WELCOME LENA NELSON DOOLEY

I am pleased to introduce Lena Nelson Dooley as the first Wednesday guest to "Behind the Book." Lena kindly shepherded a nearly-new author through her first novella, Snowbound Colorado Christian, and has remained a staunch supporter in the years since.

Award-winning author, Lena Nelson Dooley, has more than 700,000 books in print.

Helping other authors become published really floats her boat, with over 20 signing their first book contract after her mentoring. Three of her books have been awarded the Carol Award silver pins, and she has received the ACFW Mentor of the Year award. The high point of her day is receiving feedback from her readers, especially people whose lives have been changed by her books.

Her 2010 release Love Finds You in Golden, New Mexico, won the 2011 Will Rogers Medallion Award for excellence in publishing Western Fiction. Maggie’s Journey appeared on a reviewers Top Ten Books of 2011 list. It also won the 2012 Selah award for Historical Novel. Mary’s Blessing released in May 2012. It recently appeared on a review site’s Top Five Reads in 2012 list. Catherine’s Pursuit is coming in February 2013.

In addition to her writing, Lena is a frequent speaker at women’s groups, writers groups, and at both regional and national conferences. She has spoken in six states and internationally. She is also one of the co-hosts of the Gate Beautiful blog radio show.

Lena has an active web presence on Shoutlife, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Linkedin and with her internationally connected blog where she interviews other authors and promotes their books. 

Let's go BEHIND THE BOOK, Catherine's Pursuit. (By the way, I've read it, and it's a great story which will capture your mind and your heart!)

Did You Know This About the Old West?

©2013 Lena Nelson Dooley

I know authors who really don’t like the research involved in making historical novels authentic to the time period. I am not one of those authors.

While writing my McKenna’s Daughters series, I found out a lot of things I didn’t know. And I love the minute details of life that I discover. I try to work them into the story. Here are a few of the things I found and used. Of course, there were a large number of other things, and this blog post couldn’t possibly hold them all.

In the prologues in both book one and book two, I had to research the Oregon Trail wagon trains, then choose the route that would work best for my story.

With Maggie’s Journey, book one, I researched the transcontinental railroad system, especially the part that was in the western United States. I had to figure out how long it would take to travel in 1885 from Seattle, Washington Territory, to Little Rock, Arkansas. The characters stayed in actual hotels of the time period in Denver, Colorado, and St. Louis, Missouri. They had to go east to St. Louis, then travel south-southwest from there to Little Rock.

I also had a hard time picturing Seattle in that time period. The adult reference librarian in the Seattle Public Library helped me find websites that were gold mines of information that I needed. So almost all the streets, stores, hotels, schools, hospital, etc., were all part of the city in 1885.

For Mary’s Blessing, book two, I spent quite awhile researching Oregon City and Portland. There were a number of interesting things in the books I read. In that time period, some people trained goats to pull sleds. I found a picture of one such goat team. They were planning on using them to pull sleds to the gold fields in Alaska. I didn’t find any information about how successful they were with that endeavor.

I also had to research medical practices of the time period, farming practices around Oregon City, and transportation between Oregon City and Portland. I had the hero and heroine go from Oregon City and Portland by trolley. My editor questioned that, because the information she had said that the electric trolley wasn’t built until 1890. I found pictures of the trolley station and actual trolleys in 1885. The trolleys were pulled by horses or mules along the right-of-way where the tracks were later laid for the electric trolley cars.

With Catherine’s Pursuit, the book that released earlier this month, I found equally interesting details in San Francisco, which I used in the book. I also researched steamship lines of the day. There’s one on the cover, and the hero is a steamship captain. San Francisco had electricity and telephones in 1885, but Portland and Oregon City didn’t.

If you want to see what life was like in 1885 in Seattle, Portland, Oregon City, and San Francisco, travel with my characters through these places and see how they lived.

 The search for her sisters will become a spiritual journey for the entire family.

Raised by her father, Catherine McKenna has never lacked for anything, surrounded by people to take care of her every need. On her eighteenth birthday she discovers that not only did her mother die when she was born, but she has two identical sisters. Although her father vowed not to look for his daughters, Catherine made no such promise. Setting   on her own with one clue and her maid in tow, she's determined to find her sisters.

Collin Elliott has seen better days. After losing his ship to a violent and unexpected storm, he is trying to recover--physically and emotionally. When Angus McKenna sends him to find, follow, and protect his daughter, he wants nothing more than to finish his task and return home. Can he help her find her sisters?

And will the discoveries they make along the way teach them both what's most important in life?

Buy links:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1621360199?ie=UTF8&tag=lenneldoochaw-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=1621360199

http://www.christianbook.com/catherines-pursuit-mckennas-daughters/lena-nelson/9781621360193/pd/360193?product_redirect=1&Ntt=360193&item_code=&Ntk=keywords&event=ESRCP

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/catherines-pursuit-lena-dooley-nelson/1111647814?ean=9781621360193