Guest Blogger Author Ann Shorey: Why Washington Territory?

It's Day 3 of our blog tour for The Mail-Order Brides Collection! I'm thrilled to host Author Ann Shorey on the blog today. Find our how Ann used her family's history to enrich her story. ~Michelle

WHY WASHINGTON TERRITORY?

Some of my readers know that I’ve often used my family’s history as a source for inspiration in writing my novels. For instance, The Edge of Light uses many details from the life of one of my great-great aunts. In The Promise of Morning, I went to my great-great grandparents’ lives for the storyline. The rest of my novels all contain tiny bits of family lore as well.

The takeaway here for new writers goes beyond “write what you know” to “write what you can find out.” What I know isn’t always a whole lot, but with an inquiring mind and a willingness to dig a little, I’ve learned that there is a world of story material out there, waiting to be pressed into a manuscript.

So, moving forward to my most recent publication, The Mail-Order Brides Collection from Barbour Publishing— here’s a bit of background for my contribution, “Miss-Delivered Mail.”

As far as I know there are no mail-order brides in my family history, so that part is fiction. But in “Miss-Delivered Mail,” the main character finds herself in Washington Territory in the 1880’s, where she meets the Halliday family. I chose this setting because the “Hallidays” in this novella are my great-grandparents. They are not the main characters, but they play an important role in the story. In real life, they homesteaded in eastern Washington in the 1880’s, settling there in the Coulee breaks long before the Grand Coulee Dam was ever imagined. Many of the descriptions of their lives and surroundings come straight from my grandfather’s memoirs.

So, now that you’re armed with insider information, I wish you happy reading! I hope you’ll enjoy “Miss-Delivered Mail,” as well as the other eight excellent novellas in The Mail-Order Brides Collection. 

"Miss-Delivered Mail” by Ann Shorey

Helena Erickson impulsively decides to take advantage of her brother’s deception and travels to Washington Territory in response to a proposal of marriage intended for someone else. 



The Mail-Order Brides Collection can be purchased from your local bookstore, or online at the following sites:

https://www.amazon.com/Mail-Order-Brides-Collection-Historical-Marriage-ebook/dp/B074TXDL65/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1515607854&sr=1-3&keywords=The+Mail+Order+Brides+Collection



https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-mail-order-brides-collection-megan-besing/1126627885?ean=9781683224440#/



https://www.christianbook.com/brides-collection-historical-stories-marriage-precedes/megan-besing/9781683224440/pd/224442?product_redirect=1&Ntt=224442&item_code=&Ntk=keywords&event=ESRCP

ANN SHOREY is the author of the At Home in Beldon Grove and Sisters at Heart series. She also has novellas included in the Sincerely Yours and The Oregon Trail Romance collections. Ann and her husband make their home in southwestern Oregon. She may be contacted through her website, www.annshorey.com, or find her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/AnnShorey