With eight weeks to go before the launch of my western romance, Willow Tree Tears, I was asked to explain my inspirations for the narrative. So here goes. There are several.

As many of you know I'm originally from England so immersing myself into Canadian life has been an ongoing process. There are rodeos, ranches, and cowboys, things I'd only ever seen in movies until moving here. So, I wanted to not only immerse myself in this new lifestyle of rugged men on horseback, rodeo's with the cattle, horses, bulls and expert women barrel racers, but to experience it all.

My first rodeo was a small town affair in the middle of Alberta. We sat on the bleachers and watched skilled men and women show their skills and sheer athleticism at controlling stock animals. The atmosphere was of excitement and rousing support from the crowd for their favourites amongst the dust and smell of hot oil and manure. I felt rather out of place among the plaid and jeans clad spectators, many with Stetsons on their heads. However, everyone was very friendly.

Years later, I got my first look at 'real' ranch cowboys, it was a huge thrill for me. I was on a road trip with my pal, Linda and we traveled along the vast roadway through the Waldron Ranch, Longview, Alberta, which is 88,000 acres.

To see the cowboys on horseback riding through the fields of cattle was like a movie scene coming to life, well for me anyway.

Another inspiration was for the Italian character, Lucio in my novel, Michele Morrone. He is actually an Italian actor, who has in the last few years become more famous. You will see him in Another Simple Favour as the Dante Versano, however I first discovered him in the movie, 365 Days. He is also a painter, song writer, musician and singer. A real Renaissance man if there ever was one.

As many of you know I write strong female characters so I wanted to have a champion barrel racer as the main character in my book. I was able to contact a real champion barrel racer, Kendra Edey, who was kind enough to help with the technicalities of a barrel race pattern.

The last inspiration was an image I saw of a ranch house and it just fit my mental idea of Willow Tree ranch. It is a quarter horse ranch, the type of horse used in barrel racing.

It took sometime to develop the whole story, but gradually the core of the idea came to me and amalgamated into the finished product. The timeline was from initial thoughts and draft manuscript in 2013 to publication in 2025.

I hope that gives you some idea of my inspiration for Willow Tree Tears and that you will pre-order, or buy it on launch day. https://books2read.com/b/4Eakyg Available on all platforms.

If you have other questions, I am always willing to answer, just drop a comment below.