The Story Behind the Story of PROUD WOLF'S WOMAN by Karen Kay

Good Morning!

Thanks for joining me here today. Let me say upfront that I will be giving away a free book today — I'm experimenting with giving away ebooks — so far I haven't figured it out, so I might still be giving away mass market books — but I will be giving away another book to some blogger today — so come on in and please leave a comment in order to enter the contest.

I thought I'd tell you a bit about the writing of the book, PROUD WOLF'S WOMAN today. This book has only recently been issued as an ebook — and this cover is probably my favorite cover of all of these ebooks. I love them all (the covers), but this one particularly touches my heart.

PROUD WOLF'S WOMAN was a book that was written at a time in my life when things weren't going too well. I've already blogged about the writing of GRAY HAWK'S LADY and how that book was written as I met and fell deeply in love with my husband, Paul. Unfortunately PROUD WOLF'S WOMAN's story isn't quite so bright, I fear. At this time in my life, I'd recently gone through a divorce and had returned to California where I hopped straight into a relationship that was anything but a good one. However, I didn't realize that at the time, and so stayed in the relationship prehaps beyond what I should have.

Believe it or not it was the writing of this book that opened my eyes to what my heart and mind were refusing to see. (This is the book that I had written before I met and married my husband, Paul, whom I love so very much.)

Off to the left here is a picture that was taken just a little bit later than this time period in my life — I'm the one sitting down on the far right in the white jacket. Anyway, back to my story. I was in the middle of writing PROUD WOLF'S WOMAN and it wasn't going very well due to many different elements in my life that just weren't right. But it was a scene near the beginning of the book that opened my eyes to what was going on around me. I know that sounds funny, but I guess sometimes we don't always really realize things until it hits us square in the face. In this very telling and important scene the heroine, Julia, is talking with her husband, Ken, in flashback, I believe. In this scene Ken is saying some horrible things to Julia. Really horrible — and all those words came directly out of the mouth of this man who was in my life at that time. Actually I had to go back and revise that scene because what was really said was doubly worse than what was written. I edited it because I thought that it would probably seem unreal to others that someone could say such horrible things to another human being.

Over to the right is another picture that was taken about that time (I don't have many pictures that were taken at this period in my life). And this picture was taken almost a year later. Anyway, back to my story. It was the writing of that scene and the fact that my hero in the book, Neeheeowee, a friend of Julia's, was going to save her and bring love to her. Not her husband, Ken — a terrible man — but rather Julia's friend from the past, Neeheeowee. It was this realization and a few other incidents that happened around that time that decided me. This relationship broke up very, very shortly after the writing of that scene.

Off to the left here is a picture taken about 2 years after the incidents that I am describing above — this was taken at an RWA convention in Florida way back when — and I'm here with friend, Catherine Snodgrass.

Now you may wonder — if this time period produced such a terrible example of mankind — who did I pattern the hero after? Here I was fresh out of a divorce, and having jumped into a soul-destroying relationship.

Well, similar to the heroine in the story, I had a friend at this time who was never unkind to me, who liked me and never judged me, and who always took my side in most everything. Although never romanctically involved, the hero in the story took on many of the different characteristics of my friend. Also at this time period in my life, my friend needed a friend, and I became that to him.

In the story of PROUD WOLF'S WOMAN, both the hero, Neeheeowee (Proud Wolf — translated literally "Wolf on the Hill") and the heroine, Julia, bring a better life to each other through happenstance, through love and through commitment to their friendship, which in the story, itself, becomes a deep, lasting love. When I first saw this ebook cover of PROUD WOLF'S WOMAN, I was so struck by how this cover brought this story to life. For me this cover says more than mere words what is felt between these two courageous people in this story.

It's sometimes said that truth is stranger than fiction — and for me this was really true in the writing of this book. I was certain no one would ever believe the terrible words that were thrown at Julia in the story — and although I wrote them word-for-word originally, I went back after I'd finished writing the book, and edited them so that another might actually believe that a man might say such things.

This was a major book for me — a book that completely helped to open my eyes. It was also a book that aided me in envisioning a true love — if only because in this book, both the hero and heroine discover a love that had always been there, but had gone unnoticed because of their different cultures.

Well, that's all for today. I really hope that you've enjoyed the blog today, sad though it is. But perhaps it's not so sad, since it was the writing of this book that opened my heart to the fact that there could be so much more to life and to love. Please don't forget that I do have about 7 new to ebooks on sale at the moment — and here is the link to go and see all these beautiful and wonderful new covers that Samhain Publishing has done. They are works of art. http://store.samhainpublishing.com/karen-kay-pa-1676.html

Please do come on in an leave a comment.