Sunday, February 10, 2013

More Than You Want to Know About Vickie McDonough



This may surprise you, but I never planned to be a writer. The first goal I can remember having was to grow up and marry a rancher. I loved horses, and I guess that my pre-teen mind reasoned if I married a rancher I could have all the horses I wanted. In the mean time, I read every book I could find with a horse on the cover. Years later, I married a city boy who was scared of horses. I didn’t know it then, but he would one day become my most ardent champion and encourager when God led me into the writing world.

Robert and I have been married 37 years, raised four sons, one who is married, and we are proud grandparents to a super smart six-year-year old girl. She keeps us laughing with the funny things she says. Though I’m a mom and grandma, I’m also a daughter and primary caregiver to my octogenarian mom. It really is a strange thing in life when the child becomes responsible for a parent.


One of the things I like best about writing is going on research trips. I’ve visited historic towns in Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Utah, North Dakota, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and clear over to Charleston on the east coast. I love touring old buildings and homes and hearing tales of days long gone. I also enjoy taking pictures of the local flowers in the towns we visit.

 
Writing keeps me busy, so that’s pretty much my main job. Lately though, I’ve discovered that I enjoy collecting antiques, especially old quilts. I recently bought three that were made by the mother of the woman who had owned the house where the estate sale I went to was held. The quilts had been stored in her attic for over 60 years. If only they could talk. Imagine that tales they could share. (If you visit this blog on March 10th, you'll get to see pictures of them)

If you’ve read my books, you know that I write stories mainly set in the Midwest and Texas. That’s probably because I grew up in Oklahoma. You already know I love horses, but I also have a passion for tales of the Old West—stories about brave men who cherished women and children and would do everything possible to keep them safe. I love tales of the desperate but determined women who left all they knew to travel west as a mail-order bride to marry a stranger.



Before I go, I want to tell you about the cool book I’ll be giving away next month. The Stitched With Love collection is a compilation of 9 previously published novellas by some very popular authors like Cathy Marie Hake and Tracey Bateman, all which have a little something to do with sewing.

This week, I’m excited to try my hand at something new—creating stained glass art. My first class is Thursday. Ah well, I’ve blabbed on long enough about me. What kind of books do you like to read?

Vickie McDonough

24 comments:

  1. You are a n amazing woman and a wonderful writer. I'm so glad to have you in my life. Oh, I love all sorts of books. Have many of yours on my shelf. :)

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  2. Thanks, Lenora. The feeling is mutual.

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  3. Vickie
    Love your blog Love your writing Old West, ranching, horses and stained glass Wow!
    God bless you
    Chris Granville

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    1. Thanks, Chris! Yeah, I definitely have a passion for the Old West, among other things.

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  4. HI Vickie, this was fun to learn a little more about you! I have enjoyed so many of your books and I treasure your friendship! This is a fun blog and I will be checking back often.
    Blessings,
    Carrie

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, Carrie. Your friendship is special to me too.

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  5. Vickie, when I first found out you were a grandma, I was like, no way! You look too young.

    I think it's funny how God changes our plans. One of my favorite scriptures is Isaiah 55:8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways". I don't quite recall what my firm plans were as far as marrying. I wanted to marry a professional baseball player at one time, then a fighter pilot. My husband is the furthest thing from either of those professions, but he's a man chasing God and encourages me quite often.

    I'm glad you're a writer. I've told you before, I love your stories.

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    1. Thanks, Christina. Yep, I'm a grandma and love it. It's funny how God sometimes gives us the opposite of what we want, but it turns out good for us.

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  6. Hi Vickie I understand the looking after a mother stage. Its not always easy is it.
    Also you say you were going to marry a rancher. My mum told everyone no way would she ever marry a farmer or live on the land. Then she met dad they got engaged and she told everyone I am going to be a farmers wife and live on a farm where she collected the eggs, milked a cow, etc.

