Great First Lines

The snow is coming down as I write this, looks like four or five inches so far.

The First Line – So much has been written about getting a book or short story getting off to a great start with a first line hook.  I am not sure the hook or great line needs to be in the first line, but it certainly needs to be in the first paragraph. Is a great hook or line necessary, not always? Fiction seems to do best with a great start, but nonfiction and often short stories do not necessarily need a great line to keep readers engaged.  

My all-time favorite is the Charles Dickens start to his classic, A Tale of Two Cities. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

In contrast, I have never understood why Herman Melville’s line, “Call me Ishmael,” is so widely considered the greatest opening line in history. You might ask why I don’t like that line, well, I do, but it starts chapter three, not one, and is some eighty paragraphs into the book.  Off the subject a bit, but for all of my author readers, Moby-Dick, now a worldwide classic, sold only a few over 3,000 books before Melville died in 1891, forty years after Moby-Dick was published.

 First Lines from two of my Eleven Books –I spend a lot of time on the openings of my books, often changing the opening a dozen times before I like it. Here is how I started two of my books, the first from book one of my kid's chapter book series, Melvin the E-Street Ghost. “As a kid, I lived on a red brick street in a very big white house. Not unusual considering, everyone I knew lived in a white house on a red brick street.”

From the second of my Blade Holmes western mysteries, The Ghost Dance is this line. "The man riding alone on his horse should have heard the shot, but he was already dead."

First lines never make a decision for me to keep reading or not read on, but a few pages, or a chapter in, will hook me, or send me off looking for another read.

From the Old West – A man who ain't got an idea of his own should be mighty careful who he borrows 'em from.

Backyard wildlife

What Am I Working On? Nothing much. What kind of an answer is that?  I just returned from the State School Boards Convention, and this post is the first thing I have written since Monday. But the rest of the day, and tomorrow, I will continue on the edit of my fourth chapter book. I might also do some research for my – in-progress – nonfiction book if I have the time.

 Photo of the Week – 

From a nice warm weather hike earlier this week

 

As always, you can find all my books here on Amazon

 Or

Follow me here on twitter at @wyohistoryguy

Keep on Reading and keep on Writing

& 

Have a wonderful weekend.

 My newest book - Under Christmas Skies 

                                                        

A New Book and Finding Steampunk

With the weather here wet and cool, I have plenty of time to write. If it were sunshine and warm, I would be out finishing the painting of our garage. I am always happy to have an excuse to skip painting.

What Am I Working On? – At last, I have finished my second volume of Christmas stories. I enjoy writing them, but it might be a few years before I am able to come up with enough for a third book of Christmas tales.  This book titled – Under Christmas Skies, is already available as an eBook. The soft cover should be ready in the next two weeks.

What Am I Reading? – My first ever steampunk story. (Artificers Apprentice by D.H. Edwardson) It is a short story of 25 pages, I read the first half or a bit more before, I became distracted and started writing this post. I do not have much of an idea what steampunk is, that is why I decided to try one. The story, so far, is excellent and well written. By the way, I found this one free on Amazon. If you, like me, want to learn a bit about a genre called steampunk, I linked above to this free story.

My Photo of the Week –

North Platte River in Guernsey State Park

As always, you can find all my books here on Amazon - 

https://amazon.com/Neil-Waring/e/B00XV26KLC

Look me up on twitter at @wyohistoryguy

Keep on reading and keep on writing – have a sensational rest of the week.

Photo 2 -

Young Big Horn Sheep

New Book and a Wyoming Drive

Feeling better and back to work – that’s me this week. Took nearly five weeks to get back to whatever is normal for me. The first battle with the flu I have had in many years, and the flu won this fight. But now, thankfully, looks like that is all behind me.

Reading - Spending much more time than normal sitting in my recliner had one positive outcome, I did a lot of reading. I spent quite a lot of time reading blogs and free sample pages of books I thought interesting. I found several books I added to my, to read, list.   Speaking of free pages, I love the, Look Inside, feature on Amazon, as it gives me a chance to see if it might be something I will like. I purchased half a dozen eBooks and two physical books over the last two weeks.

On Turning 70 – My newest book and my shortest is out. It is a story of reflection on turning 70 years of age. The book is not only reflective but full of humor and nostalgia. If you are getting, as we used to hear, “up there in years,” give it a try, it’s a quick hour or hour and a half read. This one, like all of my books, is available in soft cover or as an eBook. Here is the link to the $1.99 eBook.

Photo Trip – Thursday we made the hundred mile trip to Rock River, Wyoming to watch our grandson’s basketball game. For readers who do not live in Wyoming – no, a trip of 100 miles for Jr. High sports is not unusual here in the Cowboy state. The trip gave me a chance to drive through some rugged areas great for wildlife photos. All of today's photos are from that trip. You will see some snow coming down in a few of the photos, another, its that time of year, fact.

Meanwhile – Keep on reading, and for my writing friends, keep on writing.

Put Me In The Book and I Will Keep Reading

“Too often I would hear men boast of the miles covered that day, rarely of what they had seen.” Louis L’Amour

Speaking of things I have seen - watched this doe and twins today as we headed out Eagle watching

I have always liked that quote. I guess because it can be taken so many different ways. Until a few years ago I had only read one L’Amour book then I read his, Education of a Wandering Man, and I was hooked. The next year I read twenty or so of his books. Some I liked, some not so much. But he was pretty good at putting the reader inside the book through his description of place.

