A Busy Writing Week

 This has been a busy week of writing - Here is what kept me busy, edits on two finished books and two new essays in my soon-to-be-finished fourth book for seniors. Interesting that I’m working on a fourth, and one of the two books I am still editing is the third. Oh Boy!

 

Let’s See – I believe those three books will put me at 16. At my age (rather advanced), I still see 20 or so.

 

Hey Mr. Older Adult - Speaking of advanced years, Grammarly did not like me using the term old man as I edited my latest Blade Holmes western mystery. It suggested I use older adult or older man instead. I don’t know, but to me, it is not disrespectful or culturally inappropriate to use old man. I have always disliked the saying, “It is what it is,” but I’m 75 – an old man. It doesn’t hurt my feelings one bit. I am happy to be alive and in good health well (mostly) and an old man at three-quarters of a century.  

 

It feels so good to be back writing - I don’t want to belabor the point, but when I was unable to write due to health issues (see previous posts), it felt like a new beginning as I, once again, tapped away on my laptop.

 

Word Count – Page Count – An excellent week of writing and rewrites pushed me to almost 2,500 words, which is not bad for me. I also edited 60+ pages.

 

More on Word Count – I never wrote the number of words many writers do, but most years, I wrote and published over 200,000. Some writers go a million words a year – now that’s a lot of seat time. Because of my photography and gardening habits, ok, along with walking/hiking, jeeping, and watching the backyard birds, I'm one busy guy. 😊

 

Writing Quote of the Day – “Every year, there’s a few more things I’m not sure of. I’ve decided that a wide-ranging uncertainty is the mark of the true maturity of man.”     Lawrence Block

 

That’s It for today - I will be back soon. Have a great day and a super week.

 

Today's Photos – Were all shot this week, one in our backyard and two in the Laramie Range west of town.

 

Reading Lawrence Block & A Finished Book

 Confessions of a Writer of Westerns

January 31, 2022

Most of the time, life can be good, even at 73. It's the last day of January, and it's 51 degrees. Right now, I'm sitting in the bright sunshine of our enclosed on three sides deck. I'm not sure what the temperature is as I type away facing the southeast direction, but it is hot. Guessing it might be above ninety here in my little favorite writing spot.

I had a pretty productive writing week, putting down about 4,000 words. I also managed to finish editing my next Senior Citizen book, which, God willing, I will publish in February. This week I plan to complete the second edit of the third book in my Blade Holmes, western mystery series. I had to move some things around in this one and had a couple of gaps I had to fix. Besides changing how I wrote the ending, everything seems to be rolling smoothly along.

I also spent some time shooting photos and videos this week, which always seems to make my life more fun. I also got in five good walks, down from the typical six or seven I shoot for each week.

Since I finished one book this past week, I am also in the planning note-making stage of the fourth of my series for seniors. Maybe this week will be when I get some writing done on the fifth in the series of my children's chapter books.

 

Reading – Telling Lies for Fun & Profit – A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block

There is lots of fun and information in this writing, how-to, book. Block is a master storyteller, and it shows through in this terrific collection of writing advice essays. Every chapter is timeless and told in the unique, down-to-earth, and often humorous way that only Block can do. A fine read for anyone who has hope of one day becoming a writer or better writer.  

Writing Tip – "Write to please yourself." Lawrence Block

That is always good advice, and if it just happens also to please a broad audience – even better. 😊

Weather – Another great week here in east-central Wyoming. It looks like snow is coming in the middle of the week, that's ok by me, we can use it, plus I have nowhere to go.

Quote of the day – "The more you look, the more you find." John E. McIntyre – from, The Old Editor Says

 

Today's Photos – Are from a drive through our local state park (Guernsey State Park) this past weekend.

 Click the link to see all of my books on Amazon

Have a great week. Keep on reading, and keep on writing!

 

Coming Soon - My Tenth Book

After doing little writing the past several weeks, something happened – I started again. Not too fast mind you, but I am spending some time at it. Two days in a row with over a thousand words. Those two-thousand plus words are more than I wrote the entire month of June. Guess I was on vacation and didn’t know it.

Seems lately I have been reading quite a lot and some of it about writing and editing, maybe that is starting to sink in. Now it’s time for some goals. First, actually my only goal so far, is to publish my next book, it will be my tenth, before September first. If I keep working, I might make it.

Lawrence Block, who created one of my all-time favorite fictional characters Bernie Rhodenbarr, might have said it best when it comes to taking time off from writing.

"I tell myself that I’m going to do my five or 10 pages no matter what and that I can always tear them up the following morning if I want. I’ll have lost nothing — writing and tearing up five pages would leave me no further behind than if I took the day off.”

Lawrence Block in Writer’s Digest

Click here to read a free sample from one - or from all of my books.

Blue Herron - Looking for a snack in the mud

Who Do I Like To Read?

