Hey everyone! I’m so excited to be back here at Operation Awesome! It’s been a few years lol I was a contributor back when OA was a brand new blog and I can’t tell you how thrilled I am that OA is still here being an incredible source for writers everywhere.
OA was such a big part of my writing journey. I started with this group back in 2010 (and I just realized how many years ago that was, holy moly!). I did have a book deal under my belt – a non-fiction book on how to write essays, and a great agent. But non-fiction wasn’t what I wanted to do. I’d sort of put that book together from a blog series I’d done and getting an agent and contract for it was a HUGE fluke. My agent was amazing but didn’t rep fiction. So we didn’t work together for too long after that book published since non-fiction, while I do enjoy writing it, is something I prefer to do on the side. Novels, romance novels specifically, are what call to me.
So, I was still slogging through the fiction query trenches and joining OA also meant joining the critique group comprised of the other contributors. I learned so much from all of them and they were all a huge support to me. Querying is not for the faint of heart! A good support group helps sooo incredibly much. In fact, my two biggest sources of writing help, query/agent info, and all around much needed support were the amazing contributors of Operation Awesome, and the community over on Querytracker. Which, if you haven’t checked QT out yet, you really need to. One of the best sources of info on agents and querying around with a really great forum.
The amazing OA ladies read my book more times than I can count and had my back through the well over 200 rejections I received. And then, in 2012, after 5 years of trying to find a fiction agent, I signed with Entangled Publishing and have been lucky enough to have been kept busy with them since then. I did eventually query again. I picked five agents/agencies I’d really love to work with and sent off a query – and even with twenty-odd books and a Hallmark movie under my belt, I still got rejected. BUT, one of those queries ended up not being a rejection and I found my fabulous agent, Janna Bonikowski at the Knight Agency.
It’s been 10 years and a few months since the release of my very first published book. And I’m now celebrating the release of my 25thbook, Hitched to the Gunslinger. Gunslinger is a fun romp through the Wild West that follows a cantankerous gunslinger who’s hellbent on retiring at any cost and an overachieving spitfire of a woman who has an unfortunate proclivity for life-threatening altercations. It was an absolute blast to write, and I hope it’s just as fun to read!
I write under two names (at the moment…there may be a third cropping up in the near future) – historical romances under my own name and contemporary rom coms as Kira Archer. And I swear, despite the insane roller coaster that is this business, I still love it. Coming up with new ideas, finishing a new book, putting it out in the world – it never, ever gets old. But I might not have stuck with my journey if it wasn’t for groups like Operation Awesome. I am honored to have been a part of OA and thrilled that they are still here being such an awesome support to the writing community. Thank you for having me back today!
Now he just wants to find a place to retire so he can spend his days the way the good Lord intended. Staring at the sunset. And napping.
When his stubborn horse drags him into a hole-in-the-wall town called Desolation, something about the place calls to Gray, and he figures he might actually have a shot at a sleepy retirement.
His optimism lasts about a minute and a half.
Soon he finds himself embroiled in a town vendetta and married to a woman named Mercy. Who, judging by her aggravating personality, doesn’t know the meaning of her own name. In fact, she’s downright impossible.
But dang it if his wife isn’t irresistible. If only she’d stop trying to steal his guns to go after the bad guys herself.
There goes his peace and quiet...
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