One of my favorite places to write is on the tailgate of my truck. But I’ve been known to write in the cab with my feet sticking out the window on a warm fall day.

I’m blessed that I live in the heart of Montana. I can see the Little Rockies in the distance and if I want to find inspiration all I have to do is get in the pickup. A few miles out of the small, isolated town where I live in, there is nothing but open space. Miles and miles of wild country.

From the dramatic storms that roll in across the prairie to the spectacular summer sunsets and the sight of the northern lights in the dead of winter, I love this state.

How could I not be inspired? Add to that, all the history that comes with Montana and this is a writer’s paradise. I love telling the stories, weaving in the history, dreaming up the characters as a breeze blows through the cab of the pickup.

I can’t tell you how many books have been written with me parked out in some lonesome place, not a soul in sight. I have often had to pull over to the side of the road and write a scene because this country feeds my imagination.

I first came to Montana at the tender age of five and have lived in places across the state. Is it any wonder that I write about them? That’s how I ended up writing about the Gallatin Canyon. I set my book, CRIME SCENE AT CARDWELL RANCH, there. Readers kept asking me what happened to the rest of the family after the book ended.

I was delighted to go back to “The Canyon” and see what did happen to the rest of that family in my Oct. 1 release, JUSTICE AT CARDWELL RANCH. I knew the area well since the first house my father built in Montana was a cabin just off the trail to Lava Lake in the canyon.

As a girl, I used to lie in a hammock and watch the tall pines sway in the wind and dream about what my life would be like. I was going to be a writer one day. That dream came true I believe because of the state where I live and still dream.

It is easy to find inspiration from the canyon to the prairie to the snowcapped mountains of the Crazy Mountains where my first single title (Dec. 1 release), UNFORGIVEN, is set. I love the mix of mystery and romance.

I write what I see out the window of my truck and share Montana with my readers (sans the murders). One of my readers swears when she’s reading one of my books she can see the Little Rockies in the distance out her window. It’s like taking a ride in my truck.

Click here to buy a copy of Justice at Cardwell Ranch

BJ

www.bjdaniels.com