Hot August Nights are Great For Research by Sandra Leesmith

Please welcome today's guest blogger, Sandra Leesmith, to The Roses of Prose.

One thing about the month of August is it is a great month to travel on vacation. Traveling is a wonderful opportunity to do research for writing that next novel swirling around in my head.

In fact it was during a trip in Monument Valley, Arizona that I began writing novels. That summer, my university professor at Arizona State University assigned us to write a novel.  We were training for a program designed to improve student-writing skills and as teachers were told if we were going to teach writing—we better know writing. When we asked what we should write about the professor said, “Write what you know.”

So here I was in “color country” surrounded by Native American culture, history and ruins. It was a great opportunity to research my first novel. Writing that romantic suspense novel was so much fun, I proceeded to write several more and eventually became published. DREAM SONG was my first book written, but my third published.  (I had to do a lot of revising-chuckle) In fact I plan to republish that book since I have the rights back from Warner Publishers, but I have more revisions to make.  Writing styles have changed a lot  

since the nineties.

Other books I’ve written involved research while traveling as well.  My husband and I won a trip to New Orleans and while there we took a ten-day cruise up the Mississippi on a river steamboat. Being a writer, I just had to interview the crew.  And that is how I came up with the information for CURRENT OF LOVE. Readers tell me that they felt like they had been on the cruise after reading this light and sweet romance.

Every August in the early eighties, the Coors Classic bicycle race would pass by my mother’s house at Lake Tahoe. Watching the racers pedal past stirred my storytelling juices and PRICE OF VICTORY evolved.  My husband joined a bicycle club that raced so I could get in on all the pre-racing action. I met several women cyclists who helped me authenticate the facts in this fun and sweet romance.

My next traveling adventure will happen this October. I know it won’t include a hot August night, but Southern Spain can be like warm in October. I am going specifically to research the latest novel swirling around.  My characters are from Spain and are insisting I go there and see what their childhoods were like.  Can’t refuse an offer like that. 

So let me know what August vacations have inspired you to do and your name will be put in for a drawing to Amazon. I also write children’s books using my maiden name Sandy Wardman. You can choose one of those instead. Find the titles on  www.childrensbooksbysandy.com. 

win a signed copy of one of my novels. You can read about them on Amazon (link is:

Bio: Sandra Leesmith writes romance designed to warm the heart and make you smile. She has published with Harlequin, Warner, Avalon and currently with Montlake Romance of Amazon Publishing. Sandra loves to hike, read, bicycle and write. She lives in Arizona with her husband and two dogs, a Labrador retriever and a toy poodle. During the hot summers she and her husband travel throughout the United States in their motorhome where she enjoys

the outdoors and finds wonderful ideas for her next writing project. Her latest release: LOVE’S MIRACLES is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle. Visit Sandra on her website www.sandraleesmith.com.

A NEW ROSE OF PROSE

I feel privileged to be blogging with so many talented authors! And, since this is my first time blogging with Roses of Prose, I thought I’d introduce myself.

I’m Andrea Boeshaar, a mom who is proud of her three grown sons and a “grammy” of 4 precious grandchildren. Family is very important to me. I’m also a published author of fiction and nonfiction, a public speaker, and a certified Christian life coach. I am a firm believer that good decisions lead to happy endings. In a world filled with wounded hearts and broken lives, it's comforting to know there is hope -- and it's only a decision away.

You can find out more about me by logging onto my web site at: www.andreaboeshaar.com

I enjoy everything writerly – in fact, that’s the name of my personal blog: . Everything Writerly In it, I discuss the writing life, the publishing industry, my books, and I have guest interviews now and again, so be sure to follow me.

I’ve been writing since 1984 – that’s the year I received my first rejection letter. That made me a real writer! I kept trying and finally my first book was published in 1994. Since then, I’ve written about 25 novels.

My latest book is Undaunted Faith, was released by Realms/Charisma House in May of 2011. It’s the 4^th and final historical romance in my Seasons of Redemption series.

I think my favorite time period encompasses the Civil War years --Pre-Civil War times through the Reconstruction Era. My father was a Civil War enthusiast and his interest rubbed off on me. It's a wartime that's often romanticized, largely because of Gone With the Wind, However, it was a terrible, horrible war (and what war isn't?). Even so, the Civil War marked both an end of an era and new beginnings. To many Americans, it was an end to a way of life. To many more, the Civil War signified the start of true freedom in this country. So it's a very important time in US history!

My series, Seasons of Redemption, is set in this time in our Nation’s history. No shameless plugs intended. I’m just super excited about these Christian historical romance novels! So let me tell you about them.

The first book in my series is, Unwilling Warrior.
It’s 1862 and Valerie Fontaine must face her father’ rejection and escape New Orleans during the Civil War – or be arrested for treason!  

The second book is called, Uncertain Heart.

The year is 1866 and Sarah McCabe discovers true love during her summer as a governess in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. But will her employer, a bold and handsome veteran captain of the Civil War, stand in her way of happiness -- or be a part of it?

The third is titled, Unexpected Love.

In Chicago, Illinois, in 1866, Nurse Renna Fields must conquer her insecurities over an unsightly birthmark in order to love a man who needs it more than anything in the world! 

Finally, Undaunted Faith, book four:

It’s 1867 and school teacher, Bethany Stafford, travels to the Arizona Territory along with Jake and Luke McCabe. But there’s trouble brewing in the town of Silverstone and the last thing the McCabe brothers want is to get involved. Unfortunately, it’s too late!

All four books received 4-star reviews from Romantic Times and are available amazon.com.

You can also watch the exciting video trailer for Undaunted Faith, by clicking here.

So what’s ahead for me?

I’m currently writing book 2 in my new historical romance series, Fabric of Time. I finished up book 1, Threads of Hope, and it’s slated to be released in January of 2012. I’m extremely excited about this new series because it takes place in Wisconsin – the state in which I was born and raised. It’s been fun to do the research – and quite convenient too, I must say. In the next couple of weeks I need to visit the Wisconsin Maritime Museum. Has anyone been there recently?

Well, that’s all about me. I look forward to getting to know both the readers and writers of this fabulous blog!