2022 - And Off We Go

January 3, 2022

As always, it seems odd to switch to a new year. I’m talking about writing 2022 instead of 2021 on anything I need to date. I wonder how long it will be until I write 21, 20, or maybe 19 as the year on something?

Writing – My writing rate was - I will give it an ok. I wrote just under 3,000 words the past week – not great, but for a busy week, not bad. I was somewhat distracted from writing by so many football games on television. We have not done anything special for years to celebrate New Year’s Eve or Day, which allowed me to put a few extra words on paper. 

I am still working on the editing portion of my historical mystery/western. It looks like I am about a third of the way through. I’m still not sure about the ending, but I did work on it.

 

Reading – Lawrence Blocks, highly entertaining, The Thief Who Couldn’t Sleep.   I am a long time Block fan but somehow never got around to this Evan Tanner series

Weather – Dipped under zero for the first time this winter. About one inch of new snow and lots and lots of wind, which I can do without for the rest of winter.

Quote of the day – “I was brought up in the great tradition of the late nineteenth century: that a writer never complains, never explains and never disdains.”  James A. Michener

Today’s Photos – All shot from my walks this week and a trip to the state park a couple of miles north of here.  

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

Never Too Old To Write

It’s Never Too Late – After retiring this man decided to write a book. In his lifetime, he had published two works and a couple of essays. One of his books looked at early poetry, and another was about reading maps, both thirty years before his retirement in the early 1970s. He finished the book in a couple of years and, of course, no one wanted to publish it. At 240 pages it was, too short for some publishers and one rejected it saying, “It has trees in it.” Finally, at age 75 the University of Chicago Press, as a favor to one of their old professors, agreed to publish it for him. This book would be the first ever fiction published by their famous press. How did it do? Well, Norman Maclean’s, A River Runs through It and Other Stories, did okay. Well, that is, if fabulous sales, a major motion picture, and a Pulitzer Prize nomination are okay.

There you have it – it truly is – Never Too Late

Writing by the Numbers – Another nice week, I have settled into a routine where I am writing three to five thousand words each week. For the year, I have written a bit over 31,000 words, through yesterday, and have written 33 of the 44 days this year. I am on pace to reach my goal of a quarter million words in 2019.

Reviews – I Can’t Make This Stuff Up – “To my dismay, the sample pages only contain the Foreward and Acknowledgement chapters, leaving me in the dark about the story.”   

The above was part of a one-star review I read about a very famous book. I wish this type of review could be taken off, as it has nothing, at all to do with the book.  (Note – I left the foreward, as I was using a direct quote – odd how so many misspell - foreword.

I once received a bad review for my misspelling of or misuse of a couple of words. The review stated they would go on to finish reading the book. This was at a time when I could not yet, afford an editor, still often my case. Did it really deserve a one-star if it was compelling enough to read on, and finish the book? Not in my mind, if I finish a book I will commonly rate it four or five stars. I rate on the story, not on a handful of errors I might catch. I finished a New York Times bestseller recently that I noticed a – the - where it should have been they. It happens!

From the Old West – The man who apologizes when there ain’t no need knows something you don’t.  

Photo of the Week –

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

Follow me on twitter at @wyohistoryguy

Keep on Reading and keep on Writing

& 

Have a wonderful rest of February.

Words on Paper

Making significant progress on WIP, I am about a third of the way through my projected number of pages. This will be my third Blade Holmes western mystery, not sure how many more will follow, maybe one more - then on to some new characters.

So far the big winter storms are all missing us here in Eastern Wyoming - now we are getting to a point we could really use some snow. I don't mind the snow, just hate shoveling.

Mule Deer in self-made frame

I am still struggling with cold and flu, seems the older I get, the longer it holds on. I did get some writing done last week, about 4,500 words, not a bad week. I still have too many days, three in a row now for the second time in January, when I wrote zero. I told my wife if we got rich, not likely when we are long retired, we would snowbird for a few months each year and see if I would feel better.

