It's Sweet to be Heartwarming!

Happy Friday! (The 13th!)
My name is Claire McEwen and I'm a brand new Harlequin Heartwarming author. I want to thank my fellow Heartwarming authors for giving me such a warm welcome, and for this opportunity to say hello on the blog today.

So... hi! Here is a bit about me.

Besides being a writer, I'm mom to a lovely nine-year-old boy and wife to a really funny, sweet man. We live near the ocean in Northern California and I feel very blessed to hear the waves pounding on the shore as I write this. I can also hear a whole chorus of bees. I'm an avid gardener and we've planted a pollinator garden, so now I have a yard full of flowers, all closely supervised by various types of bossy bees!


I'm a former public school teacher and administrator, and now I'm head of the parent organization at my son's school, which keeps me busier than I'd like, but it's for a good cause. And no description of me would be complete without mention of my small, scruffy, totally-neurotic rescue mutt, Chauncey.


I wrote seven books for Harlequin Superromance, and was very sad to see that line close. But even before I learned that the line was shutting down, I was already wondering about trying to write for Heartwarming. I really enjoy reading Heartwarming books and I noticed that my own stories were getting sweeter and sweeter.


Writing sweeter stories wasn't a deliberate choice. It happened because I love writing complicated books with all kinds of secondary characters and plots, big themes, and massive amounts of emotional growth for my characters. I would finish writing a story and realize I'd forgotten to put in anything spicy because I was so focused on these big, heartfelt journeys.

And then there were the readers who were consistently putting the word 'heartwarming' into their reviews. It took me a while to catch on, but I think they were giving me a hint! Thank goodness the editors at Heartwarming felt the same way and offered me a three-book contract!

I am very excited about this new series. It's set in a small, fictional, Northern California ranching town called Shelter Creek. The heroine of the first book is a field biologist, surveying the local mountain lion population and trying to help the community come up with strategies to protect livestock. The hero is a surly rancher who doesn't want her help, but is losing way too many animals to the lions. Just that conflict alone would be fun to write, but the hero and heroine have a really troubled history that makes everything extremely complicated. Plus, the research for this series has been fascinating. I can't wait to blog more about that!


But for now, I'll just say that I'm truly thrilled to be an official part of the Heartwarming community. I look forward to getting to know everyone. And if you're on social media, I'd love to connect with you there too. Here is where you can find me:
Facebook official author pageFacebook profile, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. And here is my website if you'd like to stop by.  www.clairemcewen.com

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!
Claire McEwen

Comments

  1. Welcome Claire! How wonderful to be living close enough to hear waves pounding the shore. You must send more pics of your garden sometime, too. We keep bees on the island where we cottage and know how important it is to help those tiny busy creatures exist. As to your series...Mountan lions! Looking forward to it and congratulations!

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    1. Hi Janice! How neat that you actually keep bees! They are so fascinating. Thank you so much for the good wishes!

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  2. It's so lovely to have you here, and I'm definitely jealous of that wave-hearing!

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    1. Thank you, Liz! The wave-hearing is definitely a dream come true for me! I so appreciate your warm welcome to Heartwarming!

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  3. As someone also sad to see SuperR and the Western lines closing, I love reading the Heartwarming stories and liked the ones I wrote for them, too. It's a great line, and your stories set in Northern California sound exciting.

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    1. Hi Roz, I read a lot of Western, so I was very sad that it closed. Such great stories! I hope all of the wonderful writers for that line are finding new homes. I am glad to see so many of them here!

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  4. Your home in California sounds lovely. Ahh...close to the ocean. How wonderful. Your stories sound intriguing--looking forward to reading them!

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  5. Hi, Claire, and welcome! Your Shelter Creek books sound wonderful. Looking forward to reading them :)

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    1. Thank you so much, Cathy! I am having a lot of fun figuring them out!

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  6. Welcome. I'm new as well and I am so glad to be part of Heartwarming. Best of everything with your book!

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    1. Thank you so much Callie! Nice to be in touch with so many new-to-Heartwarming authors. We can help each other find our way!

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  7. Welcome Claire! The mountain lion population in my area is growing rapidly, so I'm looking forward to reading your book! A few years ago, while deer hunting, my son woke one up from a nap (not on purpose) and he almost knocked him over when he jumped up and ran off. Scared the heck out of all of us!

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    1. Hi LeAnne! That is an amazing story about your son. I am glad the lion took off, because even though I think they are beautiful and fascinating, they definitely worry me. We have a lot of them in our area and sometimes they even come into the neighborhood!

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  8. Cougar attacks were regular and frightening incidents where I lived on the West Coast. You've created all kinds of clashes, Claire! In my garden, I'm a proud bee sponsor, too.

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    1. It's fun to meet so many bee advocates here! Their plight really worries me and I feel good that we are able to keep them happy in our garden for many months of the year. Yes, mountain lions can be scary. One time we ran into one when we were out biking with our son and I was really scared for a few minutes there!

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  9. Welcome, welcome! So thrilled you're a part of Heartwarming now! Woohoo! <3

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    1. Thank you so much, Anna! I am feeling very official now that I'm on the blog! ;-)

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  10. I'd love to see your pollinator garden, and can hardly wait to see what surprises your biologist and rancher have in store. And I love Chauncey. He could be the model for the dog in the manuscript I submitted recently.

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    1. Aaw... Chauncey would be very honored. He just had a bath so he's looking extra fluffy right now! I based a dog character on him once, and it was very fun to imagine a more brave and less-neurotic Chauncey. He had a rough puppyhood and it has taken its toll on his psyche. But we love him as much as he will let us!

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  11. Welcome I will be eager to read your print books and I am jealous of the waves I am a proud bee sponsor also!

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    1. Hi! Thank you so much for the welcome! And how exciting that there are so many bee sponsors here! It warms my heart that so many people are trying to help them. And don't you love having so many flowers in your yard? It cheers me up every day.

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  12. I think you're super-wonderful Claire! And I'm so glad you exist. You make my heart feel warm just by being you. :) And living sweetly and prettily and kindly. I'm so very happy to have the privilege to know you.

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    1. Hi Christa! How nice to 'see' you here! And thank you so much for your kind words! I'm glad to know you too. I know social media can be problematic, but isn't that that one of the great things about it? We can connect and become friends with people who are far away and we might not have known otherwise!

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  13. Hi Claire! :) You know I'll follow you no matter where you go ... but I happen to already be a big Heartwarming fan as well as Superromance, so it's not a hardship! Welcome to the new family ... you will be well taken care of here. <3

    Hugs,
    Lynn Brooks

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    1. Hi Lynn! I am so happy to 'see' you here and that you enjoy reading Heartwarming. I do feel like I've joined a new family and it's so lovely! But also, there are so many authors in this group who I have read and who I admire, I'm sort of amazed to find myself among them! I'm wandering around a bit starstruck at the moment. Big hugs back. I look forward to staying in touch!

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  14. Welcome to Heartwarming, Claire! So excited that you're part of this fabulous group and I can't wait to read your new series!!

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    1. Thank you very, very much, Rula! I am so happy to get to write these books and be a part of the Heartwarming community!

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  15. I'm late to the party, but so glad to hear you will be writing for Heartwarming. I love me a good rancher story and Shelter Creek sounds like a lovely place.

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    1. Hi Marcie! Thank you so much. I really hope people enjoy the series.

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