Today we have the talented Andrea Downing on the blog. Andrea, thank you so much for being here. You have a new story out. Dearest Darling has a cover that totally tells a story. And since I love historical cowboys, this is going into the queue on my Kindle.
So how did you do in English as a kid?
Pretty much straight A’s, actually; I was teacher’s pet in English. And in my creative writing classes in college
as well. But it’s funny what you
forget—like, does a comma go there or not?
Do you have trouble saying goodbye to
characters? Yup.
Jesse from Loveland still haunts me, mainly because I’d like to go
back and finish that story sometime. I
know what happens to them all, right up to their deaths.
Does working to deadline inspire or
annoy you? I work best to deadlines actually, including
ones I give myself like handing in guest blogs 2 weeks prior ;-) So I’m not
annoyed by them at all; I’ve always worked well under pressure. I was that
student who wrote all her essays the night before they were due and burned the
candle at both ends. The thing is, I
have a huge tendency to procrastinate and get distracted, but I’m also very
conscientious—so if someone tells me this has to be done by such and such a
date, I do it. Even if it’s at the last
minute…
How do you get past those bumps in
the narrative that slow down your writing? Do something
else for a while, particularly have a glass of wine or quit for the day, go to
sleep, and go back to it with a fresh head the next day.
Which phrase in the book are you most
proud of? At some point he’d been hurt, at some stage
he could hate.
I love that! Now tell us a little about you.
Who do you see as a hero in your
life? I’ve said this before and I’ll say it
again: my daughter’s long-time
boyfriend, Daniel Saffon is my hero. Any
man willing to take on my daughter has to be a Man of Steel!
What did you want to be when you grew
up? An actress or a writer. I studied drama but life happened and here I
am…
Do you have a favorite quote? "What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is
to make a beginning. The end is where we start from."
T.S. Eliot
What song would best describe your
life? Cowboy Take Me Away by the Dixie Chicks!
If you came with a warning label,
what would it say? Sell
by Happy Hour
Where can readers find you?
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AndiDowning
Stuck in a life of servitude to her penny-pinching brother, Emily Darling longs for a more exciting existence. When a packet with travel tickets, meant for one Ethel Darton, accidentally lands on her doormat, Emily sees a chance for escape. Having turned down the dreary suitors that have come her way, is it possible a new existence also offers a different kind of man?
Daniel Saunders has carved out a life for himself in Wyoming—a life missing one thing: a wife. Having scrimped and saved to bring his mail-order bride from New York, he is outraged to find in her stead a runaway fraud. Even worse, the impostor is the sister of his old enemy.
But people are not always as they seem, and sometimes the heart knows more than the head.
Excerpt:
He strode back out of the barn to the house. A yellow glow shone through the back window, an inviting warmth, and he edged closer with care. The net curtain hardly gave Emily the requisite privacy for a bedtime routine. She sat on the edge of the bed, back to him, in her nightshift, brushing her hair.
He stood enthralled, transfixed as the brush came down the length of her hair, that wheat-straw hair, plowing lines through it as the brush made its way, and then rose to the top once more to start its path again. It was like silk, waves of silk or satin, and he could only imagine what it might be like to touch it so, to feel lengths of it, have it slip through his fingers, have it fall over his face if she lay above him.
His manhood hardened at these visions, a yearning in his groin. The desire for her ran through his blood as he remained still, observed the way her hand held the brush, her thumb running the length of the handle, her fingers gripping, moving the brush through her hair, the fine strands like filaments caught in the lamplight. And when she stopped, tossed her head faintly, the very slight motion stirred the curtain of hair as one, over her shoulder. He gasped, had to catch his breath.
Andrea Downing likes to say that when she decided to do a Masters Degree, she made the mistake of turning left out of New York, where she was born, instead of right to the west, and ended up in the UK. She eventually married there, raising a beautiful daughter and staying for longer than she cares to admit. Teaching, editing a poetry magazine, writing travel articles, and a short stint in Nigeria filled those years until in 2008 she
returned to NYC. She now divides her time between the city and the shore, and often trades the canyons of New York for the wide open spaces of Wyoming. Family vacations are often out west and, to date, she and her daughter have been to some 20 ranches throughout the west. Loveland, her first book, was a finalist for Best American Historical at the 2013 RONE Awards. Lawless Love, a short story, part of The Wild Rose Press ‘Lawmen and Outlaws’ series, was a finalist for Best Historical Novella at the RONE Awards. Dearest Darling, a novella, is part of The Wild Rose Press Love Letters series, and comes out Oct. 8th and Dances of the Heart, another full length novel, comes out in the next few months.
.jpg)
.jpg)
