Answer: Because it’s what I know. I know Texas. I don’t know Minnesota, or Utah, or Oregon, except through brief encounters or research. Why would I want to try to use places foreign to me?
In addition, “Texas” is part of my brand: Celia Yeary….Romance, and a little bit of Texas.
So, what do I know about Texas? What do you know about Texas?
1. Everything really is bigger in Texas. At 268,596 square miles, Texas is the second largest state behind only Alaska. It is the second most populous behind only California. Texas has the largest state capitol building and the highest speed limit (85 miles per hour along a stretch of toll road between Austin and San Antonio); it’s also the nation’s leading cattle, cotton and oil producer. And—we have a monument dedicated to the Biggest Loss Texas has endured: THE ALAMO.
2. Six flags have flown over Texas. Native Americans have lived in Texas for thousands of years, but it did not become part of a country in the modern sense until Spanish explorers arrived in 1519. The Spanish then essentially ignored it until the 1680s, when the French established an outpost near Matagorda Bay. That galvanized the Spaniards, [who said], ‘There might not be anything there, but damned if we’re going to let the French have it.” Although Mexico’s war of independence pushed out Spain in 1821, Texas did not remain a Mexican possession for long. It became its own country called the Republic of Texas, from 1836 until it agreed to join the United States in 1845.
3. Texas hosted what was arguably the last battle of the Civil War. Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House in April 1865. Yet despite being fully aware of this, Northern and Southern forces squared off the following month in the Battle of Palmito Ranch in Texas. Funny, it’s often referred to “just a giant mob fight” which took place on a coastal prairie east of Brownsville, Texas. Ironically, the Confederates won. It was a short-lived victory, however, as they agreed to lay down their arms a couple of weeks later.
4. “Don’t mess with Texas” started as an anti-litter message.
In the 1980s Texas spent about $20 million a year cleaning up trash along its highways. It was not uncommon to see cowboys driving down the street tossing a beer can out the window. As a result, the state Department of Transportation hired an advertising agency to help with its anti-litter campaign. The agency came up with the phrase “Don’t mess with Texas,” which first aired on television during the 1986 Cotton Bowl and has since turned into an unofficial slogan for Texas pride.
In the 1980s Texas spent about $20 million a year cleaning up trash along its highways. It was not uncommon to see cowboys driving down the street tossing a beer can out the window. As a result, the state Department of Transportation hired an advertising agency to help with its anti-litter campaign. The agency came up with the phrase “Don’t mess with Texas,” which first aired on television during the 1986 Cotton Bowl and has since turned into an unofficial slogan for Texas pride.
5. Texas Is A Whole Other Country.
I’m referring to the seven distinct geographical regions in Texas, giving some the thought Texas could be divided into seven states:
HILL COUNTRY Here, you’re not only in the center of Texas, you’re in the middle of everything the state has to offer. The region is home to rolling hills that dominate the region, but also contain plenty of lakes and rivers to cast your line or take a dip. Major cities in this region are Austin, San Marcos, New Braunfels, and Bandera.
PANDANDLE PLAINS The Panhandle Plains are flat with rolling plains and wide-open spaces. The region boast of the clearest and brightest star-filled skies you’ll find anywhere in the Lone Star State. Large cities are Lubbock, Abilene, and Amarillo. It contains a huge area that was once “The Last Free Land in Texas.” I wrote another blog about that once.
PINEY WOODS This area is vastly different from all the other regions in Texas. It is a thickly wooded area of pine and hardwood forests. There are four national forests and five state forests. The area is filled with historic homes and all kinds of festivals. The larger cities are Texarkana, Nacogdoches, Tyler, and the Woodlands north of Houston.
PRAIRIES AND LAKES The phrase “everything’s bigger in Texas” came from this region. How do you think the term “Big D” originated? Dallas. Oh, and yes, there is Fort Worth, too, where a visitor can get a sense of the true cowboy spirit at the Stockyards National Historic District, the Stockyards Collection and Museum, the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, and Billy Bob’s Texas—the largest honky tonk in the world. There’s also plenty of other museums, performance halls, and a zoo. The area has lakes galore. Other cities are Arlington, Grand Prairie, Waco, and Bryan/College Station.
