There is a fine line between giving God the glory for something and bragging. For a few days, I’ve mostly been sitting on a little news, sharing it with just a few people, trying to check my motivations. I’ve come to the conclusion when GOD moves–whether it be in a spectacular, awesome way or not–GIVE HIM the GLORY. 🔥 I had a conversation Tuesday with film producer Brad Wilson about my script for A Lady in Defiance. I was looking for a critique and input. And maybe what to d

And here’s one of my favorite scenes from Hope in Defiance: Pick up your copy today! “Hope, I pray you’ll forgive me the wine choice.” Carefully, Edward poured a shimmering red stream into Hope’s glass. She bit her lip, and leaned forward, eyes wide with anticipation. She reminded Lane of a kid peering at candy in the mercantile’s window. “It looks lovely,” she said, reaching for it. “I so wanted a merlot from Château de Goulaine, but it was impossible.” He poured Lane’s glas

My density has brought me to you. Okay, sorry, if you are not a Back to the Future fan. Density translates to Destiny. But I have a destiny for you. A Destiny in Defiance. Releasing November 1, it is book 4 in the Romance in the Rockies saga. A Promise in Defiance, Book 3, was supposed to be the last book but you guys just can’t get enough of Charles McIntyre! So, as it often happens, I started A Destiny in Defiance with one idea but some of the other characters simply wouldn

In honor of A Promise in Defiance being on sale today, I thought I’d share a snippet of one of my favorite scenes with you. It’s hard to do, b/c there are so many plot twists in A Promise, it’s difficult to avoid SPOILERS! But here ya go: * * * Leaning on the bar, Delilah listened for a moment to the sounds that had played in the background of most of her life: men muttering, laughing, cursing; the slap of cards and the triumphant cry over a winning hand; the jangle of chips

I learned something today in my research into those feisty pioneer women that I just had to share. I knew that the Daniel Day-Lewis movie Last of the Mohicans was based on James Fenimore Cooper’s novel of the same name. What I didn’t know was that the story of white girls kidnapped by Indians was based on the actual event experienced by Jemima Boone, who was rescued by her legendary father, Daniel. It’s a safe bet the Shawnee thought two young girls alone in a canoe were easy

The women who built this country did amazing things to make America a better place and rarely complained while they were doing it. They just rolled up their sleeves and jumped in. They didn’t whine or cry. They didn’t call themselves victims when they weren’t treated fairly. They just kept working at doing good for the country or their little corner of it. AOC and Omar could learn a thing or two from these gals. Case in point, meet Susie Anderson. Born in Indiana in 1870, she

Last time, if you will recall, I related that in back in 2000 I had started writing A Lady in Defiance and my computer crashed. Several thousand words into the story I lost ALL of it. Well, I had my hands full with a baby. I shrugged and thought I would probably come back to the story one day. If it wasn’t dead and buried for good. Maybe God would resurrect it…Who knew? Fast forward to 2007. I took a job working for a vanity press doing author promotions. One day at a book si

I didn’t expect the research for A Lady in Defiance to break my heart. If you have read my Defiance books, you know I’ve gone to great pains to bring the old west mining town of Defiance to life. Those “great pains” were hours of research. Admittedly, since I’m a history freak, I enjoyed most of it. Some of it, not so much. Here’s what I didn’t enjoy: learning just how awful the lives of prostitutes in these lawless towns were. While disease was the number one cause of death,

I couldn’t resist sharing this tale with y’all. I was doing a little research and stumbled across the story of  Kate McHale Slaughterback. Born in Longmont, CO in 1894, Kate was a pistol. By all accounts, she was strong-willed, independent, arguably surly, and she did not like to be told what to do. By anybody. Which may account for several failed marriages. Perhaps headstrong to a fault, I can’t help but think this is the very flaw that saved her life and created her legend.

