Free For All Friday! -- Author Meet and Greet!

I want to introduce my wonderful friend and great writer, Jacqui Nelson. [She's the gorgeous redhead ;)]
Through our common interest of historical westerns we became friends. The picture is of us at the 2010 RWA Awards where Jacqui won the Golden Heart for her historical western, BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL.
Her second novel, BETWEEN LOVE AND LIES, is already garnering awards. If you love western romance you will love Jacqui's work. Excerpts are readable on her website, http://www.jacquinelson.com/

So take a minute and get to know Jacqui! She's an up and coming author you won't want to miss!
Thanks for being my first guest, Jacqui;)

 

Q: How long have you been writing?

A: I started in November 2007 when I changed careers. After seven years working as an animator in the TV and video game industry, I needed work that had fewer hours and would allow me to live in Victoria, Canada (where there are no animation companies). My main goal was to spend more time with my mom, sister and nephew. During the job change I lost my creative outlet and needed another.

Back in 1992 I dabbled in writing. I bought and read a dozen writing books. I jotted down several ideas for stories. Then I put it all in a box, got sidetracked by my job (computer programming and later animation), and never thought about writing again. After moving in 2007 I was looking through my boxes and found the writing books and notebooks full of scribbles and decided I would try writing again.

 

Q: How did you get interested in the the western genre?

A: I grew up in the middle of nowhere in Canada (north of Edmonton, Alberta) on a cattle farm. We had only two TV channels (in the days before cable TV and even before, gasp, VCRs). The old Clint Eastwood movies came on TV and instantly I was hooked on Westerns. And "For a Few Dollars More" and "The Outlaw Josey Wales" are still in my top ten movie list.

 

Q: Tell us about your first manuscript (the Golden Heart book) and your second manuscript (your current WIP).
A: One of the "scribbles" in my notebooks was about a white woman who is raised by Indians. She runs away when white men murder her adoptive mother and sister, and the Indian brave she once called brother holds her responsible and vows to kill her. To escape and build a new life, she hires on as an interpreter and scout for a wagon train bound for Oregon. Two years later I had a completed manuscript, Between Heaven and Hell. I started pitching and entered it in several contests including the 2010 Golden Heart.

The first editor I pitched with suggested I keep writing Westerns. I had no more "scribbles" for Western stories, so I opened my series of Time Life Old West books and started reading.

I found an interesting historical fact about how the small farms between Texas and Dodge City were often decimated by the cattle drives when a longhorn tick caused the local cattle to develop a fever and die. I asked myself what would happen to a woman if she lost her farm during this time period (the 1870s)? Who would help her? Where could she find work? I decided my heroine would end up working in a saloon in Dodge City and that the cowboy (whose herd destroyed her farm) would be consumed by guilt and come back a year later to see what happened to her. One year later (I'm getting quicker!) I have a completed manuscript. I entered it in five contests, was a finalist in all of them, and now I'm ready for the 2011 Golden Heart. Fingers crossed once again :-)

Contact/visit Jacqui at: http://www.JacquiNelson.com