My Inspiration for Mac Thomas
Thank you for having me on your blog. I hope that your
readers enjoy visiting with me today. I want to share a little behind my
character creation of Mac Thomas, the hero of Chalkboard Romance.
I’m a news junkie. I admit it. We watch very little
television at my home except for the NBC Evening News. At 6:30, hubby announces
it’s newstime and we sit and watch what’s happening in our world. When it came
time for me to create Mac Thomas, my thoughts kept returning to Richard Engel,
NBC’s chief foreign correspondent. I enjoy his reports from the front lines
during the conflict’s overseas. He has a calm demeanor that draws me into the
report. He has stood on the front lines of conflicts from Egypt’s protests to
the War in Afganistan. For his outstanding coverage, he’s received many awards
and accolades. However, viewers don’t know much about Richard’s personal life.
We only see the business side of him each night on the news. It had me
wondering. Dangerous to a writer!
When I created Mac, I wanted him to have been a
correspondent in the Middle East conflicts. I wanted him to have met with
foreign dictators and tried brokering for peace. But like Richard Engel, we
didn’t know much about Mac’s life outside of his career until he gave it all
up. I see these men as ones who focus on their assignments rather than their
own lives. So I wrote a backstory for Mac…a wife who wanted his money more than
his time and attention. However, I knew that Mac deserved his own happily ever
after and put Lauren in his path.
Do you have a favorite television reporter or news show you
must watch? Is there a book character that you feel is similar to someone in
real life?
Cowboy, Mine... He'll Leave You Breathless...
By the best-selling and award-winning authors….
Kathleen Ball, Krista Ames, Cheryl Gorman, Melissa Keir,
Lyssa Layne, and D’Ann Lindun
On sale now.
BUY LINKS:
BLURB
Chalkboard Romance by Melissa Keir
Will a One Night Stand
prove to be their disaster or their salvation?
Lauren Walsh, a divorcee and elementary teacher, wants to
feel sexy again after her ex tosses her aside for a younger woman. Her best
friend encourages her to sign up for The Playhouse--a renowned dating agency.
Forced to stay away from his young son, Mac Thomas lost the ability to trust.
After the death of his wife, he returned to care for his son but his sister
wants more for him. She sets him up with The Playhouse.
Passion ignites but Mac’s a parent of one of Lauren’s
students. A teacher and a parent dating could cost Lauren her job and her
chance at happiness. Will Mac be able to convince the school and Lauren, that
love is the most important thing?
EXCERPT
Mac sat at the
beautiful mahogany bar nursing his first beer. I’m more nervous than a
long-tailed cat in a rocking chair factory. The last place he belonged was
somewhere as opulent as this. He ran his fingers up and down the condensation
on the beer glass. Even though he grew up in a family with a great deal of
money, his parents taught him the benefit of working hard and doing what you
love. At eighty, his dad still worked in the stables every morning, grooming
his horse or was out in the pasture feeding the cattle.
Claire never
understood his family. Money wasn’t important to them unless the cash could be
used to befit someone else. Mac shook his head. Sure, he used his family’s
money to get inside some of those war-torn countries but only so he could show
the world the truth.
He’d worked hard to
be impartial but his soft heart swayed him. Seeing any amount of suffering
hurt, making him known as a compassionate emissary in those challenging
countries.
With Claire gone,
his life had changed once again. He took a job as a reporter at the local
station affiliate, reporting on the important events happening in his community
so he could be at home with Todd. Realizing how much poverty and conflict
existed in his own hometown left him cold. They say charity begins at home.
Well, he was determined to find a way to help, while setting a good example for
his son.
He took a look at
the clock on the wall. Where was she? Maybe she took one look at him and ran
for the hills.
Mac turned on his
barstool in time to see a gorgeous brunette walk into the bar. Her steps seemed
to match the beat of his pulse. Shifting in his chair, he adjusted his
now-tight, uncomfortable pants. Maybe it’s a good thing he was meeting a woman
tonight, if she shows.
He twisted his
stool around farther to get a better look at the hottie.
If only she was his
date. The woman’s blue dress hugged her curvy body, and he couldn’t take his
gaze off those legs that seemed to go on forever.
Oh no!
Other Books in The Box Set
Texas Haven Kathleen Ball
Can love shine through
the clouds of treachery and misunderstanding?
Advertising for a wife seems like the answer to all of Burke
Dawson's problems. He wants a wife and kids without emotional attachments, but
he has no idea how much havoc one woman can cause.
Annie Douglas has her heart set on her hunky cowboy's love
and she isn't about to stop until she gets it.
Take Me Home, Cowboy by Krista Ames
When tragedy strikes,
will building tension and pride destroy a growing attraction or show them the
way home?
Ally Kincaid returns to Rock Creek, Wyoming, to see her
father after a two year absence. Anticipating a quiet family reunion, she finds
herself butting heads with Matt Gentry—her father’s foreman—instead. The man’s
arrogance and sexy drawl push all her buttons, making her wonder what he’s hiding
beneath his cowboy swagger.
When tragedy strikes, will building tension and pride
destroy their growing attraction or show them the way home?
Honeymoon Ranch by Cheryl Gorman
Can two reluctant
partners ride off into their own blissful sunset on Honeymoon Ranch?
When wedding planner, Summer Conroy, discovers she has
inherited half of Silver Creek Ranch, she is stunned to learn the other half is
owned by sexy cowboy, Bryce Jericho. Her idea of turning the ranch into an
exclusive wedding and honeymoon destination is met with a wall of resistance
from Bryce who doesn’t want his ranch ruined with a bunch of wedding nonsense.
He is determined to conceal his vulnerable heart that beats in fear of being
betrayed again. Will this woman with dreams of happily-ever-after in her eyes
transform his fear into love everlasting?
Until You Fall in Love by Lyssa Layne
Can a longtime
friendship suddenly blossom into love?
Single mom Jordan Glastetter doesn't know how she'd survive
without her best friend, Abram Tomko. He's the father her son never knew and
he's the rock she's always leaned on.
When Abram's father suffers a heart attack, it's Abram's
turn to depend on Jordan, finally seeing her as the woman she's become and not
the little girl he grew up with.
Will they risk their friendship for a chance at love?
The Cowboy’s Baby by D’Ann Lindun
Cat wanted to keep her
baby: Tanner insisted she give it up...can they find common ground seventeen
years later?
Cat O’Brien left her heart in Granite, Colorado, seventeen years
ago—her first love, Tanner Burke, and the baby girl she gave birth to at
sixteen. Suddenly, both Tanner’s high school sweetheart and the teenage
daughter they gave up for adoption are back in his life.
Cat is adamant their daughter keep her baby; Tanner isn’t as sure. Just
like seventeen years before, he and Cat are butting heads over the fate of an
unborn
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
As a writer, Melissa likes to keep current on topics of interest in the
world of writing. She’s a member of the Romance Writers of America and EPIC.
Melissa is always interested in improving her writing through classes and
seminars. She also believes in helping other authors and features authors and
their books on her blog.
Melissa doesn’t believe in down time. She’s always keeping busy.
Melissa is a wife and mother, an elementary school teacher, a movie reviewer,
owner of a publishing company as well as an author. Her home blends two
families and is a lot like the Brady Bunch, without Alice—a large grocery bill,
tons of dirty dishes and a mound of laundry. She loves to write stories that
feature “happy endings” and is often found plotting her next story.
Melissa loves hearing from readers!
Thank you for having me over today!
ReplyDeleteMac is hot!
ReplyDeleteThank you. :)
Delete