    I love lots of different books. love historical but more the American west, Aussie and ones that have history in them. not into regency or books about socialites who are spoilt etc. I am more for the lower classes or ordinary people.

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    1. G'day, Jenny. It sounds like our taste in books is quite similar. That's a fun story about your mom. Love can make us do things we vowed never to do.

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  7. Oh, Vickie, I loved horses when I was growing up and wrote stories about girls with horses. Since I lived in Texas, I was supposed to be a cowgirl. :)

    My favorite book is whichever one I happen to be reading at the time. Yours are among my all time favorites. I love to read suspense and mystery more than any other genre, but the historical is very close second.

    It's been fun getting to know more about you. Glad we're friends as well.

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    1. Hey, Martha. I've loved horses for as long as I can remember. I think my affection for them started because of all the cowboy shows I watched with my dad when I was young.

      I love your books too, and have told your story of starting writing when you did to a number of people.

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  8. Hi Vickie. I like horses, but I am more of a dog person. Thank you for sharing your story. Stitched With Love sounds really good. I mostly enjoy reading Christian Historical Romance; MaryLu Tyndall got me hooked big time!

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    1. MaryLu is one of my favorite authors too, even though she doesn't write books set in the 1800s. Her books are so exciting and inspiring.

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  9. Nice job, Vickie, for your first posting on your blog. It is very exciting to learn about Facebook and author friends. Like you, I'm a mom, grand-mom, great-grandmom....and my mother is still blessing us at 94. She still does very well and my brother lives with her as caregiver in Portland, Oregon. I try to fly out there for long visits every couple of months, or as often as I can. Oh, and my husband is an Okie! My favorite reading is Christian historical, but history could be yesterday too. LOL I love reading and enjoy writing, nothing published yet...mainly reviews.

    In Christian Joy,
    Barb Shelton
    barbjan10 at tx dot rr dot com

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    1. Hi Barb. That's awesome that you're mother is still alive. I'm glad that you get to see her fairly often. And how cool that you married an Okie!

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  10. Vickie, You missed Nebraska! Get on up here and we'll take a tour!

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    1. Hey Cathy. You know, when we drove from OK to ND, I don't think we went into NE--maybe just the corner of it. I do need to get up there one of these days. It's too cold for me right now.

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  11. Hey Vickie! It is nice to get to know another side of you! And we have more in common besides the love of antiques and horses! I love old quilts. I display the only 2 I have in my livingroom. The one is around 150 years old and was the grandmother of my pastor's wife and I have my great grandmothers. The backing on the one was Eagle flour sacks. So cool! And the other thing we have in common is I have a one grand child to and she's a grand daughter. Although in 6 months I'll have two so you better tell that son he needs to get to work. heehee

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  12. Debbie, That's so cool you have quilts that are so old. I have a couple my grandma and great-grandma made. One of them is a United States quilt. It has the state name and I think the state flower embroidered on the white squares with yellow fabric between the squares. The other is a flower garden quilt. And congratulations on your soon-to-come grandbabies. Alas, my son probably won't have any more. He and his wife are both managers and worked a lot.

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  13. Vickie, we share a love of research trips. I'm also intrigued by quilts. So much went into making one, and it's amazing how many patterns there were.

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  14. Good evening, Ms. McDonough!! :)

    Now, you proposed the infamous question all my dear friends love to ask of me, and its always the same challenge... in how do I answer!? You see, for a bookish girl like me, who curls up with as many books as she can, racks up library holds like its going out of fashion, and is constantly reading about writers, books, and bookish news -- my mind flits around from one genre to another! I wouldn't even say its possible to classify one genre as being my absolute favourite nor is it easy to peg down who my favourite authors are, as I'm either discovering someone new that I'm quite jazzed about OR I'm enjoying an author's latest release by whom I've liked for quite a long time!

