Back from Vacation and back to Writing

Home Again – After a nice trip to Branson, Missouri we are back home. It is always nice to get away, and then nice, to be back home. While in Branson we caught up with old friends and took in several, terrific as always, shows.

Now home again with regular chores and back to writing, and oh, we just voted a couple of hours ago.   

From the Old West –  Too little temptation can lead to virtue

A View of Laramie Peak from the Trails at Guernsey State Park

What Am I Working On? – Editing the fourth book of my Mike and Moose & Me kids chapter books. Also doing some serious writing and researching on my nonfiction Fort Laramie Book.

For writers reading this, I have never done the NaNo, write a book during November project, admire those that do. I am too lazy and too random to keep to a tight schedule and to stay on the same subject.

My New Book is Out - My second book of Christmas short stories is now live and for sale on Amazon. 

 Photo of the Week – 

A ride and dinner on the Branson Belle

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

& 

Hope everyone made it through the time change ok.

A Novel Setting

Choosing the setting for a story is never easy unless you follow the old writer's adage of write what you know. That is exactly what I do, or try to do.  I set my stories in places I have been, typically many times or places where I live or have lived.

All three of my children’s books are set in my hometown in Southeast Nebraska. My historical fiction all starts in Wyoming, where I live, but often wanders into nearby states.

 Recently I read a book, supposedly set in the area where I was born and where I spent many years. I was excited to get the book and start reading. It was a pretty good story but could have been set anywhere as the story used no descriptions of the area.  At the end I got the feeling that the author might use other titles for this same book, change a few words and re-release it. When I read I like to feel like I am there, and like stories that take me away. I have never visited Hogwarts. But felt like it when I read the Harry Potter series. I also like Lee Child books, often set in big cities that I have not visited, but I feel like I know them when reading.

I live in Wyoming, grew up in Nebraska, spend time each year in Colorado, South Dakota, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri and like to write about those places. We have also spent a good bit of time in Australia and Hawaii, places I someday hope to use as settings.

Take me away with a story and I love it.

Today’s photos from hikes in the nearby Guernsey State Park the past few evenings.

Thanks for reading - click here to see all my books on Amazon

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!"

The Words of September

Another month has passed, fall is here, and the colors are terrific.

Fall Color in Wyoming

Writing totals for the Month

I had hoped September would see an uptick in my writing, but instead, I wrote a bit less than last month. This month writing numbers include 17 blog posts and 11,291 words on all of my projects. This brings my word total for the year to just under 167,000. I need to pick it up to reach my goal of a quarter of a million words, right now it looks like I will come in around 200,000. My original goal was 350,000 then lowered to 250,000. I am not sure if I set my goals too high, or if I have become lazy. This year is the first that I have kept exact totals so maybe next year will tell the tale of how many words I write each day, month or year.

Standing in the Oregon Trail Ruts a half mile south of our home

Sales are up

Although my word total was lacking, my book sales were and still are up. I have three new books nearly ready to go and hope to update my Christmas book to a second edition and get it out before Thanksgiving.  If I do all of that, I should have a good writing month in October.

Two Fawns in Fall

What a September

Not much writing in September but it was a great month for everything else. We went back to southeast Nebraska for our 50-year high school class reunion – Class of 1966. I also spend some time in the Laramie Range, visited the old Iron mining town of Sunrise, spent a day at the world famous Spanish Diggings and half a day at one of my favorite places, Fort Laramie. My wife and I also, with the cooler temperatures, started our fall hiking at Guernsey State Park.

Here I am taking a break sitting on a pile of broken stone at the Spanish Diggings
Unbelievable that this stone was worked thousands of years ago - what a great trip

Garden Book 

Oh, and the garden is looking good. Which reminds me, I have not mentioned that one of my works in progress is a gardening book. Tips for beginning gardeners at altitude, and a collection of short murder mysteries that take place in – you guessed it - the garden. It will be a short book, coming in at around 100 pages, but so far I like it. The others will be my second Blade Holms western mystery and the third in my series of children’s books.

Nothing beats a backyard garden

My two latest published projects, a book and short story, along with my other four books can be found here.

Thanks for keeping, Ghost of the Fawn, and Interview with a Gunfighter, consistently in the top 200 the past month, it is appreciated more than I can ever say.

Keep on reading and keep on writing!

Top of the world view from the area of the Spanish Diggings

Spring Fever? - Might Be!

