saddlebag dispatches 101 novellas. Sometimes fans walk up to me and say,
I’ve wasted five years of my life. I sat down on the
“Remember that book you wrote about a girl who fell
base of a statue of a bowl of fruit. (Have no idea why
in love with a Texan? What was the name of it?”
it was in cemetery) While I was crying, reevaluating
I just laugh.
my dreams and goals, I looked down at the words on
I’m working on my sixth series. When I climb into
the base.
a world I like to stay there for a while and get to know the land and the people. In my Ransom Canyon series,
It
said,
TRIUMPH
COMES
THROUGH
PERSEVERANCE.
I’ve ‘walked the land’ once again getting the feel of
I went home, took the biggest magic marker
ranching again. Natalie and Chris Bright opened their
I could find and wrote those words on the wall
wonderful Stanford Ranch in the West Texas Panhandle
above my computer. I decided THAT day that I
for my research and I can’t thank them enough.
was a writer and would write until I died whether I ever sold or not. Three months later I sold my
SD: You’ve broken down so many barriers in your
first book. And my second. Then my third (just 63
writing life. Was there ever a time when you got depressed
pages written went up for bids.) In 15 months, I’d
and feared your career was over?
sold 5 books. Two years later I won my first of five RITAs (Romance Writers of America’s
JT: When I’d been writing almost five years, sending things off, studying, polishing, but having no luck, I heard about a contest in Amarillo. Eight categories. I entered all eight. I even wrote a poem. It was a local contest and I was sure, after five years that I’d win several awards. So, I bought a ticket to the awards luncheon and was so excited. One by one they called the runnerups and the winners. And they didn’t call my name. One category only had 8 entries. They announced a first, second and third place followed by three honorable mentions and didn’t call my name. I walked out and drove home. On the way I stopped at the cemetery to cry. (It’s a great place to cry in public—no one notices.) I was thinking, this is it. I quit. I have no talent if I can’t even win an honorable mention in a local contest.
“I heard someone say once it takes— Talent, Luck, Perseverance. If you have the third, you only need one of the other two.”
highest award for writing excellence and equivalent to Western Writers of America’s Spur Award) for best book of the year. SD: You’ve won so many RITAs and other awards over the years. What was it like the first time you took one home and for what book? JT: It was like a dream. I was honored to be nominated and went to the conference just so I could wear the ‘finalist’ ribbon. I’d gotten up to go to the restroom when my category came up. I was walking in the banquet hall in the back when I saw the cover of THE TENDER TEXAN flash up on the huge screens. Since I figured no one knew who I was, I thought they were just yelling about the cover. It was a real high to win. I carried the statue home on the plane in my hands. I couldn’t turn loose of it.