Clean Romance Cafe discussion

This is the thread for the June/July Author Group Read with Guest Author, Victoria Trout. Victoria will be joining us June 15th-July 14th, as we read her historical romance, Ethan's Flight: A Clean and Wholesome Coming of Age Western. The book will be available for FREE on Amazon June 19th-June 23rd. Grab a copy from Amazon, read it, and join us in discussing the book over the next month.

Welcome to Clean Romance Cafe, Victoria!

Hello everyone! Thank you, Mora, for inviting me. I am Victoria Trout, the co-author of Ethan’s Flight. I have never participated in a Goodreads group, so I hope you will pardon any missteps.

I wrote with my mom, Penelope West, until her passing in 2009. She was the one in our partnership who understood grammar and spelling. Which means she translated what I wrote on paper to be understandable in the story. I’m dyslexic, and I struggle with this aspect of writing. For a long time after she passed, I would try to start writing, only to become frustrated with the details of English writing.

Then, in July 2023, I was injured at my day job and was at home for a time. I really wanted to get back into writing so I could get out of my job, but I faced the same problems. I was in a Facebook group with another author named Debbie Hyde. She has been pivotal in starting my solo career. Adding in Anna Marie Leffew and Abigail Kait and I had the start of my village. Together, we (Debbie and myself) started a Facebook group that supports all aspects of writing (not publishing, as vanity publishers are not allowed in the group. We do discuss publishing, but we do not have any publishers in the group.) I have more villagers now, but they were the very first and have been wonderfully supportive.

For the next month, I will primarily discuss my Western Ethan’s Flight, but I am open to questions about my Regency-set story Legacy From Yesteryear. Ethan’s Flight will be free to download from June 19 to 23, 2024. It is also available on KU. Once my free promotion ends, I will reduce the price from $4.99 to $.99 for a summer special. By the end of July, this summer special will conclude and return to the regular price.

I will be making posts about team writing vs solo writing, finding your village, and writing in general. I welcome questions, especially from our readers. I don’t know what to offer you as subjects you would be interested in hearing about, but if our readers let me know what they are interested in, I will provide the best answers I can.

I’m looking forward to getting to know everyone here a little better. TTFN!

Looking forward to reading Ethan’s flight!

I'm sure you'll do fine in the group. Most goodreads people who have joined a group, just enjoy socializing with others who love the same types of books as they do.

I am sorry to hear about your mom. I definitely understand how hard it is to lose your mom, especially when you are so close. My mom passed away a month after I published my first full-length novel, and it did not make writing easy. I have still struggled with it off and on. But hopefully, just like books, you can use your writing as an escape from time to time, now that you've gotten back to it.

It's awesome that you've found your village. So many think that writing is a solo venture, and I was guilty of that line of thought when I was young. But writing can be so much more fruitful when you find your village to help.

This looks like a good read.

Mora wrote: "I'm sure you'll do fine in the group. Most goodreads people who have joined a group, just enjoy socializing with others who love the same types of books as they do.

I am sorry to hear about your m..."

The Hollywood version (which I bought into 100%) leaves you wondering why you don't have the same unrealistic results. If there was a movie or tv show about how it really works, watching paint dry would become exciting to watch. LOL

I feel finding your village at any stage of your career is important. Because life happens and we all need that extra support that can only be found with those that are part of the process. Don't get me wrong, your village is not your only support, and some life events also require family and friends, not of the writing community, but knowing that other members of your tribe or village have gone through what you are going through makes it less of a lonely process.

Readers play an important and often unrecognized role in the writing process. They are a huge part of our stories, even if they are not aware of it! I have learned the value of knowing your fans and the market you want to share your writing with. It was a hard lesson because I feel that you should put everything you enjoy in your story. But the way the market is set up it leaves you not fitting in with the established categories/genres.

I will write about this experience in another post. I'm looking forward to this even more now I have a direction to go with posting. ;-)

Thank you for stopping in.

Lynn wrote: "This looks like a good read."

Thank you! I hope you enjoy it.

Cali wrote: "Looking forward to reading Ethan’s flight!"
Thank you! I'm looking forward to reading Fake Relationship at the Triple Z, too!

This one looks interesting with a little suspense.

Rae wrote: "This one looks interesting with a little suspense."

You are correct! There is a little suspense/mystery mixed in. ;-)

I got the book today.

Victoria, not to give anything away, but I read some of the reviews you've received on Ethan's Flight. Many suggest that you could continue this book in a series. Do you have plans on writing a series set in this world?

