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I am so thrilled to have romantic suspense author, Laurie Wood, on my blog today. I connected with Laurie about 3 years ago through a writing group when we were both pre-published authors. And now I get to talk to her today about her latest release, Northern Protector!

I am so thrilled to have her on today. So let’s get started.

Tell us about yourself. What led to your decision to write?

I always knew I wanted to write, but life determined I had to make a living at a younger age than some people. I took some writing courses in college, but once I became a police officer, my writing took a back seat. I didn’t start writing seriously until 1996, when I stayed home with my two children. We have the time to focus on ourselves and our children during those formative years. But I also didn’t think I had anything interesting to write about until then.

How does being a parent affect your decision to write novels?

My son and daughter both have Down Syndrome and they’re now adults and still live with us. All their lives we’ve been forceful advocates for them through school, Special Olympics, and now their day program. Being a special needs parent influences my writing in the sense that I’ve written about a toddler with Down Syndrome in my debut novel, Northern Deception, but also because I see them as people and not as “dis-abled” people. And there’ll be more characters in my books in the future who have Down Syndrome because I believe the world needs to know that they have value, they have love and things to teach us that our society has lost sight of.

Tell us about your upcoming release.

My most recent book releases today. Northern Protector (Heroes of the Tundra Book 2) is actually the third book in the series, if you count the Christmas novella, Northern Hearts. If you love romance, danger, suspense, police procedurals, smart 6-year-olds, exotic wilderness locales, then you’ll love it.

Describe your protagonist in one sentence.

Ben Koper is a cop mauled by a polar bear. (That’s pretty short!)

How would you describe your books to a new reader?

I’d say I write realistic romantic suspense that always had danger, action, and some real-life issues in the story.

Tell us what it was like to come up with the title.

I’ve been extremely lucky. I titled all three books and came up with the series title on my own, and my publisher loved them. I know that’s often not the case, or rarely the case. This may never happen to me again in my career!

How did the idea for your first novel come about?

The idea for Northern Protector took a lot of thought processing. I knew when I wrote the first book, Northern Deception, that the second book would be about the police officer who was mauled by the polar bear and whoever he fell in love with but I had zero ideas on what the central story would centre around. First, I tried to pair him off with Sarah Thorvald, who was the Conservation officer who saved him by tranquilizing the polar bear. I wrote about five chapters and they just wouldn’t gel on the page for me. No chemistry!

Then I decided to re-read Northern Deception to get any other ideas, and one sentence leapt out at me. I described Ruby Gallagher, who owns the town Café & Emporium, as having a daughter and granddaughter who plays with the toddler who has Down Syndrome. These two had no names or history. It was just the one sentence to get little Sophie parked so that the hero and heroine in Northern Deception could go out and do their thing. But it leapt off the page at me and bang! I had my heroine for Ben Koper and she had a daughter.

Once I had that, a vision of her came into my mind and the rest took me a couple of hours to flesh out her character and backstory. So, this book was tougher to write but once I settled on the question “What’s the worst thing that can happen to two teenage girls who go to a summer party at a cabin out of town on the tundra?”, I had my book.

Are your characters purely fictional or do they contain real life snippets?

There’s something autobiographical in all of my characters, in each of the three books. Only someone who knows me well, or for most of my life, would know all the “Easter eggs” I’ve dropped throughout the stories. I think all writers do it. If you want a character to be authentic, it’s easier to write some aspect of your character that you know deeply.

Then I take aspects of proper psychological profiles like Myers-Briggs and figure out what that character needs to be and what that character needs to learn *in these particular circumstances* that I’ve set up in the story. A story is just a specific period of time, so if you consider that your character is a “real” person than that “real” person is going to learn and change and ebb and flow throughout their lifetime.

What was your research process like?

