Another great sale!

The Seven Brides for Seven Texans novella collection is on sale this week for just $1.99 for kindle and nook, and for $1.59 at christianbook.com

Here are the links:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2lYHnQN

Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/2mqGs75

Christianbook.com http://bit.ly/2mHt7ZU

A SUPER SALE!

For a limited time, the ebook of 

Seven Brides for Seven Texans is on sale! 

You can buy the book for Kindle by Clicking AMAZON.

You can buy the book for Nook by Clicking BARNES AND NOBLE. 

You can buy the book for  other devices by clicking CHRISTIANBOOK.

The sale ends 1/31/17, so don't delay! 

WINNERS!!!

The time has come to reveal the winners of last week's giveaways, AND the winner of the LOADED KINDLE FIRE!

So, without further ado...

The winners of a copy of the 7 Brides for 7 Brothers DVD are:

1. Kathy Jacob

2. Pail of Pearls

3. Lucy Reynolds (Plus one of Elise's Bath Bars)

4. Monica

5. Librarypat!

If you would each email me at ericavetsch at gmail dot com I'll get your prize to you ASAP!

and now...the winner of the LOADED KINDLE FIRE!!!!

A 7" Kindle Fire Tablet loaded with the following titles:

A Family Arrangement - Gabrielle Meyer
A Mother in the Making - Gabrielle Meyer
Family of Her Dreams - Keli Gwyn
A Home of her Own - Keli Gwyn
Make-believe Beau - Keli Gwyn
The Reliable Cowboy - Susan Page Davis
Heart of a Cowboy - Susan Page Davis and Vickie McDonough
The Bull Rider's Bride - Vickie McDonough
As Love Blooms - Lorna Seilstad
When Love Calls - Lorna Seilstad
While Love Stirs - Lorna Seilstad
A Bride's Portrait of Dodge City, KS - Erica Vetsch
The Cactus Creek Challenge - Erica Vetsch
The Most Eligible Bachelor Collection - Amanda Barratt, Gabrielle Meyer, and Erica Vetsch

AND...7 Brides for 7 Texans! 

Goes to

Virginia Winfield!!!

Congratulations, Virginia! We'll be in touch about your prize!!!

The authors of the Seven Brides for Seven Texans collection want to thank each of you who entered our drawings, attended various launch events, and especially those who have purchased, read, and reviewed this novella collection. We fell in love with the Hart boys, and we hope you all did, too.

God Bless!

Amanda Barratt, Susan Page Davis, Keli Gwyn, Vickie McDonough, Gabrielle Meyer, Lorna Seilstad, and Erica Vetsch.

A Peek Behind the Scenes #7 - With an Editor!

Erica here:

It was our total pleasure to work with JoAnne Simmons on the editing and polishing of this collection. JoAnne is a real pro with a great eye when it comes to editing, and she's also an all-around sweetie! :)

Several years ago, JoAnne was the acquiring editor for Heartsong Presents, a direct-to-consumer book club owned by Barbour Publishing. Not only that, but she was my first editor ever! The one who offered me my very first publishing contract. 

In addition to being a great editor, JoAnne is an author in her own right, too. Her latest work is Christmas Remembered: A Holiday Memory Journal for Families. 

Isn't it stunning? She's written devotionals, too. Be sure to check her work out wherever good books are sold! And now, here's JoAnne.

Editing a book by seven authors writing about the same characters in the same family? That sounded like a challenge I couldn’t resist! I jumped at the chance, especially knowing what a great group of authors this is, several of whom I’ve had the joy of working with on multiple books over the last 10+ years. And, really, this group made my job as breezy as possible with the fantastic series guide they’d already put together at the start of their brainstorming and plotting.

That guide contained all the info needed to keep the setting and many characters consistent throughout seven different stories and writing styles. From physical descriptions about every handsome Hart brother to mental pictures of each room of El Regalo and everything in between, these authors had the many, many, many details covered, much to this editor’s appreciation. A large part of my job was to make sure all seven authors stayed on track with this great guide--and what a pleasure to do so! Fascinating characters in a great western setting and unique stories for each of the brothers often made me forget this project was any kind of work.

The rest of my job was to look carefully at each individual story and all of them together as a whole to see how they could improve, asking questions and making comments and suggestions to the authors such as:

How could we make this plot even more captivating? What do you think of this idea?

This isn’t consistent with ______. Find ______ and compare.

The writing needs tightened up here. Are these changes okay?

This read awkwardly, and I’m not sure what you meant here. Can you revise?

This word choice might not be best. How about this instead?

This character’s motivation needs strengthened, what about this idea to do so?

Show us more about what the character is experiencing here.

Since I sound like a relentless nag in the majority of my notes to authors, my favorite part of editing is to add in encouraging comments, showing the authors where I best pictured their vivid description, where I laughed out loud, where I really connected with a character or message, and the spot where I shed a tear or two (or more sometimes!)

The goal by the end of my edit is to have my nagging comments resolved and replaced with even more encouraging ones, like “Yes, this fixes it. Good job.” or “Oh, I get it now. Thanks for clarifying”--so that by the time the book is in the hands of readers, we give them the best possible story experience.



I’m confident that Seven Brides for Seven Texans is an experience that lovers of inspiring historical romance stories do not want to miss! Enjoy!