SOUTH TEXAS PLAINS This region borders along the Rio Grande River. The climate ranges from tropical to rugged beauty. The Rio Grande Valley offers one of the best birding and butterfly watching in America. Canyons and rivers give the visitor plenty of fishing and boating opportunities. Major cities are San Antonio, Laredo, and McAllen.
So, yes, write what you wish. But be careful…or just stick with what you know.
To escape an arranged marriage, beautiful, proper Cynthia Harrington from East Texas impulsively marries Ricardo Romero, a striking, sensual Spaniard who ranches on the far western edge of the Texas frontier. Innocently, she steps into a hotbed of anger, rivalry, and strong wills. As she struggles to gain a foothold in the hostile household and foreign ranch community, she finds that her biggest challenge is to make her husband love her.
Ricardo creates his own problems by marrying an outsider, angering his mother, father, and his jealous ex-lady friend. Then, the Texas Rangers arrive looking for a killer, and Cynthia saves Ricardo’s mother in a confrontation with the wanted man. Ricardo realizes that his delicate bride has more grit and spunk than he thought, and his greatest trial becomes a race to pursue his own wife and persuade her to stay with him.
https://www.amazon.com/All-Hopes-Dreams-Celia-Yeary-ebook/dp/B01ADR72ZK/ref=sr_1_15?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1474401701&sr=1-15&keywords=celia+yeary
I’m referring to the seven distinct geographical regions in Texas, giving some the thought Texas could be divided into seven states:
BIG BEND COUNTRY Most of the area’s landscape if part of the Chihuahuan Desert. Though it is arid, this remarkable area can explode with beauty after a brief rain. The mountains, valleys, and plains offer a variety of terrain and climates, and its rugged beauty must be seen to be appreciated.
GULF COAST REGION. The Texas shore along the Gulf of Mexico offers 624 miles of coastline, stretching from the Louisiana border to the Mexican border near Brownsville. This border region goes inland enough to include the city of Houston, Galveston, Victoria, Corpus Christi, Kingsland and the King Ranch, and Brownsville. HILL COUNTRY Here, you’re not only in the center of Texas, you’re in the middle of everything the state has to offer. The region is home to rolling hills that dominate the region, but also contain plenty of lakes and rivers to cast your line or take a dip. Major cities in this region are Austin, San Marcos, New Braunfels, and Bandera.
PANDANDLE PLAINS The Panhandle Plains are flat with rolling plains and wide-open spaces. The region boast of the clearest and brightest star-filled skies you’ll find anywhere in the Lone Star State. Large cities are Lubbock, Abilene, and Amarillo. It contains a huge area that was once “The Last Free Land in Texas.” I wrote another blog about that once.
PINEY WOODS This area is vastly different from all the other regions in Texas. It is a thickly wooded area of pine and hardwood forests. There are four national forests and five state forests. The area is filled with historic homes and all kinds of festivals. The larger cities are Texarkana, Nacogdoches, Tyler, and the Woodlands north of Houston.
PRAIRIES AND LAKES The phrase “everything’s bigger in Texas” came from this region. How do you think the term “Big D” originated? Dallas. Oh, and yes, there is Fort Worth, too, where a visitor can get a sense of the true cowboy spirit at the Stockyards National Historic District, the Stockyards Collection and Museum, the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, and Billy Bob’s Texas—the largest honky tonk in the world. There’s also plenty of other museums, performance halls, and a zoo. The area has lakes galore. Other cities are Arlington, Grand Prairie, Waco, and Bryan/College Station.
SOUTH TEXAS PLAINS This region borders along the Rio Grande River. The climate ranges from tropical to rugged beauty. The Rio Grande Valley offers one of the best birding and butterfly watching in America. Canyons and rivers give the visitor plenty of fishing and boating opportunities. Major cities are San Antonio, Laredo, and McAllen.
If you are not a Texan, you can find much information about the area you choose. These seven geographical regions are vitally important, as are the locations of certain cities.
