Guest Blogger Debra Clopton & Book Giveaway!

Dreaming up HER BABY DREAMS
by Debra Clopton

I love romantic comedies! A long time ago when I first started writing I felt a little strange because I was drawn to write romance. But that was what made me feel happy when I finished reading or happy when I walked out of the theater. When I created my Mule Hollow series it was with the intention of giving readers a place to relax while they were there and then smile when they closed the book and walked away--while at the same time feel and see the beauty in honoring God’s plan for a man and a woman.

I’ve used all types of heroines—usually upbeat sassy types because that’s just what I like. And I’ve used all kinds of heroes—all cowboys which is the number one requirement! But when I set out to write HER BABY DREAMS I had a heroine who had moved to Mule Hollow in the very first book THE TROUBLE WITH LACY BROWN and she’d been in all seven of the other books just waiting for me to find her a husband. But you see, I had a problem because Ashby Templeton wasn’t a sassy girl, she had no pep, no energy that translated into energy and inspiration for me, the author, to create her story. Sooo she just had to sit back and be patient while I wrote all the other books and waited on the right cowboy to come along and give me all that creative energy that I needed to write her love story.

Now, don’t get me wrong about Ashby, yes she was reserved and a little uptight and really wished she could be more like all the sassy gals in Mule Hollow who she’d watched get married. But she just couldn’t let herself loosen up. And she was afraid all of her dreams were destined to remain dreams only. Well as you know I couldn’t let that happen so little did she know but I was diligently looking for the cowboy who could make all those dreams come true. Especially since she wanted a baby!

That’s when I realized the hero I’d never written about was the exact hero that Ashby needed. She needed a man who was as sassy as all those heroes I loved to watch in the movies. You know the Mathew McConaughey type who is just a big, happy go lucky flirt that makes you smile when he smiles and laugh when he laughs. And of course that is when my hero stepped into my imagination and I had Ashby’s love story. I can’t tell you how excited I was when Dan Dawson the big ole flirt swaggered into my head…if you read my last book NEXT DOOR DADDY you met him! Oh, when that man smiles my knees go weak :+} I had the best time with Dan. Normally I have the heroines shaking up the heroes’ lives but in this story I turned the tables and it was the hero doing all the shaking and it was so much fun. I’m grinning just thinking about it.

I really believe readers will have a good time watching Dan in action. I know I did. And like I said the reason I love romantic comedy is because it leaves me with a smile and I believe HER BABY DREAMS will do just that to anyone who reads it!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Debra Clopton is an award winning author of the Love Inspired ongoing MULE HOLLOW SERIES about a small Texas town. She loves everything about small town life and believes that is why her readers are connecting with her books so well. She is currently working on book 10 in the series set to come out sometime in 2009. There are 3 books in the series coming out in 2008, Next Door Daddy, Her Baby Dreams and The Cowboy Takes a Bride. Debra writes full time. She has two sons and is grateful that they too love small town life and have chosen to make their homes in Madison County--although she is extremely fond of road trips traveling to see her sons was not something she wanted to have to do! Visit Debra on the web at debraclopton.com.

WIN THE BOOK

Big thanks to Deb for visiting the blog today! If you’d like a chance to win a copy of Her Baby Dreams, just leave a reply to this blog. I’ll combine the responses of my Blogger and ShoutLife blogs to pick a winner at random on April 4th. Please leave an email address so I can contact you if you're the winner. (To prevent spammers from trolling for your email, please use this format with the brackets--you [at] yourmail [dot] com--or something similar.) ShoutLifers will be contacted via ShoutMail. Good luck!