Thank you so much to JoAnne Simmons for giving us a peek behind the scenes of what it was like to edit this collection. Hopefully we weren't too hard on her! :)

There are only a few hours left to enter! Don't miss your chance at these fabulous books and a Kindle Fire Tablet!

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A Two-Page Spread

Erica here:

Ever since I received my first publishing contract, back in the fall of 2008, I have marked writing milestones in the journey in a scrapbook. My daughter, Heather, has helped on many of the pages...and by helped, I mean designed, cut, and glued!

I have a page for each of my books or novellas, pages for awards won, for articles published, and other fun things that have happened along the way.

When it came time to create the page for Seven Brides for Seven Texans, I quickly realized that one page just wouldn't be enough.

We started with the left-hand page, a green background with gold embellishment and a pink flower. The colors exactly matched the tones of the book cover. Included on the page are a photo of El Regalo and GW and Victoria Hart's names in gold and pink hearts. Cowboy boot stickers and a map of the US with Texas in red complete the page.

On the left hand page, all the heroes and heroines are written on hearts, and the photos that the authors originally used as templates are included beside their names. A couple of Texas stickers and a cute surprise complete the page.

I drew an eye patch on Bowie. :)

Can you see the surprise? Here's a closer look:

It's hard to read on the gold foil in this picture, but the little heart attached to Emma's heart says "Jack." You can guess what that means!

7 Brides for 7 Texans was one of the most labor-intensive, exhilarating, fun projects I've ever worked on a s a writer. From the initial concept to the final pre-printing read-through, I learned so much about teamwork, about leadership, and about cooperation. I wouldn't change much at all!

We hope you've enjoyed learning about each of the stories through the past six weeks, and we hope you'll come back tomorrow when our guest will be our editor JoAnne Simmons giving us her take on what it was like to work with us on this project!

Today is the LAST giveaway of a dvd copy of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers!

Every day this week, I'm giving away a copy of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, the musical!

To win the DVD, leave a comment telling me about your own creative efforts. Do you quilt or cross stitch or crochet or paint or play music or scrapbook or take photos? What is your creative outlet?





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Cattle Dogs

Erica here:

One thing that makes my hero Bowie Hart stand out in this collection is his sidekick, Stonewall. Stonewall is a Catahoula Cur, also known as a Catahoula Leopard, and is named after Stonewall Jackson. (Bowie named his pets after famous people, in keeping with the tradition of naming Harts after famous Americans...perhaps because he had given up on the idea of ever having children of his own to name.)

Isn't he a beauty? The Catahoula Leopard is a mixture of Native American dog, Spanish mastiff, and Greyhound. They can be brindled, spotted, or solid in color, and they are considered part of the Herding Group.

Originally bred to herd cattle and pigs in the Louisiana swamps, the Catahoula has webbed feet, is athletic, and fearless. You can go to Youtube and search for Catahoulas loading cattle and see how active and intelligent these dogs are.

Bowie acquired Stonewall when he was a puppy. He rescued him from drowning in the Sabinal River. He rarely goes anywhere without his favorite dog.

Stonewall isn't the only cow dog Bowie has. Clara, named after Clara Barton (because Bowie has a soft spot for Civil War nurses) is Stonewall's mate.

Clara is lighter in both weight and color than Stonewall, and she is more aloof than her male counterpart. She has eyes only for Bowie. In Love at Last, Clara delivers a litter of puppies that are in high demand among the boys of Hartville.

I enjoyed learning about this amazing breed, and I thought they would be fitting animals for Bowie Hart.

Every day this week, I'm giving away a copy of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, the musical!

To win the DVD, leave a comment telling me about one (or more) of the pets you've had in your lifetime. (US Only.)




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Elise Rivers

Erica here:

Today, we're talking about the heroine of Love at Last, Elise Rivers.

Elise hasn't had an easy life, losing her parents to illness and being forced to live and work for a cruel relative. And yet, she fights to find joy in little things, and to dream in spite of her circumstances.

Because she has been bereft of love in her life, she's learned to live a vivid inner life. When a handsome former patient dawns on her horizon and rescues her from a verbal and physical assault, she is ripe for a romantic and risky proposition.

Elise has a servant's heart, working in the Union hospital at Fort Slocum, NY during the War, and when she arrives in Texas, she does everything she can to keep her part of the bargain she made with Bowie.

I found a template for Elise perusing Pinterist. I didn't even know what she was going to look like until I found her picture. She's not a child as a spinster of 30, but there is a youthfulness there, too. I love the pensive, almost expectant expression on her face, and I think it captures what I wanted to portray in Elise.

Bowie has no idea what to do with Elise. She's pretty and considerate and treats him as if he were someone special, and just what is he supposed to make of that? From her long, brown hair, to her sweetness, to her haunting jasmine scent, she drives him crazy.

All in all, she's just the woman he needs to crack through the carapace he's built around his heart to protect himself.


Every day this week, I'm giving away a copy of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, the musical!

To win the DVD, leave a comment telling me what your favorite fragrance is. (US Only.)

And today, I'm also including a bar of custom-made Jasmine soap, Elise's signature scent.

And keep in mind, there are only a few days left to enter the big giveaway below!


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