Family Experiences in My Writing

This month - the last of 2021 and let's hope they all improve by leaps and bounds in 2022 - Rhobin asked: How do your family experiences translate into writing scenes?

I had to think about this topic as nothing immediately sprang to mind. What were my family experiences? After thinking long and hard, one word came to mind – movement. Nothing is static, but my family always seemed to be on the move in one way or another. Post-WWII uncles and aunts in the forces were still coming and going. Some were gone altogether, having lost their lives in that conflict.

My father, a career soldier, was demobbed but couldn’t settle in civvy street and joined the army again. Dad was posted from one Territorial Army unit to the next, and we moved every year from one married quarters address to the next. Ironically his title was Permanent Gunnery Staff Sarjeant Major to Territorial Units. Although the title was permanent, there was nothing permanent about our family life.

When Dad finally left the Armed Forces, we moved again to the job he took post-army. I moved on as soon as I could to work with horses. The next move was to my parents-in-law’s home, then into our first apartment, followed by another apartment when my then-husband took a new job. Our next move was into a new house where we stayed put for a few years. Unfortunately, that situation changed after separation and divorce. New home, here we come. We landed up in a charming but chilly 300-year old country house which was my favourite house of anywhere I have ever lived. After that came another not as old house, but a mere stripling at 100-years old.

The next move was a big one. I left England and arrived in Canada in 1990 but homes were never permanent even here. What started as a reasonably comfortable apartment in one building became inconvenient with job changes, making a move across town the sensible thing to do. Since I’ve lived in Canada, I’ve had eight moves. I never, ever imagined I’d become something of an expert in packing and moving. This movement appears in all the books I’ve written.

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Lord and Lady Buxton from the Buxton Chronicles travel from England to California in Books 1 and 2. In Book 3 of the trilogy, Lord Buxton leaves England to fight for King and Country during WWI with all the movement that entailed.

In Book 1 of the Berkeley Square books, my first Regency series, Emmaline Devereaux has been in Spain during the Peninsular Wars, and after returning home and marrying Lord Lucius Clifton, is kidnapped and taken to France. In Book 2, Lady Juliana Beamish is on her way to India when her ship is attacked by pirates. She finds herself alone on the ocean and rescued by a captain who is on course for Jamaica. Book 3 in the series finds Lady Olivia Darnley abandoned by her mother, ultimately leaving London for the refuge of her family estate in Lincolnshire.

My contemporary Western romances have leading characters who move from one place to another. In Loving That Cowboy, Trisha Watts leaves her home in England for a vacation in Calgary during Stampede. Then, in Legacy of Love, Callie Wade moves from Vancouver to Southern Alberta. In my Canadian Historical Brides book, Brides of Banff Springs set in 1935, young Tilly McCormack makes her way from her home near Medicine Hat to Banff to work at the famous Banff Springs Hotel. In Envy the Wind, another title in the Canadian Historical Brides series and on which I collaborated with author Anita Davison, Grace MacKinnon escapes from a life of drudgery in Edwardian England and makes a life for herself in Prince Edward Island.

For my second Regency series, Those Regency Belles, Hester Dymock in Book 1 moves only a few miles from her small but comfortable home and faces much more of a journey than that. Book 2 sees Charlotte Gray having to move for her safety, and in Book 3, currently in progress, my heroine moves from her family home to that of the man she marries. That her husband has served in King George III’s Royal Navy and tells her tales of his travels makes this something of An Arabian Nights tale.

Other family experiences, which may be more family traits, are that my characters are for the most part kind, honest people. I hope those factors make them stand out a little more.

I wish you everything you wish for yourselves for this holiday season but before you go, please check out my fellow bloggers here for what family experiences they use for inspiration:

 

Anne Stenhouse http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com

Dr. Bob Rich  https://wp.me/p3Xihq-2ue

Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/

Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea

Marci Baun http://www.marcibaun.com/blog/

Judith Copek http://lynx-sis.blogspot.com/

Diane Bator http://dbator.blogspot.ca/

Victoria Chatham http://www.victoriachatham.com

Rhobin L Courtright http://www.rhobincourtright.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Goodreads Giveaway

You may have seen this post on my Facebook page, but I wanted to post here, too. I have a giveaway on Goodreads for my latest book, Brides of Banff Springs.