Book sales look about like I feel lately, not so good! Pages read still going reasonably well though, about average for me.

One thing I can always look forward to is spring, seems I always perk up that time of year.

This evening we are enjoying a terrific movie - Richard Dreyfull age 71, and Chevy Chase age 75, In The Last Laugh, at my age 70 it is a lot of fun. 

Prairie Dog checking out the December sun

Did get out with my camera a couple times last weeks, although I will admit, all photos were taken while sitting in my pickup. No walking - and I need some exercise/

Enough rambling - enjoy the week.

Writing & Editing

This is a short week for most American’s – When I was a teacher I always liked Thanksgiving break. It was long enough for me to relax but short enough for the kids not to forget too much before coming back.

Writing can be hard work – Today, I am cleaning up some computer files, as in, changing names so that I actually know what each one is. What a mess.

Selling Books – I went through a downtime a couple of weeks ago but now, for unknown reasons, I am again selling quite a few books and my KDP pages read is also back up.

From the Old West – An old-timer is someone who has had a lot of interesting experiences – some of them true.

What I Am Working On – Most of my week has been spent being lazy. The working part of my week (not nearly enough hours) I have been editing (still) my kid's chapter book. I am also spending time reworking the opening of the third of my Blade Holmes western mysteries.

I have great hopes that I will someday get back to a normal writing routine.

“Maybe – someday,” he says, fading away.

 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 wonderful Thanksgiving.

Writing - Editing, and Selling Books

Today Looks Like Winter – As I write this post, I am sitting near a nice window overlooking our backyard. I have been watching it snow, off and on, for the past two hours. Not sure, I am ready for winter yet, but, as always, the snow, big soft flakes, looks nice floating down. Getting back to the normal life routine can be tough after a vacation - that really hit home yesterday as we raked the front yard. Working outside is nice, but not quite like spending time with friends and family, eating out, and watching great shows in Branson.

From the Old West – Never gamble with a man that knows both sides of the cards.

What Am I Working On? – I have spent the last two days researching and writing on actions and activities in Wyoming in the middle and late 1860s – post Civil War. I also continue the rewrite and edit of my kid's chapter book, fourth in the Mike and Moose andMe series. I have also spent time, possibly too much time, looking at some marketing ideas as my sales seemed to have slipped the last two months.

Now that my second volume of Christmas tales (Under Christmas Skies), is complete and on sale, I ordered ten copies for myself. I often have people that want to order from me an autographed copy so always keep at least 10 of all my books.

 Photo of the Week –

Western Nebraska's, Chimney Rock, one of the most well known sites along the trails west.

 

As always, you can find all mybooks here on Amazon

 Or

Follow me here on twitter at @wyohistoryguy

Keep on Reading and keep on Writing

& 

I Hope everyone is enjoying a nice long fall, and that winter does not come until you are ready for it.

Where Have All the Bloggers Gone?

Where Have All the Bloggers Gone?

The title, with apologies to a great song from my high school years, asks a question that I really wish I knew the answer to.  Much like everything else, blogs seem to come and go. Over the past decade or so, I have watched several that I enjoyed go away. One of my favorites, the writer got simply tired of posting and interacting from his front porch cabin. It was hilarious and he had quite a few followers, including myself, who often joined in on the front porch conversations. Two others, that I really looked forward to reading passed away – sad as neither was what I would consider old. Others just quit posting, one I checked on yesterday to see what happened, it is still up but no new posts for over three years, guess I will give up on that one. Another blogger recently announced he was quitting because, well, I’m not sure, giving up because he was tired of it and moving on to other things. One lady who wrote my all-time favorite gardening blog, gave up because she didn’t have as many followers as she wanted, too bad, as it was a terrific blog for gardening and food preservation.

