Fifteen Books and Still Writing

 December 27, 2021

Well, like most everyone else, we have finished another Christmas Season. Bring on the new year. Right now, we are back to the two of us and the dog – again. Great atmosphere for writing and watching football, but almost too quiet at times. 

On my morning walk, I realized that I was not sure, exactly, how many books I had written. Guess it is time to count them up.

Nonfiction

The Civilian Conservation Corps and the building of Guernsey State Park

Beginning Gardening & Other Entertaining Lies - With Four Bonus - Murder in the Garden Stories

On Turning 70  

Elderly – A Sensational Day Every Day

Western Fiction

Commitment  (western mystery)

The Ghost Dance (western mystery)

Ghost of the Fawn (young adult)

Under Western Skies (collection of short stories)

Under Christmas Skies (collection of short stories)

Interview with a Gunfighter (short story)

Kids Chapter Books

Melvin the E Street Ghost

The Mike Said, There's a Zombie in My Basement

Yikes – My Neighbors a Vampire

Howling at the Moon

 

Finished but Not Yet Published

Morning Walk ( the third in my series for senior citizens)

Wendover  (my third Blade Holmes western mystery)

Almost Ready

County Fair (book five in my Mike, and Moose and I kids growing up chapter books)

Essays from the golden years  (fourth in my series for senior readers)

 

Wow, that was an exhausting search, not really. Thirteen published books and one published short. Two more books are finished but not yet published. I am not sure why these two, which will be self-published, are still waiting. I figured it out and can answer my question – lazy. Soon.

That makes 15 completed books with two in the almost category and the single short.

I am not always one to write out New Years Resolutions, but I aim to have all 17 of the books I listed earlier published. I hope to continue with my senior reader's books, with at least one addition in 2022.

Photos – All taken in the past week within 15 miles of where we live in Wyoming

Happy New Year – 2022

Keep reading and keep writing

 

 

 

Writers Block in the Movies

Merry Christmas

Our Special Day – Today is our 50^th Anniversary. We spent the afternoon in one of our favorite places – up in the Laramie Range. All of today's photos are from today's four-hour outing. Except for the one above, which was taken on a  summer trip to the Blackhills, another of our favorite places. 

20 Miles west of town and going uphill - usual traffic

Not So Deep Thoughts On Writing - This time of year my wife and I try to watch a Christmas movie every night. We also love listening to Christmas music. I know that some people bash these movies and the music, but not us. Are all of the movies and songs good? Nope. But we still watch and listen. Might be the older we get, the more nostalgia takes over.

I am surprised each year at how many of the movies are about writers and some type of writer's block they are afflicted with. Seems to me that, according to the movies, getting over writer's block is easy. Writers need to simply move back home and find a new boyfriend or girlfriend – problem solved and best seller on the way.

Writing Quote –  There’s no such thing as writer’s block. That was invented by people in California who couldn’t write.

Terry Pratchett

Six Bulls far away from the herd

What Am I Working On? Finished the fourth book in my kid's chapter books series. I am waiting on copies to send to my beta readers. Now a restart on the third of my Blade Holmes western mysteries.

From the Old West –  Be thankful for fools. Without them, none of us would amount to a damn.    

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

 -and-

Follow me here on twitter at @wyohistoryguy

Keep on Reading and keep on Writing

& 

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Indian Summer

Indian Summer - It has been a most interesting week. Cold and now back to wonderful fall weather. Technically, it is too early for Indian Summer, which according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac cannot start until the middle of November. Thinking that they are not taking elevation, where I live in Wyoming, into account, I have decided that it has started. After all, by definition Indian summer starts after a hard freeze, we were down to 10 or 11, which should qualify.

The term, Indian Summer most likely started with the eastern tribes and settlers. Winter cold brought on peace, as the harsh weather kept both settlers and native people working hard just to get through. But, if the weather turned nice again, it could bring on the fighting between the tribes and settlers of the East Coast.

From the Old West – “A go-getter is a cowboy who forgot to hobble his horse.”

What Am I Working On? – I should finish the first draft of my 4th kid's chapter book today or tomorrow followed by, edits, readers, a few other touch-ups and publish. After that, it will be back to my third Blade Holmes western mystery, tentatively titled – Wendover. By the way, that working title is the fourth for this book.

My first Blade Holmes (Commitment) novel continues to sell quite well on Amazon, the second one, (The Ghost Dance) which I really like, does okay but has never sold as well.

What Am I Reading? Still - Reading Wallace Stegner - Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs: Living and Writing in the West.

My Photo of the 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 great weekend!

Reading, Writing & A Winter Day in Wyoming

I follow quite a few writers on various social media platforms. Most of the time I enjoy what they have to say. Why only most of the time? I like authors who post about their work, works in progress, what they are reading, or how to write articles.

Posting Off Subject - When writers post political stuff, I don’t mind some, but if it becomes the norm, I usually quit on them. I have my own political views, which I keep to myself, except for one post which I still regret. It’s not that I don’t enjoy a good political conversation or read, I do, but for that, I keep to political bloggers. As far as politics, I follow people on both sides, liberal, and conservative, and sometimes enjoy what they have to say.