I am so proud to be part of the Canadian Historical Brides series celebrating Canada's 150 years. Researching the hotel's history and all the ghosts that seem to inhabit it. It is never difficult going to Banff, so I had a few trips there looking at the whole area. I trail rode, hiked, and walked the routes around town I included in my story.

My characters were created from a variety of reading sources, many of them about the appalling hardships of people who lived through the Dirty Thirties in Saskatchewan and Southern Alberta. I also viewed old black and white archive news footage and read diaries and letters.

Tilly, my heroine, grew from my admiration for the courage of the women of that time. What determination and courage they portrayed. Ryan was based on a few guides and Park Rangers I have met over the years. Each one of them amazed me with the extent of their knowledge and the fun way they imparted that knowledge.

Fancy giving Brides of Banff Springs a whirl?

Go here http://tinyurl.com/y7kfuouyhttp://tinyurl.com/y7kfuouy for your chance to win a free copy. 

Books by A.M. Westerling

I am thoroughly enjoying the Canadian Historical Brides series published by Books We Love. There is one book for each province and two of the territories. If you enjoy historical romance, you will enjoy all of A.M. Westerling's books. As she says, ""From vikings to viscounts, join the adventure, live the romance."

BARKERVILLE BEGINNINGS.  BUY HERE

Faced with financial ruin and the loss of her good name, Rose Chadwick decides to make a new start for herself and her young daughter Hannah in the rough and tumble gold rush town of Barkerville, British Columbia. However, making a new life is not so easy when it’s built on lies. And, long suppressed emotions within her are stirred when she meets a handsome young Englishman.

Viscount Harrison St. John knows he’s expected to marry well to bolster his family fortunes. Instead, he leaves England to pursue riches in the gold fields of a frontier town in the far off wilds of Canada. Soured on love because of a betrayal by his former fiancé, Harrison resists the attraction he has for Rose. Particularly considering she appears to be a happily married woman with a daughter of her own.

Will dark secrets from Rose’s past keep them apart? Or will they find love, happiness and a new life together in the bustling town of Barkerville?

If your taste in romance harks back to the age of Vikings, I can promise this next title won't disappoint.

A HEART ENSLAVED.                                                      BUY HERE

Banished from his homeland for a crime he didn’t commit, Thorvald Stronghawk knows selling the Frisian beauty he’s captured will bring him the blood money needed to regain his good name. When the man who accused Thorvald of the crime is the one buying Gisela, Thorvald must decide what he wants more: To recover his reputation among his fellow countrymen, or tame the woman who has vowed to hate him forever for destroying her home and family.

Gisela of Falkenstead realizes the handsome, self assured Viking views her as nothing more than chattel to be bought and sold rather than a woman with a life and mind of her own. Although her head tells her to escape the man she thinks is nothing more than a savage murderer, her heart has other ideas.

Will Gisela find a way to flee? Or will she find love and happiness in Thorvald’s arms?

And now for a Regency era tale with bags of adventure and romance.

HER PROPER SCOUNDREL.                                       BUY HERE              

Threatened with an unwanted marriage, Lady Josceline Woodsby escapes London to take a position as a country governess. When she discovers the job is no longer available, Josceline vows she will do anything to avoid returning to her previously dismal life - even if it means coercing the ruthless Captain Sharrington into providing her with employment.

Spurned by a father he never knew and sent off to sea at a very young age, Christopher Sharrington leaves a promising naval career determined to make his own mark on society as owner of a shipping enterprise. The only problem is, hiring the alluring Lady Woodsby as governess for children he doesn’t even have, is definitely not part of his future plans.

Josceline soon realizes Christopher is under the mistaken impression her social connections will help him attain his dream. Will he cast her out when he determines she is more a hindrance than a help? And what of the devastating secret he harbors? Will it destroy any chance they have of building a future together?

Disgraced duchess Lady Josceline Woodsby ends up in the employ of the ruthless Captain Christopher Sharrington as a sham governess. Marriage to Josceline may give Christopher the social acceptance he craves but his devastating secret could destroy their chances of finding happiness together. 

  

Learn more about A.M. Westerling at these links:

www.amwesterling.com
www.facebook.com/A.M.Westerling
www.twitter.com/AMWesterling