5/22/2013

Time Travel to the Old West with Yvonne Jocks


I figured it out. I'm not from around here….

Amnesia was easier.

Stranded in 1870s Dodge City, Lillabit remembers: She's Elizabeth Rhinehart, a modern woman thrown back in time against her will.

Also? Someone may be out to kill her.

Her only hope of returning home lies with a trio of scientists in Colorado. To get there, Elizabeth needs passage with someone she can trust... perhaps someone like the no-nonsense trail boss who first rescued her from the desert. But even if Jacob Garrison lets her rejoin his cattle drive to Wyoming--once he learns both her secrets, will he let her go home? Will she want to?

Turning is the 2nd book and continuation of the somewhat romantic, sometimes comic, cattle-drive time-travel OverTime series. It ties up several major elements of the story--but we have 2 books to go! 


Yvonne Jocks wasn't born in Texas, but she got here as fast as she could. Among other places, she lived in Illinois, Arizona, and Louisiana en route. Now she's settled in the DFW area, where she teaches community college and lives with her pets and many, many imaginary friends!


CLOVER: How often do you get lost in a story?
YVONNE:  All. The. Time.  I went through a frighteningly long period where I only read a novel or two a year—in part because I kept thinking, "I would do it this way, or use that word," and I hope I've come out the other side of that!  But even then, I remained addicted to television shows (especially when I can watch one after the next, on DVD collections) and movies. I can remember some plotlines more easily than I can remember my own life. I can remember details about characters better than I can remember details about some relatives. My greatest romantic loves have been fictional.

CLOVER: I saw a picture of you swimming up close and personal with a dolphin. I’ve always
wanted to do that. How was that? Any fear or just excitement?
YVONNE:  The only fear I had was a fear of contributing to the exploitation of dolphins.  Because of that, my friend Pam and I paid double to tour the behind-the-scenes running of the sanctuary, seeing how carefully they monitored the dolphins' health and making sure they only used bred-in-captivity dolphins, before we went ahead with the Dolphin Swim. What a relief, because it had always been a dream of mine, too! Being that close to a dolphin, petting her and looking in her eyes and hanging onto her fin while she pulled me through the sea water was nothing short of magical!

CLOVER: You’ve written about goddesses and witches, and also cowgirls. If you were forced to write in just one genre, which would you choose?
YVONNE:  I think I would implode if I had to choose. Then again, most of my stories are about normal world women who recognize that, beneath the surface, there's some kind of magic. Can that count as a genre?
CLOVER: Absolutely!!! I’m definitely good with that genre.

CLOVER: If you couldn’t be a writer anymore, what profession would you take up?
YVONNE: I teach community college English – my favorites are literature and creative writing classes – and that provides a stability and schedule to my life that I desperately need. Over the last few years, when I was writing very little, I was still teaching… so that would probably become my fallback position!

CLOVER: What’s the first thing you do when you finish writing a book?
YVONNE: I stand up from the computer and feel a little dizzy, like some important part of my existence is fading away—at least temporarily. I don't actually like that feeling, which is why I love writing a series so much.



CLOVER’S GOTTA ASK:   What has been your most rewarding publishing moment?
YVONNE’S GOTTA ANSWER:   Now that one's easy – it was in Reno, Nevada, in 2005, when my Silhouette Bombshell, AKA Goddess (w/a Evelyn Vaughn), won the Rita award for best novel with strong romantic elements.  I will always cherish the validation of that moment.


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WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON?
This summer I hope to rerelease two historical romance novels, book 1 & 2 of the Rancher's Daughters series, Forgetting Herself and Proving Herself. In the meantime, I'm working steadily on OverTime Book 3 – Slipping, which I mean to have finished by the end of the year.


YVONNE WANTS TO KNOW:
If you got to go back to the Old West, what would you most want to see or do?

DON'T FORGET to FOLLOW us on Twitter #GetLostStories or LIKE us on Facebook to keep up with all our guest authors and their prizes.  And join us tomorrow as Angi hosts Kimberly Kincaid  Clover 



20 comments:

  1. Probably not the safest thing but I would like to go into the bar. :)

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  2. Great interview. It's good to know that others go through dry spells with reading. I'm just now getting back into reading on a regular basis. And I read the first book in this series recently. Loved it. If I could go back to the old west, what would I want to do? Hmmm, that's a hard one. NOT go on a cattle drive. Maybe run my own ranch. Or work in a saloon like Miss Kitty on Gunsmoke. Run away with my outlaw like Etta Place. I'm just not sure.