Hi Victoria, so I’m having fun with my emotions as I read the scene at the police station. My modern day mind is screaming at all the rights being violated and Mortimer touching the evidence!!! It’s so strange to remember back to a time with no fingerprints or DNA. I like that you have emphasized character because back then it was so prominent. Kind of sad the shift away from that. Can’t wait to keep reading and see where it’s all going.

Victoria wrote: "Rae wrote: "This one looks interesting with a little suspense."

You are correct! There is a little suspense/mystery mixed in. ;-)"

I'm so excited! I hope it lives up to your expectations.

Mora wrote: "Victoria, not to give anything away, but I read some of the reviews you've received on Ethan's Flight. Many suggest that you could continue this book in a series. Do you have plans on writing a ser..."

Rae wrote: "I got the book today."

The next book in the series is written and going through the editing process. It's the last complete book Mom and I wrote together, and she was pretty sick when we wrote it. I noticed last month that there was editing that needed to be done, so it's not as far along as I thought, but my village and I are working on it now.

For those who would like to be notified when it's available, you can sign up for my newsletter. I'm also looking for Beta Readers (these get to have input on places that may need more polish), ARC readers (those who agree to read in advance and hopefully leave a review), and add more to my street team (people who agree to post provided graphics and links across their social media). If this resonates with you, the forms to sign up for any and all are on my home page at www.victoriatrout.com. Thanks in advance.

Cali wrote: "Hi Victoria, so I’m having fun with my emotions as I read the scene at the police station. My modern day mind is screaming at all the rights being violated and Mortimer touching the evidence!!! It’..."
Hi Cali, When we wrote it, we were very surprised that there was not much available in forensics. We were big fans of the original CSI, and I think it was in the first episode that Grissom says the very first forensics used was in the case of a villager who was murdered using a shovel. All the shovels in the village were inspected, and only one attracted flies. Thus, forensics was born. Is this true? I have no idea, but it really got us thinking and made us want to be as accurate as possible in this area of the story.

I hope you continue to enjoy it.

Oh wow! That’s interesting! You must have come across some fascinating research on that one

When we first started learning our craft, one of the first things we were told was to write what we knew. The second thing was to write what you want to read. Did we get excited! We love(d) historical, sweet romance, adventures, mysteries, contemporary spies, and a whole slew of things. Eventually we calmed down enough to pick through what we wanted to focus on and still ended up with a mouthful. We would take a deep breath and would answer the question “What do you write?” with: historicalfictionsweetromancewithmysteryandadventureelements. Why did we answer like this? Because people expected us to only write in one genre! The insanity!

This also became a huge problem with marketing, but that’s a whole different story. As readers, our favorite stories had a mix of genres. I understand that you need some way to catalog a book or author, but some stories actually have a big enough mix of genres (and tropes) that putting them in one place doesn’t make sense. When you are looking for a certain type of book, the order you put the categories of the search makes a difference in where you end up.

What do you do when searching for a new book to read? Do you search by genre or trope, or both? Do you search for an author you enjoy and see what is suggested that you might like?

Cali wrote: "Oh wow! That’s interesting! You must have come across some fascinating research on that one"

We did! It also made us wonder how many innocent people died because the technology just wasn't there.

Meet cute! I was wondering how paths were going to cross. They just met. 😃

@Cali I know it takes a while to get started with the romance part, but it's fun when you get there! Fun fact: the two sisters personalities are based on my twins who were 6 at the time. They are named Debora and Stephanie. In real life Deb has not read the book, but is the lead decorator for Publix. That blows my mind!

Really? What a sweet tribute to them. I can’t believe your sis hasn’t read it! I wouldn’t be able to resist. 😃

my sister is Sarah in the book. She has read it. my daughter Debora has not.

Oh! Your twin daughters, I thought your twin sisters. Gotcha. Well it’s pretty neat that you included them in your book. My daughter was my first beta reader so I dedicated my first book Blue Skies, Blue Eyes to her.

That is so cool!! That will be so special for her.

You know when you reach that point in the book where you feel it’s almost coming to an end but you really don’t want it to? 🫤

Cali wrote: "You know when you reach that point in the book where you feel it’s almost coming to an end but you really don’t want it to? 🫤" Yes very much so. If it helps, it won't be long for the next book in the series. It's not focused on romance but it completes Ethan's story. If you would like to know when it comes out, you can sign up for my newsletter.

www.victoriatrout.com

The form to sign up is on the home page. I'm also looking for Beta readers and ARC readers. The form is there with the newsletter sign-up. Plus, by signing up for my newsletter you get the exclusive story of how Deputy Hunnicutt came to arrest Ethan in the first place.