So why am I writing this? Am I about to quit? No, not yet and not thinking about it. I have been blogging on this site for nine years, and eleven on my Wyoming site. I have not posted as much lately but that is a slowdown, I’m not quitting anytime soon.

I have always enjoyed reading a good blog but lately, most of what I read are big commercial type blogs with hundreds of thousands of followers. I like reading many of these, but they do not seem nearly as personal as ones I followed back in the old days of blogging, a few years ago.

Recently another of my favorites has slowed to nearly a stop, hope he makes a comeback.

Selling Books - Odd, but I have done no recent advertising and as my readers are aware precious few posts, but my sales and pages read are up. Who knows what drives book sales, just when I think I have it figured out – I don’t.

We are just back from a nice break, spending a few days in the Ozarks enjoying shows and great company in Branson.

Today's photos - are from our daily walks the past three days – wow were we tired after returning home, but we forced ourselves out on the trails anyway – once we were out we enjoyed them, came home and crashed.

Have a great week and keep on reading and keep on writing. 

This one I snapped on vacation at one of my favorite childhood haunts outside of
Fairbury, Nebraska where I grew up

After a Bit of Time Off

I have taken a few weeks off - seems a series of trips to the Dentist and Cardiologist will do that. If you are as old as I am, or close, you may have heard the expression, "I was feeling kind of punk." It came from when wood started to rot and got punky, not sure I like that definition but then again . . . .

Muted colors as the sun was setting -  Mule Deer  does and fawns

Now I am feeling better and hope to get back to writing more than a couple of hundred words a week, where I am now. I have always tried to post on this blog three or four times a month and hope to still make it this month. 

View from the Castle on the North Bluff in Guernsey, Wyoming State Park

We are also planning our annual trip to Branson Missouri, in early November. We have been going there for many years, and it always seems to rejuvenate me, and along with that, my writing.

Walking up a mountainside

Meanwhile, my sales and pages read also seem to be slipping - might be my lack of advertising and blogging. 

My wife and I have been out the past few days hiking and walking, and with that, I have taken a few, okay, a lot of nice fall photos. Enjoy!

See all of my books here - read a free sample.

Taking a break on our Saturday afternoon hike

Keep on reading and keep on writing!

Books and Tracking Sales

Sunset Last Evening

I read a post yesterday where an author referred to the, 70,000,000 books available on Amazon. Is that correct? If it is, that is a lot of books. Makes me feel better about my sales rankings for my slower selling titles.

I took a quick look at Amazon this morning and found these numbers,  Soft cover – 34,438,903 -  eBooks, 5,557,018 and hard back, 14,631,957.  Quite a bit short of the 70 million, but this does not include, audio or large print, and various other book categories so it might end up close to 60 or 70 million, and as I said above, “That’s a lot of books.

Breaking down the two most common types, soft cover and eBook it looks like if a writer has a softcover book in the top three and a half million, they are in the top ten percent on Amazon. As for eBooks, a book in the top 555,000 places the author in the top ten percent once again. Interesting.

What is a Best Seller - I occasionally see a book or an author listing their book as a best seller, when I check it out the book often does not make my top ten percent numbers. Not really saying anything here, the numbers are fascinating though.

If I look only at the numbers above I have two books, my two Blade Holmes western mysteries in the top five percent of all books – not bad. So how much do I make from these two each month – drum roll please, around a hundred bucks. Not exactly Steven King or J. K. Rowling money. I do have other books that boost this to enough to make some good pocket money every month.

Good Numbers – Bad Numbers - So how about my worst seller? It’s my attempt at a humorous look at gardening. I like this book with useful gardening tips, humor and four short murder mysteries with a garden setting.  Well, it ranks in the top half in both soft cover and eBooks, actually top 20% in soft cover. Total earning or this book, $42.00.  Not so good, and I like this book. I am thinking about giving this one away for a few days next spring, just before gardening season, see if it can get any traction.

