Susan Sands: Birthing a New Book

It's all beginning again! The exciting process of birthing a bright, new, shiny book baby is still a pretty new one for me and I wonder if other authors still get as starry-eyed as I'm feeling right now. I signed the contract, turned in the manuscript, and I've just received the cover art fact sheet asking all the questions about my setting, story, and characters. I love that my input and opinion really matters to my publisher, and thus far, they've knocked it out of the park when it comes to creativity and beautiful cover art.

Now, I wait for my fabulous editor to read the book and get back to me with her thoughts and suggestions. That's the hard part, isn't it? The waiting. And hoping. Hoping she will connect with my story the way I've written it. Hoping once again I've done my characters justice and didn't let it get too far off the rails. Will this one be too suspenseful? Sexy enough? Too sexy? So, I wait...

The self-doubt creeps in every time the book leaves my hands and goes across the net into someone else's court. (I just lost a tennis match today in three sets, so tennis is my analogy for the moment).

I can't wait to see the mock-ups for the new cover. It's like waiting for Christmas! Oh, wait, it's really almost Christmas too! I love the big reveal on social media to my friends and readers. I think I love almost everything about the steps in the process. When one works as hard and for as long as I did to realize this dream, I don't see how I could ever not appreciate all of it. Yes, it's hard most of the time, but this is the fun of it--seeing the fruits of your labors come to life.

Thanks so much to the team at the Tule Publishing Group, Lee Hyatt, who publishes this blog and has designed my covers, and to Sinclair Sawhney, my lovely editor, who took a chance on me. I'm just all full of giddy today as I await the next steps toward book #3!!

Hopefully, I'll have a title and cover to reveal next month!

Have a safe and very happy holiday season!!

Susan Sands

                                                                 

The 78th Copper Mountain Rodeo

By Jeannie Watt

Hey everyone and Happy Wednesday! I am so totally excited for the upcoming Tule Publishing Copper Mountain Rodeo series! The 75th Copper Mountain Rodeo was the first series published by Tule and were the books that had me coming back for more.  Now I'm part of the more! Crazy how things work, eh?

The 78th Copper Mountain Rodeo series goes on sale in September and I want to share the fantastic covers-- which Lee created. I'm a little in love with all of them.

Catch Me, Cowboy by Jeannie Watt  - September 8


She will not be his second choice…

When champion bronc rider Ty Harding returns home after four long years on the road, the first thing he does is look up Shelby O’Connor—the woman who begged him to stay. The woman he still loves.

Horse trainer Shelby O’Connor truly believes she’s over Ty—until he shows up on her family ranch and turns her world upside down. Shelby isn’t a big one for second chances, but she’s all about proving that she and Ty are done. But when she discovers that Ty plans to head back out on the rodeo circuit, despite his injuries, she has to come to terms with the fact that maybe she isn’t as over him as she thought she was. And now she has to decide what to do about that.

Will history repeat itself, or will Ty and Shelby get another chance at love?


Protect Me, Cowboy by Shelli Stevens -- September 15

With his competing days behind him, Wyatt Marshall has settled into ranching life in Marietta, Montana. But with the Copper Mountain Rodeo, his only exception, just around the corner, the last thing he needs is a distraction – especially one in the form of a pretty, yet vaguely familiar country singer.

For Claire Miller, it’s been almost a year since she fled Las Vegas with only her purse and the clothes on her back, and she’s been laying low in Montana with a new image. When she and her country band travel to perform in the small town of Marietta, she doesn’t plan on getting stranded there for several days. Or for an innocent offer to stay at a nearby ranch to turn out to be more than she bargained for: she recognizes its owner to be the same sexy cowboy she got hot and heavy with – then stood up – in Vegas.

With the passion flaring between them and Wyatt getting closer to putting the pieces together, Claire is ready to run again, not knowing the danger that sent her fleeing in the first place is close on her heels. 

Want Me, Cowboy by Sinclair Jayne -- September 22

All around cowboy Luke Wilder only came into Grey’s Saloon for a beer. Instead he ends up in a fight with a brother he never met and dumped by a fiery red haired bull breeder he only asked to dance. So much for keeping a low profile. But Luke is stubborn. And no woman’s ever said no to him twice, in business or pleasure.

Tanner McTavish is more focused on breeding bulls at the next level of IBR than in making out with cowboys, unless that cowboy is Luke Wilder. She’s secretly pined to catch his eye at several rodeos, but this Copper Mountain Rodeo is Tanner’s chance to chase a stock deal with the IBR. Things look to be all business, but looks can be deceiving, and Tanner’s never played it safe…

Can Tanner lasso her cowboy home for good?

Love Me, Cowgirl by Eve Gaddy  -- September 29

Disillusioned with love, Dr. Sean Gallagher returns to Marietta to join its expanding medical facility. Marietta’s newest, most eligible bachelor isn’t looking for long-term involvement – especially not with his brother’s much-younger former girlfriend, Honey Jordan. But short term? That’s another matter.

Escaping a toxic relationship with her father, barrel racer Honey spends as little time as possible in Marietta. Home for the 78th Annual Copper Mountain Rodeo, a brief fling with the town’s hottest new doc might be just the thing to distract her until she can leave again.

But when a riding accident strands Honey in Marietta, an affair meant to last a few nights turns into something much deeper, leaving both Sean and Honey torn between the safety of saying goodbye and the heartache of losing what they dare not admit they’ve found — one true and lasting love.

Does anyone have a favorite out of these four? I have a hard time choosing, so I'm going to go with my own. Thanks, Lee, for such a great representation for our stories!