    Having said that,... I am drawn into the historical fiction realms quite often! I have a serious penchant for Victorian & Regency England! On both sides of the social sect ledgers, as I appreciate being able to learn about the "upstairs posh world" as much as "the downstairs working class"!! Downton Abbey was written in such a way as it captured me long before I ever breathed in the first scene! I was even helped encourage my library to buy the first two seasons!! :) The writer Julian Fellowes is an actor I came to belove on *Monarch of the Glen*, so you could say it was 'writ in the stars' that I would come to follow his writing lateron!

    The Jazz Age, Revolutionary War America, Cowboy fiction/Old West Americana and Revolutionary France, {before, after, and during Marie Antoinette's reign} are big draws as well! Now, as far as what whets my fancy at the present!? I'm a Sherlockian at heart, as Benedict Cumberbach's SHERLOCK won me over at "hallo" as I appreciate modern spins on Holmes with a bent and nod to the original canon! In literature, you'll find me wrapped up in Laurie R. King's Mary Russell series, which extends Holmes' adventures past retirement on the Downs! I love the innocence and unexpected journeys inside Nancy Alterton's Aunt Dimity series. Small towne South Carolina plays out well in Sherryl Woods' Sweet Magnolia series. I always have loved a good cozy mystery, so these days I read Cleo Coyle + Heather Graham (her ghost stories), but I grew up on Agatha Christie.

    You mentioned quilting,... have you come to know Jennifer Chiaverini's Elm Creek series!? I first picked up her books at the library before starting to acquire them, as I wanted to delve into old world arts & crafts for awhile, yet I wasn't sure how to get started. The more involved I would become in Elm Creek, the more I desired to either pick up knitting OR quilting. Knitting won out as its easier to start with a small budget, but quilting is something I will pursue as opportunity affords! The appeal of both is the same for me: stitching together a legacy through raw materials that craft into a piece of art right before your eyes! I love reading Amish fiction due to how frequent they bring quilting into the underpinnings of the stories!!

    I'd love to say I have had quilts passed down in my family, but we have other pieces of afghans that were passed down instead! :) Family histories, heirlooms, and antiques are the ordinary pieces of life that I cherish the most! Even to the extent, that I can never pass up a chance to walk into an antique shoppe or emporium, as you just never know what your going to find! :)

    I think I will enjoy the spin you put on your stories and I am most especially looking forward to your future posts!! Your photography is lovely, and I too, always have camera in hand whilst out in nature! Too many curious delights to not be tempted to capture them in photographs!! :)

    {postscript} Horses played a bit part in my childhood as well,... I constantly read through the following series: the Black Stallion, Throroughbred, the Saddle Club, and westerns like Fiddler and McCann and the trilogy frontier settler books -- titles/authors lost to me now! :)

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    1. Where's my head!? One of my favourite historicals at the moment are Julie Lessman's O' Connor family which plays out in: Daughters of Boston, Winds of Change, and through cousins, the Hearts of San Francsico series!! :) :) I think I sidetracked myself, as she was next on my mind to mention, but I noticed wasn't included before I hit the 'send!' button! I also like Tracie Peterson's view of the West; Dee Henderson's O'Malley series, and Deeanne Gist's brilliant way of writing romance and mystery!

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  15. Hi Vickie, I was remembering the first time I meet you - at a Glorieta Writers Conference in 2001 - and hearing your story synopsis on the way back to the airport. Reading your books brings me tons of pleasure on these wintery Colorado days. Last spring our church hosted a women's retreat and the theme was quilts. Jerry's mother gave us a box of quilts a few months before she died. We hadn't opened it until the retreat chairman asked if some of us could bring some old quilts to display. We were thrilled to find a quilt in the box that had the signatures of his mom, grandmother, great grandmother, some great aunts and cousins. Jerry had never seen the quilt before. I had been doing his family's genealogy and recognition all but a few of the names. Some research and phone calls and the identification was complete. Thanks for sharing your memories.

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