Finding Inspiration in Western Photographs....

By Amber Leigh Williams

The concept for my first western romance came around slowly and on somewhat on a whim, an idea that I never thought would come to fruition. For me, it took a while to come around to reading western romance. The first one I picked up was Nora Robert's Lawless, which to this day is the best historical western romance on my shelf. Through its pages, I fell in love with the untamed landscape of the West and the dangerous lifestyle of the cowboy hero. It intrigued me, both as a fan of western films and as a storyteller.

Surprisingly, the idea of writing a western romance novel didn't come to life until I found inspiration while thumbing through an issue of Vogue. Charlize Theron was on the cover. I remember this because she's my husband's favorite actress. On the cover, she was posing in front of a barn in chic western attire. In the article, it was revealed that Charlize grew up farming/ranching before going on to become one of Hollywood's A-listers and an Academy Award winner. The western-themed shoot took her back to her ranching roots in South Africa. Not only did the western spread capture my attention. Snippets of the article itself - especially the part where she reminisced about her ranching heritage and her wish to return to those roots later in life - made me take pen to paper and begin brainstorming the character of Stella Ridge, heroine of Blackest Heart.




The notes were rough, but I saw America's Sweetheart going through a life-changing ordeal and retreating to her family's ranch in order to find peace in the solitude of the West. I chose a serious car crash as a personal choice because when I was a young girl I discovered firsthand just how traumatizing a car accident could be. Stella's search for peace, serenity, and a true sense of self leads her back to her family, her old ranching life, and the man she is destined to love.

It would be several months before I saw another photo, this time on the web, that furthered the story  concept of Blackest Heart....

I don't know how it happened but from this one photo the character of Judd Black, the silent cowboy, came to be. At that moment, I knew for sure that I had to write this western romance. I had to give Stella and Judd their own journey of forgivness and healing as well as a satisfying HEA. Although I love each and every one of my heroes, I have to admit that so far no other hero I've written has lived up quite to Judd's standards. There's just something about that mysterious, silent cowboy that makes me want to reach out to him again and again and it all goes back to a single, random photograph.

To get a taste for the rodeo town of Wayback in which Blackest Heart takes place, I turned again to images to help me set the tone for the setting of the story. I have to say that researching rodeo cowboys isn't the worst part of my job ;) 

If not for these images, Blackest Heart never would have found a life of its own. I look back on that day in October 2007 I found inspiration through the lens of Mario Testino in Vogue with happiness and appreciation because I’m not quite sure where my writing journey would have led me without finding a true writing niche in western romance.

Blackest Heart is now available in ebook from The Wild Rose Press, Kindle, and Nook! Recently, it became available as an audio book from AudioLark! You can also find it in paperback in the western romance anthology, The Way Back Home!

To read more about Blackest Heart and its subsequent trilogy, visit the BOOKS page of my website and read the REVIEWS. Happy reading!

Interview with Amber Leigh Williams + Giveaway

Hi Sweethearts! I'm here to introduce western romance author, Amber Leigh Williams! Amber is a multi-published romance author, a member of Romance Writers of America, former Secretary of the Gulf Coast Chapter of RWA, and a monthly contributor to Sweethearts of the West. Her first western romance, Blackest Heart, was the 1st Place More Than Magic Novella in 2009 and her historical romance, Forever Amore, was nominated for Best Book of 2009 by Long & Short Reviews. She is represented by D4EO Literary Agency.

Amber, when did you begin writing? Has it been a lifelong dream?
I discovered my love of storytelling in the third grade. It started out with plays and short stories and progressed into fairy tales and, eventually, YA and romance novels. When I found out that I could make a living writing fiction, I strived to be published! So, yes, in a way it was always a dream :)

Just to get an idea about your home, do you live north, south, east, or west in the U.S.? What do you like best about your area?

I’ve lived in the South all my life, most of it on Gulf Coast of Alabama. I’m definitely a small town girl at heart. Being raised in this part of the country made me who I am so I love everything about my upbringing and the South!

I know you have books with The Wild Rose Press. They must be Western in nature, or you wouldn't be a member of Sweethearts of the West! Can you tell a little more about them? Do you write in any other genre?