I was a police officer back in the 1980s and we didn’t have DNA back then. We had fingerprints and counted ourselves lucky if we could get a 10 to 12 point match on prints. My husband and I went up to Churchill, Manitoba (yes, it’s a real town) in July 2019 so I could a) experience the town and area in the height of summer which is when the book takes place, and b) so I could interview the RCMP on what techniques/procedures they’d use for a murder investigation in such a remote and unforgiving environment. I was a city cop, and we had everything at our finger tips.

I also took a two week evening course given by our retired Chief Provincial Coroner on the laws and autopsy procedures for Manitoba so that I’d have everything correct in the book. We cut a lot of that during editing, but there’s still a scene left. I wasn’t going for shock value, but having only been to one autopsy myself as a police office, I wanted to freshen up my memory.

How did you decided upon the setting and the time frame for your story?

Northern Protector takes place the summer after the first book, Northern Deception. It’s nine months after the polar bear mauled Constable Ben Koper in that book. He’s the best friend of the hero in Northern Deception. I wanted to write a “winter/arctic” book in the first one, and a “summer” book in the second one.

Churchill, Manitoba is a small town of about 900 people set on the south shore of Hudson Bay and on the border of the Canadian arctic. It’s also built on the migratory path of polar bears, which is why it’s literally called “The Polar Bear Capital of the World”. The bears come in from Hudson Bay and the Arctic ocean in early July and move inland to hang out on land until the sea ice forms again. Then they go back out on to the ice to live from November to June and live on seals and walrus.

Did you know the ending of the story when you began writing it?

I always have an idea of how it’s going to end. I like to figure out how the story comes full circle before I write so I’ve never really changed my ending as I’m writing, I’ve just tweaked it a bit.

What advice would you give aspiring writers?

First, realize that your first book likely won’t get published, and that’s all right. I’ve seen some first books get published, and they were atrocious. However, the joy or high you feel after completing that first book is something I think you only experience once. I’ve felt wonderful after every book I’ve finished (I have three that haven’t sold) but nothing’s compared to how I felt after I finished the very first one.

Second, never stop taking writing courses. Not everyone can afford to go back to school to get a degree in writing/publishing, but there are plenty of reputable places, like Margie Lawson’s Writer’s Academy, for example, where you can keep learning about your craft. Writing’s a business and you’ll hear that ad nauseam. But it’s also an art and if you don’t have something to sell, all the book marketing and branding classes in the world will not help you.

What’s your favorite quote about writing?

I have this one from Laini Taylor taped up on my wall over my computer:

“Be an unstoppable force. Write with an imaginary machete strapped to your thigh. This is not wishy-washy, polite, drinking-tea-with-your-pinkie-sticking-out stuff. It’s who you want to be. Your most powerful self. Write your books. Then finish them, then make them better. Find the way. No one will make this dream come true for you but you.”

What are your favorite books on the writing craft?

Here are some that’ve been game changers for me:

• “Story Genius” by Lisa Cron
• “How to Write a Sizzling Synopsis” by Bryan Cohen
• “The Story Equation” by Susan May Warren
• “5,000 Words Per Hour” by Chris Fox
• “Strangers to Superfans” by David Gaughren

Thank you for stopping by today, Laurie!

Excerpt of Northern Protector

Simon Thatcher and Lukas Tanner sat at a table to the left of the front counter. Lukas jumped up and grabbed Ben’s right hand, shaking it for all he was worth.

“Hey, why didn’t you phone me? It’s great to see you.”

Ben swallowed his wince as Lukas clapped him on the right shoulder. “Sorry, just got the word I could get back to work, so I flew in last night. I don’t even have groceries.” He nodded at Simon, who raised his coffee mug in a salute. “It’s great to see you, too.

How was the wedding?”

Lukas’s grin could’ve powered the town for a month. “I was sorry you had to miss it. We honeymooned in Florida and took Sophie with us. She loved every second of it.”

“That’s good, buddy. Real good.”

“I’m so glad you’re back. Kira’s going to want to have you over for supper.”

“Yeah, I’ll let you know what my schedule is… once I know.”

