MK: What drew
you to work with other authors on the book Be
My Texas Valentine? Is collaborating with others easier?
PM: Writing
with Jodi, Linda, and DeWanna was an easy decision for all of us. Jodi Thomas
and DeWanna Pace took their first class together some thirty years ago, but had
never had the opportunity to write together.
I took Jodi’s Creative Writing Class in 2001 and she became my mentor. We all belong to a local writing organization,
which just happens to be the oldest continual writing organization in the United States
established in April of 1924.
In 2005,
Hilary Sares, who at the time was an acquiring editor for Kensington
Publishing, was on the faculty of our annual conference, Frontiers in Writing. We all spent time together and briefly
discussed how much fun it would be to write one and only one anthology. After
she left, I received a book flat for My
Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys by Lorraine Heath, Georgina Gentry, and
Teresa Bodwell. Whether it was meant to be a hint or not, I took it as such and
as a group we decided Hilary wanted an anthology using Texas songs, so we immediately asked Linda
Broday to join our endeavor. I think she
gave it about a half of a second’s thought before she said yes. We put together our first anthology that we titled
Amarillo by Morning. Kensington
snapped it up but changed the name to Give
Me a Texan. They asked for another and we agreed. Our second anthology was
titled Roping the Wind, another good
old Texas
song, and it was changed to Give Me a
Cowboy ... thus our being tagged as the “Give Me Girls” for a while. As more anthologies came along, we were
dubbed by reviewers as “The Ladies of the West” and it’s stuck. By the third book, we gave up even trying to
use a Texas
song as the title. The funny part is
that Jodi’s story in Give Me a Texan
is Amarillo by Morning by George
Streit and mine in Give Me a Cowboy
is Roping the Wind by Garth Brooks.
Except for Give Me a Cowboy and A Texas Christmas, where we collaborated
to the point of writing one another’s character’s dialogue, particularly Linda
and I did, since our heroines were a mother/daughter duo who lived on the same
ranch, we simply had a topic to write about, so the collaboration was easy.
Give Me a Texas Cowboy was to take place over a four day
rodeo in Amarillo,
so we had to do a lot of coordination before we penned our first page. The
first problem we incurred was staying historically correct. Since there was no
rodeo in Amarillo
until much later than our story occurred, we had to select a new name. There’s
a Kasota railroad crossing outside of town, thus Kasota Springs, Texas,
was born. We had to determine things such as: Who was going to be all around
cowboy? The weather needs for each of
us. What events and in what order would our characters participate in? Everything had to be coordinated. In A Texas Christmas we revisited Kasota
Springs during the blizzard of 1887; however, everyone fairly well set their
stories in parts in and around the main town.
My story Away in the Manger
was the fourth story and I wrote it to include the other writer’s characters
and some of their plots.
So I guess
the answer to your question is with Be My
Texas Valentine it was just natural that we’d write the sixth anthology
together and never considered making any changes in authors. As far as collaboration, it can be easy or
hard depending on how well the authors work together on a project like
ours.
I’m pleased
to say that we absolutely had not one disagreement. The closest to one was in “Cowboy” when I was
hankering to do bull riding, which was a renegade event in those days, because
I love bull riding but DeWanna’s story centered on bull riding. The decision as to which author would use
that event really was easy, since Dee’s
brother was a bull rider. I took wild
cow milking and to my surprise, had a ball with it. I’ll share a secret with
you all. Just for the fun of it, in every book I’ve written I always have a PBR Bull of the Year’s name in it! So read carefully.
MK: Do you
still think about writing a cookbook? (Just a little something I read on your
website).
PM: Yes. As
a matter of fact, several of us have talked about doing one together and/or
separately, but at the moment our other projects must take priority. We all have files filled with recipes and
ideas, so figure it’ll happen one of these days, but not for a while.
MK: Do you have a favorite character in Be My Texas Valentine? Who and why?
PM: Melba Ruth Campbell, my hero Hunter Campbell’s
mother. I loved her for two
reasons. First, my beloved mother’s name
was Melba Ruth. It just seemed a fitting tribute to my mama. I also love to write about interfering
mothers and mothers-in-law but they have to have good reasons and the best of intentions
for what they do; particularly putting someone else’s needs before theirs.
Maybe because they remind me of myself ... the bothersome mother with good
intentions.
MK: Found on
the cover of Give Me A Cowboy, “Rugged and
ready and aimin' to please...”, is
this a fair description of all the Texas Heartthrob (my word) books?
PM: Our
stories are definitely true Texan. That
particular blurb was penned by Hilary Sares on her way home on the Metro. “Texas Heartthrob” is sure a fair description
to me. As a matter of fact, four of our
six covers were Romantic Time’s Heartthrob of the Month.
MK: How has
being a native Texan influenced your writing?
MK: What has
been your greatest pleasure since becoming published?
PM: Getting
to know so many wonderful people. Having readers come to our booksignings or
sending us emails to say how much they love a character is so rewarding. My
only regret is that I didn’t get published before my mother passed away. She would have been so proud of me. I had started writing before she passed and
she’d go to all of Jodi’s and Linda’s booksignings with me, so she’d be really
pleased to see me writing with her
favorite authors.