Christmas in the West in the 1800’s. For some reason, I get warm-and-fuzzy feelings thinking about the wide open spaces, deep snow, tall pines, warm hearths, homemade gifts, sleigh rides, fiddle music, shy cowboys asking for a dance at the Christmas ball–Whoops! Sorry, I drifted off there for a second! You can see why I write this stuff! I’d like to share with you three of my favorite things that put me in mind of a Western Christmas: a certain book, a certain song, and a cer

As a nation, not only have we become deeply divided, but we’re divided over stupid things. Maybe–here’s a crazy thought–if we were a little less sensitive we’d all get along a little better. Instead of scouring the universe for something that hurts our little feelings, maybe we could be more concerned with things that matter. So, here’s the reason for my rant. I recently read an article (Writing with Color Description Guide Part One) that said writers shouldn’t use words like

This post first appeared at Cowboy Kisses, May 2017 by Heather Blanton A simple question on the surface, I thought a quick Google would give me the answer. Turns out, a few females claim the honor. So after a little more serious digging, I came up with Mary Hallock Foote and her first novel, Led-Horse Claim: A Romance of a Mining Camp published in 1883. In 1876, she married Arthur De Wint Foote, a young mining engineer whose career would take her deep into the wild-and-wooly

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☆¸.•*¨*★☆★Pre-Order Special Price★☆★¸.•*¨*★☆ ☆¸.•*¨*★☆★Pre-order One get one bonus★☆★¸.•*¨*★☆ ☆¸.•*¨*★☆★Pre-order Two get MORE★☆★¸.•*¨*★☆ Releasing 1/25 – Locket Full of Love $0.99 http://amzn.to/2EmaAtH Releasing 2/14 – Hell-Bent on Blessings $0.99 http://amzn.to/2yIXqnl Forward snipit or copy of receipt to gowest36@gmail.com and you will receive in your email a Secret Link with a password to your bonus material! This is a one-time use of your email (unless you already sub

EUREKA! BONANZA! The California Gold Rush—when Gold Fever spread across America, it emptied towns, stripped ships of their crews, left women husbandless, children fatherless. The stories, especially of the women who sought to make their own fortunes, are awe-inspiring and, in some instances, flat-out amazing. #historicalfiction #mailorderbrides #womenshistory #Westerns #americanhistory #womenofthegoldrush #Romance #LynnWinchester #californiagoldrush #christianfiction #ladiesi

from my post over at https://cowboykisses.blogspot.com Sometimes when I do research, I discover fascinating individuals who led gloriously exciting lives and then retired in peace, children and grandchildren sitting at their feet. The happily ever after. The ending we’d all like. Truth is, though, sometimes a hero has her moment early on and from there it’s not a very pretty spiral downward. This is my impression of the life of Apache warrior woman Dahteste (pronounced ta-DOT

By Heather Frey Blanton Copyright 2012 Heather Blanton Follow me on https://www.facebook.com/heatherfreyblanton and https://twitter.com/heatherfblanton Sometimes I write about the women who fought for this country’s independence in very real, sacrificial ways. Sometimes I write about women who fought the land and the times to settle difficult territory. Susan Anderson is definitely the latter. Born in Indiana in 1870, she moved with her family to Cripple Creek Colorado at th

by Heather Frey Blanton The point of Patriots in Lace is to remind my American sisters (whether they be American by birth or spirit), of our fiery and rebellious ancestors and, hence, the bloodlines we should honor. The old adage, “Well behaved women rarely make history” is true. The history-making women of previous generations were passionate, obstinate,  tempestuous, and indomitable. Probably they didn’t see themselves as such at the time. They were just doing what came nat

Life on the Western frontier for a woman was hard enough. Can you imagine being a minority? There were probably few things treated with less respect than a black woman or an Oriental woman. Meet Lalu Nathoy, AKA, Polly Bemis. Of all the research I have done on pioneer and patriot women, Polly impresses me the most. Originally from China, in 1872 her father sold her off as a concubine. Polly’s worth: two bags of seeds for her starving family. She was smuggled into San Francisc

Defiance a.k.a Glenwood Springs, CO Funny how authors seem to dip from the same cosmic well. They can write completely different novels, never meet each other or share information, yet similarities in the books can be staggering, even shocking. I’ve had this experience with my book, A Lady in Defiance. But rather than point out some spooky similarities between it and another author’s story, I want to talk about where fact and fiction meet. In my book, Defiance is a fictional