A writer gains inspiration from the strangest of places for their work. When local romance novelist Heatherly Bell woke up from a dream with a storyline that fit nicely for her next piece, she quickly wrote it down.
“I had a dream about a girl who discovers through genealogy research that she’s related to the first licensed female pilot in the state of California,” said Bell, who turned that vision into the basis for her latest novel. “I woke up thinking, wouldn’t that be interesting if you wanted to make a connection while at a crossroads in your life.”
Bell’s new book, titled “Breaking Emily’s Rules,” was released Feb. 1 and is part of a series of three romance novels she has planned for 2017 with the backing of publishing company Harlequin. The “Super Romance” book can be purchased at all retailers in print and e-reader form as well as online at barnesandnoble.com and amazon.com.
Bell, 56, who moved to Morgan Hill with her family in 1980, used characteristics of South County’s hamlet as the setting for her latest novel. She will be on hand for a Feb. 18 meet-and-greet and book launch from 6 to 9 p.m. at the local BookSmart (1295 E. Dunne Ave., Suite 120).
“I’ve been reading (romance novels) for most of my life,” said Bell, a member of the Romance Writers Association of America and the Silicon Valley Romance Writers Association. “This book has a lot of Morgan Hill in it. But it’s a completely fictional town called Fortune.”
The storyline follows the character Emily Parker, who is at a crossroads in her life, and her new love interest, Stone Macallister, an Air Force pilot back home after his father’s death. Mcalllister’s dad owns an aviation flight school that Parker starts to take lessons at. While Parker tries to get in touch with her family lineage through flight, Mcallister is selling off his father’s business while dealing with a contentious relationship with his sister. The two meet and form a bond that helps them in their life journeys.
“Sex is a very small part of my books. Maybe 10 pages at most, if that. It’s really about personal relationships….subplots with family members and challenges people go through in life,” Bell explained. “The books I write are not about a woman finding a man as a solution to her problems….It’s more complementary.”
Bell, who annually attends a national conference for romance writers, said she writes for an audience of smart, independent women. She wrote her first book in 2011 and has had nine published since then, both independently and from different publishing companies.
For this particular novel, Bell pitched the idea to an agent in late 2015 and then started making submissions to publishing companies.
“We got a lot of rejections and then Harlequin came in and said, ‘We want to offer you a contract.’ It was amazing,” Bell recalled. “I was very happy about the whole thing, especially a three-book contract.”
Bell graduated from high school in Maryland before moving with her family to Morgan Hill in 1980. She left for a while to follow her passion for music. Bell then married and returned to Morgan Hill with her husband in 2001. She has three grown children.
