One of the things that has surprised me most as my writing has progressed is the way my characters stories
are revealed. I remember when I was writing Hard Days Knight during #NanoWriMo
several years ago. All I had was a vague idea and a brief synopsis of what I
knew about the story. As I started writing, the characters revealed details of
their lives to other characters – before
they even told me! When Luc
described his family life to Del I was so shocked I found it hard to write the
rest of the day until I considered his explanation.
Where did this come
from? I asked myself. Well, when I started the Storm Lake East: Larue series
(formerly called the Under-Cover Knights because all the heroes both male and
female are either current or former military or law-enforcement) I researched
for hours about everything from military issues like PTSD, MSA, problems with
the VA, family life, deployment, uniforms, and more. I created a timeline to determine
how the current era military campaigns would impact my characters. Then as I
started writing, it events and backgrounds just fell into place.
I’d already introduced Ridge in Hard Days Knight as the
owner of the Knights studios where these former military guys worked as cover
models. All I’d revealed in HDK was that Buffy, a former famous runway model,
had met the CEO at an unlikely event while looking for cover models for her new
venture. Now, in Her First Knight, it was time to flesh out Ridge’s story.
The more I read about recent military deployments and saw
the high rates of PTSD, brain trauma due to IADs, the loss of limb by so many, and
the suicides, the more I found myself
caring about these issues, and Ridge’s background was born.
I think a big part of the gap in appreciating the depth of
the problems veterans face on a daily basis is that many of us who haven’t
served can’t relate to those who have. It reminds me a Native American quote,
“Great Spirit, help me never to judge another until I have walked in
his moccasins.”
At first, like many in the public, I wondered if these
issues had been exaggerated but what I found appalled me, and as a result, the characters
in my story. Perhaps some think it’s preachy but it’s just the facts. Our
veterans have had an uphill battle making their needs known and having them
met. There’s an apathy that’s perhaps a result of hearing so much filter
through the media to our ears without those issues ever being addressed by the
agencies that should be taking care of them. As I talked to actual vets in my
community I found that, in fact, the problem was much bigger. The rate of
suicide- 1 out of 22 vets per day - is thought to be low because of the
inability to get statistics in some states and because many “reported
accidents” are believed to be suicides. So when I found pockets of
organizations that successfully addressed the needs of vets, it was often
privately funded or voluntary organizations who cared and who came from the
military community themselves, therefore understanding the depth of the need.
You can see where Ridge’s idea of a private consortium to
take over veterans’ care from the government came from. Unfortunately, Ridge
was so fervent in his dedication that he ignored his own personal happiness. Fortunately
for him, Buffy is a brilliant woman who wasn’t about to let his obsessive
tendencies get in the way of his happiness.
I hope you enjoy this couple’s love story and find in Her
First Knight a new appreciation for our veterans and their loyalty to this
country.
**The perfect way to catch up
on the Larue series is to pick up the new Storm Lake Larue Box Set available at all retailers for #kobo #kindle
#Ibooks and #nook and more
Note: there was
one other happy coincidence in the plotting of these books – attending a
romance conference strip bingo event in Las Vegas. What fun!
Blurb:
He’s the one, and everyone knows it but him.
Buffy Calloway is looking for the face of her new cover
model agency. The man she chooses will be crucial to its success. When she
spots the sexy cover model on the strip bingo stage she knows he’s the one, and
not just for her business.
Ridge got on stage through a huge error in judgment and if
he manages to get out of this predicament with his reputation in tact —and his
clothes—he won’t wind up in the limelight again risking everything that’s
crucial to so many.
Buffy wonders
– who is she to argue with Ridge’s noble cause — but she doesn’t see why his
goals and hers should be mutually exclusive. Could this be the first time a
Calloway is wrong?
Excerpt:
The morning after…
“He’s
like some kind of stripper Robin Hood,” Diane said.
“Did you
see the paper this morning?” Sally asked Buffy in a low voice. Diane and her
friends had the Washington Post laid out in front of them. Had she really
thought she’d escape by leaving her room?
“About
what?” Buffy asked pretending ignorance. She wanted to close her eyes and wish it
all away.
Cathy
said, “The guy that impersonated Tucker? Seems he’s a rich muckity muck who’s
been testifying in front of Congress. The media has made him out to be some
kind of sex pervert.”
“Ridge?”
Buffy’s heart sank. “That’s terrible.”
“Yeah,
and the evil congresswoman who’s been giving him the third degree for the last
two days said she knew there was something suspicious about him. I quote: ‘No
one is as selfless as he pretends to be.’ She’s calling for an investigation.”
Diane continued, “It says here he got a doctorate in Mechanical Bionics from
MIT when he was seventeen! The guy’s a friggin’ Einstein. You just don’t think
of geniuses looking like that.”
Sonya said,
“More like da Vinci. What else?”
“He was
recruited into the Army Rangers and ended up doing classified research and ‘on-site
quality control’,” Diane read.
“In his work,
that probably means on the battlefield,” Sally said.
“There’s
another picture of him accepting an award from the President for his work with veterans.”
Sonya looked at Buffy. “What was he was doing on that stage? It's obvious he
wasn't a cover model.”
Sally
said, “It might be obvious now, but he was my favorite of the cover models. I
was shocked when the real Tucker showed up and we found out this guy wasn’t
even in the industry. Boy, what I wouldn’t give to have him on one of my Seal
Team Extraction covers. He seems like such a nice man, too. Did you know he
gave me a donation for my Wounded Warrior fund?” Sally’s readers had raised
thousands for the WWP.
“Maybe it
was a publicity stunt that had to do with this hearing, the bill he's trying to
get support for,” Claranne Braxton suggested, her eyes brightening as if she
was on to something.
“Wait a
minute,” Sally said, suddenly alert. “What bill is that?”
Sonya
leaned over Diane's shoulder, “Looks like it's a bill for some kind of
cooperative, MiliCare H.R. 6159?”
Sally
slapped her forehead with her palm. “Are you kidding me? That’s him?” She grabbed her purse. “I don’t
know why I didn’t put it together. He's R. Romano of… here it is.” She slapped
the article on the table. Claranne read it aloud.
With
the passage of H.R. 6159, the new consortium group will ease some of the
financial stress on the VA’s already imploding budgetary problems and provide
medical care to veterans. Ridge Romano, the architect of the proposal said, “Government
funds have been slashed repeatedly and our servicemen and women should not have
to fight for their rightful treatment when they are fighting for their health
and their very lives.”
Romano
quoted President Lincoln: “The mission
for government is ‘To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his
widow, and his orphan.’ I ask you, can these values be accomplished by our
current government system which is stretched beyond its founders’ imaginings? The
government is over burdened, and our veterans are paying the price but private
companies and professionals in every field are ready and willing to fill the
gap. This bill will be a step toward better lives for our vets.
They
deserve it. We owe it to them. Don’t let them down.”
“Wow,”
Sonja said. “I can’t believe he was the man on that stage.”
But the
article only affirmed Buffy’s feelings. She’d known, even that first night, that Ridge Romano was a man in a
million. And, he was the one for her.
Her First Knight
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