People always ask me where I come up with ideas for my books. In my “Note to Readers” section I thought it would be fun to give you a little insight into what inspired my current release.

I actually started writing “A RANCH CALLED HOME” when I had the pleasure of living in Colorado for two years while my husband was on a construction job assignment high in the Ragged Mountains on the West Elk Slope. To say this part of Colorado is breathtaking is an understatement. Words could never describe the beauty surrounding you everywhere you turn.

We lived in the small town of Paonia, and as we traveled around taking in the sights we stumbled upon captivating Redstone on the way to Aspen one weekend. I fell in love instantly. And I tell my husband all the time if we ever win the lottery, my first purchase will be a home along the Crystal River in Redstone, Colorado.

We made many trips to Redstone during our two-year stay. I got to tour the castle the coal baron who founded Redstone built for his wife who was a real Countess. We went to the annual dog-sled races. And we spent many Saturdays just walking around the town, enjoying all the shops and looking at the arts and crafts. But it was more than just the fun things to do in Redstone that intrigued me. It was the whole “feel” of this amazing little town out in the middle of nowhere. I don’t know how to describe it, other than to say I simply felt at home.

And that’s when the buzz started in my head – that buzz I always get when a new idea for a book starts spinning around like a tornado and won’t leave me alone. I realized even if you were a misfit, someone who had spent their whole lives just passing through and never belonging anywhere, you would feel at home in Redstone.

The next thing I knew Sara Watson, the struggling single-mom heroine in “A RANCH CALLED HOME,” paid me a visit and insisted that I had to write her story. I did start Sara’s story, but before I could finish it, I was fortunate to make my first sale to Harlequin Duets’ romantic comedy line.

Over the next ten years, I was also fortunate to sell seven other romantic comedies. But every now and then Sara would show up to tap me on the shoulder and remind me that she and I had some unfinished business.

I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to be back at Harlequin where my writing career first began, and where Harlequin SuperRomance has given me the opportunity to tell Sara’s story. It seems appropriate somehow that after ten years, Sara and I both have finally come home.

Cheers,
Candy