I write contemporary western romance for The Wild Rose Press, more specifically for the Wayback, Texas series where a cowboy falls in love every eight seconds! The Ridges of Wayback, TX trilogy follows the lives and loves of the tree Ridge siblings – Stella, Casey, and Keefe. The first book in the trilogy, Blackest Heart, finaled in the 2009 More Than Magic Contest, placing 1st in the novella category. It features one of my favorite heroes, silent cowboy Judd Black! You can find out more here at The Wild Rose Press….

The second book, Bluest Heart, is about the younger of the two Ridge cowboys, Casey. In this story, the good boy falls for the so-called “bad girl” of Wayback, Josie Brusky. And the good boy has never been this sexy. Find out more here about Casey and Josie’s story here….

Bet it on my Heart, the final book in the trilogy features Keefe Ridge, the playboy of Wayback, who meets his match in touch, city-slicker Calli Morlani. Find out more about Bet it on my Heart here….

I’ve also published a romantic suspense, Denied Origin, with The Wild Rose Press. The Way Back Home is a western romance anthology in paperback featuring Blackest Heart. Black Lyon Publishing more recently published my historical romance, Forever Amore!

Are you always as happy as your photos depict? What makes your life really good?

Haha, I certainly hope so! I’ve been happily married for five years. I also live just a few miles from the sugar white beaches on Alabama’s coast line! If that isn’t enough to keep me happy, I have three goofy labs to keep me entertained!

If you had one wish, what would it be?

Goodness, that’s a tough one! I would probably wish for a house on the lake in north Alabama where I spent a good part of my childhood as well! I’d love to retire there one day with the hubby, and it’s the perfect place for inspiration :)

What is most satisfying in the writing/submitting/publishing details of a novel?

The most satisfying part of it all, I think, is when readers respond in a really positive way. Good reviews are one thing, but when I hear from happy readers, I know I’ve done my job well. There’s nothing more fulfilling than satisfying readers!

Do you have anything else that is special/different/new/exciting in your life?

Recently, I updated my website to include bonus material from my western trilogy, the Ridges of Wayback, TX. It includes a sexy, short, Valentine’s Day snippet I wrote post-HEA for Bluest Heart as well as a deleted scene from Bet it on my Heart! Find it on the EXTRAS page at http://www.amberleighwilliams.com!

One more question: what is your favorite meal? Do you cook it, or go out?

My favorite meal consists of my mother’s chicken divan, though you won’t hear me put down my grandmother’s devilled eggs either, lol. Every summer holiday my family made our own lemon sherbet ice cream as well, which is divine! So divine I used it in Bet it on my Heart for one of my favorite scenes ;)

GIVEAWAY: Every reader who comments today or tomorrow to this post will be entered to win a ebook or audio book of their choice from the following titles – BLACKEST HEART, BLUEST HEART, and BET IT ON MY HEART. Find out more about each at my webpage here: http://www.amberleighwilliams.com/books. Read reviews for each, too, at http://www.amberleighwilliams.com/news-reviews. If you do comment, be sure to let me know which title you would prefer. I’ll draw the winner randomly Sunday, August 7th either here or at my personal blogs, The Cozy Page: http://amberleighwilliams.blogspot.com! Good luck :)

(CHANCES OF WINNING DEPEND ON THE NUMBER OF ENTRIES AND YOU MUST BE 18 YEARS OR OLDER.)

Spirit of (Western) Christmas

I love nothing more than reading a good cowboy Christmas romance. Cocoa goes really well with a blanket and paperback this time of year!

As I was pulling out my Christmas decorations this week, I pondered my favorite things about the holidays. The heat of a fire. Christmas tree hunting. Cranking those ol' music boxes I've listened to every holiday season since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. The scent of pine and chestnuts. And, yes, sneaking time in between my notorious bouts of frantic last-minute shopping and family time to read a holiday romance. Some of my favorite holiday re-reads are of the western variety. For example, the inspirational western Homespun Bride by Jillian Hart. This story isn't necessarily a Christmas romance, but it does take place during winter. With every re-read, I can hear the crackle of the blazing hearth and the chiming of sleigh bells. In fact, it is a near-accident involving a horse-drawn sleigh that brings the hero and heroine together.

