A Conversation With Janet Chester Bly
Janet Chester Bly has written and co-authored with late husband Stephen Bly of 40 fiction and nonfiction book for adults and kids (tween and young teen). Her newest releases are Wind in the Wires and Down Squash Blossom Road, both part of the contemporary western mystery Trails of Reba Cahill series.
What is your favorite spot for reading or reflecting on your current work-in-progress?
Janet: After an especially long winter at my mountain top home in north Idaho, on pleasant days I like sitting on the deck outside my second story bunkhouse (above the garage) or at a picnic bench at Broken Arrow Crossing, the 1880s false front town in my yard. Just being outside clears the mind and stirs creativity. Of course, a walk to the post office and back or out to the lake dock does much the same. As long as I bring a notebook for recording those fly-away thoughts.
Why do you like writing romantic suspense?
Janet: Love the double tension of romance happening in a dangerous situation. Like when friends-only Reba Cahill and Jace McKane get locked in an empty, cement floor, small basement room together. She’s bruised from falling down stairs. He’s been stabbed in the midriff. In the outer room, their captor terrorizes a boy he kidnapped and threatens to burn the place down. In the midst of it all, a few sparks smolder as they tend to wounds, open up with each other, and try to figure out how to survive.
Have you ever regretted killing off a character? Why?
Janet: Alas, yes. But he wasn’t human. The biggest complaint from readers lamented the death of a black quarterhorse named Johnny Poe. I couldn’t help it. The antagonist insisted on riding him in a getaway scene in the Nevada desert near a cliff, although he was warned not to. I didn’t realize until that moment the main character’s favorite horse she trained as a teenager would not survive the first book. I miss that pesky horse! And so does Reba Cahill. She spends time in the next two books trying to find a worthy replacement, including in my WIP, Book 3, Beneath a Camperdown Elm (scheduled for early summer 2018 release).
Current book: Down Squash Blossom Road Book 2, Trails of Reba Cahill
Reba Cahill’s schedule full. Save family’s ranch. Free mom from mental institute. Solve murder and kidnapping. Evade stalker. Can she also squeeze in romance?
Connect W/Janet
Website: www.BlyBooks.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlyBooks
Twitter: https://twitter.com/blybooks/
Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/u/0/110901558845337068257
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janetchesterbly/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/janetcbly/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/269265.Janet_Chester_Bly
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/janetchesterbly