Selling Books Myself - One last thought, my CCC book does not rank high in eBooks or softcover because it is a local history book. I do quite a few speaking engagements, around the area, about this book and the CCC.  I have peddled several hundred copies myself and because it is sold in area museums and book stores it does quite good. This was my first to sell 100 copies and my first to pass 500.

Canyon four miles north of town - nice setting for a western story

Checking Sales - I don’t know of any writers that sell on Amazon who is not, at least, partially addicted to checking sales numbers and author rankings on Amazon. I try to limit myself but it is hard to not check each time I set down to the computer.

Sandy Cove at Guernsey State Park

Have a great rest of the week and keep on reading and keep on writing.

The Man From Hanksville - Terrific Western Read

A couple of weeks ago I finished Oscar Case’s excellent western – The Man From Hanksville. I planned on reviewing it earlier but spent too much time watching Little League Baseball. Just kidding, no Grandpa can spend too much time watching a grandson play baseball, and the kid is pretty darn good.

The Man From Hanksville is another fine read from Arizona Western Author Oscar Case, this is one I enjoyed as much as any western I have read this year. Written in the traditional western style but without the over the top violence, this is a book I am sure all western readers will enjoy. The story follows Jimmy Snyder the sheriff that cleaned up Hanksville as he attempts to start a career as a writer. From that point everything, well almost everything, except for the girl goes south.

This one is my kind of story, a western but a good mystery also, who are the bad guys? Who is in the grave? Why does nothing seem normal? All the parts for an entertaining read, and a couple of good horses too.

Give it a try – hit the link here to see, The Man From Hanksville, on Amazon and read the preview. Available in eBook or softcover.

Can't seem to post without a photo or two - I took these in my front yard about an hour ago. In case your are wondering, we live in a small town in beautiful eastern Wyoming.

Thought for a minute they wanted to borrow my pickup

I took this photo standing on our front porch about 30 feet from these Mule Deer
As an old guy, I should have hollered at them
"HEY YOU TWO GET OFF THE GRASS!"

Getting an Amazon Best Seller or at Least in the Top Half

I spent some time this morning doing research as to how many books Amazon has for sale. Might have fit better into, messing around on the internet, but I’m going with research because it sounds like I was working. During this research phase of my day, I could not find anything from the last few months but did see that in 2015 Amazon had 17.1 million books, in English, available for sale. The same information listed more than three million, written in English, eBooks.

If this is true, an author with a book consistently listed in the top one million seven hundred thousand will make it to the top ten percent of books on Amazon. The same eBook would need to be in top 300,000 to qualify. To be in the top half of all books listed for sale on Amazon, it would take a book in the top 8,500,000 or the top million and a half eBooks. Sounds pretty good except that a book selling near the bottom of the top half of all books on Amazon would only need to sell a copy or two each month to qualify for that ranking, maybe even less than that.

My first six books - click to go to my Amazon Author's Page

Got my proof books for my two latest novels today. Will need to make a few changes to the cover of, The Ghost Dance, I didn’t like the white font. Otherwise, it looked fine. Hope that doesn’t take long. That book will be out to first readers in the next day or so – then some final edits, and it will be published. The other proof is for the third in the series of my of kids books – Yikes, My Neighbor’s a Vampire. It is fine and should be as this is the third time I have made changes. My thought is, keep doing it until I like it.

I liked how it looked on my computer, but too light here

Now I am in the final part of my first draft of a gardening, and murder in the garden, book. It is a bit different, I hope readers like it.

I also continue the painstaking research on my second nonfiction book, still hope that I will get it out before 2018, but not sure. I am also hard at work on the third of my Blade Holmes, historical fiction- mystery novels.

Pronghorn walking the foothills west of town

The days are warming, and spring cleanup has started in our backyard. We have also made a few nice drives giving me a chance to get out with my camera.

Young Bison Bull

Keep on reading and keep on writing. 

