There’s a quote that I love.

It says, “Fear lives in the head, but courage lives in the heart.”

The two women in these historical romances personify those words.

Rose, at a time when having a career for a woman was practically unheard of, dares to start her own business, a magazine called Object Matrimony. She, too, would like to find someone to love—but Rose has a secret that won’t allow her to encourage the attentions of handsome Reverend Joel.

Portia, widowed by the Civil War, is desperate to ease the terrible loss of her beloved husband and her son. She takes a job as a tutor—but her employer, war veteran Beau, fought on the side of the Union. And Portia’s husband was a Confederate soldier.

These women have courage. In the face of overwhelming odds, can they also find love?

ROSE’S MAIL ORDER BRIDES AND GROOMS— 0.99 for a limited time (Bobby Hutchinson)

Please let me know how you like it. And what else are you reading?

“I love figuring out what makes people do what they do.”

Bobby Hutchinson lives, breathes, reads and writes books. She lives in a coal-mining town in the Rocky Mountains of B.C., Canada, a town remarkably like Starwood, the setting for her series of short, romantic, clean reads, STARWOOD CHRONICLES.

She isn’t an RCMP officer, she doesn’t waitress anymore, she’s never shot a stalker – but some of her wonderful female friends have done (most) of the above, which made for fantastic research for the series.

In this interview, Bobby Hutchinson talks about BIGGEST LITTLE TRUCKSTOP, book one in series STARWOOD CHRONICLES

Your favorite quote is, “When you change the way you look at a thing, the thing you look at changes.” Do you see this happening with your fiction?

Absolutely. If I look at fiction and writing as a job that I need to do just to earn money, I lose the magic and it becomes work. The words don’t flow, ideas are hard to come by. I struggle. But if I can get out of my own way and truly realize that the writing isn’t mine at all—that it just comes through me—the result is a surprise, the concepts far more intricate than anything I could come up with on my own. It doesn’t happen all the time, unfortunately, but when it does, I am so humbly grateful.

The Starwood world could pretty much be a micro-cosmos of everyone’s life… How much has your own small town influenced the setting and narrative of your novels?

My town, Sparwood, the place where I was born and came back to some years ago is a small coal-mining town in the B.C. Canadian Rockies. Its main attraction is The World’s Biggest Truck, parked on a lot just as you come into town, just like Starwood. The people in both the real town and its imaginary alter image live and love and suffer and learn, like people everywhere. Showing how they do it in my short love stories is my challenge and my delight. Do I base characters on real people? Sure I do, but they’d never recognize themselves. As Robbie Burns said, “would the power the giftie g’ae us, to see ourselves as others see us.”

In BIGGEST LITTLE TRUCKSTOP you continue with your “sweet romance and small town nosiness” style. What attracts you to this genre?

I love figuring out what makes people do what they do. On the surface, actions can be puzzling. Why would she suddenly pack up her car and leave, not certain where she’s going? Why would he have weird signs all over the walls of the café? I believe what doesn’t, at first glance, seem like love is actually a call for love in some form. My job is to dig beneath the surface of these people in my books and find out what motivates them. And then help them fall in love and live happily ever after.

Do you have a plan for Kate, the heroine of BIGGEST LITTLE TRUCKSTOP? What’s coming in the next book of the series?

Kate now lives in Starwood. It’s a small town, she’s a member of the community, she appears in Every Little Thing, the second in the series, and she’ll appear again and again as the books in Starwood Chronicles proceed. The beauty of creating a world is meeting the people you know and love over and over again, learning different facets of their characters.

As a romance writer, what does mysterious Mac from the Truckshop represent for you?

Mac, like all of us, has challenges to overcome. He has Aspergers, and he has to struggle more than others to cope. It takes an unusual partner to see beyond the surface and love the delightful man trapped inside. So my job as a writer involves not just Mac, but the loving woman—Kate—who is strong and wise enough to do that.

I have a beautiful son, David, who was born deaf. His struggles always influence who my heroes are, and often I give the poor guys in my books an equally huge challenge to deal with. All you can do, as a mother or as a writer, is love them, right?

Thank you for your time.

Ever wake up in the morning with a feeling of dread in your belly?

Sometimes it’s money stuff, or health, or too much to do—or not enough. Or problems with your kids or your car or your significant other or the tax department. Or, lord help us, all of the above?

Whatever the reason, it’s a bad feeling.

The best solution, I’ve found, is to do something for someone else, because what happens then is like a miracle. You let go of your own stuff and let God do Her stuff.

Which is why Facebook and Instagram and Twitter can be so valuable—you can always find someone who needs an encouraging word or a prayer or just a laugh.

Or something fun to read.

If that’s what you need today, I’m your person.

Here’s a short story about a kid and a doctor who have a lot to learn—and give—to one another. It’s my gift to you today, in case you need it. It’s called MERCURY RISING.

https://dl.bookfunnel.com/rfy01ej0ga

How do you feel about ghosts?

I was writing this book called MEDICINE WOMAN, about Mary Ferguson, who became a doctor on the Canadian Prairies in 1908. As in all great romances, Mary has to make a decision—does she follow her heart or her career? At that time and place, women couldn’t do both. But when she attends a train wreck outside of Medicine Hat, she meets David, a man trying to find balance between his Indian mother and his white father. David is returning to his people on the western prairies.