Favorite Author

Someone asked me this week who my favorite authors were. Not a tough question, but I stumbled around a bit before coming up with a short list. I often smile when I see famous people list their favorite books or authors. Most are nothing more than a politically correct list of who the polls must say are the books and authors they should read. In modern days, it is tough for me to believe that books like, Of Mice and Men, Animal Farm, 1984,  Ulysses, or Moby Dick, are anyone's favorites. (I am not saying these are bad books, only one’s that many people list as favorites because it seems like they should have read them – I have read all but Ulysses)

Wyoming Traffic Jam - Just for fun

Some Books are Hard to Read

I checked out Stephen Hawkins book, A Brief History of Time, at a librarian's suggestion, when it first was published and on many readers to read list, in the late 1980s. Well, I read it, or most of it, some parts, I actually understood. Yet a reported ten million copies have been sold. Who could read it? I am not a believer in statistics, but as Mark Twain once said, although he always attributed it to others,  "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.  Well, at this point in the post I will make up a statistic, less than ten percent of the ten million who bought it read more than a chapter or two. Of course, this statistic does not take into account all of us who checked it out at the local library and pretended to read it.

I just keep rotating books from here to the garage

Genre Fiction

Seems that reading genre fiction is not politically correct, even though millions and millions of fiction titles are sold each year.

My Reading

Recently I have finished reading a couple of mysteries. The first was C.J Box’s, Endangered, and I must say, this is a fantastic read. I also finished re-reading two of Lawrence Block’s, Bernie Rohdenbaug, mysteries, both fast paced, fun and, excellent as always, from Mr. Block. I am now reading, Fort Laramie by Douglas C. McChristian, nonfiction, for research purposes, but am finding it to be a good read. I am also reading Terry C. Johnston’s Sioux Dawn.

Sometimes I am reading, sometimes writing, and here selling books - Fun

My favorites?

Here is a short list of authors I have been reading the past few years, almost all mysteries or westerns. By the way, I took this list from my Kindel, simply scrolled down and listed who I was reading.

·        C.J. Box – Modern day westerns

·        Craig Johnson - Longmire

·        Lawrence Block – Many types of mysteries

·        Richard S. Wheeler – Love his mountain man books

·        Terry Johnston – Great research into his writing

·      William W. Johnston ( early books) Mountain man characters are unforgettable

·        Lee Child – Jack Reacher

·        Elmer Kelton – Cowboys, real life stories

·        Tony Hillerman – Navaho mysteries, terrific

·        Louis L’Amour – how can 100 million buyers be wrong?

My list of old time authors I like to read, and still do

·        James Fennimore Cooper – Leatherstocking Tales

·        Author Conan Doyle – Sherlock Holmes

·        Charles Dickens –  My all time favorite

·        Ernest Hemingway – My wife wonders how I can read his stuff

·        Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn – From many years of teaching European history

There you have it! Who do you like?

 

Looking for a good book

A Good Western Mystery

I like westerns and I like mysteries, guess that is why one of my favorite type of books is a good western mystery. Here is what I believe makes up a good western tail, or for that matter, a good mystery.

1.     A crime early in the book, preferably in chapter one or two. Most readers prefer a murder mystery, makes for a much better read for many than the old fashioned cat burglar stories. (Although Lawrence Block and his character, Bernie Rhodenbarr, a burglar, is one of my all-time favorite mystery series).
2.      Draw a clear line between the good guy and the bad guy
3.     Reveal clues along the way, let the mystery unfold     Give the reader a chance to catch the bad guys using the same clues as the police, cops, sheriff, sleuth or whoever is the protagonist/good guy.
4.      Don’t solve it all until the last chapter.
5.      Above all else don’t end it with someone waking up and it was all a dream. Don’t make an unexpected turn with some kind of twin thing or a fantasy type ending when the rest of the book was not a fantasy. Readers are not that dumb.

This style of western is not always easy to find. I think a good western needs a strong plot, like a mystery it is always as much about the story as the good guys and bad guys shooting each other.

A little nervous and starting to move when they saw me

A Western For Everyone

Much like the murder mysteries I also love, you can be certain that one thing will happen in a traditional western novel, someone will wind up dead and someone is going to pay.

Many of today’s best sellers are based on social problems, relationships, sex, stress of work and daily lives. Readers like this type of material as best seller lists will prove. But traditional western readers, like me, probably would have a tough time reading a western based on working too hard and trying to buy better things than the neighbors.

But one of the things that make the genre so special is that there is room for almost anything in westerns. Romance, mystery, sci-fi, steampunk, fantasy, historical and shoot-em-ups all have a place on the western shelf. I have read some western-science fiction, many historical, one steampunk, a western fantasy or two and yes, a few that were classified as western romance, but I still like the shoot-em-ups best.

My personal choice in westerns – something with a good mystery element, set in mountain man or cattle drives, now that’s some fine reading.

-And On Another Note-

Just finished reading Lawrence Block’s, The Burglar Who Counted Spoons, I am a huge Block fan and this was another terrific book in the series. He is my favorite mystery writer, great stories, told with humor and remarkable writer imagination.

Just started Richard S. Wheeler’s, An Accidental Novelist - A Literary Memoir, this is a must read, can’t put it down.