Christmas is meant for making memories and bringing family together - but I find the holidays to be very romantic. And one of the most romantic things, to my mind, about the Christmas season are sleigh rides. Who can forget the song?

Just hear those sleigh bells jingling
Ring ting tingling too.
Come on, it's lovely weather
For a sleigh ride together with you.

Outside the snow is falling
And friends are calling 'Yoo-hoo.'
Come on, it's lovely weather
For a sleigh ride together with you.

Giddy up, giddy up, giddy up,
Let's go, Let's look at the show,
We're riding in a wonderland of snow.

Giddy up, giddy up, giddy up,
It's grand, Just holding your hand,
We're gliding along with a song
Of a wintry fairy land.

Our cheeks are nice and rosy
And comfy cozy are we
We're snuggled up together
Like two birds of a feather would be.

Let's take that road before us
And sing a chorus or two
Come on, it's lovely weather
For a sleigh ride together with you.

There's a birthday party
At the home of Farmer Gray
It'll be the perfect ending a perfect day
We'll be singing the songs
We love to sing without a single stop,
At the fireplace while we watch
The chestnuts pop.
Pop pop pop.

There's a happy feeling
Nothing in the world can buy,
When they pass around the chocolate
And the pumpkin pie
It'll nearly be like a picture print
By Currier and Ives
These wonderful things are the things
We remember all through our lives.

Despite the upward tempo, fun whip cracks, and equine backup singers, the picture "Sleigh Ride" paints is quite romantic, is it not? Whenever we're shopping at the local Christmas tree farm, there's a sleigh that takes customers from one side of the fir-lined acreage to the other. No matter the temperature - or whether the horse's hooves are churning up sleet or mud (usually the latter here in the South) - the jingle of those sleigh bells always make me feel very warm and nostalgic. My imagination transports me to a winter fairy land, a powdery white vista, in the old west and the romance of a sleigh ride. With a cowboy at the reigns, it makes the perfect picture! (Now if only Currier and Ives had painted that....)

Readers, I'd love to hear your western romance holiday favorites and the meaning behind your favorite Christmas songs!

Amber Leigh Williams

"Williams has brought the romantic back to romance!" ~ Long & Short Reviews

BLACKEST HEART ~ 1st Place More Than Magic Novella

FOREVER AMORE ~ LASR Best Book of 2009 Nominee

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The Contemporary West & The Rodeo

Hi Sweetheart readers! I'm thrilled to be a part of this new group blog - mostly because its main focus is one of my all-time favorite subjects: the American West! The western genre has come a long way from the dime novels that made it famous. Before I began writing western romance, whenever I pictured the West it usually featured gunfights between cowboys and Indians, treasure hunting, and folklore heroes.

What surprises a lot of people - and, I admit, me once, too - is that contemporary westerns are as hot a commodity as historical westerns. For example, the Wayback, TX series created by the western editors of The Wild Rose Press. These novellas take place in a fictional western small town and are each, yes, contemporary western romances. As a testiment to the popularity of the contemporary western sub-genre, almost all of them hit the publisher's bestseller's list. So what makes contemporary westerns so special? A lot of what readers love about the contemporary West hasn't changed much from the ways of the old West. Cowboys still wear their Stetsons proudly. A lot of sheriffs still wear silver stars and cowboy boots. And cattle ranching is still done from the back of a horse. Lots of cowboys, in the ranching world especially, occassionally still sleep under the stars.

A key ingredient that make the books of the Wayback, TX series so desirable and something we don't see a lot of in historical westerns that is still quintessentially western is the rodeo. Though this ranching-based sporting event developed in Spain and Mexico, it has become a large part of our western culture. In fact, if you've ever been to a rodeo, you know that there's something about the whole spectacle that harkens back to dusty days of old. Not too many people know how far this western tradition has spread. After it grew popular in the United States, it traveled to Canada, South America, and Australia where it is still wildly popular in country areas. Rodeo is the official state sport of South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming. It is also a sport in which women have most always been welcome to compete. And though the rodeo has created controversy with animal rights' activists from its inception, the competitions are now much more animal-friendly. Great news for people like me who believe strongly in the rights of animals!

