Bree: I just recently wrapped up Cowboy to the Core which is book six in your Gold Valley series and already have Lone Wolf Cowboy ready to go! You are writing machine! What does a typical day of writing look like for you?
Maisey Yates: Typical changes for me, but I try to keep work contained to Monday – Friday 8-ish to 5. I usually have an idea of what I need to get done (how many words to make deadline!) plus other tasks like edits, social media, wasting time taking quizzes to find out what Disney Princess I am (super important!) In all seriousness, I’m very type A about my schedule, and hitting deadlines. With so many projects lined up I have to be. I like to imagine I’m Indiana Jones running away from a boulder. I would like to not be crushed. So that requires a lot of discipline, and a clear idea of what I need to accomplish each day. Not to say I don’t slack off. I do, a lot. But I have a ‘word budget’. I know exactly how much I need to write every day to meet my deadline, and I’m very strict about it.
Bree: What has been the most random place an idea for a story has come to you?
Maisey Yates: Oh gosh. While my kids were watching cartoons. Disneyland. Church. Sitting in traffic. I send myself a lot of emails with ideas from very strange locations so I don’t forget them!
Bree: You have worked magic with the Gold Valley series. I have loved every book. You write the characters internal conflict so well; I really get to know and understand the internal battles they’re fighting and you can’t help but root for them. Now we are really seeing this merge between the Dodge’s and the Dalton’s with McKenna and Grant, and now Jamie and Gabe. I’ve began secretly fangirl plotting where all these family secrets are going to take the series. When you sat down to write book one, did you have any idea that story would lead into the series it is now, or was it the idea for the series that sat you down to write book one?
Maisey Yates: (Thank you! I’m so glad you’ve been enjoying it!) It’s a mixture of both. Because the books are tightly connected I do need to know a bit about characters that will feature in later books, but I’m also prone to deciding to change everything at the last minute. Grant from A Tall, Dark Cowboy Christmas is a great example of that. I got to his book and then didn’t want to write it. I hated my idea. I wasn’t excited to learn more about him. So I started thinking about things his family might NOT know about him. One of my friends, Caitlin Crews, said: Can he be a virgin? I said NO HE CAN’T he was married and his brothers would know…unless they don’t know, and unless… So there you have it. That’s how I ended up with a virgin widower. As far as the Dalton siblings go, they evolved naturally from McKenna’s story, and I didn’t initially plan to make the saga of their dad and his secret children quite so extensive, but once I got into it it just seemed right! Which is sort of my process in a nutshell. I make plans very early on and reserve the right to throw them all out if they end up not working for me.
Bree: Jamie Dodge, our heroine in book six represented so much for me. She felt very much the 2019 heroine. She was tough because she always had to be tough. She realized so much around her was changing though and we see her begin the shift towards her becoming. As the writer, what did you hope readers took away from Jamie’s journey?
Maisey Yates: Jamie is one of my favorite heroines. I think what I wanted to show with Jamie was the way she found strength in vulnerability. Being tough and strong doesn’t mean never crying, or never letting people close. And as Jamie learned that, I think she taught Gabe the same thing. What I loved about writing Jamie’s journey was that I felt like it was her journey to becoming a whole person. Not just the tough girl. Not just someone who tried to make life easier and more comfortable for those around her. But someone who could cry if she needed to, who could ask for things, could admit when she was lonely. Having feelings is tough, it’s brave. Admitting you want and deserve more is brave. What I loved about Jamie was showing that evolution, and that there’s more than one way to be strong.
Bree: What is the last book you read that you couldn’t get off your mind once you finished?
Maisey Yates: Cold Heart, Warm Cowboy by Caitlin Crews. (Yes, the same person who gave me the idea for Grant, she’s a friend, but I genuinely love this book!) It’s an amnesia story. The hero is a rodeo cowboy who lost his memory after an accident and doesn’t remember his secret marriage to the heroine – or that she was pregnant with his baby. and I love what she did with her heroine, who’s this great, tough and sparkly rodeo queen.
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Maisey Yates is an amazing author! I came across one of her books in a Linda Lael Miller book and I have bought every one of the Copper Ridge, Gold Valley and now the Napa Valley series!! She is amazing!!