WHY WASHINGTON
TERRITORY?
Some of my readers know that I’ve
often used my family’s history as a source for inspiration in writing my
novels. For instance, The Edge of Light
uses many details from the life of one of my great-great aunts. In The Promise of Morning, I went to my
great-great grandparents’ lives for the storyline. The rest of my novels all
contain tiny bits of family lore as well.
The
takeaway here for new writers goes beyond “write what you know” to “write what
you can find out.” What I know isn’t always a whole lot, but with an inquiring
mind and a willingness to dig a little, I’ve learned that there is a world of
story material out there, waiting to be pressed into a manuscript.
So,
moving forward to my most recent publication, The Mail Order Brides Collection
from Barbour Publishing— here’s a bit of background for my contribution,
“Miss-Delivered Mail.”
As
far as I know there are no mail-order brides in my family history, so that part
is fiction. But in “Miss-Delivered Mail,” the main character finds herself in
Washington Territory in the 1880’s, where she meets the Halliday family. I
chose this setting because the “Hallidays” in this novella are my
great-grandparents. They are not the main characters, but they play an
important role in the story. In real life, they homesteaded in eastern
Washington in the 1880’s, settling there in the Coulee breaks long before the
Grand Coulee Dam was ever imagined. Many of the descriptions of their lives and
surroundings come straight from my grandfather’s memoirs.
So,
now that you’re armed with insider information, I wish you happy reading! I
hope you’ll enjoy “Miss-Delivered Mail,” as well as the other eight excellent novellas
in The Mail Order Brides Collection.
“Miss-Delivered Bride” by Ann
Shorey
Helena Erickson impulsively
decides to take advantage of her brother’s deception and travels to Washington
Territory in response to a proposal of marriage intended for someone else.
The Mail Order Brides
Collection can be purchased from your local bookstore, or online at the
following sites:
ANN SHOREY is the author of the
At Home in Beldon Grove and Sisters at Heart series. She also has novellas
included in the Sincerely Yours and The Oregon Trail Romance collections.
Ann and her husband make their home in southwestern Oregon.
She may be contacted through her
website, www.annshorey.com, or find her
on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/AnnShorey
Washington, another state I need to visit. What's your favorite thing about your state?
with love and prayers,
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