About six years ago, an idea began to swirl around in my mind. An idea for a new story or a connected trilogy of stories that combined my love of mythology and paranormal with my most favorite place on earth – Scotland. It took a couple of months, researching old Scottish folktales and looking for a good story on which to base my ideas. Finally I put together a proposal as we call it in the business (an outline/synopsis of the stories and the first few chapters) and sent them to my agent to take out and see if a publisher was interested in publishing it.
This part of the long story made shorter — four years ago, after leaving my agent behind, I met up with Kate Duffy, again, at a conference as we had many times before. I told her about this proposal and she said to send it to her (not in those bland words, but anyone who knew Kate could imagine her forthright method of telling me to send it or stop telling her about it! LOL!)
Luckily, the stories wouldn’t let me let them go. Luckily, Kate understood my vision of the idea and helped me cultivate and strengthen the idea until it percolated. Luckily, Kate asked me to write them for her…and Brava.
I so enjoyed being able to write these stories — they became three plus a novella and I had the chance to go back and tell the story of the one person who’d caused the whole mess! I even got the chance to visit Scotland and all the places I’d written or would write about — Orkney, Skye, Kilmartin Glen, Mull and the mainland. I walked the hills and paths that my characters walked and watched the mist build and disappear, while shadows and shapes moved with it. I climbed stone ruins, listened to Scottish music and sought out the history and the possibilities of the place and time of my stories.
I’ve been living these stories for six years.
And this month, the last book, MISTRESS OF THE STORM, came out, bringing it all to a close. Not only did it reveal the fate of the last brother, but it also brought the entire series to a close, allowing them to meet each other and to meet the woman who began it all. I cried the whole time I wrote the last scene and I cried when I opened my brand-spanking-new author’s copy when it arrived on my doorstep. I was thrilled at seeing this last book in print and the moment felt bittersweet at the same time.
Bottomline — I’m so thrilled I got the chance to share these emotional, compelling, steamy historical stories (with a touch of paranormal) with readers.
And now? Well, like any good storyteller, I’m percolating more stories to share with readers. A new series has begun to swirl around me and I’ve been collecting research tidbits and tying plots together and am as excited by this new work as I was those six years ago when Connor and Duncan and Gavin spoke to me for the first time. Now, new voices are there, urging me to speak about them, to tell their stories, and to give them a happy-ever-after, too. So, just as one ends, another begins and more stories beckon to me.
I hope you’ll all stay with me and let me share them with you……
Terri is also pleased that Kensington re-released the novella that tells of the beginning of the curse and gift that each hero of her STORM trilogy has — A STORM OF LOVE — in digital formats, too! Find it wherever you purchase digital books. And visit Terri’s website or Facebook page for lots of information about her, her upcoming events and books!
To mark the release of the last of her STORM series, Terri will give away a copy of A STORM OF LOVE in digital format and a copy of her short story, KIDNAPPING THE LAIRD, also in digital formats, to two lucky posters ! Leave a comment for a chance to win.
