Paula Pfeiffer Winskye just published Right Hand Man, a romance novel set in the Snowflake-Taylor area.
The story focuses on Cody Pfeiffer, who was asked by his boss Karlea Johnson to move with her from North Dakota to Arizona. At first he was reluctant, but “he liked the job he’s had since his teens, caring for and training her horses. More important, as the years have passed, he’s fallen in love with his widowed boss. He keeps his feelings to himself, certain that she still thinks of him as a kid,” according to the book jacket. After some consideration he agrees to move. “He can’t let her go without him. He sees this as his chance to win her love. But, when he puts his plan into action, it takes them in a direction he never intended.”
“I originally wrote Right Hand Man a decade ago while dreaming of spending winters in a warmer climate, but the story was too short. Every couple of years, I would edit it. I added two plot twists and a prolog, but it was still a little short. I like my novels to be at least 50,000 words,” noted the author.
Through the years, she had her characters moving to Flagstaff. “When John (her husband) and I finally came to Arizona last winter, I realized that Flagstaff was too cold with too many trees for the setting of my novel. I considered several other locations before deciding on Taylor,” she said.
“Why not set it in a place I knew the most about?” she asked herself. She edited again, adding local flavor to the novel, and it finally reached her word threshold.
Winskye published The Reverend Down East earlier this year. It’s a mystery that takes place in Maine.
She has written 13 novels since 2003, including family saga novels, which follow a family through several generations, and three romance novels.
Winskye has always loved horses and at the age of 12 she began writing stories about girls and horses. It took another 30 years for her to publish her novels. She wrote for her own enjoyment until her husband suggested that she publish some of the manuscripts she had put in a drawer.
Winskye’s first children’s novel, Gold Star Lee, is about a girl and her horse. Its written at a sixth grade reading level, but “Any horse crazy girl between 10 and 90 will enjoy it,” she said. When she was in her teens she wrote Golden Jubilee and 40 years later she used that story as the basis for Gold Star Lee.
Winskye and her John have just moved back to their 39-acre ranchstead in Snowflake and continue cleaning up the property. They have a 26-acre farm in North Dakota where they raised Tennessee Walking Horses. When they moved back to Snowflake recently, she brought the three horses she still has.
“We were looking for a winter place,” Winskye noted in a previous interview. They looked at land in the area and immediately “fell in love with Snowflake,” she said. “The people are so friendly.
“I love it here. We came earlier than last year and plan on staying longer this year and next year even longer.”
Winskye wrote for the local paper in North Dakota and has published articles in horse magazines.
She enjoys speaking to groups on writing or she will gladly visit a book club when members have read one of her books to answer any questions. She speaks on believing in yourself and going for your goals, areas in which she has a lot of experience.
Her books have sold worldwide, and are available through her website, winskyebooks.com, or from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
