Meet Davalynn Spencer!

Welcome, Davalynn!

When award-winning author Davalynn Spencer isn’t writing bestselling Western romance with rugged cowboys, she’s teaching creative writing at the local college. At home on Colorado’s Front Range, her rodeo and journalistic background inspires many of her stories. Her novel, Romancing the Widow, won the 2015 Will Rogers Gold Medallion Award for inspirational Western fiction.

Tell us about your newest book.

Things don’t go as planned for mail order bride Mae Ann Remington. Not that she could plan much anyway, other than accepting Henry Reiker’s offer of marriage and the train ticket he sent for her trip to Colorado. But when someone else’s greed costs her everything—including her groom—she has no choice but to do the unthinkable and propose to a complete stranger.

Rancher Cade Parker goes to the bank to withdraw cash for his sister, not find himself a wife. But that’s exactly what he does when he carries a dead farmer to the undertaker and ends up accepting the desperate bride’s “business proposition.” What he didn’t figure on was falling in love.

Forced to live out her deceased mother’s mantra of “God works everything out for good,” Mae Ann ends up as a Colorado rancher’s wife facing snakes, scoundrels, and second chances.

What genre do you focus on and why?

Historical western romance has been my focus for the past five years, though I’ve written nearly as many contemporary stories. I guess it’s all part of God “working everything out for good.”

Why do you write? What drives you?

I have a compelling urge to put things into words—emotions, events, sunrises, smells, everything. I love combining all those things into a story where I can create the setting and people who live out struggles we face in our everyday lives.

Who is your main character, and how did you choose that name?

Mae Ann Remington simply showed up “on scene” in my imagination one wintry morning while I sat in front of the woodstove with my laptop. I had to write down what I saw happening in her life. It was unthinkable, but I knew it was the beginning of a story.

What does a day in your writing world look like?

I’m up at 5:30 because I like to spend time alone with God before sunup and noise. I walk or exercise weekdays, fix breakfast, check email, and start writing as soon as possible. Afternoons are spent on lesson plans for the college class I teach, shopping, errands, household chores, and sometimes coffee with a friend. On days I don’t have any afternoon demands, I keep writing—living in my fictional world.

What is the hardest part of being an author? Why?

I believe the hardest part of successful authorship in today’s world is marketing. Doing all those other things one must do that are not writing.

What’s the best part of your author’s life? Why?

The best part of an author’s life is hearing or reading a comment by a reader that shows how your words touched his or her life, opened eyes, healed a heart, inspired a dream.

What is the craziest thing you’ve experienced as an author?

As a Christian author who writes inspirational romance, the craziest moment for me came during a discussion with a secular author who believed “inspirational romance” was an oxymoron. Not that I expect everyone to prefer my genre, but it was a sad moment of realization that the person knew so little about real romance and our real God.

What are you most proud of?

Honestly? My children who all love God.

Career-wise? Winning the 2015 Will Rogers Gold Medallion because it is an award given for creative work in the Western world, presented by those who understand the nuances and history of the West.

What is your favorite pastime?

Reading a great book that takes me to another time and place historically, or watching a great Western movie. There’s also chocolate. And bacon.

Do you have other books? We’d love to know.

I have four other published novels with Harlequin and three novellas in Barbour collections. All are listed on my website, Amazon author page, and Goodreads.

What are you working on now?

I’ve recently finished a novel set in 1910 during the silent movie era of Western flicks filmed in Cañon City, Colorado, before Hollywood became the movie mecca. City girl meets cowboy—in a most unusual way.

Website: www.davalynnspencer.com

Link to book: LIVE ON JUNE 1, 2017

Social media links:

http://www.facebook.com/AuthorDavalynnSpencer

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https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5051432.Davalynn_Spencer

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http://www.amazon.com/author/davalynnspencer