This is my third post tracking my writing progress this year. For those of you who have not been lucky enough to read the other two fantastic posts – here is a synopsis. This year I am keeping a journal of my daily writing, the number of words and what I was writing. Not too hard. The goal was to write almost every day. I know, I know, big time writing blogs keep telling us to write every day, no exceptions. Well, that’s too hard. I can't’ t do it, but I am not doing badly.

Maybe I will get my writing flying along again soon

We are on day 52 of the year and I have written 49, pretty good for me. On big days, I go 2,000 words and more and on slow days, I go two or three hundred. This week was tough, just didn’t get it going. I skipped writing on Friday and Saturday, two days with zero words. Friday we were out of town shopping, ugg, and Saturday looking at Golf Carts and then playing golf, now that was a nice day.

Some days are good writing days, others are good hiking days - like today

And speaking about writing every day my, On-Line friend, author Oscar Case at -   has a fun post today on the same topic, not getting enough writing done. If you have not yet found his blog, give it a look.

Even with the days off I am averaging a bit over 1,000 words a day, about right for my goal of 350,000 words this year. If I could write in the morning, it would help, but I cannot. I read and work outside, but unlike most writers just can't get going in the morning. Maybe someday. On a good morning, I will get in an hour or more of research on one of the two nonfiction books I am working on.

My nonfiction books take a great amount of research
Research on guys like William Scott Ketchum
at one time the commander of nearby Fort Laramie

Took time today for a nice hike in beautiful Guernsey State Park.

The difference between a good hike and a great one might be  the view

Keep writing.

Getting in some camping before he needs a reservation - Smart Turkey

Summertime and the Writing is Slow

Some days, okay, most days I am glad I don't have to make a living as a writer. I do consider myself a full time writer but I have an income other than from writing, and boy am I glad. Last month was terrific but this month is starting slow, only a handful of sales so far. 

My kids books seem to be popular this summer.

I am just too distracted by things other than writing in the summer, hiking,  playing golf, photographer and spending time with kids and grand-kids seems to occupy most of my time. Oh - and then there is the lawn and garden, they take no time in the winter. This summer we are tackling painting the house also. No wonder I am not getting much writing done. 

Seems like most of my writing is now late at night and about an hour is all I can squeeze in before sleep comes calling. In winter I will write up to 3,000 words a day, now maybe a couple of hundred. Need a few more rain days,  miserable type days so I can get some work done. 

I am closing in on completion of my Christmas Short Story book and it looks like it will be out as planned this fall. Where I am falling badly behind is with my new nonfiction book, still researching and the going is slow, hope it does not take the two years my CCC book did. 

Enjoy the outdoors, it's summertime!

My wife enjoying a cool mountain stream

Post #202

Can't believe I missed celebrating my 200th post. After I made post 201 I noticed I had missed the big 200. Oh, well, its only a number like weight and age and calories and . . . . . . .

My western mystery, Commitment, is out in eBook only and not selling as well as my three print books. Not sure why. The three print books, two chapter books for kids and my nonfiction book about the, Civilian Conservation Corps and the building of Guernsey State Park, are selling a few copies each day. Not much, but to an independent writer like myself, that's a big deal. I will have, Commitment, out in soft cover in two weeks (fingers crossed) and then will see if it sells better as an E-reader book or as a paperback.

I'm a bit of an old guy,

and maybe my readers are also, we like books. But I do love my Kindle and like putting books on the cloud (not sure what type of cloud it is or where it is located) so that I can read them wherever I am. But, there's just something special about holding a real book.

Coming this fall - my next western. That is if I get the house painted soon

Covers and Chapter Books

Looks like I need a new cover for one of my chapter books. I have read so many posts about how important a book cover is. I never really paid attention but I guess they might be right. I take no more than a passing glance at a book cover, couldn't tell you what has been on the cover of any book I have ever read. I might be able to make a guess. I look at the title, turn the book over and read the back material, if I like it I go further, if not, I put it back and pull another book. I do like titles and sometimes will pull a book from the self because I like the title, I turn it to the back and read. I must be out of the norm - far out. That probably is the case.

Not sure what to think - see all my books here.

But the second book in my kids chapter book series is selling much better than the first. And I love that first cover. Why? Well, maybe because it was my first. So, guess what, I will be changing it. I had a professional designer/artist tell me why the second cover was good and the first was lacking.

The cover to be changed - too bad for me

I do the covers myself, using simple templates, and might someday try a professional, but the cost is too much. I only make a few dollars each month from my four books and am not ready to spend several hundred on a cover or covers.

The better cover - designer liked the colors and photo better

I am taking a longer look at my eBook covers and may do more changes on them, it is much easier to do only a front. Much easier than front, back and spine.

