Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written:
I was born in Duncan, Oklahoma, and grew up in Seminole, Oklahoma. I graduated from the University of Oklahoma and hold a B.A. in English.
I have nine published novels, including five western historical romances: Fire Eyes, The Half-Breed’s Woman, Gabriel’s Law, Time Plains Drifter, and The Devil and Miss Julia Jackson. My contemporary romantic suspense novels include Sweet Danger, Capture the Night, and Beyond the Fire. Ride the Wild Range is my YA coming-of-age western tale. All are available at Amazon.
Three of my stories have been nominated in the Best Western Short Fiction category of the Western Fictioneers Peacemaker Awards. My paranormal western short story “The Keepers of Camelot” was nominated in 2013. In 2014, “It Takes a Man,” featuring my characters from the Wolf Creek series, was a finalist. “Hidden Trails” made the list of finalists in 2016.
I also have contributed heavily to the western “shared world” collaborative effort known as Wolf Creek since it came into existence. I have served as the President of the Western Fictioneers, a professional organization for western authors.
In 2013, I collaborated with long-time friend Livia Reasoner and we opened Prairie Rose Publications. PRP now offers five other imprints: Painted Pony Books, Tornado Alley Publications, and Fire Star Press, Prayers and Promises Publications, and Sundown Press.
My husband and I have lived in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for the past 34 years. You can e-mail me at: fabkat_edit@yahoo.com
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Kidnapping Kalli is a novella about a young Cherokee Indian woman who is kidnapped by a former Texas Ranger at the behest of her father, whom she has not seen for thirteen years.
Of course, something unexpected happens and Shiloh, the kidnapper, finds himself depending on Kalli for his very survival.
My inspiration came from a thought: What if the tables were suddenly turned on the kidnapper and the person being taken against their will? Even though Shiloh has good intentions and is being coerced by Kalli’s father, what might happen that would change everything for him—and for her? If he ends up depending on her for his survival, will she leave him to die, or will she make sure he’s taken care of—and what would motivate her to try to make him whole again?
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write everything by longhand in spiral notebooks, then enter it all into the computer.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I think everything we read influences us somehow, from the “funny papers” to the classics. But as far as my influences in romance reading and writing, Rosemary Rogers, Kathleen Woodiwiss, Kathleen Eagle, and Christine Monson all come to mind, as well as so many others.
What are you working on now?
I’m writing something I didn’t ever consider before this past year—a family saga about six Texans who go to fight in the Civil War. One of them is a professional gambler, and he makes a late-night, offhand bet with a fellow card player for “part of the business” since the other man is out of money. Turns out the “part of the business” he gets is six mail-order brides sent to Texas—just the very number needed for himself and his five other friends. I’m having a wonderful time working on this!
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I promote a lot on Facebook. I have my author page at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Cheryl-Pierson/e/B002JV8GUE/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1542814253&sr=8-1
And I use the Prairie Rose Publications website at:
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep writing. I know a lot of people say that, but discouragement can take over and kill your desire so easily when you have a few bad breaks. Just keep on writing, even if you think it’s only for yourself and likely no one else will ever see it.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t expect to make a living off of writing—do it because you love it.
What are you reading now?
I read all the time for my job as Editor in Chief for Prairie Rose Publications, so it’s constantly something different—genres I might not normally read, all different lengths of books, new authors and those who I’ve read before. But when I just sit down to read for pleasure, right now I’m reading Kathleen Eagle’s Sunrise Song in the living room and Medicine of the Cherokee waiting for me in the bedroom
What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m working steadily on the saga I mentioned before, but also have two short stories I’ve committed to write before spring rolls around again. I never stop, and I work on more than one project at a time.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Stormfire by Christine Monson
Probably something by David Sedaris or George Carlin so I could laugh—I would probably need to laugh once in a while if I was stranded on a desert island.
Author Websites and Profiles
Cheryl Pierson Website
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