1. An Unlikely Place for Love is a historical romance novel. What is your favorite period of history and why?
My favorite time period is between 1870 - 1910. What I like about it is that it's after the Civil War and before World War I. I am not big into war and have no desire to research that part of America's history. I also love the west and feel the time period frees me up to "live out west" in America through my writing. I like the idea of that time. There was a sense of community and old fashioned values that I find refreshing, and there's nothing sexier to me than a cowboy or farmer on a horse.
2. Where do you find your biggest inspiration when writing? What motivated or inspired you to write An Unlikely Place for Love?
My biggest motivation is reading other people's books. I will come across something in a book and think, "What if this happened instead?" That's when I get most of my ideas. I wrote An Unlikely Place for Love for two reasons. One is because I liked the character Kate Walker in An Inconvenient Marriage. She was a minor character in that book, but I liked her. I also wanted to write a romance about a woman disguised as a man and the possible mishaps she would get into while in her disguise.
3. What character do you identify with most? Why?
I am most like Chad Walker because he's a hard working person who does his best at anything he does. He is dependable and honest, and though this isn't always a positive, he is stubborn. However, he does manage to have a sense of humor when he opens up to Kate. Likewise, it's the people around me who usually bring out the best in me.
4. Kate finds her self in several predicaments during the course of the novel. What is your favorite situation she gets herself into and why? Do you have a life experience which is reflected in this situation?
My favorite situation she gets herself into is whenever she's in her "Billy" disguise and Lacy Montgomery keeps throwing herself at "him". I still laugh when I think of the part in the book when Kate, dressed as "Billy", tells Lacy that "he's" not ready to settle down, that "he" sleeps around a lot, that "he's a drunk", but when Lacy still drools over "him", "he" finally farts and says, "I better go before more comes out." You would think that would dissuade Lacy, but it didn't. In fact, the harder Kate tries to offend Lacy, the more Lacy clings to "Billy".
5. What did you learn when writing An Unlikely Place for Love?
I learned that it's hard to write comedy. I kept writing scenes that got too serious. Chad was unnecessarily hard on Kate when he discovered her true identity. So I rewrote that part four times before I got it right. It was a comedy, so I wanted to keep it light. I also learned the value of editing. I combed through the manuscript more than I had with anything I wrote before this book and I'm happy with the finished product, but it wasn't always easy to go through the same passage over and over because I wanted to write my next book. The last thing I learned was the value of reading other books with similar plots and time periods to the one I wanted to write. I gathered some great ideas and research this way. For example, I didn't know that women wore binding to hold down their breasts. Now I know they do.
6. What are you working on right now?
I actually finished it [The Cold Wife] and it's available. The Cold Wife was written because I liked Jake Mitchell's best friend Justin Monroe from An Inconvenient Marriage. I wanted to write Justin's love story. I decided to use an arranged marriage for this plot. Justin loved Carrie Allen who was his best friend's sister, but she never acknowledged him. When she's forced to marry him, she resents him and insists that they get an annulment. So he offers her the deal that they are married for one month and when the month is up, she's allowed to be freed from the vows if she still wishes to be. I hadn't done a book where the heroine is reluctant to be with the man so I thought this would be interesting to pursue. It's another romantic comedy, and I did give an update in how Kate and Chad were doing.
In case anyone is interested, the timeline for the three books are An Unlikely Place for Love (1886), The Cold Wife (1894), and An Inconvenient Marriage (1890). These books are not part of a series but they do have some of the same characters.
I am working North Dakota Romance: A Time Travel Romantic Comedy which starts in the present day and go back to the 1880's. I am currently revising two historical romances: Eye of the Beholder and His Redeeming Bride.
7. You said you are going to offer three of your books as free PDF downloads? What are they and when will they be available?
I am going to post three free eBooks on my website http://www.ruthannnordin.com. One will be a contemporary romantic comedy and it is called With This Ring, I Thee Dread. (Available January 15). Another is a historical romance and it is called Romancing Adrienne. (Available January 20). The third is An Unlikely Place for Love because it was nominated for the 15th Annual EVVY Award and I want to post it to celebrate. (Available January 20). I am not sure how long I'll keep them up but I am thinking a good six months to a year might be sufficient.