Guest Blogger, R.C. Ryan

Please join me in welcoming New York Times bestselling author R.C. "Ruth" Ryan as the special guest blogger here today at Thoughts in Progress.

Ruth is beginning her blog tour here today for her latest book, “Montana Legacy." It’s the first in a trilogy about three rugged, sexy cowboy cousins who will inherit the family ranch, if they seek the treasure hidden on it. However, even more precious are the women who can tame their wild hearts.

Thanks to Ruth, Anna and the folks at Hachette Book Group, I have five copies of “Montana Legacy” to give away. The details of the giveaway will follow Ruth’s post.

Ruth is here today to tell us why she writes novels with a western flare.

Give me a cowboy, a horse, and some vast rangeland, and my imagination goes wild. Most of us who have never had the opportunity to live on a real working ranch tend to romanticize it. 

I know that the hard, back-breaking work that goes into maintaining a big spread is more than most people would care to take on in this lifetime.  But isn't that exactly why we  find it all so fascinating?  The very size and scope of the west makes it seem, to the rest of us, larger-than-life.  As are the men and women of the west.  A cattle ranch pits man against nature, and that challenge is so intriguing.

In this series I tried very hard not to glamorize life on a working ranch. Instead I used the relentless cold and snow of winter, the sun-baked earth of a scorching summer, the floods brought on by spring rains, to show how these cowboys could rise above every obstacle to find joy in their daily lives, as well as to find real and everlasting love.  I honestly don't believe I could ever grow tired of reading, or writing, about the west.

With your love of the west, is there a western hero from the past that inspires you? 

No particular hero that I can think of. But I grew up loving Western movies, TV shows, and books. Could never get enough of them. 

Clint Eastwood as Rowdy Yates on Rawhide. The big diverse family on Bonanza. Who can forget the miniseries of a few years ago - Lonesome Dove, from the novel of the same name? All of us are familiar with the legends - Annie Oakley, Wyatt Earp, Jesse James.  

 
The old west is a marvelous background for a wealth of stories, from drama to family saga. Just talking about it makes me want to start another series set in the west as soon as possible. Happy reading.

Ruth, thank you so much for sharing this information with us. The love of the west and a good western are hard to bet.

Now for the giveaway, I have five copies of “Montana Legacy” to giveaway. The giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada and no post office box addresses can be accepted. The deadline for entering the giveaway is Wednesday, April 7. To enter, send me an e-mail (mcbookshelf@gmail.com) with “Win Montana” in the subject line and include your name and address in the body of the e-mail.

A little background on Ruth, she has written more than 90 fiction novels, both contemporary and historical. Quite an accomplishment for someone who, after her fifth child started school, gave herself the gift of an hour a day to follow her dream to become a writer. 

The Lost, an anthology of stories by J.D. Robb, Mary Blayney, Patricia Gaffney, and R.C. Ryan writing as Ruth Ryan Langan was published in Fall 2009. Ruth’s story, “The Legacy,” is an exciting tale of intrigue and other-worldly adventure. In a career spanning more than 20 years, Ruth has given dozens of radio, television, and print interviews across the country and Canada, and has been quoted in such diverse publications as the Wall Street Journal and Cosmopolitan. She has also appeared on CNN News, as well as Good Morning America.

Do you enjoy reading and/or watching westerns? Do you have a favorite western hero from the past or present? Have you ever considered writing with a western theme?