Snow Day

Now that summer is officially over with snow yesterday and last night, guess I can get into my normal grumpy winter mood. Here in the cowboy state we get most of our yearly moisture in the form of snow. It reminded me of this line from a C. J. Box book -

“Wyomingites, Joe had observed, didn't know what to do when it rained except get out of it, watch it through the window, and wait for it to go away.” C. J. Box - Open Season

With snow on the ground today, I couldn't wait to get outside. By afternoon the wind was gone, the sun peek-a-booed in and out and the temperature went to 30. Another great day out west.

Maybe That Old Boy Hemingway is Right

Ernest Hemingway gave the following advice to help with writer’s block. “The best way is always to stop when you are going good and when you know what will happen next. If you do that every day when you are writing a novel you will never be stuck. That is the most valuable thing I can tell you so try to remember it.”

Some of my writer friends and I often write until we are stumped then go to bed and sleep on it. Funny that seems to never work. I have a tough time stopping if I am on a roll. Seems Hemingway thinks you quit when you are ahead. He seemed to do okay, maybe he has something here.

By the way my checker didn't like Hemingway using good instead of well.

That’s my two cents for today time to ride off into this evenings Laramie Range sunset.

Photo Taken Four Miles Northwest of Town

Old Cowboys and New Westerns

Last evening I finished reading, A Texas Ranger, by William Macleod Raine, written more than 100 years ago but still a very good tale. Some of these older westerns seem to be somewhere in between all the pulp westerns that were so well read a half century ago and the newer, truer western of a few years ago.  The difference between the new and the traditional westerns was summed up by Elmer Kelton, an all-time favorite of mine, when he said that Mr. L'Amour's characters ''are always seven feet tall and invincible, mine are 5 feet 8 and nervous.''
Seemed to me that much of the action, in westerns today, is still the seven foot tall and invincible style but grittier in modern westerns. That’s why I read them, love the action, that’s why its fiction, it’s over the top. If I see any big changes in newer western novels it might be the removal, at times, of stereotypes of Indians, women, Mexicans and some religious groups. (See Zane Grey)The so called formula western is still alive with a fair following, the one that puts the good guys against the bad guys. More and more westerns seem to be of the romance variety and these new westerns seem to be dominated by women writers, nothing bad about that, just an observance.
Type in “Westerns,” into an Amazon book search – most interesting. You will find a mix of new and old, romance and traditional and many very cheap or free on Kindle stories. 

And like any good cowboy in the end I will ride off into the sunset.

Great Sunset Over the Laramie Range December First 2014

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone has a great day today!

Writing Tips - I Don't Have Any

Like so many of us that find great joy in scribbling down a few words I find reading writing books and tips interesting.

I stay away from ever giving tips as I really don’t have any but I sure do read a lot of others. Have you ever noticed that if you don’t like one writer’s expertise on how to write you can simply turn to another, and then another if need be, until you find one that writes the way you do? Things like, write what you know, or never edit as you write a first draft come to mind. I remember reading somewhere that if we write only what we knew there might not be so many murder mysteries for sale. Hemmingway re-read and edited each morning before he started writing again for the day, seems like it worked for him.

So where am I going with this? The one thing that all writing experts seem to agree on – writers need to write. Pretty simple, writers sit down and get to work, might do it many different ways and at different times but they all write. Me, I dream about writing, and think about writing, and sometimes I get around to writing.

Snow Clouds Roll in over Guernsey Lake

Guess it’s time to sit down and write.

Wish I had a poem for the winter sky last evening.

 

 

 

A Western Bestseller

I still read many traditional westerns each year. Seems like not too many of us still do, although there seems to be enough of a niche market for old time shoot-um-up westerns.     

Today’s westerns, at least after perusing the Amazon bestselling lists, seem to lean more to modern time stories set in the west, usually more mystery than conflict of characters.  Historical, Romance and Young Adult westerns all seem to still be popular and in some demand today. None are bad areas and all seem to sell.

Oddly it seems when westerns are listed in categories of mystery or romance they are more acceptable to the mainstream – just my thoughts.

Now I am going to set down and start writing my, all new, young adult, mysterious historical western – hope it will become a best seller. Tentative title, with tongue firmly planted in cheek. 

She Disappeared in the Mountains, Just Like Her Grandma –Aliens?

Early Snow in Wyoming - Anywhere from an Inch to a Few Feet.

 

Readin', Shootin', and Spittin'

Reading two recent mysteries I was surprised by how, unlike real life, the dialog sounded. I remembered reading this tip, and jotting it down, somewhere, a few years ago. I couldn’t remember it all, but the internet is such a great resource to find needed information.

“If you are using dialogue–say it aloud as you write it. Only then will it have the sound of speech.”  John Steinbeck

Great advice and so simple. This is also a great tip if you are self-editing, read it aloud. If it sounds funny and it’s not supposed to might be time to – revise.

Some western writers have a great passion for dropping the ‘g’ at the end of words. I think it sounds all right most of the time but am not sure it is always needed.   Ridin’, eatin’, drinkin’, fightin’, shootin’, can get to be too much for me as a reader. Read it aloud, does it sound natural or forced?