Bonus Material from the Nebraska Series Read online

  Heather: I don’t think so.

  Dave: Instead of “Her Heart’s Desire”, it should be “Her Manipulative Ways” or “Sally’s At It Again: Bugging People Until She Gets What She Wants”.

  Sally: And people wonder why I call you David when you hate being called that.

  Dave: Like I said, “Sally’s At It Again: Bugging–”

  Sally: *grabs a rolling pin and chases him*

  Rick: I wonder if “Bound by Netflix” would work, Citlali?

  Citlali: I’ll have something bound when I get back. I’m taking the computer, tying it up, and throwing it into the river. When I return, Onawa’s not going to be favoring a stupid machine over me.

  Ruth: While they continue to banter back and forth, I do need to go to bed. Good night, everyone!

  Bonus Material from Her Heart’s Desire

  Description: As soon as Sally Larson meets Rick Johnson, she knows he's the one for her. The catch? He's interested in her friend, Ethel Mae. But Sally has a plan. With Ethel Mae's help, she convinces Rick that the only way he'll get Ethel Mae is to make her jealous. He agrees, but he has a trick or two up his sleeve. Sally just might find that the one playing cat is really the mouse.

  ***

  Interview with Rick Johnson (Hero in Her Heart’s Desire)

  (Blog post made on 09/19/2011)

  Ruth Ann Nordin: Today I thought it’d be fun to bring in the man Sally and Ethel Mae have been scheming about in order to get him to fall in love with Sally. Naturally, he doesn’t realize these two delightful women are planning such a thing, so I can’t mention it in the interview. With that aside, let’s bring our hero in. Hi, Rick! Thanks for coming by to talk to me.

  Rick Johnson: The pleasure is all mine. I’m actually glad you asked me for an interview.

  Ruth: You are?

  Rick: Sure. I figure you know Ethel Mae better than anyone since you’re the author who created her. I’d like to get some insight into what she wants in a man.

  Ruth: Oh, well, perhaps you ought to ask Sally Larson about that one.

  Rick: I’ve talked to Sally.

  Ruth: And?

  Rick: To be frank, I don’t know if her idea will work.

  Ruth: What idea?

  Rick: What do you mean “what idea”? You’re the one who wrote it into the book.

  Ruth: Considering the book is still being written and people haven’t read it yet or might have missed the story excerpts, I figure you can come out and say it.

  Rick: Very well. Sally thinks if I pretend to be interested in her, then Ethel Mae will take more of an interest in me.

  Ruth: Do you doubt that Ethel Mae is interested in you?

  Rick: I know she’s fond of me, but I’m not sure if she likes me the way I like her, you know?

  Ruth: You want to be reassured that she’d like to marry you.

  Rick: Pretty much.

  Ruth: The problem with women is that they don’t often come out and say what they want. Sure, there are a few who will, like Emily Craftsman, but typically, unless you come out and ask, they aren’t going to tell you anything. And even then, some won’t.

  Rick: That doesn’t make any sense. Why don’t they just come out and say what’s on their mind?

  Ruth: Because that would make life too easy for men.

  Rick: *sigh* So what you’re saying is that women enjoy making men wonder if they want to be courted or not?

  Ruth: Some women. Besides, you have to understand that part of it is that women don’t want to look like fools. What if they laid it all out on the line and told the men what they wanted and he doesn’t return their feelings? Rejection is hard to take.

  Rick: You think it’s easy for a man when he’s rejected?

  Ruth: No one likes to be rejected. But let’s face it. Not everyone is going to be compatible. If the spark is there, it’s there. If not, it just isn’t. You can’t force these things.

  Rick: You can in my book since you’re the author.

  Ruth: *laughs* Oh Rick, if you understood how many of my characters give me problems and refuse to do things my way, you’d understand that I can’t just make Ethel Mae tell you what she thinks about you.

  Rick: You created Ethel Mae. You’re typing out the story on your laptop. How can you not be in control?

  Ruth: Writer’s block. If I oppose the characters, they won’t show up to work, so to speak. But you know, you’re doing great so far. I’m happy with how the book is going.

  Rick: I’d feel a lot better about the book if I knew who the “Her” is in “Her Heart’s Desire”. Are you referring to Ethel Mae?

  Ruth: I can’t tell you that.

  Rick: Why not?

  Ruth: Because as an author, it’s a bad idea to give too much away to the character who’s supposed to be oblivious to certain plot elements.

