Small towns, A Rich Setting but How to Belong?

Joining us today is Lyn Cote who writes wonderful inspirational about small towns.  Lyn, you’re on.

I love to write stories set in small towns. This is strange because it’s only in the last eight years that I’ve lived in a small town. I grew up near a big city in a suburb of nearly 90,000 and then raised my children in Iowa in a city of over 100,000.

Recently I uploaded the last book in my Northern Intrigue series onto Kindle. I wrote the romantic suspense series about a decade ago. I decided it was time to update them (technology changes so fast, doesn’t it?) and I like how I write now so wanted to add a little of “my now style.”

This series is set in a north woods tight knit rural community which I named, Steadfast. I have a curmudgeonly newspaper editor, a bitter old woman who causes as much trouble as she can for everyone and an unidentified baby, saved from a car just before it explodes. And that’s just in the first book, Winter’s Secret–Romance and mystery in a small Wisconsin town during a record-breaking snowy winter.”

To download a free copy, go to  http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/87068  and enter this code CT33W      You don’t have an ereader? Then you can download a PDF copy to read on your computer or print a copy for yourself. The coupon is only good Feb 23-24. Use it and pass it on to your friends! I set the series in Wisconsin because that is where I live now. And though I’ve lived in this small tourist town in the Lakeland area of far north of Wisconsin for eight years, I don’t really feel I’m a part of the town. Why? Because though my husband’s family spent time here and owned property here since WWII, I didn’t raise children here. I think that makes the difference. Somehow children knit a family into a community.

Do you think that’s true or not? And why is it true or false?”

If you’d like to get in touch with Lyn:    Twitter  @LynCote   OR   BooksbyLynCote.com

5 thoughts on “Small towns, A Rich Setting but How to Belong?

  1. Lyn, that’s an interesting perspective on raising children in a place being what ties you there. I’ve only lived in small town with kids, so I don’t have the other perspective. But I can see how you’d be more likely to get involved in the schools and community.

    Although, even without kids, I would get involved in my church, which is another way to bond to a place.

  2. Lyn, I do agree that children have a way of bringing adults together. When I moved to the Pacific Northwest when the boys were teens, I noticed it was more challenging for me to make new friends. I think as parents we have a lot in common when we can chat about our kids.

    Luckily I found a great writing community and have been blessed with wonderful neighbors. That said, I agree with Missy – church is a great place to make new friends!

  3. Missy and Hope–thanks for dropping in. I grew up in a big city but even cities are divided up into neighborhoods which seem like small towns although they are closer to shopping.

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