Reggi Allder
writes suspense and contemporary romance, including the Sierra Creek Series.
Learn more about her and her books at her website. Today Reggi joins us to
discuss Favorites, Failures & Frustrations as it relates to one of her
books.
Frustration: When I lived in
Los Angeles, my day consisted of sitting in my car on the freeway for about fifty
minutes in the morning and another fifty minutes in the evening, longer if
there was an accident or a breakdown on the road. My subcompact didn’t have air
conditioning or heat and I burned in one hundred degree heat in the summer and
was cold in the winter. To decrease my frustration while sitting in the gridlock, I used the time to think up stories. The
idea of living off the land and being self-sufficient was my inspiration for Her Country Heart Christmas Edition. Don’t get me
wrong. I love LA, just not the traffic. Though I no longer live there, I still
have friends in the area.
Failure:
Past failures are a motivator for my female character in Her Country Heart Christmas Edition. After her marriage fails, Amy
Long struggles to support her young son. Then she is downsized and loses her
apartment in San Francisco. In spite of her failures, she is determined to
start fresh in Sierra Creek and succeed this time.
Favorites:
I love apples. In the book when I had to decide what kind of a farm my
character would have, an organic apple farm seemed right. I did research to find out what kind of apple she should
grow. This
included tasting apples from around the world that are now in local markets. I selected
the Red Delicious and the Macintosh Apple.
As a tradition at
Christmas my family often has apple pie as well as pumpkin pie for our dessert,
sometimes adding cranberries with the apples to make it a colorful holiday red.
Things about the apple you may not know:
1. The
Adam’s apple was named because in the bible Adam was tempted by Eve and took a
bite from the apple she offered him. He choked and couldn’t swallow it. According
to the myths, that’s why a man’s larynx is larger than a woman’s.
2. Johnny
Appleseed, born John Chapman (September 26, 1774 – March 18, 1845), was an American pioneer nursery
man who introduced apple trees to
large parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, as well as the northern counties of present-day West Virginia (Wikipedia). Information about him is still taught in many schools,
and there are movies and videos about his life.
3. “An apple
a day keeps the doctor away.” According
to research on the Internet, the saying came from Great Britain, a
Pembrokeshire proverb c1866. “Eat an apple on going to bed, and you’ll keep the
doctor from earning his bread.” Other variations can be found from 1913 onward.
4. Apples have
many vitamins including A, C, K and the B vitamins. One apple can supply much
of the needed vitamins, so saying to eat an apple every day is close to the
mark.
5. There are over 7,000 varieties of
apples. By the way, the Crab Apple is from the US and the Macintosh Apple is from eastern Canada. Though there
are many new varieties, the Red Delicious is still the most popular.
Her Country Heart Christmas Edition
Why is Amy Long attracted to the only man who can prevent
her from achieving her dream?
Amy needs a home for Christmas. Hoping
to find a fresh start, she returns to the small town of Sierra Creek to run her
late grandmother’s farm.
Cowboy Wyatt Cameron
knows Amy belongs in the city. She’s in the way of his plans and as executor of
her grandmother’s will, he has the power prevent her from staying on the farm.
What can she offer to
change his mind? Will sparks fly when opposites attract?
