It is always so satisfying to see a book of mine on an ebook vendor’s website. A lot of work goes into every story. From the germ of an idea to the cover, the writing, research, editing, and telling readers about the book, I keep busy. The new American West series with its shorter, faster, and more convenient escapes do mean less writing for each book. However, oh my gosh the pace. My plan is to release a book every two months in this series. Two months sounds like a lot of time to write a 100-150 page book, but it’s not.

What’s fun is even the overall American West has four subseries. Dmitri’s Heart is in the Coastal Treasures subseries. I have four more Coastal books planned and the next story is top secret. The book and its series is a terrific surprise I know readers will love. I promise to blog about whatever I can as soon as I’m allowed to do so.

But, back to the book. I grew up in the middle of the United States where there’s very little water. Most of the lakes in my home state are man-made. Even so, I did happen to take a boating safety class while training for my Water Safety Instructor’s certification. And….that’s it. So writing about a ship’s captain who sails from Russia to the continental US and beyond meant a lot of research. So many different types of ships, so much cargo, so many ports of call. Whew! I also feel like Dmitri’s crew, Gleb, Theodor, and Serge, and Grigory are new friends. They didn’t get as much center stage as Dmitri, of course, because heroes need the spotlight. Still, I’d love to see what other adventures might be out there for them.

For now, you’ll have to read Dmitri’s Heart for yourself. Anyone who’s read Unexpected, an Oregon Trail Series short story will recognize the first three chapters. I’d always wanted to follow Anne and Dmitri’s love story. Finally, several years later, I get to do so! Poor Sam. If we didn’t know he’d meet Marie in Undesirable, we could be heartbroken for him losing Anne.

Back to the words since I have the secret project to write this month. Comment below if you’ve read anything from the Oregon Trail or American West series and what you think of them. Also, click the links to go to the books themselves or their series pages.