Guest Blog with Myra Johnson, pt. 1

 

Having the opportunity to write the three Missouri romances for the Heartsong Presents contemporary state series has been a real joy, not to mention a trip down Memory Lane since Missouri was the birthplace of both my parents. When I was a little girl, every summer my mother and I would spend a week or two at my grandparents’ home about forty miles west of St. Louis, then drive into the city for visits with the various aunts and uncles in the area.

I have sweet memories of the rope swing my grandpa had hung from the sturdy branches of an old cherry tree. Sometimes we’d walk down the country lane or across grassy fields, where we might come across a tortoise or see a rabbit hopping through the grass. And I can’t forget the delicious cherry pies my grandmother would bake from cherries she’d canned herself!



Other Missouri memories include eight months in 1976 when my husband and I lived in Kirkwood, a St. Louis suburb. Springtime there was beautiful with all the flowers and especially the dogwoods in bloom. That summer we watched the Bicentennial celebration and a fantastic fireworks display from my husband’s office window overlooking the Gateway Arch and the river.

I’ve also visited Kansas City, where one of our daughters lived for a few years, and toured Branson and Silver Dollar City. A favorite childhood attraction was Meramec Caverns, reputed to be one of Jesse James’s hideouts.



Now that the Missouri books are complete, I’m already missing not only my characters but also the fictional towns where I’ve placed them—settings so real in my mind that sometimes it feels as if I could drive down the highway and find the exact turnoff that will take me there. I hope my readers will enjoy visiting these Missouri locales as much as I enjoyed writing about them!