Historical Western Chick-lit...huh?

When releasing a book through Amazon, you are asked to choose two genre categories. Later, Amazon may add additional categories depending on the book. For the past two years I have been writing contemporary and historical westerns. When choosing a category for my historical works, I naturally select "romance historical" and "romance western." Now, pondering my choices, I wish there was another selection for "chick-lit." My books are neither literary historicals, nor true westerns in the sense of Zane Grey.

I have accepted the inevitable--I write chick lit! The reason--it's what I love to read. When creating a story, writing the emotions of my characters is the most enjoyable. The initial romantic tension is quite fun to develop. Also, the ending wherein the tortured hero/heroine finally discovers peace and happiness is fulfilling. What I find difficult to write are action scenes, such as gunfights, kidnappings, and brawls. Don't get me wrong, they're a kick to create, but not easy. Maybe that's because I'm a character-driven author, rather than plot driven.

If given a choice of whether to watch a Nicholas Sparks movie or a Steven Spielberg action film, I'll choose Nicholas every time. For my husband, the opposite is true. However, he's a sweetheart and accompanies me to chick-flicks. Recently, for his sake, I suggested we watch the current vampire/werewolf/demon/etc. movie with lots of action. I found myself wishing it would soon be over. So what is it that "floats my boat?" That's easy--visiting a ghost town, watching a train chug (they don't really chug anymore) along the side of a mountain and disappear into a tunnel, catching sight of a decaying cabin, traveling through the desert, visiting a museum filled with pioneer relics...aaahhh, I'm in heaven.

The above cover is the one I created for the audio book, Cry of the West: Hallie. The narrator is Crystal Sershen and she is incredibly talented. I felt like I was traveling the Oregon Trail in 1866. The characters jumped into my heart! I loved the voices she created for the hero and heroine and the "bad" guys were really detestable. The children were adorable. We're just now finishing production. This will be my second audio book, the first one being another "historical western chick-lit" (I write that tongue-in-cheek), Abby: Mail Order Bride. Amy Gramour was the narrator for that book and she is also wonderfully talented. The new audiobook should be up within a couple of weeks. I sure hope you'll check it out. There will be a sampling when it is up on Amazon. See if you don't agree with my assessment of Ms. Sershen's talent.

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