ROGUE WRITING
Rogue writing. That’s what I call writing a book that is nothing at all like the dozens of other books I have written. That is what happened with A Song for my Mother.
And, oddly enough, it isn’t the first time.
Years ago, after I had written more than twenty historical novels, I decided to try my hand at writing a contemporary. I had this idea, a ghost story based on an actual incident that had happened to my husband and me at a bed and breakfast in Connecticut. The Silent Rose, was the result. Fortunately, readers liked the book, it was nominated for a Rita, and it has been re-issued and reprinted a number of times over the years.
After that, I wrote a number of contemporary romantic suspense novels and am currently writing The Against Series, which started with the Raines brother, Against the Wind.
Feeling comfortable writing in both historical and contemporary, the little Rogue genie struck again. Another story, The Christmas Clock, got stuck in my head and wouldn’t let go until I wrote it.
It was a novella, a Christmas story set in the tiny mid-western town of Dreyerville in 1995. There was no hot sex in this book and no passionate romance, just a sweet love story that told the tale of Joe and Syl and little Teddy Sparks and the people who lived in the town. Once again, I was fortunate that readers liked the story. Still, when the publisher asked me to write another similar story, I declined.
For a while.
Then the old Rogue genie got hold of me again and shook me until another Dreyerville tale popped into my head, and A Song for My Mother was born.
It’s being published in a small, gift-sized hardcover for Mothers Day. It’s Marly Hanson’s story, a young woman who, years after dropping out of high school and running away with the town bad boy, returns to Dreyerville to fulfill a promise to her daughter. Recently treated for brain cancer, Katie’s greatest wish is to meet her grandmother, Winnie, whom she has never known, and Marly hasn’t got the heart to refuse her. But Marly and her mother are estranged and dealing with the dark secrets of their past is crucial if mother and daughter are ever to find the love that once bound them together.
And, of course, in any tale of mine there has to be romance. Handsome Sheriff Bennett and his young son, Ham, live next door to Winnie, and though Marly is wildly attracted to the man, she has a job and a life waiting in Detroit. Add to that Reed’s worry for a friend who has fallen into despair and you have A Song for My Mother.
I’m hoping readers will enjoy the book and perhaps this summer will look for Magnificent Passage, my first novel, a western romance that is being re-issued in July. Till then, happy reading and all best wishes, Kat
