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Monday, July 9, 2018

Great Summer Reads - Day 1




My name is Robyn Echols. Zina Abbott is the pen I use for my historical novels. I’m a member of Women Writing the West and Western Writers of America. I currently live with my husband in California’s central valley near the “Gateway to Yosemite.”

I love to read, quilt, work with digital images on my photo editing program, and work on my own family history.

I am a blogger. In addition to my own blog, I blog for several group blogs including the Sweet Americana Sweethearts blog, which I started and administer.




Zina Abbott's first three books in the multi-author series, 
Sweethearts of Jubilee Springs.

Book 3 - Aaron's Annulment Bride:
Andrea married Aaron so he could get his mining company house, but now she wants an annulment.



Book 6 - Cat's Meow:
Catherine immediately falls in love with tall, hunky miner, Harold. She wants to marry him, but there is one "meowly" little problem.



Book 7 - Bargain Bessie:
Brought to Jubilee Springs after the death of her mother, Bessie, a confirmed spinster meets Zeb, a decisive, impatient rancher who is NOT pushing forty.




Author Interview:

What is your favorite book that is not yours?

            There are too many to mention. I like to read a full series of books. One book I really enjoyed was Shanna Hatfield’s Garden of her Heart. Another was Jane Kirkpatrick’s All She Left Behind. I also love any books by Sandra Dallas.

Do you write in multiple genres? Which genre is your favorite to write?

            I write variations of historical fiction. In addition to American Historical Romance, which is my favorite, I have written World War II fiction and a contemporary three generation book that went back to the Vietnam War. Under my real name I have written time travel fiction and some contemporary.

How young were you when you started writing?

            When I was about 11 or 12, instead of watching television with the rest of the family, I stayed down in what my mother called my ‘dungeon,’ my downstairs bedroom, and wrote stories. I started writing novels and short stories on and off through the years, but seriously started publishing novels in 2012.

If you could meet any author, past or present, who would it be and why?

            Thanks to my membership in writing organizations I have met many great authors. As far as authors from the past, I would like to have met Juanita Brooks and Helen Hunt Jackson. They both wrote of conditions of their times that affected women.

How long does it take you to write a book, and what was your fastest book
to write?

            My first book, including research, took me a year to write. I usually need two to three months for a book between 30K and 50K words.

            My fastest book to write was Dead Set Delphinia. I had a five week deadline, a title (originally Determined Delia) and mention of her character having been made in one of the books in the collection I am featuring today. Most of my novellas in this series ran 25K to 38K words. Dead Set Delphinia ended up being almost 67K words. One day alone I wrote over 13K words. They were not all keepers, but it got the story on the page to be edited.

What is your favorite thing to do in the summertime?

            I love to visit historical state and national parks including their books stores, and museums. I’m big on ghost towns and old frontier forts.







To view our blog schedule and follow along with this tour visit our Official Event Page 





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