Mule Deer running the Pronghorn off

Western Writers or Writing Westerns

I write about the West, some of it old, some new. All five of my adult books are set mostly or partly in Wyoming, my three kids books are set where I grew up in Nebraska. There is an old writer adage that says, write what you know. I like the idea of writing what you know, but also about where you have been. I still spend as much time as possible outside, observing and listening to nature, and anything else that flows in or out. Some of what I take in with my senses finds a way into my stories.

I love watching all sorts of wildlife and listening to anything that breaks the silence. I have found that the smell of a campfire can travel for a mile or more under the correct conditions. That made it into one of my books. A river and lake sound different and both sound wonderful in the rain. Describing the sound can be both challenging and rewarding.

Three Mule Deer - Rare Albino 2-year-old in Front

I call this site, Confessions of a Writer of Westerns, but I really don’t write westerns. Some are in that time period, but they are Historical Fiction, some I classify as Historical Mysteries. Everything I write is out west. Thus I am a western writer. I had a reader email me that read my book of Christmas stories. She had this to say, “The stories are so warm and true to life, I couldn’t put it down.” I thought well, that’s great.

Our Local View

Then she went on to say, “They sure don’t seem like westerns to me.”

In my reply I let her know that I appreciated how much she liked the stories and added, “They may not seem like westerns because they are not.”

 Most people, or maybe I should say many people, confuse the real west with the fictional wild west, where gunfights at high noon and barroom brawls were an everyday occurrence. The wild west of television series fame was a creation of Hollywood and made a good living for many pulp writers for decades. My books tell stories of the west, some old, and some modern, but they are set in a real west.

I enjoy writing about people in the west, some real and many products of my imagination all tied together. I am in the read through the proof stage now on my third kid's book, and my second historical mystery, with my legendary protagonist, Blade Holmes.

Bluebird

For the last few days, I am stepping a bit away from my usual stuff, but still set in the west. The book I am working on is about gardening in the West, gardening takes up much of my time when the weather cooperates. I also have a cozy mystery in the works about a Wyoming Golf Pro/amateur detective. But I will never get away from writing stories involving cowboys, ranchers, Native Indians, townspeople, soldiers and shopkeepers, all out west.

Taking a break - out with nature

Now it’s time to get back to writing and reading. 

Used this Golden Eagle for a scene in my newest novel - available next week

Writing - But No One is Counting

Seems I have had a burst of energy this week, more writing and much more editing. Now the weather is warming, and I can set some goals for spring. Oops, just looked out and it’s snowing – again.

Five Days Ago

I have, at times, posted a, what I did this month blog at the start of a new month, so what did I do in February? Quite a bit. First, I quit counting how many words I wrote. I have kept track of everything for two years and did again in January of 2017, then stopped. I got mixed reactions from writers who counted or did not count their words. Some thought it necessary to keep on task, others said they wrote what they wrote. My wife thought that I was getting a bit too hard on myself if I missed a day or two of writing. She was right, I put a lot of pressure on myself to write every day and to stay on pace for my quarter of a million words each year. Now I am writing, but no longer keeping track of numbers, kind of a relief and I don’t need to keep my calculator at hand.

I did go back and check to see how much I blogged last month, not bad, 11 on my blogger sites, three on Wordpress and five on Google plus. I had been away from Wordpress for a couple of years and decided to give it a try again, not gaining much traction and not sure I will continue posting there on a regular basis. Google Plus seems to have a lot of people, but I don’t get too many comments on Plus, nothing like my regular Blogger site where I have much more traffic.

This Golden Eagle Backlighted by the Setting Sun Yesterday - Spectacular Bird

I did get the review copy of my third kid's book, made a few changes on the cover and ordered another. Should go live later this week. That will be my seventh book and will be followed shortly by my eighth, as I will order the proof this week. Then I hope to finish the first draft – almost there – of my book on gardening. Busy days!

Meanwhile, keep on reading, writing and thinking of spring.

As We Left the Park Last Evening