“Hey there, what can I get you?” asked a young teenaged girl behind the counter. She looked fresh as the sunrise, all blonde and blue-eyed perfection. No sign of recognition, and he didn’t know her name, either.

“Can I get a half dozen chocolate cupcakes and a half dozen red velvet ones, please?” He smiled back at the girl. “And two double-double coffees, one black, and one cream, no sugar.”

“Absolutely.” She threw together a paper box and reached into the glass-topped counter to load it up with the cupcakes. “Zoe, can you grab that coffee order for me?” “Got it,” yelled Zoe from the back.

“Don’t be a stranger, okay?” said Lukas.

“No worries. I’ll text you.”

Lukas went back to his table and started talking quietly with Simon.

Ben rocked on his heels, his hand on his service weapon without realizing it. He glanced up to the left at the slanted mirror that Ruby had installed over the cash register. It also showed the front doors. No one was behind him. His unease rippled up from the base of his spine. He and his therapist had talked about this—that feeling of something crawling up his back. Of something waiting behind him. What it was, he didn’t know. But the feeling made him sick in the pit of his stomach.

He tried another deep breath, then smiled a crooked smile at the blonde girl when he paid for his coffees and cupcakes. He’d never felt like he had a target on his back in uniform before. Zoe brought him a cardboard tray with the coffee cups in it, and he grasped it for dear life. With the cupcake box in his other hand, he nodded again at the girls but couldn’t manage to get a word out.

Eight long steps between the counter and the front door. He pushed through the plate glass door on the right, into the sunshine of a cloudless day. Now to get back across the road to his truck. His heart fluttered in his chest, ramping up like hummingbird wings. This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be happening. He could do this, and without Joy Gallagher or anyone else.

The thought of the white pills waiting for him in the glove box of his truck steadied his nerves. This was his last coffee run—from now on, he’d bring a travel mug and to heck with the cupcakes. He made it to his truck and jumped inside as if a bear was after him, sending the coffees sideways and causing them to leak from their lids. Nice. Coffee dripping everywhere, you idiot. Heart pounding, he tossed back two pain pills, swallowing them dry.

If only she could see you now. He shoved the thought of Joy’s bottomless brown eyes away and started the truck. The Job. It’s who he was, what he was, and all he had in the world. Focus on that, buddy, he told himself as he pulled onto the road. Focus on that.

About NORTHERN PROTECTOR

Constable Ben Koper is still healing from the polar bear attack that almost killed him. Nine months after it happened, he returns to Churchill, Manitoba, a changed man—scarred more than just physically. PTSD is his new shadow, haunting his every step, and he can’t seem to kick the pain meds he shouldn’t need anymore. He’s determined to prove, to himself and his colleagues, that he’s still up to his job. Failure isn’t an option.

ER nurse Joy Gallagher spent the entire last winter texting with a healing Constable Koper. What started as friendly concern from this single mother has grown into full-fledged romantic feelings, and she’s eager to level up their friendship and introduce him to the idyllic comfort of small-town life. Until a teenager is murdered at a summer party. The crime is strikingly similar to the cold case murder of Joy’s foster sister, stirring old trauma Joy has never fully dealt with.

When another victim is snatched in town, Ben and Joy must confront their own demons, and join forces to track down an elusive killer. The race to rescue the next victim before it’s too late will test Ben and Joy to their limits. Can they survive their encounter with this heinous killer, or will the past destroy them.?

Purchase Northern Protector at Amazon, Amazon Canada, and Anaiah Press (paperback)

About Laurie Wood

Laurie Wood lives in Central Canada and writes inspirational romantic suspense with an edge of danger. She’s also a military wife who’s raised two wonderful special needs children to adulthood. They’ve lived all over Canada and are still on that journey. When she’s not writing she can be found at her spinning wheel, knitting, or hanging out with her dogs in the garden. She loves to hear from readers and always replies so feel free to get in touch with her.

Keep in touch with Laurie through her website, Facebook Page, and Twitter.