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  3. I can not wait to read these storie, Von !!
    I'm a huge time travel junkie. Definitely hoping they get the kinks worked out before I expire. LOL

    Best of luck with this series !
    ~Angi

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  4. You were so fun to interview, I'm so glad to have you here today. I think time traveling into the old west would be fun until I start thinking about air conditioning and modern plumbing and diet coke and how bad everyone must have smelled. Maybe just for a day here and there? Visit a saloon, jailhouse, ride around the range... then go home.

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  5. One of my fantasy was driving a horse-drawn carriage. I "sort of" got to fulfill that one on Mackinac Island. My horse (George) was a little too used to the path so no "driving" was needed!

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  6. Hello, all! I should have time-traveled myself to two hours ago, and apologizing for not having had a "hello!" waiting for everyone :-)

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  7. Did y'all realize, we have 3 votes for saloons?! Then again, they WERE the social centers of the Old West... them and church, which doesn't have the same "party" vibe.

    Fun factoid--women (other than "working" women) weren't commonly allowed into drinking establishments until Prohibition. At that point, everyone was throwing "rules" out the window anyway (to be drinking), so women were as welcome as men... and it stuck.

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  8. I'd want a cute cowboy to sweep me off my feet.

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  9. Wonderful interview. A good time travel and western historical will always suck me in and when the two are combined I'm in reading heaven. I can't wait to read these. Although I love reading stories that go back in time I'm too attached to my creature comforts ie air conditioning, indoor plumbing, and hot showers so I'd rather bring my cowboy forward in time but we would live on a ranch.
    ~ Christine Crocker

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  10. When I was young and had devoured the Little House on the Prairie books, I used to play "Wagon Train" with my Barbies. They had a shoebox that was a wagon and at night, they would pile it high with "hay" and heap quilts on top of them.

    So...I would have to say I'd want to go on a wagon train to the West!

    P.S. - I remember you winning the Rita, Von. What a wonderful night!

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    1. Same here. My Barbies played out all my adventures. I even saved up my money to buy Scout, Tonto's palomino for Barbie to gallop off on into the sunset.

      And yes, Scout is better than Silver. I stand by that.

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    2. I had a "Julia" doll, and a Skipper doll, but otherwise, ditto. We were all creating stories even back then, weren't we?

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  11. I'm so pleased you enjoyed the book, PAMELA! Yours--Rocking Horse Cowboys--looks amazing. MAY, thanks for setting the "bar" theme rolling :-) Those places really were interesting, in the old west, though the saloon girls don't seem to have dressed like French can-can girls, despite TV! ANGI, you and I are of similar minds... although I'm also with CLOVER and CLIO on fearing the absence of modern conveniences. My heroine, in Book 3, is really starting to feel that.

    CYNTHIA--Mackinac Island? As in, the setting of SOMEWHERE IN TIME??? *swoon!*

    Good answer, INGEBORG--what's the Old West without those strong-and-silent cowboy types?

    CHRISTINE, I wish we'd gotten to play together as kids, because those were my favorites, too. (I was almost bummed to realize there wasn't much room in the wagons for comfortable sleeping, what with all the supplies). Guess we just have to "play" as grown-ups!

    What fun answers!

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  12. Good thought, BN! Like visiting one of those Pioneer Days exhibits, but for real....

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  13. Oh, Von, we don't want you to implode, so keep writing your wonderful stories any way you see fit. Welcome to Get Lost in a story. Clover, what a delightful interview! (By the way, I just saw a picture of Pam swimming with that dolphin last weekend. Looks like it was a blast!!!)

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  14. Hi, DONNELL! (*waves*) That vacation with Pam was amazing. Maybe we should *all* go to Cozumel one of these days....

    And yes, Clover does an amazing interview. Thanks, CLOVER!

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  15. What a wonderful interview, Clover! I don't know why but the hard working pioneer folks always seem romantic to me. Getting up early and doing daily chores to survive. Now why I would think that makes no sense since I'm the first in line to take advantage of time saving conveniences. So reading time travel is probably my best bet, and your books sound wonderful, Yvonne!

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    1. Thanks, Molly! I know what you mean about the romance of hard-working survival (although it's not a romance I embrace in my personal life, heh!) I even have a passage in Book 3, which I'm still writing, where the heroine/narrator notes that a man who gets up first, washes in last night's water, then carries in fresh water for her, is doing a lot more than most men who send flowers in modern times. There's something sweet and caring in the understatement of it.

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  16. Before the day officially ends, I've got to thank Clover and the other talented writers at "Get Lost in a Story." This was a delightful experience. I'm so pleased to have met your equally creative readers. Happy reading, everyone!

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