The following book covers seemed to have passed the first look test.

My target readers, historical society and park types love this cover

My western mystery novel cover

Re-writes and a Walk in the Park

Doing some re-writes on all three of my books. Hope to have all ready to go again in the next week or ten days.

 Celebrated the completion of finishing the first with a walk in the park. Well, that might be a bit of a stretch as here I am taking a break.

Or maybe I was just enjoying the view.

Now back to work. But first some early spring beauty.

The first wildflowers are starting to show blooms

Beautiful and Creepy

With a bit of good luck, my next post will fill you in on my newly finished books. And some links.

What I Do Not Like to Read

Meaningless dialog- nothing closes up my book faster. I am not a big writer, or reader, of dialogue, and when it does not work, I find a new book.

I have tried to review, and/or edit three different projects for people in the past week and they all fell victim to bad or meaningless dialog. The first tried to be so regional that it was nearly impossible to read. I spend time in Louisiana every fall and people do not talk like her Louisianan’s. The two other projects, both from the same gentlemen were rife with meaningless dialogue.

The, “hey what’s going on,”

“Not much.”

“How ‘bout you.”

“Nothin’”

Where I Go for Inspiration

Maybe that is why I skip most of the dialogue, hard to write, hard to read.

When History Becomes Important

How many times do we hear someone say, “I wish I would have listened more and learned more in history class when I was in high school,” or something similar?

Seems like what happened long ago is more important as we get along in years. I look back now wondering, as a career history teacher, why I did not ask my dad more about his World War 2 time in the South Pacific.

This gets to today’s point. Know your subject before putting pen to paper, or in today’s world, fingers to keyboard.

My list of what a western writer needs to write a good western story.

This list can also be used by readers, do the stories you read follow my list? Can you add more?

1.   Knowledge of basic American history and deeper knowledge of the region of America where your story will take place.

2.  Know your weapons – if you haven’t already, go out and shoot. Understand how a gun feels, what recoil (kick) feels like, smell the powder, reload the weapon.

3.  Know the lay of the land (hills, mountains, rivers, streams, roads, and trails, anything that is there or was there). I know Wyoming and the states around, I will not try to write about places I do not know. I have traveled to Australia and would love to have a character do that someday.

4. Google Maps – If you write in the present use Google maps, you can go up and down streets in the city of your choice, visit places you have never been. It really is pretty amazing

5. Most westerns are simple adventure or mystery tails and a good adventure/mystery is much better in a great setting.

6. Characters need to be real breathing people not cardboard cutouts to the reader.

7.  Tell a great story – write it as good as you can

8. Edit – Edit - Edit

The Westerner, The Virginian and Good vs. Evil

In Robert Warshow famous essay, “The Westerner,” he talks about the classic genre western. Warshow says it is, “always around 1870 and the hero is the last gentleman.” That was so true of the old style one dimensional western, and I liked and read a lot of them. They are still popular enough to remain in print today and provide a living or part of a living for many western writers.

Warshow goes on to say that, “The Westerner comes into the field of serious art only when his moral code, without ceasing to be compelling, is seen also to be imperfect.” This really brings to mind the first of the great moral dilemma westerns, one that in fact came out before the rubber stamped Hollywood versions of the old west. The book and movie was the, “Virginian,” a story where the protagonist must decide what to do when it is all about bringing the bad guy to justice and the bad guy is an old friend.

Take a look at what you are reading—is it an old time good vs. evil, Hollywood story, or is it more compelling, with the hero chasing not only bad guys but maybe a few inner demons as well?

 Warshow also compared the western to the gangster movies of his generation (the 40s and 50s) and one could do that today comparing recent western movies to new gangster genre movies and Television series.

“The gangster's world is less open, and his arts not so easily identifiable as the Westerner's. Perhaps he too can keep his counten...ance, but the mask he wears is really no mask: its purpose is precisely to make evident the fact that he desperately wants to "get ahead" and will stop at nothing. Where the Westerner imposes himself by the appearance of unshakable control, the gangster's pre-eminence lies in the suggestion that he may at any moment lose control; his strength is not in being able to shoot faster or straighter than others, but in being more willing to shoot. "Do it first," say Scarface expounding his mode of operation, "and keep on doing it!" With the Westerner, it is a crucial point of honor not to "do it first"; his gun remains in his holster until the moment of combat.”*

*  http://quotes.dictionary.com/author/robert+warshow?page=1#dETLrchdcPXoLSsy.99