The Silver Heart has a lot of stories behind its creation, and I would love to fill you in on a few things. Starting your first romance novel is never an easy task. I had read romance books for a long time as my mom, and her friends would trade them by the sack full. When my mom passed away, we found two brown grocery sacks full in her front closet. These were all new books, not older copies. My mom would purchase new books and pass those along to her friends when she finished them and sometimes to me. She liked her historical romance and mystery, so she and I didn’t always read the same type of romance book. I loved the western and love stories taking place with horses.
On the front of the book is a silver heart necklace. There is a reason it is a silver heart necklace, and it is the title of the book. When I was in my early 20’s, I went to the Ohio State Fair and found a vendor who was selling a silver heart necklace, which I bought after much debate with myself. I was a young mom on a budget, and in the end, I purchased the necklace. I remembered that moment when I was writing my book and also that I was at the Ohio State Fair.
Another note for you; when I wrote the book, it was on a hand me down computer that had floppy disks and a green screen. Do any of you remember those? I had printed several copies of my book and put them in three-ring notebooks and mailed myself a copy as a poor man’s copyright. I still have that envelope with The Silver Heart in. When we brought the book out to have it published, I had my assistant start typing it page by page because we didn’t have a way to transfer the book, on the floppy disks, onto the newer computers. It worked fine because now it was also going to be put together on Microsoft Word, and we could edit as we went.
Pete Oen: I have known Pete since he was a little kid in my son’s class. He trained a few of our horses, and when I needed a trainer for my book, I called Pete to ask his permission to use him in my book. He was more than happy to do that, and I was thrilled to make him a key figure in the book.
The front cover was easy. I had senior pictures of my daughter and our horse Missy. When writing the book, I thought of her and added both our horses, Missy and Trooper. Jaime has written into the book as the daughter of Sue and Cody. She has put up with me well, with promotions of the book and the fact I used her name as the daughter.
When I wrote this book, I will always say I wrote it with my heart. Most authors lay out their books and the direction they are going to go ahead of time. I am the old fashioned writer who follows their heart and lets the book decide where it is going. Maybe it is my guardian angels helping me in the direction, but I let it flow, and The Silver Heart was completed as it should be. The comments on the book as been that the readers loved it, I made them cry, and they hated me. I am thrilled with all those comments because it means the readers were pulled into the story and its characters. That is my goal.
I hope you enjoy The Silver Heart and the music we have incorporated into the package. One day I will tell you about that story.
Have a great day, everyone!
Samantha
