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Joyce Adams Counts | Terry Blain
Our hearts are heavy as we lay to rest one of our fellow RomVet sisters. Joyce Adams Counts is now watching us from above as the true angel she was and now is. Joyce, you’ll be missed.
In Memory of Joyce please learn about the gifted
person
she was from her website bio.
Meet Joyce Adams Counts
Author of eight Historical Romances
Three-time Golden Heart Finalist For Romantic Suspense and Historical catagories
PASIC Book of Your Heart Finalist
Member of RomVets -- Romance Authors who served their country
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Ever since Joyce read her first book and a wonderful new world opened before her, she wanted to write. She wanted to be a part of that magic.
Many years later, Joyce still believes in love, laughter, and the magic of books. She is the author of eight historical romances and a Christmas novella, with new works in progress...
Born in Missouri, she returned home to her roots after living from Hawaii to North Carolina to California. She served in the U.S. Army with the 652nd Engineer Battalion, and was a top secret courier while stationed at Ft. Shafter, Hawaii. After leaving the Army she exchanged her combat boots and handcuffs for flip-flops while she attended college at the University of Hawaii with course study emphasis on Journalism and Psychology. Shoes/flip-flops were required to be worn to class, but the rules didn’t say anything about wearing them in the class.
 Her admitted quirky sense of humor, love of romance and mystery lead her into interesting situations, which somehow show up in her books. While writing and researching, she has rode a Brahma bull, taken Faro lessons from a real gambler, and learned how to pick locks.
A firm believer in happily-ever-after, Joyce is married to a man who could be a hero straight out of one of her western historical romances. He even likes her quirky sense of humor and loves animals, especially her two 'girls': a cocker spaniel, and a cockapoo who looks like a miniature afghan hound. She knows, no such thing as a mini-affy.
Joyce combines her love of people and writing by teaching writing classes, giving workshops, and has been both a national and international speaker.
She loves to travel, but hates to fly...go figure. Her books have been translated into Dutch, Chinese, and Norwegian.
A three-time Golden Heart Finalist in romantic suspense and historical categories, her awards include two Silver Certificates from Affaire de Coeur and PASIC Book of Your Heart Finalist. She is a member of RomVets (women who served in the military and now write), Romance Writers of America, Published Author Network, Published Authors Special Interest Chapter of RWA, and MORWA a Missouri chapter of RWA.
Her goal is to bring her readers a bit of love, laughter, and a little danger. |
 Terry Blain
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Terry Irene Blain. A devoted wife, daughter, mother, grandmother and veteran.
From Terry's Website about page. Terry you will be missed!
Have you ever heard of Koko the gorilla? She learned sign language, and when she signs “the past,” she motions in front of her. When she signs “the future,” she motions behind her. Why? Because we can see what’s in front of us—the past—but can’t see behind us—the future. Well, thank heavens we can see the past. How can we know where we want to go unless we have some sense of where we’ve come from?
Knowing the past is important. Since high school, history was my love. To me, a history teacher is a storyteller, and I was lucky enough to grow up in a large, extended Midwest family with a rich oral tradition. Even after my parents moved to California, every summer we drove cross-country to Illinois and had big family reunions where I remember sitting on the front porch or in the kitchen, listening to everyone tell stories about when they were kids or when their parents were kids, soaking up the details. Since, I’ve done a lot of research that confirms those stories. I ended up with a BA and MA and taught American History and Western Civilization at our local community college. While I was teaching, I had all this academic knowledge, and everyone said, “You should write a book.” My excuse was that I wasn’t the best typist in the world. Then my husband bought a computer. I had no more excuse.
I’d started reading romance novels, and when I did, I discovered one of the elements I’d always enjoyed was the romance. I’d always read historical titles like Samuel Shellenberger’s Captain From Castile, the Elsworth Thane Williamsburg novels, and the Janice Holt Giles Americana novels. Although these weren’t labeled romance, the romance element was a universality. Regardless of time or setting, social customs, economic conditions, politics or wars, I was always sucked in by the relationship between men and women.
Also I noticed, when I started to read historical romance that some of them weren’t very accurate. Sorry, it’s the teacher in me! The fiction half of me says “What if?” but the historian half says “But it happened this way.” So I am always compelled to include Author’s Notes to explain any compromises and hope the notes will be of interest. There’s an old Chinese proverb that says “Every time someone opens a book they learn something.” I want whatever people learn from my books to be as accurate and authentic as possible.
Because of all the stories I heard as a child, thus knowing our family history, I first wrote Kentucky Green. Some of my ancestors lived in that area: one family story has a great-great-great however-many-great grandfather hunting with Daniel Boone. Also, the frontier appealed. In 1794 in Kentucky, it took a man and a woman working together to make a homestead. Romance in the making.
Because of all my family cross-country trips as a child, I always thought Durango, Colorado, was beautiful place. Colorado Silver, Colorado Gold grew out of that.
I was lucky enough to grow up with a sense of community and history from the stories I heard my family tell. That gave me a sense of place, and a sense of what I want—which is to write historical romance, which gives me the opportunity pass on the stories of who we are and where we come, exploring the relationships between men and women. Looking to the past, we’re seeing where we can go in the future. What could be more fun than that?
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