Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Five Secrets From Author Amanda Cabot


Today We Learn Five Secrets From Multipublished Author Amanda Cabot

I've been lucky to know Amanda for several years. She is the bestselling author of more than thirty novels including the Texas Dreams trilogy, the Westward Winds series, and Christmas Roses. A former director of Information Technology, she has written everything from technical books and articles for IT professionals to mysteries for teenagers and romances for all ages.  Amanda is delighted to now be a fulltime writer of Christian romances, living happily ever after with her husband in Wyoming. 


Hi, Amanda, please tell us Five Secrets we may not know about At Bluebonnet Lake but will after today!

1)  At Bluebonnet Lake is not the original title. In fact, all three books in the series have new titles.  My working titles were Chasing Rainbows, Dreaming of Fireflies and Searching for Stardust.  Although I still like those titles, the marketing gurus at Revell suggested a different approach for this trilogy.  Their logic made sense, so we’re using locations rather than gerund phrases.  (Doesn’t that term make you think you’re back in high school English class?)  At any rate, the Texas Crossroads books will be named At Bluebonnet Lake, In Firefly Valley and On Lone Star Trail.

Big Horns
2) It’s not just the title that changed.  So did the location.  I had originally envisioned the series set in Wyoming’s Big Horn Mountains and had even selected a specific site.  But the reality is that that part of Wyoming is difficult to reach during the winter, since some of the highways are closed for the season.  That limited my story line, so I returned to the Texas Hill Country – also beautiful but easily accessible year-round – for these books.

3)  And then there was my hero’s last name, which also changed.  After telling you about all these changes, I’m beginning to think this should be called “The Little Book That Changed.”  When I first started plotting the story, my hero was named Greg Vichenski, but since I’ve had readers tell me they prefer names that are easy to spell and pronounce (and since my own name is sometimes mispronounced), Greg’s last name became Vange. 

4) All right.  All right.  Here’s a secret that doesn’t involve a change.  I chose my heroine’s profession as an advertising executive because I once had a consulting assignment at a wonderful ad agency in Manhattan.  The work there was so fascinating that I wanted to use a tiny part of it as Kate’s background.

5) If you’ve read the “story behind the story” on my web page, you know that Rainbow’s End was inspired by a less-than-perfect resort in the Adirondacks.  What I didn’t reveal there was that the best aspects of Rainbow’s End were inspired by a very different place, a family-oriented Christian country inn in the Smoky Mountains.  Having dinner at their lazy Susan tables was such a good experience that I couldn’t resist having the same tables at Rainbow’s End.


Blurb :
Her life is set to warp speed. His is slowing to a crawl. But love has its own timing.

Marketing maven Kate Sherwood’s world is fast-paced, challenging, and always changing. The last thing she wants to do is grind to a halt at Rainbow’s End, a dilapidated resort in the Texas Hill Country. Still, she cannot deny her ailing grandmother’s request to visit the place where she and her deceased husband spent one glorious week fifty years ago. There, Kate meets Greg, who appears to be the resort’s unassuming handyman. But there’s more to Greg than meets the eye—billions more, in fact.

Kate isn’t looking for romance, but she can’t deny the sparks of attraction that fly every time she and Greg are together. Could there be a future there? Or will Kate’s long-sought promotion take her back to the big city?

Amanda Cabot invites you to step into a place away from the pressures of the day. You might be surprised by what you find at Rainbow’s End.

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3 comments:

  1. I can't wait to read the new series! Thanks for posting this little glimpse into At Bluebonnet Lake.

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  2. Hi Dena,
    It sounds like a great book. I can't wait to get my hands on it. It sounds like Greg is pretty well off, and Amanda's reveal about what inspired her to fashion Rainbow's End after ... well I can't wait.
    ~LA

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  3. Fun to read about all the secrets and the sometimes unforeseeable changes when in the midst of publishing. Cheers

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