A Trip to Refesh

Home From a Short Trip

After a few days away it is nice to be back.  It is a dreary and rainy day here which is perfect as I am still recovering from an eight-hour drive yesterday. Fun times and with another long weekend trip coming up in a few days it looks like I will not get much done on my works in progress, Oh well, maybe it will clear my mind and motivate me to finish something.

Out at My Sister and Brother-In-Laws Farm - Sitting in Giant Hackberry Tree

Three Books Coming

I still hope to publish the three books, I have nearly ready to go, in the next few weeks.  But, it will be summer with lots of interruptions and much beautiful warm weather. Looks like I will need to go on a bit more of a schedule than I follow, for my writing, now. Might be an interesting trial or a complete disaster. I have followed a regular schedule before but never lasted long at it.

Books Can be Too Short

In other news I read a blog pushing a particular western, I went to Amazon, $3.99, not bad, length 78 pages. What, a novel 78 pages long. I don’t mind a short book but, this is too short for four bucks. The same author has a five book set for sale that is just over 200 pages.  He may be an excellent writer, I will never know. I might have given him a try if he had advertised his works as long short stories or short novellas and priced them appropriately.

Seemed a Bit Fishy or Froggy to Me

Thoughts From Deep in the Mind of a Western Writer

 I do have a book of short westerns, advertised as such, UnderWestern Skies,  Amazon lists this book as 100 pages, and the book ends on page 140 and then has a bonus first chapter from my western novel, Commitment. So I will give this writer the nod in that it might be listed shorter than it is, or it might be listed longer. I used a 12 point font instead of 11 for this one, as it targets older readers but still do not believe it would add more than a few pages. (I checked when I enlarged it, and the change added less than five or six, cannot remember for sure, old age, you know).   I am always reading about books making money and best seller lists that are really not very good. How about misleading potential buyers with a fancy cover a mid-range price and a 70 or 80-page book. I have never worried much about the length of books but do believe that if it is advertised as a novel, it should run at least 200 pages.  Just my thoughts on a rainy and tired day.  If you would like to read a few free pages of my western novel, which runs 352 pages, take a look at Commitment,here.

Enjoyed a Visit to Rock Creek Station ( Duckbill Hickok became Wild Bill here )

Keep writing and keep reading.

Made in my Hometown, an Old Fairbury Windmill Company Mill

Bad Weather and Heading West on the Oregon Trail

Spring snowstorms are not uncommon in Wyoming, but all of us seem surprised each time we get one. We were so dry in March I was afraid that we would dry up by the middle of June – not now.

When pioneers headed west they had to very careful of the weather and spring storms. They weren’t this far, not yet. The early wagons would have reached Nebraska around this time of May. One of the crossing's on the Oregon Trail in southeast Nebraska was the Little Blue River near present day Fairbury, Nebraska, and that river has been out of its banks for several days.

When I hear sportscasters talking about how courageous some athlete was for: hitting some shot, taking the big shot or scoring the winning points, I think about these people. Now they were courageous, fighting the weather, often all the way west.

Trail Ruts south of town - taken before the recent snow

We are blessed to get all of this rain and snow this time of year. My part of Wyoming only receives about 12 inches of total moisture each year. So far in the month of May over 5 inches. Lovin’ it! 

The North Platte River, south of town, is running strong