Hi Fresh Fiction! Thanks for having me here today!
1--What is the title of your latest release?
THE PROSPECTOR’S ONLY PROSPECT
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
A divorcee takes her sister’s place as a mail order bride and arrives in gold-rush Denver, but the prospector who needs a mother for his three children knows she’s not the bride he ordered.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
My editor was looking for a western and I love the Rockies so I pitched gold-rush in Denver and she liked it.
4--Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
Absolutely.
5--What are three words that describe your hero?
Hardened, intelligent, marshmallow-center
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
Oh, gosh. I learned so much about the period and politics (the more things change, the more they stay the same!) I learned about women’s rights (and lack thereof) and mining methods and exactly how rough life was back then.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I revise as I go. It’s a way for me to get unstuck. If I feel the pace has slowed or the motive isn’t strong, I go back to the beginning and remind myself what’s going on while refining things. By the time I catch up, I’m ready to proceed again.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
It is a fight to confine myself to two cups of coffee a day, so I can sleep at night. Otherwise, I’d drink a dozen. I have a hideous weakness for dill pickle potato chips (Old Dutch, thank you.) If we’re talking actual fancy food, I’m always up to try an overpriced restaurant.
9--Describe your writing space/office!
Get comfy! I love my office!
During lockdown, my husband converted our son’s bedroom into my new office. Previously, I was in the finished attic with a tiny window and a slanted ceiling where I occasionally scuffed my brain.
Now I have a huge window looking out to the lake that we live near (not on.) I have a doorway to a balcony that I call my treehouse. Inside, there are two dry-erase wall calendars (current year and next) so I can plan my writing schedule. I have a mounted white-board next to the window and an 8’ x 4’ section of the wall behind me that I initially painted with white-board paint. It wasn’t very good so I wound up covering it with a film that is way better.
I have a pink shelf that is only 4’ tall that holds my author copies on it. I need something bigger, but my grandfather built it so I’ve been resisting replacing it.
I placed my desk in the middle of the room to get the best view from the window. It’s L-shaped and an electric standing desk. Occasionally I sit on a wobble stool, but I like standing on an ergo mat and I also have a wobble board that I use for an hour or so every day.
Finally, there’s a barn door covering the closet, but we won’t open that because it’s a fright right now. Actually, you can watch a tour of my office on the bottom of my Meet Dani page on my website.
10--Who is an author you admire?
So many! That’s like asking me which one is my favorite sister. (The one who brings the wine, of course.) I admire good writing, but I also admire authors who have a strong business sense or take chances.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
Writing my own books changes me, but slowly. They promote growth and learning and increments of maturity. I wouldn’t be the same person now if I had never taken up writing or pursued it through the aspiring phase to a seventy-plus book career.
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)
Given I had been trying to publish for twenty-five years before The Call, I mostly felt relief!
That was eleven years ago. Our kids were still living at home and I was still working a day job.
I expected The Call to make a dramatic difference in my life, but publishing is a sloth of an animal. My life definitely began to turn in a new direction, but it was another two years before I quit my job to write full time. I didn’t imagine then that I would ever write a Historical Western, but here I am.
If you’re asking about The Call when I found out The Prospector’s Only Prospect would be published, I’m afraid it was a fairly tame progression of emails. I wrote a proposal, my editor liked it and asked for the rest. I turned that in, but it was mid-pandemic. A million things cropped up in the process so there wasn’t any big “They want to buy it!” moment.
I still popped a bottle of champagne after I signed the contract. I’m very excited for this new direction, but I know this book will change my life over time, not overnight.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
I’m pretty eclectic as long as its romance. I prefer a steamier read, but it can be anything from monster to menage, paranormal, contemporary or historical. I live rural so I don’t have a bookstore to browse. I’ve rely on Twitter for recs.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
Something I watch pretty much every year is the Colin Firth P&P. It’s like visiting old friends.
15--What is your favorite season?
Spring. I like the renewal.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Answer: My birthday falls near Canadian Thanksgiving so it was always the family joke that my mom cooked a turkey for me, but not my sisters.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I recently watched Bad Sisters on Apple TV. At first I didn’t think it would be my cup of tea, but I really enjoyed it. Fleishman is in Trouble on Disney (I think) is also very good. Watch for me on Categorically Romance podcast, too! I’ll be talking about The Prospector’s Only Prospect there sometime in March.
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Hipster? I gravitate to meatless and love a good rice bowl with tofu.
19--What do you do when you have free time?
I have to learn to make free time for myself. I’m a bit of a workaholic, but I go to the gym twice a week and do yoga on the other days. I like to garden and my husband and I enjoy traveling to places with pretty scenery. I have a sister in Australia, so I’m planning to go see her.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
I’ve written another Western Historical, but I don’t want to say too much because it’s still sitting with my editor. Check the Coming Soon page on my website or use the Join Me tab to sign up for my newsletter and I’ll make sure you’re the first to know what she says about it.
After eight days in a cramped stagecoach, divorcée Marigold Davis already regrets her decision to come to Denver City to marry. She certainly didn’t realize she’d signed up for mosquitoes, mud, and scores of rough men eyeing her like a hot meal on a cold day. But with her life in Kansas all but incinerated, Marigold needs a husband. Even if she’s not the bride that gold prospector Virgil Gardner is expecting…
Virgil Gardner has a reputation as a grumpy hard-ass, and he’s fine with it. He’s also no fool—this is not the woman he agreed to marry. It takes a tough-as-nails woman to survive the harshness of a Rocky Mountain gold claim, and this whiskey-eyed, gentle beauty is certainly not the type. Now it’s just a matter of how quickly she’ll quit so he can find a wife who will stick. Someone who can care for the only thing he values even more than gold–his children.
But Marigold isn’t about to give in. Cramped in a one-room shack. Berry picking turned into a bear escape. Or cooking for an entire crew of bottomless pits. She’s got more grit than most. And just when Virgil starts to realize his replacement bride might be the treasure he’s been looking for, an unannounced guest arrives…to change everything.
Romance Historical | Romance Western [Entangled Publishing, On Sale: March 28, 2023, Mass Market Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781649373427 / eISBN: 9781649373427]
Award-winning and USA Today Bestselling author Dani Collins thrives on giving readers emotional, compelling, heart-soaring romance with laughter and heat thrown in, just like real life. When she’s not writing—just kidding, she’s always writing. Dani lives in Southern BC, Canada with her high school sweetheart husband.
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