GOAT – Writers & Books

 GOAT – Writers & Books

I often see lists, lots of lists. Most are a top ten or bottom ten of something. America's ten best or ten worst fast food items or places. The best football or basketball player of all time. The greatest writer or book of all time. Fortunately, all of these lists are fantasy. Can we compare Mickey Mantle to Babe Ruth or players in modern-day – different times and circumstances?

One of my favorites (favorites to be irritated by) is the ranking of Presidents of the United States by IQ. These are often drawn up by someone pushing a particular political party. And what IQ test did all of them take?

Lately, we have invented the acronym GOAT, or greatest of all time. Who knows? You get the point: Tom Brady, Michael Jordan, John Lennon, Joan of Arc, Catherine II., Shakespeare, Hemmingway, Twain.

But, what we can do is say who our favorites are, and here are a few of the writers that got me started reading westerns, and to this day, I still love reading and writing them.  

1. Elmer Kelton – I have read almost all of his westerns. Not sure I may have read them all. My two favorites – The Time It Never Rained and The Good Old Boys

2. Louis L'Amour – Some love him, others can't stand him. Some of his books seem a bit formulaic and flat, but others are some of my favorites. The Quick and the Dead, Hondo,  and Silver Canyon are favorites of mine. L'Amour sold over 200 million books, and they are still selling, leading me to believe there must be a lot of good reads among his works.

3. William W Johnstone – Johnstone wrote in many genres, but I have read only his westerns. I enjoyed his early works, with Preacher and Smoke Jensen, two of my all-time favorite fictional characters. The Last Mountain Man is my favorite of all the mountain men books I have read.

4. James Michener – Not everyone considers Michener a western writer, but he is one of the best to me. Centennial might be my favorite piece of fiction, and his novels Alaska and Journey are beautiful reads.  

5. Noel Gerson – This might seem an odd pick as Gerson wrote under nine different pseudonyms, including Donald Clayton Porter (the White Indian Series) and Dana Fuller Ross (The Wagons West series. When I read those two series many years ago, they were most enjoyable. The Wagons West series was continued by another terrific writer James Reasoner.

 

There you have it. A few writers and books to add to your reading list.

Here is a link to my books on Amazon – take a look and enjoy!

Keep on reading and keep on writing.

Photos – From our recent trip to warmer weather. 😊

 

 

Writing Time Again

 Writing – Still writing at a pace of about 1,000 words per day. That is about the best I can do, and for me satisfactory. In the last week, my best day was 1,950, and the lowest was 540. For many years I was writing anywhere from a quarter of a million words up to my highest output, 320,000.

Reading – Rereading Ron Scheer's most entertaining book on early western writers – How the West Was Written.  Enjoying it as much as I did my first read a few years ago.

Weather – Another nice snow this week, eight inches from late Friday to early Saturday. That snow gives us a total of 28 inches thus far. Not bad!

Quote of the day - "Read, read, read. Read everything -- trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it, just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it's good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out of the window." --  William Faulkner

Today's Photos – All shot over the past two or three weeks – Wyoming is a most photogenic state.

Have a terrific week everyone - Might be a great time to get your Christmas shopping finished. I know, pretty early yet. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Writing Update and Easter Guests

Looks like March does not want to go out like a lamb. Two or three inches of snow last night and looks like we will struggle to reach 40 degrees today (Thursday, March, 29).

Lots of guests here at our house recently, and that has made for good times, but not much writing. I have got out a little with my camera and taken a few photos. Now with Easter Eggs died, and the weather outside not fit for man nor beast, maybe, just maybe, I will get some writing done. Lately, most of my attention has been on the fourth book of my kid’s chapter book series, the Mike and Moose and Me series. They are fun to write and sell pretty well, but this one, the fourth is scheduled to be the end of the series. Might be a chance at another, but not right away, if ever.

Writing Goals - I am quite a bit behind on my writing goals, three books, to be exact. I hoped to have the kid’s book, I mentioned above, plus my nonfiction book, and the third of my historical fiction series, all complete by June first, now I hope to finish at least one by then. Such is the life of a procrastinating writer.

New free offer coming soon – One of my books, Ghost of the Fawn, has consistently underperformed, just does not sell many copies. The problem seems to be I wrote it with teenagers as the main characters, because of that it seems my adult readers are not giving it a look. I love the story, think it is a really fun read for all ages. In a couple of weeks, maybe sooner, I am going to put it up for a few days only - as a free book. Take a look here and read the free three chapters, I think you will like it.

Today’s photos from the Laramie Range a half hour west of our home in Guernsey, Wyoming

As always keep on reading and keep on writing - have a wonderful and safe Easter weekend. 

See all my books here on my Amazon page.