Coming Full Circle

What does this have to do with a Queen?

(Oh, and by the way---The Abdication Part II is below...)

You're thinking--well, what is this western picture all about? And what does it have to do with Queens, or royals? Well, I'll tell you.

Even though I have a firm grasp on my royal studies--I still need help. I need someone to look over my royal fiction and give me good boot when I use too many adverbs, use the wrong pov...and someone to tell me the truth. Luckily for me, several years ago I met a lovely girl from Britain who doesn’t live that far from Windsor Castle. She was a writer too, and a good one. We started swapping work. I was in New Jersey, reading of her heroines in New York or Arizona or Alaska...and she was in England reading about the English royals in London or at Windsor. It was sort of odd, but I suppose I wanted what she had...and she had a hankering for the US. She helped me with my Americanisms and I'd tell her if something wouldn’t ring true with us Americans. We systematically went though many manuscripts--mostly hers, I have to say...because she was more prolific than me. I'd try systematically to do several Chapters every week and send them to her at 9pm or 10pm my time so when she was waking up in England she'd have them waiting for her. I guess we complimented each other...because I gained confidence as a royal writer...and I remember when she told me "I felt a chill go down my spine" after she read one of my royal pieces. And I guess I did something good for her, because she was pounding out the work and taking my suggestions....and her hard work's been recognized. Resplendence Publishing offered her a contract for one of her manuscripts---called Circle Star—and that's the cover for it. It's just out this week. She is a wonderful author if I do say so myself. And her name is

Tatiana March....

I've been so excited about this. She's a published author. The book kept my interest from the minute I read the first scene on a ranch in Arizona until the end. The heroines name was Susanna Talbot, which was almost my name! My mom's maiden name is Talbot, and she almost named me Susanna or Sue-Ann Talbot, so I wrote Tatiana about that, and we giggled over the coincidence. What’s the chances of that? And I also told her to hurry it up and write more because I was curious about Susanna and Connor.

Tatiana and I worked very hard on several manuscripts and I came to love all her heroines. We talk about them as if they were family. And her hero....ooh, especially Connor, in Circle Star...is especially sexy and has a sort of animal magnetism. And Susanna ruins his life...and then years later, in a twist of fate---can only keep the ranch which is rightfully hers if she marries Connor...that is what her father decreed in his will. Well, she has no idea where he is ...and, even if she finds him by some miracle... will he even speak to her, much less marry her?? It's a page turner, for sure.

Sometimes in life you do well because of the people you've met in your life...they enrich your life...and make you a better person, and a better writer. And that's why I wanted to pay tribute to Tatiana today, and announce her first book, because she has worked so hard--as hard as anyone I've known, and she's enriched my life---the other side of my life that I don't talk about on here much...except to casually mention my CP or the fact that I've critted quite a few chapters. But she is a real person who has an extraordinary talent I think. She is very proud of me, and I am very proud of her. And if it wasn't for her praise of my royal knowledge and writing ability...I probably wouldn’t have ventured into the blog world or had the confidence to send proposals to agents, and sit and type away at my fiction. She's the one that tells me I have guts and talent when I feel like throwing in the towel.

Here's just a wee bit from the book...AND, I must say, she gave me a sensational excerpt!

The sensitive boy was gone, replaced by a hard man. The amber color of his eyes was exactly as she remembered, but instead of the gaze that had been gentle, sometimes a little shy, their expression was flat, almost dead. Even in repose the full lips conveyed bitterness. When he turned his head toward her, she cried out again. A thin white scar ran along the left side of his face, from cheekbone down to the jaw.
“Little Susanna, all grown up.” His voice rang deeper and a little slurred. “You took your time.”
Her lips began to tremble, and she couldn’t speak.
“You’ve finally succeeded in tracking me down. Are you just going to stand there and say nothing?” Connor lifted a hand to the bartender. When his glass was filled, he picked it up, but didn’t drink.
“You knew I was looking for you?” Susanna forced out the words. Her knees buckled, and she clung to the edge of the counter for support. The storm inside her mind blew with a thousand winds, all whistling different needs and wants. More than anything, she ached to reach out and touch his face, make it come alive again, the way it used to be.
“I can read,” Connor said. “I saw it in the newspaper.”
“But you didn’t come, or telegraph, or write.”
“Why should I?”
Susanna shrugged, feeling helpless against the hard barrier around him. “Curiosity?” she offered.
“I mind my own business and expect others to mind theirs.”
This time there was a flinch. She wouldn’t have known if it hadn’t been for the glass of whiskey in his hand, full to the brim. Some spilled over the edge, onto his fingers. Connor raised his hand and tossed back the rest in two gulps. “What’s that got to do with me?” he asked as he propped the empty glass on the counter.
“My father had you in his will.” Susanna lifted her chin and fixed her gaze upon his hard face. “That’s what he wanted to tell you that day, when you ran away. That he was leaving Circle Star to both of us together.”
Nothing changed in that stony expression. Not one flicker.
“Didn’t you hear me?” Susanna demanded, suddenly furious. “I hadn’t told him about … about that other thing. You ran off like a fool, when he was offering to make you his heir.”
“So? I ran off. That’s all in the past.” She could sense a decade of emotion packed into those few words – regret, anger, pain. She was fairly certain that if Connor hadn’t been drunk, his voice would have revealed nothing.
“No, it’s not all in the past,” she told him. “My father never changed his will. You can still have half of Circle Star.”
“Can have? Is there something I have to do first?”
“Yes.” Susanna lowered her eyes to her clenched hands. She uncurled her fingers and tilted her face up to him. “You’ve got to marry me.”
She could feel him stiffen by her side. Then, with an exaggerated casualness, he reached into his pocket and tossed down a few coins. “Get the lady a shot of brandy,” he called out to the bartender. “She looks a little shaken.” Picking up his hat, he turned and weaved his way across the room to the front door, while Susanna remained by the counter and watched him go.

Ooooh!

I tend to be picky with my fiction because my head is usually in biographies or history books. But Tatiana's fiction satisfies my cravings. Sometimes I wonder how she thinks up some of this stuff. If you'd like to check out her new book, Circle Star, just go to Resplendence Publishing at http://www.resplendencepublishing.com/
You can also say hello to her on MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/tmromance

So, you see… this doesn’t really have to do with royalty…but yet it does.