MK: What is
your favorite bit of Amarillo,
Texas history and has it been
mentioned in one of your books?
PM: Although,
our first anthology was set in Amarillo,
I really didn’t do much of anything special for it regarding the history of Amarillo except how the
original town as platted. I did have two scenes where Bat Masterson visited and
gambled. At least two of my stories came from real life incidents in Tascosa,
the second town to be established in the Texas Panhandle. The first town, Mobeetie, was settled in 1875;
while Amarillo didn’t
emerge until around 1887. I have to be very careful writing about true
incidents happening here because in many ways the Panhandle is still in our
infancy. Many of the founders have grandchildren and great-grandchildren still
here. A number of the original ranches are still in existence. At least two of
my stories came from accounts of true events out of Ol’ Tascosa, although I
turned them around a little to make them fit my needs.
In Loving Miss Laurel for Be My Texas Valentine I used an incident
where the men wanted to pave the streets of Tascosa, while the women wanted an
organ for the church. They held an “oyster supper” at the Exchange Hotel for a
fee of $1.50. I’ll let you all figure out where they got the oysters. Then I
patterned my hero, Hunter Campbell, from a progressive, visionary of the time
who had big plans for the town. However,
the railroad passed them up and eventually Amarillo became the largest rural railhead in
the world.
Give Me a Texas Ranger was also set in Tascosa and I used
factual events of Mickey and Frenchy McCormick and how they were forced into
marriage when the county clerk made anybody living together “without the
benefit of clergy” sign his Book of Marriage Records. I took that and turned it around where my Texas
Ranger, Hayden McGraw (yep, from Dr. Phil unknowingly) is trying to save a spirited,
spitfire of a woman from hanging by saying they are married and has the Book of
Marriage Records placed before him as proof of their union. He has a choice to
either sign it or let the pretty lady hang. The crusty Ranger was hungry,
tired, and just wasn’t in the mood for a hanging, so he signed the book. As a matter of fact, McGraw’s character was
designed from a real life grumpy ol’ Texas Ranger in this area at the time.
MK: You’re a
regular contributor to the wonderfully named Petticoat & Pistols blog. What
can a reader expect to read from you on the blog and when can they find you
there?
PM: I typically blog the second Tuesday of the
month, but not always. Sometimes we move
around. Tomorrow, I’m blogging on the Houmas House Plantation and Gardens near
Baton Rogue, Louisiana,
so I hope you all will stop by and leave me a comment or two. The Fillies at Petticoats and Pistols have ”Here
Come the Brides” event coming up the last week of the month, and I’ll be
contributing a blog on Thursday. Since
June is the month of love and weddings, we are doing excerpts from our books
about marriages. Every day will be different:
Monday, “Marriage of Convenience”; Tuesday, “Forced Marriages”;
Wednesday, “Wedding Surprises”; Thursday, “Funny Weddings”, and Friday, “True
Love”. I’m always on the lookout for
things that might interest our readers, so if you have anything you’d like for
us to blog about, I’d love to have you leave me a message at
phylissmiranda.com.
MK: What is your favorite non-writing Texas pastime?
PM: Between
my writing and my seven grandkids (all living in Amarillo, I’m happy to say), I don’t have
much time for many hobbies or “favorite” no-writing pastimes. I do love quilts
and have quilted several, but hate to piece them. As a matter of fact, you’ll
find quilts in most of my stories. I love antiques and travel a lot.
MK: What do
you have in store next for your readers?
PM: I’m excited about the future. My new short contemporary romance The Tycoon and the Texan will be out any
day as an Amazon exclusive. So, watch
Facebook for the announcement. Although
it’s a modern day story and begins in California,
my hero and heroine end up in her hometown in where else but the Panhandle of
Texas. My next love to Texas is the Civil War, particularly,
Andersonville Prison. I’m working on a
new series with a Civil War back story, but each book features the next
generation after the war and they, of course, all settled in this area of Texas. I love all of Texas, but like I said before, I write what
I know!
GIVEAWAY
Phyliss is giving away an autographed copy of any of the six anthologies from “The Ladies of
the West” to one winner and a gift certificate to Bath and Bodyworks. Comment to enter! You may also find current contests at PhylissMiranda.com and click “Links and Contests”. Winners will be drawn on June 15th!
All six of the anthologies are still
available from BN.com and Amazon.com!
Phyliss Miranda ~.
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author
Visit me at http://www.phylissmiranda.com and http://petticoatsandpistols.com
"BE MY TEXAS VALENTINE" in your favorite format in book stores and online now!
Still available "A TEXAS CHRISTMAS", "GIVE ME A TEXAS OUTLAW", "GIVE ME A TEXAN",
"GIVE ME A COWBOY", and "GIVE ME A TEXAS RANGER"
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author
Visit me at http://www.phylissmiranda.com and http://petticoatsandpistols.com
"BE MY TEXAS VALENTINE" in your favorite format in book stores and online now!
Still available "A TEXAS CHRISTMAS", "GIVE ME A TEXAS OUTLAW", "GIVE ME A TEXAN",
"GIVE ME A COWBOY", and "GIVE ME A TEXAS RANGER"