  Rick: So what you’re saying is, I’m the schmuck who doesn’t know anything.

  Ruth: No, I didn’t say that. I’m just saying that it’s crucial to the plot if you don’t find out about certain things until later in the story.

  Rick: Hmm… How much later?

  Ruth: I’m not sure. I’m thinking you connect the dots around 25,000 to 30,000 words. We’re at 9200 right now and the plot has just been established.

  Rick: What plot is that, exactly?

  Ruth: Getting you married off, of course! You’re the hero, so you’re going to be the one who wins the girl.

  Rick: Right. Except you aren’t assuring me the girl is Ethel Mae.

  Ruth: You’ll have to keep showing up in the book to find out, but even if I can’t explain everything to you at this stage of the game, I promise you’ll end up happy. It is, after all, a romance novel.

  Rick: I’m not sure I like the sound of this. Why do I get the feeling that this story isn’t going to turn out the way I hope?

  Ruth: Because life often doesn’t turn out the way you think it will. Very few of us can predict how things will play out. We just have to take it one day at a time and see where things go. That’s part of the adventure that is life. If we knew everything that happened before it did, there’d be no surprises.

  Rick: Ah, but some surprises aren’t good ones.

  Ruth: True. I’ll give you that. But you’re in a romance novel, so you’ll be fine.

  Rick: I hope that means I end up with Ethel Mae.

  Ruth: *shrugs* I’m not saying either way.

  Rick: Did we get anything accomplished in this interview because it seems like we went in circles.

  Ruth: We got to show people how little you really know about this book.

  Rick: Yippee. *rolls eyes* I’m a main character, and I don’t know much about my own story. What a shining endorsement.

  Ruth: Oh, relax. You’ll be okay. And to give you some hope, once you do figure out what’s going on, you’ll get to turn the tables on a certain character. You’ll gain the upper hand soon enough.

  Rick: I guess I’ll have to take your word for it.

  Ruth: It’ll be great. Trust me. I came up with the idea last night and couldn’t sleep for two hours because I was so excited about it. Well, I better run off. I have children to get to bed. Bye for now.

  Photo credit:

  Rick Johnson: ID 17788915 © Curaphotography | Dreamstime.com

  ***

  Interview with Sally Larson and Ethel Mae Jordan

  (Heroine and Friend of Heroine in Her Heart’s Desire)

  (Blog post made on 09/24/2011)

  Ruth Ann Nordin: Since I talked with Rick Johnson the other day, I thought it’d be fun to bring in Sally Larson and her friend, Ethel Mae Jordan. So Sally, what exactly is your plan to get Rick to end up marrying you instead of Ethel Mae?

  Sally Larson: To be fair, it’s not just my plan. It’s something Ethel Mae and I are working on together. When she told me that she was afraid Rick wanted to court her, I thought I’d be with her to see what he was like.

  Ruth: Did you think you’d like him?

  Sally: No, no
t really. I figured there was a good reason she wasn’t interested in him.

  Ruth: Do you still think that now?

  Sally: No. Now I don’t understand why she’s not interested in him.

  Ethel Mae: He’s not my type.

  Ruth: Why not?

  Ethel Mae: It’s hard to say why. I mean, he’s nice and attractive, but there’s no chemistry there.

  Sally: There’s plenty of chemistry to me. Of course, the problem is convincing him he’s better off with me.

  Ethel Mae: Well, I’ll do whatever I can to convince him of that.

  Ruth: You could just tell him you’re not interested in him.

  Ethel Mae: But I don’t know how to do that.

  Ruth: It’s simple. You just say it. I bet Sally wouldn’t have trouble telling someone she wasn’t interested in him.

  Ethel Mae: She probably wouldn’t. Sometimes I envy her ability to just come out and say what’s on her mind.

  Sally: I don’t know. Sometimes it gets me in trouble.

  Ethel Mae: And sometimes not speaking up can get you in trouble. There is no one way to handle things.

  Sally: Very true.

  Ruth: So what is your plan? How will you get Rick to shift his interest from one to the other?

  Ethel Mae: Mainly, it involves Rick getting to spend time with Sally. I think he and Sally have more in common than he and I do.

  Sally: Well, I don’t know him well enough to know that.

  Ethel Mae: Trust me. You do.

  Ruth: And part of this plan was to make up two other men that Ethel Mae is supposed to be interested in?

