Writing Places and Edward S. Curtis

 Confessions of a Writer of Westerns

January 10, 2022 

I am off to a pretty good start this year. I have not written too much, but I am picking it up. Last week around 3,000 words, this week almost 5,000, and I have edited through nearly 20,000 words of my new western mystery book. This is the first and longest of the three edits I usually do. After those edits, it will be off to beta readers – hopefully sometime in February.

Often writers, especially Indy and small house published writers like myself, have no set deadlines, leaving us open to changing gears, or directions, when we probably should not. By that, I mean we tend to stop what we are working on and start something else before finishing. I did this twice this week, had a great idea, and had to write it down. Most of the time, I write a few pages – in the case of these two book ideas, I wrote about three-thousand words. Now, I will leave both alone until inspiration strikes. If it does, I will let you know here.

My office, I did pick up a little before snapping this one. 

Reading – More looking at photos than reading, and very much enjoying – The North American Indian – The Complete Portfolios. This is the one-book compilation of Edward S. Curtis's thirty-year, twenty-volume work on the American Indian. Some day I hope to get a chance to look through one of the original books; sadly, not many around any longer.  

Reading Bookcase - constantly changing.

Weather – After the freezing temperatures of a week ago, this week has turned relatively mild. Most days start cool, low twenties or below, but reach around forty by mid-afternoon. Quite comfortable.

Quote of the day – "For one who reads, there is no limit to the number of lives that may be lived, for fiction, biography, and history offer an inexhaustible number of lives in many parts of the world, in all periods of time." Louis L'Amour

Beside my recliner in the family room - lots of writing gets done here.

Today's Photos – Self-explanatory – But I have an admission here. I bought another camera this week. Guess I thought six was not quite enough. Sigh – it's only money, they say - yikes!

Running in the snow

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

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.  

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

 

 

 

Christmas Slowdown - But, Not Much

 December 20, 2021

Writing –  My writing slowed down a little this week. Too much Christmas shopping and a couple of doctor appointments slow me down. Only a few over 2,000 words for the week. When I set goals, I wrote well over 300.000 words each year. Without goals, I write about half that. I still have not decided if I will set a word goal for 2022 or continue writing as I have been the past three or four years. We will see. 

I am doing heavy editing on my long-finished historical mystery/western. Trying to rework the second half – love the first half of the book.

As often happens, a new inspiration – yes, I started another book. Mostly notes and thoughts so far.

 

Reading – David Baldacci’s Memory Man. Off to a good start, and so far, it has kept me interested. Looks like a good one 

 

Weather – Cold and wind this week. A few days of blustery snow. All in all, typical December weather.

Quote of the day – “Any word that doesn’t advance a story slows it down. Which is reason enough to avoid expletives. Contrary to popular misconception, the term ‘expletives’ refers to a whole class of empty words, not just gratuitous profanities. Most expletives simply fill out the syntax of sentences. The most common is ‘there are, ‘there is,’ ‘there was.’ ‘it is,’ ‘it was,’ and son on.” -  Jack Hart

 

Today’s Photos – All shot on my walks this week. 

Have a Merry Christmas, everyone! 

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. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here We Go Again - I'm Back

 

Welcome Back - I have not written much in the last three years. I did publish two books for older (retirement age) readers. Not sure what slowed me down. Life, I guess.

I also finished the third book in my Blade Holmes western mystery series but have left it alone for more than a year – I was not too fond of the ending.

I seem to be back writing at my old pace —5,000 words in four days – pretty productive for me.

What am I Reading? – Edward Curtis – The North American Indian. A good read with all, or nearly all, of the Curtis collection of photos. This one feeds both my reading and photography appetites.

 

I am working on – Third book in my series for elderly readers and the fourth book in my Blade Holmes series. After some reworking, I am also hoping to publish the Blade Holmes novel (#3) I mentioned earlier.  

It looks like winter is upon us – good luck with your reading and writing, and stay warm.

Photos – Are from a recent trip up to Esterbrook in the Laramie Range 

Writing Word Goals and Misadventures

I set a goal to write 1,000 words a day this week - well, I wrote over 1,000, but it took three days. Summertime gives me too many excuses, and my writing suffers.

View on a recent hike - North Platte River, 3 miles from home

Like many people, I often find reasons to spend more time outside, because who doesn't love summer? This does set my writing back, but I do keep up with my reading.

I find that both walking every day, and writing every day helps me to clear my mind - really quite therapeutic

A bit of rest at the halfway point of a hike

Golf, hiking, walking, gardening, photography, and short trips seem to be part of my DNA when summer arrives.

The old days

But, someday, I hope not too soon - cold will return, and I might actually write 1,000 words a day - again.

 

                                                Part of one of our backyard gardens