Today's Special - - Suzanne Ferrell

I've had the pleasure of meeting Suzanne Ferrell in person at three RWA national conferences.  One of my most vivid memories of those meetings is of her hustling up and down the conference hallways handing out bookmarks and telling readers waiting in lines all about her good (published author) friend's newest book.  She hadn't sold yet when I first saw her doing this but I knew, from being a Romance Bandits regular, that it was her goal.  I told her that one of these days someone would be working those lines telling people about her books.  Here we are, four years later, and I'm tickled pink to welcome published author, Suzanne Ferrell to the Romance Dish so she can tell you all about her newest book, Cantrell's Bride!  Okay, Suz.  Work that line!  

Cantrell’s Bride (Or how it got this title)

One night I had an idea pop into my head of a pregnant woman riding up into the Rocky Mountains to hide from a murderer. I sat and wrote the scene long hand on a legal pad. The words just flowed out, one right after another, until the scene was complete. Wow! I’d never written anything that quickly or that long, (five legal sized pages!)

Problem #1: I couldn’t type. So I had my husband teach me how to use the new Word program on our spanking new PC and with some hunt & peck typing I managed to put it all in the computer. I quickly realized however I couldn’t write a book with this type of typing, so the lovely DH bought me a typing tutorial program. My fingers quickly learned the keys and words flew onto the screen. Wow, pretty soon I had five solid pages of single spaced writing. I was hooked.

Problem #2: The scene was obviously totally out of context. I mean, how did she get pregnant? (Okay, I KNOW how she got pregnant, I’m a labor and delivery nurse after all!) I mean when and by whom? Why is there a murderer on her trail? Who the heck is the hero in the book? Oh wait, that would be Nathan, the man whose little daughter Rachel she dropped off with a neighbor to protect her. Where is he? Why isn’t she going to him for help? AGHHH!! Now I had to write more to find out the answers to these questions and what happens to our intrepid heroine, Laura.

Problem #3: I had no title. At the time I started writing this book, and my entire writing career, my children were in elementary and middle school. When I told them I’d started writing a book they wanted to know the title. Imagine their shock when I said I don’t have one. Their reply? “But Mommy, you can’t write a book without a title!” They were even more shocked when I informed them I’d started in the middle, not at the beginning. Silly kids, seemed they knew more about my writing style than I did. This is the ONLY book I’ve ever started in the middle. All the rest start at the opening and go very linear to the end. But I still had no title.

By the end of the book I realized I’d written a theme into the book. Laura found her physical and emotional refuge with Nathan. So I took the simple approach and titled the book REFUGE.

This worked for many years. Naively I sent it out and actually got long rejection letters telling me that while they loved the story, the writing would need major work and growth to make the story marketable. Not too discouraged, I’d already started a second book, this time from the beginning.

Then something happened. The market for American Historicals and Westerns took a nosedive. Right into publication abyss! Sigh. So I started writing contemporary romances and then some Romantic Suspense books. Those RS books, KIDNAPPED and HUNTED became finalists in the Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart Contest. WOW. But no contracts came my way, but I continued writing and honing my craft. Two small-town contemporaries with suspense elements later, I was tired of being unpublished.

So, I tried my hand at an erotica. Not just any erotica, a historical western erotica, complete with two heroes and a heroine. The Surrender of Lacy Morgan started winning contests and getting requests and rejections from publishers.

Frustration was my middle name!

So, I pulled out REFUGE because I loved the characters from this book. I edited and sharpened the story, amazed at how rough my writing was all those years ago. Once I’d really overhauled the writing without changing the story, I decided to do a serial publication of the book on my blogspot. I changed the title to ROCKY MOUNTAIN ROMANCE. Once a week I put a chapter up complete with pictures. I got lots of comments and emails wanting more, more, MORE!

I got side tracked again. See the Lacy Morgan book was contracted by Ellora’s Cave!!! Wow! My first sale! While I was working on a sequel to TSoLM, I thought, “what the heck” and sent REFUGE/Rocky Mountain Romance to my editor. Lovely, intelligent woman that she is, she wanted to contract the book IF I was up to heavy revisions AND was willing to change the title. Of course, I’d love to do both…(ignore rolling of my eyes on this) and AGHHH I had to come up with another title.

Quickly, I began work on the revisions. As I neared the end of the first set, I was in a panic. What the heck was I going to come up with for another title? One night I was mumbling about this at the nurses’ station and some of my lovely coworkers started brainstorming with me. (Never underestimate the power of brainstorming!) And we came up with Cantrell’s Bride. Nathan Cantrell is the hero, and Laura is his mail-order bride.

Works for me!

And luckily, it worked for my editor, so she contracted Cantrell’s Bride for Ellora’s Cave’s BLUSH line. That is their non-erotic romance e-book line. I am so excited to see this book available for everyone to read, especially those of you who like historicals, westerns, suspense and mail-order brides!

Thank you so much for blogging with us today, Suz!  We wish you all the best and look forward to more great books and sexy heroes!    

Readers, what book titles stay with you long after you finish the book?  Leave a comment for a chance to win.  One randomly chosen person will receive a $10 Amazon e-gift card.

Find out more about Suzanne at her website, like her facebook page, follow her on twitter and check out her monthly blogs at the Romance Bandits blog.