Even I, as a 7th generation Texan, dating back to when one of my relatives—John Jefferson Hughes—fought the Mexicans to help Texas gain its Independence—still research the area I choose to set a new story. I have the honor of being a member of the DRT (Daughters of the Republic of Texas.) because of this ancestor.
Even though I have been all over the state for one reason or another, I still make sure I have my facts straight. Too often, I’ve read a story set in Texas, say in 1870, in which a bride or someone travels by train to the western part of the state. Railroads did not exist past Fort Worth to the west. If you drew a straight line from Fort Worth in the northern part of the state straight down to the Rio Grande, you will see there are no railroads way out there. Soon after, though, the railroads did begin to trickle west—one from Fort Worth to the far NW part into the panhandle, and one to the SW toward the Rio Grande.
I had to stop a series I wanted to write about the brides out on the high plains, around Lubbock, because of no railroads. And I didn’t want my brides to arrive in covered wagons. So, I moved the location to the Hill Country, in a fictional area close enough to San Antonio to get my brides there.
Yes, I know non-Texans often write romances set in Texas. It can be done—I know some who have. At the moment, one of my non-Texan friends is writing a Western romance set in Texas and I am her advisor on some things. Right away, she had to move her story from the Big Spring area close to Fort Worth—because of the railroad thing.Even I, as a 7th generation Texan, dating back to when one of my relatives—John Jefferson Hughes—fought the Mexicans to help Texas gain its Independence—still research the area I choose to set a new story. I have the honor of being a member of the DRT (Daughters of the Republic of Texas.) because of this ancestor.
Even though I have been all over the state for one reason or another, I still make sure I have my facts straight. Too often, I’ve read a story set in Texas, say in 1870, in which a bride or someone travels by train to the western part of the state. Railroads did not exist past Fort Worth to the west. If you drew a straight line from Fort Worth in the northern part of the state straight down to the Rio Grande, you will see there are no railroads way out there. Soon after, though, the railroads did begin to trickle west—one from Fort Worth to the far NW part into the panhandle, and one to the SW toward the Rio Grande.
I had to stop a series I wanted to write about the brides out on the high plains, around Lubbock, because of no railroads. And I didn’t want my brides to arrive in covered wagons. So, I moved the location to the Hill Country, in a fictional area close enough to San Antonio to get my brides there.
So, yes, write what you wish. But be careful…or just stick with what you know.
New Mail Order Bride Series in the works:
Brides of Winchester County
Book One: Noel
Book Two: Della
Book Three: Olivia.
This series is set in a region similar to Bandera, Texas and close enough to San Antonio to get my brides there by railroad. Then they wait for someone from Twin Rivers, Texas to arrive for them. Another thing: I create fictional small towns but use names of big well-known cities. In this case, I researched the new name I created to make sure Texas does not have a town by this name. I’m using Twin Rivers, Texas, because in that general vicinity to the east is a small town named Three Rivers.
Thank you for reading the blog today.
ALL MY HOPES AND DREAMS is set in the far Western part of Texas on a Spanish Land Grant ranch. I placed it where I knew a railroad snaked SW from Fort Worth across the barren land to the Rio Grande.
BLURB:To escape an arranged marriage, beautiful, proper Cynthia Harrington from East Texas impulsively marries Ricardo Romero, a striking, sensual Spaniard who ranches on the far western edge of the Texas frontier. Innocently, she steps into a hotbed of anger, rivalry, and strong wills. As she struggles to gain a foothold in the hostile household and foreign ranch community, she finds that her biggest challenge is to make her husband love her.
Ricardo creates his own problems by marrying an outsider, angering his mother, father, and his jealous ex-lady friend. Then, the Texas Rangers arrive looking for a killer, and Cynthia saves Ricardo’s mother in a confrontation with the wanted man. Ricardo realizes that his delicate bride has more grit and spunk than he thought, and his greatest trial becomes a race to pursue his own wife and persuade her to stay with him.
https://www.amazon.com/All-Hopes-Dreams-Celia-Yeary-ebook/dp/B01ADR72ZK/ref=sr_1_15?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1474401701&sr=1-15&keywords=celia+yeary
Celia Yeary…
Romance, and a little bit of Texas
