Spring Has Sprung in the Colorado Rockies
Romance writer musings, book trailer, spring photos, cowboy stuff, and more...
The View from Here:
Fall seems to be the favorite season for the majority of people, but spring has always been my favorite, and May my favorite month. Every single year I feel that renewal down to my bones and it never gets less amazing. Days getting longer. Weather turning warmer. Meadowlark birds and hummingbirds returning. And most of all, watching everything coming back to life—leaves unfolding on trees that have been stark and bare for months, grass turning green overnight, first flowers… I love it all. Okay, maybe not my juniper tree allergy and rattlesnakes waking up to hang out on the trails where I walk my dogs, but really, everything else!
My Harlequin novel, due out later this year, is set in the month of April. As I point out in the book, it can be a time of wildly fluctuating weather here. Often, our biggest snowstorms come this month and the warming temps can make for heavy, wet snow. In contrast to the picture above, here’s a snapshot of our chicken coop a few years ago—both photos taken in April. The two feet of snow completely collapsed the aviary netting. (No ducks or chickens were harmed—babies are raised indoors and the adults were cozy inside their two houses. 🐣) Ironically, right after drafting this newsletter a few days ago, we went from 75 degrees to 6” of snow!
Amidst all the happy spring things, we had some sad recently. Our oldest shepherd was struck with an illness that shouldn’t have been life-threatening but her age and overall health couldn’t surmount it. We said goodbye to our sweet, very good girl; our rescue who loved every person and animal she met and who took such joy in absolutely everything after all the awful we believe she endured in the first half of her life. With two huge shepherds still in the family, it’s surprising that the house can feel as empty as it does right now. She is very missed.
Writing news:
Her Colorado Cowboy, book one in the Tillacos Ranch Romance series, is inching closer to its August release date and is available for pre-sale online everywhere! Book two is completed, and book three is in the early stages of being written. (Book four, the final installment of the set, lives only in my imagination.)
Meanwhile, I’ve just completed a longish short story that compliments the books; the first in what I’d like to be a set of stories about the wranglers who work on the Tyler’s ranch. I’m hopeful Harlequin might pick it up for serialization on their website (free short stories — check it out!), but if not, I’ll release it myself and make sure it’s available to my newsletter readers.🤩
One topic in the short story involves cutting horses and competition. If you’ve never heard of it, it comes from ranch work where a specific cow needs to be cut from the herd for some reason, like medical treatment. Horses are trained to do this work and the competitions were born from there. The horses are so amazing that the rider’s primary job is to stay on. (There are even videos of horses demonstrating the work riderless!) This short clip doesn’t show the cow that’s in front of the horse trying to get back to the herd, but it does show a nice close view of the horse and rider working as one. Note how little the rider is cuing the horse.
And speaking of video clips and my Tillacos Ranch Romance series… I had so much fun making my first-ever movie trailer! It’s live now on YouTube. I hope you enjoy it, and if you do, I’d love it if you hit the thumbs-up and/or share the link with others.
A parting offer: if you’re a Harlequin reader (and if you’re not, why not?!), Harlequin has a new item: the Book Box! Find all the details HERE
Until next time, happy reading!
Melody, thank you so much for the condolences on our girl. She was a wonderful companion for many years. <3