Anne McAllister shares that her latest release wasn’t originally intended to be its own book! (Plus, a giveaway!)

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for joining me here today on the Tule blog. It’s always a treat to connect with readers because when I’m writing I’m usually not connecting with anyone but a couple of difficult hard-nosed people (can you say ‘hero’ and ‘heroine?’) and my dog. The dog is, literally, a golden retriever, and as far as golden retriever heroes go, he’s the best. Somedays he’s the one who keeps me sane!

He had a job doing that while I was writing A Cowboy’s Pursuit because – confession time – it was not supposed to be a book at all!  

It was supposed to be a sub-plot when I was writing The Great Montana Cowboy Auction. But when the Auction book got to be 96,000 words and Jace and Celie were nowhere near ready to get their act together and provide a nice counterpoint to Sloan and Polly, the actual hero and heroine of that book, I had two choices: I could write their enemies-to-well… enemies romance out of the book and they could go on being each other’s worst nightmare for life, or I could give them a book of their own.  

Foolishly, I decided they could have their own book.  I thought they’d be grateful. I thought ex-rodeo cowboy Jace would be happy to get a chance to woo the girl he’d had an eye on for a decade and convince her that he wasn’t the role model when her ex-fiancé strayed.  And I thought Celie, who’d dreamed of settling down, having a husband and family, would be delighted to discover that the boy she’d had a crush on back in her schooldays wasn’t the unrepentant bad guy after all.

But, no. That wasn’t how they rolled.  

I gave them their book, and the first thing Celie did was pack up and leave town! Elmer, Montana wasn’t big enough for both of them, she said.  Hard to get people together if they’re thousands of miles away from each other, I told her. As if she wanted to get together with Jace Tucker, Celie retorted. As if!

And Jace wasn’t any better. He thought she’d come to her senses.  He figured he could wait her out.  Ice ages have come and gone in less time than Celie O’Meara would take to melt in front of his eyes.  

It took them months to realize that someone had to do something.  Someone had to take a risk if we were going to have a book.  Honestly, I felt as if Tule and my editor and I were the ones taking the risk on these two stubborn people.  The only person who seemed to believe in them was ninety-year-old Artie Gilliam, who owned the town hardware store and meddled in their lives because, as he told me – and them — “Somebody’s got to.”

Well, thank heavens for Artie. 

At last Jace did something. He pursued her. Hence, the title of the book.  But, of course, it wasn’t as simple as that.  

There were those years and years of mistrust that still stood between them.  There was – on both their parts – the fear of being vulnerable, of letting someone in.  It’s a scary process, even if you ride broncs for a living.  Maybe especially if you ride broncs for a living, because that’s pitting your physical prowess and grit and muscle memory against a horse that wants nothing more than to shake you off his back in the next eight seconds. Battling a bronc and succeeding is do-able. Not every time, but often enough. 

But putting your heart on the line, not for eight seconds, but for forever – well, that’s something else.

Being vulnerable takes a kind of  courage Jace has never had to summon before.  It takes an honesty way harder than sticking to a bronc.  

Meeting that vulnerability with her own isn’t a piece of  cake for Celie, either. She had grown up believing in true love and happily-ever-after — until ten years ago when the morning of her wedding arrived – and her groom didn’t. Since then, not so much.  Not at all, actually.  

Being vulnerable to Jace was the hardest thing she’d ever do. She always expected the worst from him.  So did I, at that point.  He wasn’t giving either of us much of a reason to trust him. Even Artie was beginning to despair.

But after pursuing her, Jace did something unexpected. He said something that surprised Celie.  Shocked me. Only my editor seemed to take it in stride.  “See?” she said, ever the optimist. “I knew he could do it.” 

But then the question was, would Celie hold up her end?  Would she take a risk as well?  

Amazingly, she did. No, not amazingly. Of course she did, I realized, because with Celie and Jace it instantly became a matter of ‘anything you can do, I can do better.’  Even when it came to being vulnerable.

Not what I expected, but at least we had a story. 

It wasn’t always clear sailing. With these two it never was. But they got their act together at last.  They dared to shed their armor, to speak their minds (with a bit of backsliding because, Jace and Celie). 

And finally, because they took some risks, learned some lessons, dared to trust, they’re getting their happy ending – unless they’ve rewritten the end when I wasn’t looking.

I hope you’ll join them in their story.  I hope you’ll be as happy – almost – as they are at the end.  

And me?  I’m going to go walk the dog, then take a nap.

As I’m a great admirer of people who do difficult things like Jace and Celie did, leave a comment telling me what one of the toughest things you’ve ever done is. Or tell me the title of one of the best books you’ve read recently and why (because I can’t get enough of good books). Three days from now, one commenter, chosen at random, will win an e-book copy of The Great Montana Cowboy Auction or if you’re the winner and have already got a copy, you can pick an alternate title from my Tule backlist.  Happy reading!

About the Author.

Years ago someone told Anne McAllister that the recipe for happiness was a good man, a big old house, a bunch of kids and dogs, and a job you loved that allows you to read.  And write.  She totally agrees.

Now, one good man, one big old house (since traded for a slightly smaller house. Look, no attic!) a bunch of kids (and even more grandkids) and dogs (and one bionic cat) and seventy books, she’s still reading.  And writing.  And happier than ever.

Over thirty plus years Anne has written long and short contemporary romances, single titles and series, novellas and a time-travel for Harlequin Mills & Boon and for Tule Publishing. She’s had two RITA winning books and nine more RITA finalists as well as awards from Romantic Times and Midwest Fiction Writers. One of the joys of writing is that sometimes, when she can’t go back in person, she can go back in her mind and her heart and her books.