The best part of rodeos, for me, is the gathering of cowboys! From the feathers tucked in the brim of their hats to the spurs of their boots, there is something undeniably fascinating about those rodeo cowboys! If you've never experienced the rodeo yourself, here's a glimpse into bull-riding from a spectator's perspective:

The enthusiasm of the rodeo crowd was infectious. From underneath the brim of her new hat, Calli’s eyes widened as Stella’s husband rode a mean, bucking bull with impossible grace. She got to her feet with the crowd to cheer him on as the seconds stretched.

“Oh my God, he’s going to do it!” Calli squealed, clutching Stella’s shoulder and spilling popcorn everywhere as she hopped up and down.

“I know, I know, I know!” Stella shrieked, pressing a hand to her heart. There was a mixed look of pure terror and anticipation on her face.

The buzzer rang out across the corral. The audience applauded, whooped and hollered as Judd did a lithe roll off the bull’s back and retreated out of the cloud of dust the wild animal’s hind legs kicked up. As the rodeo clowns moved forward to chase the bull out of the corral, Judd raised his hat to the jubilant crowd.

Just before he turned to trot off, he sent a smile Stella’s way.

“Aw,” Teensy Griffin cooed. “Nothing like a roped cowboy.”

Stella breathed a sigh of relief and shrank back to the seat. “Glad that’s over.”

“I don’t know how you do it,” Calli said with a shake of her head. “Do you know how stupid you have to be to let the guy you love do something like that? Didn’t you see 8 Seconds?”

“He lives for this,” Stella explained. “Absolutely lives for it.”

“They all have their things,” Teensy put in, rubbing an absent hand over the considerable baby bump stretching the belly of her bright pink tank top. “Thankfully, Nick’s is model airplanes. Lucky you, Judd’s fetish is way sexier.”

Calli shook her head at the absurdity of it. Even she had to admit, though, that bull riding was kind of sexy. The to-hell-with-it man riding the untamed beast. He might as well be giving fate the bird. It took more balls than Calli had ever seen, not to mention some unique, ingrained athleticism.

As the next bull and rider charged out of the gate, she realized that these men were athletes. Her initial rodeo skepticism had melted into complete respect in less than an hour.

BET IT ON MY HEART © Amber Leigh Williams

This is a clip from Book III of the Ridge family saga, a trilogy written for TWRP's Wayback, TX series. All three books feature a rodeo cowboy. In the first book, Blackest Heart, silent cowboy Judd Black (mentioned above) is a champion bull-rider. This story placed 1st in the 2009 More Than Magic Contest's novella category and was chosen for trade paperback publication in the Wayback, TX anthology The Way Back Home! Book II, Bluest Heart (the bestselling book in the Ridge trilogy so far), features Casey Ridge, a cattle rancher and calf-roping competitor and his heroine, Josie Brusky, who holds her own at the rodeo in barrel racing. And, finally, in Book III, Bet It On My Heart, we get to know the quintessential cowboy, Keefe Ridge, who is a retiring bronc-rider. Readers voted Keefe and Bet It On My Heart Book of the Week at Long & Short Reviews.

In each book the rodeo creates a solid backdrop for some good contemporary romance and I had the time of my life researching and writing each! If my pen and I ever do go back west, whether for a historical or another contemporary trilogy, fans of the Ridges be assured, I'll definitely be dipping back into some of that rodeo ink! And since at this time I write contemporary westerns only, I'll be back next month with some more fun influences of the contemporary West! Hope you enjoyed the excerpt and, if you're interested, the Ridges of Wayback, TX just launched in audio book, too! All three books are available now at The Wild Rose Press in ebook and AudioLark in audio!

Amber Leigh Williams

"Williams has brought the romantic back to romance!" ~ Long & Short Reviews

BLACKEST HEART ~ 1st Place More Than Magic Novella

FOREVER AMORE ~ LASR Best Book of 2009 Nominee