Just signed up! thanks

Cali wrote: "Just signed up! thanks"
Awesome!! Thank you. This makes me think we should make a post that is how we can be found in social media. I might go old fashioned and use the actual links. LOL

Yeah I was thinking that too

@Mora I tried to add links here and got a full page of errors. Is there a way to make this work? Thank you!

Wow! Done. Great story, Victoria. I haven’t read a historical in a while so this was nice. The poor dad! but you had me laughing with all the names he called the boys. I did not know you were going to leave us on a cliffhanger!
Will the next book have a new romance? I know you said something about writing in multiple genres - how do you market this book? What labels do you choose?
Where do you find your inspiration for your stories? My favorite part was the clear difference in the girls personalities and also then the way the guys interacted with them differently. Sweet love stories. 💗 thanks for sharing your book in this group.

I'm so glad you enjoyed it! The dad's memory issue was the only way we could figure out for them to get married legally. I'm sorry about the cliffhanger. I've been editing the next in series for the last couple of weeks.

I realized last month that I kinda don't have any new romance in the following book. Ethan and Edwards's parents' relationship is in the suds, so we work through that (maybe as a second chance romance?), as well as strengthen the romances that we established in Ethan's Flight. I have a list of books to check out. A friend gave me examples of Book 1 having a romance, but Book 2 does not. I'm not sure about that. It will definitely be Western historical fiction, mystery, and adventure, but I'm not sure about the romance. In one fell swoop, you hit my issues on the button!

Since we made the same mistake for both books, we have to go with what the major part of the story is: historical sweet romance. I haven't finished figuring out the next book for genres - but the title is You Can't Hide From Justice.

As for the inspiration for our stories, they came about in a patchwork of ways. We decided we wanted brothers on the run, and making the run go longer was it had to start on the East Coast. Then, we looked at the development of the towns and decided on Boston. The girls and their aunt are based on members of our family. The girls are based on my twin daughters, and the aunt on my sister. Once we had all these pieces in place, it sorta took off on its own. Like we had no idea Foster was a part of the Underground Railroad. That was a total shock, but it worked.

You've made my day. I tend to love all my good characters and really hate all my villains. Having someone else love them, too, feels very good.

Awesome. I love hearing other authors processes. Quite amazing how we all come at it differently and yet still get a book written! Yes I liked the Underground Railroad part and I also love it when I write something that surprises me!
Well I’m on your newsletter so I’ll be sure to read the next one when it comes out.

Cali wrote: "Awesome. I love hearing other authors processes. Quite amazing how we all come at it differently and yet still get a book written! Yes I liked the Underground Railroad part and I also love it when ..."

Wonderful! I'm glad we can keep in touch!

Does anyone have any questions or thoughts to add before we turn our attention to the next guest authors?

Victoria wrote: "@Mora I tried to add links here and got a full page of errors. Is there a way to make this work? Thank you!"

I am so sorry I missed this, Victoria. If you want to share links, you can go to the section above the comment box to the right, It says, (some html is ok). If you click on it, that will show you how to share links, put things in bold, and all sorts of other nifty tricks.

Also, I saw what you're offering with your Newsletter sign up. I love it when authors offer something that ties into their books. And I especially love it when an author includes some backstory for the books. I can tell how close to your writing you are, and it brings all the feels through in your stories.

Thank you so much for doing this Author Group Read for the month, Victoria!!! Please come back and share with the group any time any of your books go on sale in the future, and when your next book in this series goes live. It's exciting that the release seems just around the corner.

I know Ethan's Flight: A Clean and Wholesome Coming of Age Western got a few downloads when I shared it on Facebook as a freebie for those few days. So, there are MORE readers out there!!!!

To anyone who wasn't able to finish the book throughout this month, but still plans on reading it at any point in the future, remember that this thread is always here. So, don't be afraid to comment with your reading experience and tell the group what you enjoyed about the book or what you couldn't get enough of. It might help others to find their next favorite read, and Victoria might be around every now and then.

Is there anything else you'd like to share with the group, Victoria?

I had a wonderful time here! I'm looking at the books for the next month as well as the one for the month of July. If you leave a message here and I don't answer, please come to my website and send me a message. I'm on FB all the time and my email constantly, everything else is sporadic. Thank you all for having me. I will let y'all know about sales and new releases. *waves bye-bye*

Good! I'm happy you joined us this month for our first Author Group Reads.