Blog | Heather Blanton

Jun 18, 2020
3 min

I Challenge You to Put Out into the Deep

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

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A Lady in Defiance

Feb 5, 2020
2 min

Feminism vs. Just Gittin’ It Done…

Let’s be clear: I am no feminist. I do, however, write stories about strong-willed women who overcome some pretty stout obstacles. Often, my heroines are based on real people. So, why am I not a feminist? Isn’t modern feminism basically the belief women should be treated the same as men? One dictionary defines it as advocating social, political, legal, and economic rights for women equal to those of men. Hmmm. Let’s not give that platform a blank check. The FACT is women are

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I learn something from everything I write…

A Lady in Defiance

Dec 12, 2019
2 min

I learn something from everything I write…

Evergreen—One quaint western town…roiling with romance, rivalries, and proposals. Now, for the first time in a box set! Yep, ALL the Brides of Evergreen together in one collection! I’ve truly enjoyed writing the Evergreen series! So many fun, historical characters are woven into the stories. And because I’ll be adding one more book to the collection in 2020, here’s your chance to catch up on all FIVE previous stories for only .99! ~~~~~ One reason I think these books are appr

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A Destiny in Defiance Through the Eyes of a … Cougar

A Lady in Defiance

Nov 1, 2019
2 min

A Destiny in Defiance Through the Eyes of a … Cougar

Something strange about my new release… My editor was very complimentary about the twist and turns I worked into A Destiny in Defiance as well as the extreme suspense and tension in the last chapters. She found herself so engrossed in the story, there were several places where she forgot to edit because she was too busy reading! (We’ve worked diligently to find and edit those places!) Anyway, the story was tremendous fun to write, took me almost a year (it’s 96,000 words!), a

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Does a New Romance Have a Destiny in Defiance?

A Lady in Defiance

Oct 25, 2019
3 min

Does a New Romance Have a Destiny in Defiance?

Can two people from very different worlds make a romance happen? I just adored writing the sub-plot of Hope and Lane and their potential romance in my new book A Destiny in Defiance. He’s such a pure Texas cowboy and she’s such a feminist–or so she thinks. Here’s a snippet of one of my favorite scenes: Hope drifted her fingers softly along the edge of the deep cut gouging its way across the man’s palm and frowned. “I’d say this is more than slight, Mr. Chandler. You’re going

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A Lady in Defiance

Oct 16, 2019
3 min

I’m Your Density — My New Release

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

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Nellie Bly vs. Ellie Blair–the Gals Behind Mail-Order Deception

A Lady in Defiance

Sep 13, 2019
2 min

Nellie Bly vs. Ellie Blair–the Gals Behind Mail-Order Deception

Nellie in Mexico Nellie Bly (AKA Elizabeth Jane Cochran) is the young gal who put the word “intrepid” in the phrase “intrepid reporter.” At the age of 18, when most women were still working as domestic technicians, this firebrand had a job working for the Pittsburgh Dispatch, reporting on the horrible working conditions of women in factories. When that got her in trouble with factory owners, the paper moved her over to nice feminine topics like fashion, society, gardening… te

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In Defiance of Failure. Trust God and Fish or Cut Bait…

A Lady in Defiance

Jun 19, 2019
2 min

In Defiance of Failure. Trust God and Fish or Cut Bait…

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

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Don’t miss out on this chance to get some FREE books!

A Lady in Defiance

May 28, 2019
1 min

Don’t miss out on this chance to get some FREE books!

Tick. Tick. Tick. Time is running out! Pick an author from this fabulous group, sign up for her insanely interesting newsletter, and you will receive a FREE book. Sign up for as many as you like. I’ve included one of my favorite stories as a giveaway. Grace be a Lady is just too incredible to be based on a real person! And the other authors in the group are: Lynnette Bonner <> Kari Trumbo <> Mary Lu Tyndall <> Dorothy Adamek <> Lisa Prysock <> Sondra Kraak <> Stephenia H. McG

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A Lady in Defiance

May 21, 2019
2 min

Of Popcorn and Prostitutes

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,

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A Lady in Defiance

Apr 24, 2019
2 min

Pen Names–In Defiance of Compromise

I’m not afraid to wade into controversy, but I was a little surprised by the passionate reactions to a question I asked on social media yesterday about using pen names. My original post went like this: Recently I was discussing pen names with a fellow author. She thinks they are fine and give an author leeway to write in different genres without losing fans or confusing them. Ooooookay. My argument is too many authors nowadays seem to use pen names to play both sides of the m

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The Fact Behind the Fiction is Even More Amazing

A Lady in Defiance

Apr 18, 2019
2 min

The Fact Behind the Fiction is Even More Amazing

I know most often I focus on ladies in defiance–women who do amazing things or survive incredible situations. However, I was having a conversation about how truth is stranger and often more incredible than fiction. To prove my point, I shared the story of the man who is the inspiration behind my character of Dent Hernandez in Hang Your Heart on Christmas. I thought you might find it interesting as well. Enjoy! The legendary Elfego Baca is the inspiration for my hero. In 1884,

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Who Were the Men Who Made Charles McIntyre?