So where do the ghosts come in? Well, I researched train wrecks on the western prairies (writers research extensively, we want our fiction accurate.)

And I came across the most amazing story, The Ghost Train Of Medicine Hat.  I used the basic concept in Medicine Woman.

You can see the video here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrcX3bEOASI

And tell me your own ghost story–we all have one, right?

Going along in my 77^th year, happily alone. And bingo, the Universe pulled a fast one. This guy whom I’d known years ago came emailing into my life again, and through a series of amazing circumstances, we’ve ended up living together. How crazy is that? Here we are, Stan and I. I’ll tell you the rest of the story in another blog post.

So I want to know what your story is, how you and your special person met and got together. Everyone loves a love story, and each individual love story is totally unique and fascinating. Just jot it down, send it to me via email (bobbyhut@telus.net) and I’ll treasure it and include it in a book.

If you don’t want names used, no problem. I’ll respect your privacy.

I’m putting the stories together in a book which will be published as an ebook on Amazon, with the option of a printed copy. And everyone who contributes will, of course, get one.

I’d love to read your story, and so would thousands of other romantic, curious souls. So share!

Please, take a few minutes and tell me about you and your special person.

Romance is all about relationships and beginnings. Two people meet, and sparks fly—sometimes not romantic sparks at first.

They might have a ferocious argument right off the bat, or maybe they’re on opposing sides of a situation they care deeply about. The secret for the writer is the intensity of the reaction they have to one another.

And then during the development of the story, they find that intensity develops into love.

But it’s beginnings that fascinate me. I remember clearly meeting those who were about to be special in my life. I was waitressing in a small café in a coal mining town when I met the guy who was to become my first husband. I went home and told my mother, that’s the guy I’m going to marry.

How did I know?

How did you meet your special person?

Were you in love within the first five minutes? Did you instantly feel attraction, or anger or aggression towards them? Did you know immediately this was the one you’d be with?

What particular thing made you inwardly (or outwardly) decide that this was the one for you?

Write a little story and tell me. The winner gets an audio copy of my CD, HOW NOT TO RUN A B&B. You’ve got a week to respond—October 30^th is the deadline.

I can’t wait to hear your stories. Send them to me at bobbyhut@telus.net

And after I read yours, I’ll tell you my own unbelievable happily ever after!

Here’s the thing: I’ve been writing romances and selling them since I was in my forties. I’m now in my eighties, and wouldn’t you think I’d have learned through the course of sixty plus published books how to write a romance?

But no. See, I spent the last couple of months writing one. I had it edited professionally (always my first advice to any writer.) I went over it, looking for flaws. It seemed okay, not brilliant or innovative—but still a good solid romance.

So I published it on Amazon and asked the avid readers on my email list for reviews. That was Monday.

Tuesday morning my email inbox contained some private and disconcerting messages from my fast readers about the book, and when I went to the reviews on Amazon I found that I’d gone way off the rails. In fact, the book was a train-wreck.

The romance was fatally flawed. Honest feedback said that the heroine was not sympathetic, the very first requirement for any heroine in any romance. In fact, one reviewer called her downright mean. The plot was jerky and shallow. The secondary characters were stereotypical. In other words, the book was a bomb.

Decision time.

Humiliated and, yes, deeply ashamed, I wrote a new email to my followers apologizing, offering a refund should they want one, and promising to take the book off of Amazon.

One of the beautiful things about self-publishing is that you can disappear a book in about three minutes flat. Which I did. A book that had taken me god knows how long to write. And yeah, I felt like bawling.

So, a lesson in humility, big time. And one that led me to examining how I deal with failure, besides bawling.

I’ve been through two divorces, numerous failed love affairs, harsh criticism from my adult sons for my inadequacies as a mother and the general flotsam and jetsam that comes with living a long life and making mistakes. Guilt and regret have plagued me during countless sleepless nights, and I know all too well the hardest person to forgive is always myself.

My first instinctive reaction was always denial; it wasn’t my fault, I didn’t do it, the men were alcoholic, the reviewers are idiots, my kids just need someone to blame, the book is great.

This is where age comes in. Denial takes so much energy. As the years add up, it does become clear that just owning up to whatever is less tiring, no arguing required, just yup, the fault is mine and I’m sorry. Not that I’m a doormat; far from it. Taking the path of the peaceful warrior instead of going in guns blazing is easier on the equipment.

Thinking back on horrible scenes in my past, I can see now that a passive approach would have left me less devastated. There’s a mantra that I try to use—if I remember in time, which I often don’t. It says, “I would have peace instead of this.”

With the book, I did remember. Peace meant taking the damned thing down. And the wonderful emails that followed my note of apology filled my heart with gratitude. They reminded me that I’d written other books that readers loved, that everyone screws up once in a while, that my wonderful posse of readers is willing to keep faith with me.

So I decided to write a non fiction book. I called it HOW NOT TO RUN A B&B. I wrote about me, warts and all.

I was authentic and honest. I did my best reveal exactly why my nieces have dubbed me Catch and Release. And I sent it out there with love and trepidation, the way we do with everything we write.

Reviews were good. I published and left it up there.

If you happen to read it, email me at bobbyhut@telus.net with your honest opinion.

And remember, tears are what happen when the ice in the heart melts.