  Ethel Mae: Actually, I’m supposed to be interested in Samuel, but there is supposed to be someone else named Larry who was talking to Sally about making me jealous by spending time with her. Samuel is the one I’m “interested in” because he’s busy spending time with Miss Keating.

  Ruth: Did you make her up, too?

  Ethel Mae: Of course. I don’t want any of this coming back to us.

  Sally: Exactly. If she used real people, then someone might find out and blab it, and who knows if that person would accuse us of spreading lies about them? This way is much cleaner.

  Ruth: You do realize that men with the names Samuel and Larry do exist right there in Omaha, don’t you?

  Sally: That’s a moot point.

  Ruth: Is it?

  Ethel Mae: Yes, it is. We never used full names, so it could be about anyone named Larry or Samuel or even Miss Keating.

  Ruth: I don’t know, guys. I mean, things have a weird way of trickling into a story.

  Sally: I doubt anyone with the names Samuel, Larry, or Miss Keating will assume we are talking about them, specifically. Samuel and Larry have no last names, and Miss Keating has no first name. Besides, this is just something we’re having Ethel Mae’s sister tell Rick. It doesn’t go beyond that. There’s no harm done.

  Ruth: I didn’t say there would be harm done. I’m just saying someone with one of those names might actually show up. And who knows if Rick, who doesn’t know about your plan, will run into him/her. You never know what one tiny lie you told Vivian to tell Rick will pop back up at the most inopportune time. For those of you who don’t know, Vivian is Ethel Mae’s ten-year-old sister, and as a last minute thought, I think we’ll bring her in. Hi, Vivian.

  Ethel Mae: What are you wearing?

  Vivian: Ruth said I could wear modern clothes in the interview.

  Sally: We can do that?

  Vivian: Sure. This isn’t the story. It’s just an interview. April Larson was doing it. In fact, none of her pictures in the interviews have her wearing ladies’ historical western United States clothes.

  Ruth: I figure the interviews take place in the 21st century, so clothing is fair game. But that’s not important.

  Ethel Mae: It is to someone who gets uptight about historical accuracy.

  Sally: Yeah, I hope they don’t rate the book based on the interviews. Unlike Joel, I don’t want to petition readers to give this book a 1-star review. This features me and my friends.

  Ruth: And your family.

  Sally: Well, yes, to a point.

  Ruth: What? You don’t like that?

  Sally: I just know Tom and Joel are going to do something to embarrass me when Rick is at my house. They might be eight years apart, but they are close. It’s spooky how much they work together to make me miserable.

  Vivian: You want to hear about being miserable? After I told Rick no boy better kiss me or else I’d slap him silly, Ruth went ahead and had that horrible Hugh try to kiss me. I beat him to it, though, and gave him one right across the face.

  Ethel Mae: A kiss?

  Vivian: No! A slap. I just know Ruth did it on purpose.

  Ruth: *laughs* Yes, I did. I couldn’t resist. Besides, it’ll be even funnier when you marry Hugh.

  Vivian: I’m going to what?!

  Ethel Mae: You’ve already decided to write a romance featuring Vivian? What about me? Don’t I get to find my hero?

  Ruth: Yes. I already thought of that.

  Ethel Mae: Who is he?

  Ruth: I’m not going to say, or it’ll spoil the surprise. But I’ll give you a hint. We’ve mentioned his name, and Rick will indirectly lead him to you.

  Vivian: Never mind all that. Ruth, I don’t want to get married. Ever. Boys are gross.

  Ruth: It’s in the nature of boys to be gross. That’s just how they are. I have some of my own, so I know all about it.

  Vivian: But Hugh makes farting sounds with his armpit, and he thinks it’s funny.

  Sally: They can be worse than that, Vivian, especially when they’re your little brothers.

  Ruth: Think of it this way. Boys grow up and leave those disgusting things behind…or at least most of them do.

  Sally: I doubt Rick was ever like that.

  Ruth: See, Vivian? They grow up and women assume they were never gross. So, you’ll be fine.

  Vivian: No, I won’t. I won’t marry him.

  Ruth: Joel said he didn’t want to be married, and look at him now. He’s married and even went “surfing” on the beach so he could spend time with April.

  Vivian: Why is surfing in quotes?

  Ruth: You’ll understand that one when you’re an adult. Well, this interview is long enough, so I’ll get back to writing. Thanks for coming in, everyone.

  Photo credits:

  Sally Larson: ID 11768239 © Syda Productions | Dreamstime.com

  Ethel Mae: ID 11020543 © Candybox Images | Dreamstime.com