Margaret Brownley: best-selling author

The opportunity to meet interesting people is often cited as one of the benefits of traveling. We are discovering this to be true.

Coming back from my morning walk this weekend, I noticed some posters on the side of a motor home camped in the park - posters that seemed to indicate that an author might live in this rig. Sure enough; there she was - sitting under her awning. When I said hello, she graciously invited me to sit and visit. We talked a little - sharing tidbits of information to introduce ourselves - before I resumed my walk.

Her name is Margaret Brownley and she writes westerns that are set in the 1800's. She has written over 30 books - including some New York Times best-sellers. We had a nice chat and I learned some things about writing. As I continued on my walk, I started thinking about the writing project that I'm working on. I thought it would be fun to ask her some of the questions from the project so I impulsively grabbed a notepad and headed back to her campsite to see if she might have time for me to pick her brain and learn a bit more from her. She graciously agreed and granted me a little impromptu interview right there on the spot.

It turns out that Margaret got her start while writing for church newsletters and eventually branched out to romance novels. While writing for Harlequin, her agent was impressed by the humor in Margaret's notes and suggested that she write a humorous historical piece. That suggestion led her to writing historical westerns with themes of love and laughter - which has become her niche.

Margaret is fascinated with the old west and particularly with the stories of women who came into their own during that era. She believes that many movies do women a disservice in their limited protrayals of our gender. Despite that stereotype, she has been amazed to discover how many of the homesteaders were women - as well as newspaper editors and other careers - therefore she wants to celebrate them in her stories. Recently she has been writing stories that feature women detectives - or rather "operatives" who worked for the Pinkerton Agency.

Every author's writing process is different and Margaret labels hers as "organic" - in that she doesn't know where she is going with her story and admits that method can be nerve-wracking at times. She does often send a paragraph to her publisher summarizing the basics of the story, but doesn't have the details worked out yet when she begins writing.

When asked about her schedule and writing routines, she responded that she is an early riser - which seems to be a common writerly trait. She is often at her computer by 4 a.m. - dedicating mornings to composing her WIP and afternoons to the work of the writing business or perhaps other projects - like the novella she is currently working on.

I asked about her research methods at which point she mentioned the need to check out any dates she might use in a story - because "some reader will be sure to check"- as well as other details of the period. I didn't ask about her weaknesses, but she volunteered a couple - admitting that she is terrible at time lines and once had a character who got to be 150 years old because she had failed to kill him off earlier in the series - so that is an area that she knows to seek critique from others. And because she lives in southern California, it is not natural for her to think of including weather in her story settings - so she has to work at being intentional about that as well.

On Sunday afternoon I read GUNPOWDER TEA - which is her latest book and the last in the "Brides of Last Chance Ranch" series. Set in the Arizona territory sometime before statehood, it is the story of one of the Pinkerton girls who has worked extremely hard to prove herself in a man's world. On the way to her assignment at Last Chance Ranch, her train is robbed - most likely by the gang whose leader she has been sent to apprehend. Her undercover task is to answer an ad to become the heiress of the Ranch while at the same time finding the criminal, but first she has to earn the trust of the suddenly indisposed "boss lady" by serving as her emergency care-giver.

Although I don't often read fiction, I relished the historical setting and the twists and turns of the mystery. And even though I am not fond of the desert I did enjoy the geographical setting as well - possibly because I can appreciate the rigors of life in such a place and time. We recently traveled across desert areas of Arizona and California so I have a newfound admiration for the grit and spunk required to live there.
This prolific author is currently working on the Undercover Ladies series. The first book, Petticoat Detective comes out in December. She will also have a story in the June anthology Four Brides and a Kiss and her Nutcracker Bride story will be out in October.

Margaret has generously offered to give a copy of GUNPOWDER TEA to one of my readers. To qualify for the drawing, leave a comment below telling me something that you think you would have enjoyed about living in the Old West.

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Late update:
Oops; maybe I should remind you to leave that comment below before midnight tomorrow, Thursday, May 15.