A Lady in Defiance

Feb 28, 2019
2 min

Who Were the Men Who Made Charles McIntyre?

Quirt Evans I often get asked if any of my characters are based on an actual person. Sometimes, they are, sometimes they’re straight out of my imagination. I thought it would be fun to share with you today who I saw in my head when I was writing one of my favorite and most popular characters, Charles McIntyre. Charles McIntyre Who can resist a man running from love because he knows it will be his undoing? Think John Wayne’s classic character of Quirt Evans in Angel and the Ba

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The First Female Doctor in WY Wasn’t Well Received…by Women

A Lady in Defiance

Feb 20, 2019
2 min

The First Female Doctor in WY Wasn’t Well Received…by Women

Lilian Heath. Such a demure name. She was anything but. In the 1880s, Lilian’s pa got her a job assisting Dr. Thomas Maghee, the physician Lilian Heath in the wide-open railroad town of Rawlins, WY. A petite little thing still in high school, Lilian was pretty fearless, but not stupid. She dressed like a man and carried a .32 when she went on calls late at night. She and the doc did everything from delivering babies to reconstruct a man’s face after his failed suicide attempt

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One of the Coolest Things About Being Indie — Writing for YOU!

A Lady in Defiance

Jan 15, 2019
3 min

One of the Coolest Things About Being Indie — Writing for YOU!

REVISED and EXPANDED and FREE just for my precious readers! One of the coolest things about being an indie author is how responsive I can be to y’all! You can literally tell me what to write! Last year I released a book entitled To Love and to Honor. A lot of you wrote or commented that you loved the story but wanted to know more about a secondary character, a Cheyenne Indian named Henry Long Feather. He trains horses in the story and is my hero’s confidante. Here’s the link.

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Look Out! I’m Going all Politically Incorrect Again…

A Lady in Defiance

Nov 29, 2018
2 min

Look Out! I’m Going all Politically Incorrect Again…

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

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Who Was the First Woman to Write a Western Romance?

A Lady in Defiance

Nov 6, 2018
2 min

Who Was the First Woman to Write a Western Romance?

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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Blanton’s Defiance Novels Optioned for A Limited TV Series

A Lady in Defiance

Oct 29, 2018
3 min

Blanton’s Defiance Novels Optioned for A Limited TV Series

How did all this come about? It’s one crazy God-story! Actor Matt Williams I was on facebook private messaging with my assistant when I happened to see actor Matt Williams announce that he’d done well in an audition, got the part, and probably another one. I hopped over to just quickly congratulate him. He commented back that he’d like to get a part when one of my books was made into a movie. I said, “Well, it just so happens that I do have a script for A Lady in Defiance, bu

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How does a man, missing a limb, feel whole again?

A Lady in Defiance

Jul 3, 2018
4 min

How does a man, missing a limb, feel whole again?

Welcome to a sneak-peek of my newest release, To Love and to Honor— Enjoy! A day later, Joel was strong enough to travel. And to send word to Ruth of his whereabouts. He tapped the pencil on the Western Union form, trying to determine how much to write. He believed it a safe assumption his wife did not care where he was so long as he was not in her presence. His time away with the cavalry had changed Ruth. Her letters had grown colder, her thoughts more succinct. Coming home

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A Lady in Defiance

Apr 7, 2018
1 min

I Don’t Pull Punches. Why You SHOULD (and SHOULDN’T) Sign Up for My Newsletter

Hey, have you signed up for my newsletter? Let me give it to you straight. Here’s why you SHOULD: Newsletter subscribers get <FREE FREE FREE> Heather’s Haberdashery–ebook of loooong excerpts from SEVEN of my books Monthly newsletters with: Exclusive contests Fun giveaways Hints on my current work-in-progress Scene and story X-Rays A monthly profile of a REAL lady in defiance (like Annie Oakley or Agent 355) And much more! BUT, here’s why you SHOULDN’T sign up for my newslette

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