Seems as I get older I want to slow down and take a look around. I like it when stories do that. I don’t need a description of everyone's clothes, looks, or everything they ate, but I need to feel like I am inside the pages of the book. It seems like each month I will start 10 or so books and finish half that at best. The one thing I find in common with the ones I finish is that I can feel part of it.

 I have been a long time fan of western writers, Tony Hillerman, Elmer Kelton, and Richard S. Wheeler. In the past few years, I have added Lee Child, C. J. Box and Craig Johnson to my list of writers I cannot wait for their next book. I read many other writers as I continue my quest to find more writers that make me feel like I am a character in their story.

Today's photos I snapped late this morning. The last days of November and early December is a great time of the year for eagle watching. They are very wary creatures and require a lot of patience to take a few decent photos. But, because I do not travel too many miles, instead I take my time and stop to look around, I often get lucky. Thankfully I have a patient wife who is willing to go as slow as I am.

Mom showing the little ones how to hunt or maybe fish

Meanwhile keep on reading and keep on writing. 

Well - It's A New Year

I mentioned here last week, on my first 2016 post, that I was going to attempt to keep track of both my writing,  the number of words, and reading, name and number of books. 

Watching the Bison - Research and Photo Ops
 Something I can do even when it's cold outside

At the end of yesterday, eleven days into the new year, I had written, 14,815 words, an average of 1,347 per day. That number seems to work out close for my goal of a half million words this year – hope I can keep it up. My reading, about the same pace as always is not bad. I have set a goal to read three books a month or 50 books this year. My biggest problem with reading is that I continually read more than one book at a time. Here is what I am reading now.

Time to read when the lights come on in our little town

1.   Fort Laramie – Military Bastion of the High Plains ( one-third through this one) by Douglas C. McChristian

2.   Cabin Fever – by B. M Bower (half way)

3.   Cowmen and Rustlers -  A story of the Wyoming Cattle Ranges – By Edward S. Ellis

4.   Force of Nature – by C. J. Box (Travel book on CDs listening, I have read it but I like the narrator and enjoy this as our present car book)

These books are different enough that I do not have any trouble keeping them separated in my mind, cluttered that it might be.

I should be able to finish all of these before the end of the month. I have stacked three books, as my next ones on my bookshelf, and will probably add at least one EBook.

Speaking of Books - Here is the Link to my Western

I am in my second edit of my YA modern western/mystery, and am through the first draft of an introduction to my new nonfiction book and working on the first chapter. Still not finished with the first phase of research for the second half of the book, which also keeps me busy.

Getting my ducks - er- a - deer all in a row

I am keeping busy and with the weather turning mild for the next ten days it looks like I will be able to continue walking. I have been out with my camera, as usual, and have taken a bit over two hundred shots so far this year. I will keep 70-80 percent of these in folders on my computer.  The random photos on today's post are 2016 shots. 

Nice color at sunset yesterday
 sun setting behind a post -- patching together an old fence

Reflections on the Year

Like many people, the end of the year brings on a reflective time. For me reflections on age, retirement, writing, and friends and family dominate.

Hitting a few balls on the old Civilian Conservation Cops Golf Course

 at Guernsey State Park.

The course has been abandoned since before I was born -

 It is featured in my book about the CCC

and the building of the park. 

Gratified that the book has generated so much interest and sold so well.

I have been retired (from a 42 year teaching/coaching career) for nearly four years, some days I like it and some I do not.  Friends tell me that I am not completely retired as I do spend some days working, so maybe I am but semi-retired. I worked as a substitute teacher about 40 days last year, did a half dozen speaking engagements and made a few hundred dollars from my books. Not sure all that adds up to a real job, but I do keep busy when I want. In a few weeks, I will have another birthday, this one will put me two years from 70 and I am not sure how I feel about that. With every year, my golf game gets a bit worse, and my passion for hiking gets harder to do. But, I continue to enjoy both.

Hikking in the park - Marsh Mountain Trail

I have quite a few days when my writing passion keeps me going. Some days I get carried away with research for my new nonfiction book and some days I write for many hours. I am well into and have plans to put out a new western/mystery book, a nonfiction book, a historical fiction novella and a nonfiction, growing up book this year. I may also revisit a humor-nonfiction book I started nearly a decade ago. Lofty goals, but attainable, I hope.

Five books this year - click to go to my Amazon Author Site

At our age, my wife and I celebrated our 47^th-anniversary last week, we have become much more appreciative of old friends and family. Wonderful to have them around and great to keep in touch.

So what are our other plans for this year? Two trips, other than our usual trips back to our hometown. We are soon, late March, heading to the four corners area to take a look around. Next fall we will, once again, go to Louisiana, Texas area to enjoy some family and warm weather as ours starts to cool.  In between, a trip north this summer, Canada, maybe.

Entry area to Guernsey State Park with the lights of our little town a mile away

I also took about 6,000 photos this year, about the same as last year.

One of my favorite photos of the year - Late fall in Wyoming mountains

Happy New Year and Thanks for Reading!

Fun in the back yard