I've Moved!!

Yes, it is official. The new Anna J. McIntyre blog and website is now open.

While I won't be taking this site down, I won't be adding any new posts.

Find me at: http://annajmcintyreauthor.com/

Coulson Book Two

(continued from yesterday’s post)

The second book in the series (and the forth to be released) is currently at the beta readers and hopefully they will help me give it a proper and fitting title.

Very different from the other books in the series, it tells the complex story of Garret Coulson’s parents. Throughout the story we meet much younger versions of people I first introduced in Lessons. It also sets the scene for the final book in the series, which has yet to be written. That book will be the fifth book in The Coulson Series, and the fifth book released in the series.

I learned a lot about my characters when writing this book – helping me understand why they became the people I first introduced Lessons. If it sounds as if I am talking about real people, that is probably because they feel very real to me.

Coulson’s Wife

(continued from yesterday’s post)

The books in this series take place in a fictional town in the southwest – Coulson. It was named for its founder, Randall Coulson.  Don’t waste your time trying to figure out in what state you’ll find Coulson, I never say. I will tell you, my hometown of Lake Havasu City, Arizona was my inspiration for the town and how it was founded.

I initially planned to go back to the 1960s and 70s, to tell the story of Lesson’s characters when they were much younger. When I sat down to write the book, I was drawn back in time – to Randall Coulson, the town’s founder. It is a bitter sweet love story, very different from the books already released in this series.

This book – the first in the series, but the third book to be released in the series – is Coulson’s Wife. It is currently in the re-write stage, and will then be sent off to the editor. To find out about the other new release planned for The Coulson Series, read tomorrow’s blog.

The Senator’s Secret

(continued from yesterday’s post)

One thing I loved about this story, none of my beta readers could figure out who-done-it, until I made my reveal. I relished the fact it was not a predictable obvious mystery.

It brings together characters from Lessons – a new generation. But the story relies heavily on characters my readers met in the first book.

When I finished the second book in the series, I realized I wanted to go back in time and tell the story of how the three families from the first two books – the Coulsons, Kellers and Chamberlains - initially came together.

For more about the next two books in the series, read tomorrow’s blog.

It began with Lessons

I first wrote Lessons around 1995. I believe it was my forth novel. (The first three: a YA, a romance and a mystery – they will not be published.)

For me, the story and the characters came alive and when I started writing it was as if someone else was telling the story, and I was just the typist. When I finished the book, I was busy in my real life, so I didn’t do anything with the manuscript. But some fifteen years later I decided to release it as an eBook.

Before release, I did some major rewriting, editing, sent it through a beta reader and then to a professional editor.

I wasn’t ready to leave the characters, so I decided to write a second book, this time a mystery. When I initially wrote Lessons, I wrote about the timeframe I was living in. When I started The Senator’s Secret, I wanted to do the same thing. So from the time Lessons ends and The Senator’s Secret begins, there is a 16-year span.

When reading the different books in this series, the reader should not expect the same read. While she’ll find many of the same characters, it won’t be a formula plot, similar to other books in the series.  For example, there is far more explicit sex in Lessons than in The Senator’s Secret. I didn’t do that to be salacious, but because the story called for it.

Lessons is a story about a happily married woman, who finds herself a widow and confronts a discretion from her past. One reviewer wrote: "Lessons" is a deep, rich story of love, family and friendship.

For more about The Senator’s Secret, read tomorrow’s blog.