Off subject photo of Bison in Winter

Sites I Read - Like most everyone who writes, I follow/read many writing sites. Some are fun, some helpful, and some simply have so many followers I figure something must be going on. Here are five, in no particular order, that I look at several times a week, and often find good stuff, usable stuff, or inspiration to keep on working.

https://www.thecreativepenn.com/resources/

http://annerallen.com/

http://www.advicetowriters.com/

https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/

https://writetodone.com/

On a Windy and Cold Day

I would advise anyone who aspires to a writing career that before developing his talent he would be wise to develop a thick hide. — Harper Lee

I love that quote, and how true it is. No matter how hard we try, those of us who write are still going to be hurt, at times, by what others think about our hard work. I am still hoping for a five-star review to cover the single one-star I got for my novel, The Ghost Dance, on Amazon. 

Winter Sunset

It’s a good story and still sells pretty well, but the one-star review keeps it from being as popular as some of my other books. Why the one-star? I let my spell checker replace Marshal with Marshall, and sole instead of soul, (I might have done that one myself). Not grievous, most never noticed, but still wrong. The words were long ago replaced, but the one-star, sadly the books only review, lives on. Someday a kind reader, or two, will leave some four or five-star reviews and the book will sell better, and I will feel better. Meanwhile, I try to remember Harper Lee’s words about developing a thick hide.

 

Talking About My Book on the Civilian Conservation Corps 

What I am Reading Now – Elmer Kelton’s, Ranger’s Trail

Geese Flying Over in the Heavy Snow This Morning

Have a great week and keep on reading and writing

 

Coming Soon - Sring & Summer

Random Thoughts About the West and Westerns

Who put the West in westerns? Sounds like a bit of an odd question, but it might be a tougher question than it first sounds. The old west, the one of so many books, is both a place and a period of time. The where is the old west is a tough question, but by most definitions it is west of the Missouri River, south to Mexico and north through Alaska. The old west as a period of time, I see as from the end of the civil war until the introduction of the automobile in America. Commonly this time period is seen as from the Gold Rush to Wounded Knee, 1849-1890.

In Wyoming, we like to say we are the last of the old west, or that we are the real west. If that is true, the west of today refers to wide open spaces. That’s the reason California and most of the highly populated Pacific coast are no longer thought of as the west. Genre westerns often were set in California, gold rush, land grabbers and city builders all made good plots. Today the west coast still makes an excellent setting for movies and books, but none are thought of as westerns. Western’s weather set in the 1800s or present day need wide open spaces.

 Today writers of westerns set in modern time seem to follow this idea. It is easier to write a western if there are wide open spaces involved, Wyoming and Montana come to mind here.  Mountains, forest, wild rivers and long lonesome highways seem to make good modern western stories.

But the real west is defined by the cowboy. If a cowboy is involved, it must be a western story. Western romance sells millions of copies each year, the book covers usually depicting a cowboy, shirt unbuttoned, hat, boots, and beautiful women. Why do they sell? Is it the western flavor, the romance element, or the wide open spaces? I would guess it is a bit of all of the above. Today the sparsely populated west is full of romance and mystery to many people, especially people from metropolitan areas.

One of the reasons we live in Wyoming is because we love the empty areas. I know, this is not for everyone. We have to drive more than an hour to the nearest Wal-Mart and nearly two hours to a Shopping Mall. For many this would be a disaster of colossal proportion. Even worse, the closest hospital is a half hour away and to find a lawyer, accountant or college we must drive at least half an hour. But we trudge on. The reason we like it here, all of the photos on this page were taken closer than the nearest Wal-Mart.

Love the west!

Rod Miller's Poetry - Review

Last evening I completed Rod Miller’s wonderful book of poetry, “Things a Cowboy Sees –and Other Poems.” I don’t read a lot of poetry, not anymore. Much of today’s contemporary verse is either beyond my comprehension or is simply incomprehensible. I still read Robert Frost, my all-time favorite, and a few others from a century or more ago. In my most recent book, the historical novel, Commitment, my protagonist, Blade Holmes is known to quote some of the great poets of the day.

This one, Things a Cowboy Sees – and Other Poems, by Rod Miller, I liked, liked it a lot. He breaks the book into five sections: Horses and Hosses, Life Out West, The Rodeo Road, Roundups and Trail Drives and Making a Hand. My favorite section, well I live in Wyoming and loved the -  Life out West, section. Miller’s poem, A Guide to Ranching for the Politically Correct, is hilarious. That poem gave me my laugh of the day, two days in a row.

Miller was born and raised in Utah and grew up with ranching and rodeo. His background shows in his writing with a depth of understanding that could not have been written by a drug store Cowboy type. He has a long list of writing credits and looking through his books on Amazon, I see that I have read several of his western novels. Miller is a three-time winner of the Western Writers of America Spur Award and also a winner of the Westerners International, Fred Olds Award for Poetry.

All in all this is a terrific read for anyone who enjoys the west or westerns. Give it a try.

Tie Up That Horse Cowboy

The cowhand raced to save the distressed maiden, he leapt from his trusty steed, and ground tied him, as whistling lead and the smell of gun powder filled the air.
I made that up, but did recently finish reading books by two different authors, where the hero ground tied his horse under all conditions- they ground tied so much I got tired of waiting for the horse to run off. Things that I have read, and or tried with ground tying indicate the cowboy may need hiking boots instead of cowboy boots if he ground ties too much.
Much like the cowboys that loop the reins around the hitching post in the old movies, horses will shy and get the heck out of Dodge if too much action and noise starts. Heck my pick-up doesn’t like to stick around if things get to wild-------but I do.
I like well researched western reads, not sure these writers had spent much time around horses. Too bad, one of them was fast paced and fun.