GetToKnowTheBook: 'Texas Blue' by Celia Yeary

The Story behind Texas Blue

Celia Yeary

Texas Blue is the first novel I wrote. In fact, I'd never written fiction of any kind before this novel. All my experiences came from writing dry, boring science research papers in college on a manual typewriter.

Most writers say they began to write at an early age. I did not. Like all children, though, I had a vivid imagination, and that entire creativeness went into playing dolls, both paper and real, cowboys and Indians, and cars.

In essence, I became The Accidental Author. In 2004, I sat down with a Toshiba laptop my husband bought for one dollar at a garage sale. At that time, I could not even write and send an e-mail. If one of my friends or sisters sent a message, they sent it to my husband's mailbox and he called me into his office to read it. He always encouraged me to learn the computer, but I feared it so much. Finally, one day he brought it out and pushed me to "play" with it. Since it only cost one dollar, my fear went away—even if I broke it by hitting a wrong key, well, it was only a dollar.

I turned to Word 2002 on the computer—about the only thing that worked—and began to create a document. To learn all the facets of the program by trial and error, I began to write. A couple of months later after constant writing, I titled the finished story Texas Blue. To this day, I don't know where the story came from nor why.

The first scene takes place in the Piney Woods of East Texas—a vast tall pine forest slightly larger than the state of Rhode Island. I placed a young woman there, barefoot, walking through the soft red soil with her little daughter. At that point, I stopped. Even though I'm a native Texan, East Texas is the least familiar part of the state to me. Thus, my innate urge to research kicked in, and I studied books in the library until I knew the kinds of trees and flowers, the birds, the animals, the location, the towns, and the history in 1880. Then, I began to write again.

Western historical romance is my first love. After Texas Blue, I wrote the little daughter's story when she was grown, titled Texas Promise. Next, I wrote Texas True, the younger daughter's story; then All My Hopes and Dreams, a spin-off story from Texas Blue. I'm so pleased that all four have been or will be published.

Texas Blue is a simple story with a complicated plot. Yes, I know it sounds incongruous, but at the heart of the story is a young woman who, by no fault of her own, is trapped deep in the forest with her four-year-old daughter. They live with very little, but Marilee dreams of walking out of the woods one day with little Josie, finding a town, and learning how to take care of herself and her child. She has a courageous spirit, the heart of a lion, but fear is also her constant companion.

Blurb:

She wasn’t a fit mother…So said the county judge who hired Buck Cameron to retrieve his little daughter. But when Buck finally locates the pretty mother and child, he finds the claim very hard to believe. Now, he faces a dilemma. Should he obey the order? Or should he defy the judge and rescue Marilee and her child from isolation?
She’d been banished…

Rejected and abandoned by her father, Marilee Weston used the pain of betrayal to survive. Now, she needs a way out of the forest, where she and her daughter had lived for five years. But the towering pines and fear of the unknown imprisoned her. How could she begin a new life for herself and five-year-old daughter? Will the alluring stranger free her, or prove to be even more dangerous?

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Texas Blue and All My Hopes and Dreams-Western Historical novels-available in both print and eBook.

Texas Blue-available on Kindle at Amazon.
Showdown in Southfork-short series Contemporary novel.
Find all novels at: http://www.thewildrosepress.com
(Find Celia Yeary under Authors)

Thank you,
Celia Yeary