. “I thank ye for your kind assistance, milady,” he said mockingly. Facing forward, he kicked his sorry mount into a stiff-legged trot and headed down the creek, bouncing in his saddle.

           Watching him, Lil snickered. He was a greenhorn if there ever was one, and he was going to be mighty sore tonight. She waited until he was well out of sight before laying her gun aside and returning her attention to the mired calf.

            By lifting and shoving with all of her might, she finally muscled the loudly complaining critter onto dry ground. Once there, she, not he, made straight for her mother. Without a backward glance or a single moo of gratitude, the pair trotted off in search of greener pastures. Not that there was much green grass to be found anywhere on the range at this time of year, Lil thought as she set about cleaning herself up.

A quick dunk in the creek rid her of most of the mud. Climbing out, she slapped her hat on, slung her gun belt over her saddle and mounted up barefoot, toting her boots to save them from getting wet. Then she directed Major toward her favorite swimming hole, about a mile upstream. She wanted more of a bath before heading home.

           As she rode, she couldn’t help thinking about her run-in with Jessie Taylor’s pesky brother. Still angry over his mocking remarks about her so-called beauty, she also found herself wondering if he was here for a short visit or if he meant to stay. Did David and Jessie know he was coming? Then she wondered what his name was. Wait, she’d heard Jessie’s maiden name once. It started with D. Doyle? No. Dillon? No. Devlin! His last name was Devlin. Not that it mattered.

 


13 comments:

  1. Jean, thanks again for hosting me on your lovely site. Here are the buy links I forgot to send. So sorry about that. Currently my books are only available on Amazon, but I plan to place them with Smashword, B&N and other retailers soon.

    I'm also including a link to the book trailers for Dashing Druid and Darlin' Druid (book 1 in the trilogy.)

    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0069HLDJU (Kindle)
    http://www.amazon.com/dp/1470004003 (paperback)

    Dashing Druid: http://youtu.be/QEhX6N39rrE
    Darlin' Druid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om4QX4NCMBw

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  2. Lyn,

    I love how you've combined paranormal elements with the historical genre. Did interweaving these two elements create any unusual challenges as far as plotting or characterization? Thanks for sharing.

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  3. Lyn, I loved your first two books. Good luck with the third.

    Geri

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  4. Great interview. I tweeted.

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  5. Good Interview, Lyn. I found out things I didn't know about you, like a summer home in Silver Plume. I love Colorado, too! Good luck with your next release, Dearest Druid.

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  6. Sorry I've been absent today. Tomorrow is my blogging day on cowboy Kisses. Almost done with it. Ooftah!

    Maria, I'm glad you like the mix of paranormal and historical. Combining the two can be tricky. It took me a while to determine where best to work in Jessie Devlin's clairvoyant episodes in Darlin' Druid. In book two, Dashing Druid, I didn't play up Tye Devlin's empathic ability strongly during the biggest part of the book. It's there but low-key. Toward the end it becomes central to the plot. In the soon-to-be-released third book, Dearest Druid, Rose Devlin's gift of healing is very much front and center.

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  7. Geri, thanks much! I'm so glad you enjoyed the first two books. I'm working on the last chapter on book three. Yay!

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  8. Thank you, Ella! I appreciate the tweet.

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  9. Hey Carra, glad to see you here. Yeah, I truly would love to be up in those magnificent mountains, but only during summer. I'd go crazy in winter, being snowed in for months. Must have our Texas sun to keep me happy.

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  10. Lyn, I love your writing. You have a gift. You know I love Irish characters, too. Wishing you continued success!

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  11. Caroline, that's the nicest compliment! Thanks a bunch! Yes, I do know you love Irish character just as much as I do. They're so fun to write about. Continued success to you too!

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  12. It's always interesting to learn what sparked the idea for a story or "the story behind the story." Did you find it difficult to totally rewrite your story? I've read your first two books and would never have guessed you added the paranormal element later. Thank you for sharing your writing journey.
    http:rubypjohnson.wordpress.com

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  13. Ruby, I'm glad you couldn't tell the paranormal elements were added later. Yes, it was time consuming and a bit difficult to re-wright the story, but in the end it was worth the extra effort.

    Thanks for stopping by!

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