Monthly Archives: September 2020

OUR TIME ON ROUTE 66

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OUR TIME ON ROUTE 66

Five unique short stories and novellas set on historic Route 66 in Texas:

  • A gripping story of family betrayal, deep despair, and a young girl’s courageous triumph. MAGGIE’S BETRAYAL by Natalie Bright
  • A young soldier leaves his new bride for war sharing their life through letters in this heartfelt story. WAITING by Rory C. Keel
  • A down-on-his luck cowboy sees opportunity in a young widow’s neglected ranch in 1944 Texas. SUDDEN TURNS by Joe Nichols
  • A Cherokee Chief predicts Mora O’Hara’s future as she travels The Mother Road seeking closure after a career related tragedy. SHOWDOWN AT U-DROP INN by Cait Collins
  • Raylen Dickey learns the difference between her friends, lovers, and enemies. FEAR OF HEIGHTS by Nandy Ekle

 

Five authors tell five different stories, through five different time periods, and all crossing the same place—the Tower Station and U-drop Inn.

Read it now!

Amazon       Apple iBooks        Barnes and Noble

Carpe Diem Publishers

Reasons to Write

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Reasons to Write

Why do I write? Is it because throngs of fans demand it anticipating every word of my next masterpiece? Is it because I honestly expect to make millions of dollars on a bestseller, or desire to be famous? No.

Over the next few weeks I will share with you a few of the reasons I write.

Reason #1

 

I write to tell a story. Everyone loves a good story. Children drift off to sleep with their heads cradled gently in downy pillows, and their minds full of colorful images from fairytales. Young adults turn the pages of books filled with adventure, loyalty, and sometimes tragedy. They experience a spectrum of emotions as they learn the meaning of dedication, true love, and even loss. Adults feel alive with the thrill of a great suspense novel. As we grow older, we can gain a sense of who we are, and where we came from by reading of our youthful yesterdays.

For a few brief moments in time, a story affords the reader the opportunity to escape reality. Traveling through time into other dimensions, we can explore the far reaches of the future, or a place in history. A story allows the reader to become someone else, able to triumph over evil, or transform into the bad guy. The words of a story can inspire us to overcome the odds stacked against us, and we can experience the exhilaration of victory.

Everyone has a story–write yours.

Rory C. Keel

Reason # 2 next Tuesday!            

Researching the West

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Researching the West

By Natalie Bright

Tucked away on a little side street in San Angelo, Texas, a quaint bookstore is filled with hard to find books, the majority of which are westerns.

The owner of Cactus Bookstore was a personal friend of the great western author, Elmer Kelton. The store features an extensive collection of Kelton from used trade paperbacks to pricey autographed first editions. I asked him if Kelton had ever written a how-to book on writing. He said, “No, but I have this.” He handed me a cassette tape, 90 minutes, featuring two of Kelton’s keynotes from 1989. Marked down half-price, I grabbed it, and what a treasure. While it’s short on specific technique, it’s long on wonderful stories and quotes from the people who crossed his path. Kelton also shares his personal favorite western novels, and includes insightful background on creating unique characters.

I already own one of his recommendations: the most realistic account he knows of for a cattle drive, THE LOG OF A COWBOY by Andy Adams. Published in 1903 by University of Nebraska Press, I found this well-worn book at a used book store in the Dallas area.

For an entertaining read, it’s a little dry, however historians and writers will love it. Written in first person narrative by a young man who moved from Georgia to Texas after the Civil War, the specific details are invaluable. For example, here’s an excerpt about a sale which took place between Mexican vaqueros on a March day at the Rio Grande.

Here he explains the important count after the herd was transferred across the water. The cows were strung out between four mounted counters; a Mexican corporal, a US Custom House gov’t man, the drive foreman, and a drive hand. “…the American used a tally string tied to the pommel of his saddle, on which were ten knots, keeping count by slipping a knot on each even hundred, while the Mexican used ten small pebbles, shifting a pebble from one hand to the other on hundreds.” The story continues with two men agreeing on the same number of 3105 head, one man came one under and another came one over. The deal was sealed that night over dinner in Brownsville.

I’ll be blogging more about my prized Elmer Kelton tape. Thanks for following Wordsmith Six blog!

CROSSING GENRES: Yea or Nay?

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CROSSING GENRES: Yea or Nay?
Natalie Bright
If you’ve been in this writing game for very long, you’re probably heard, “pick a lane and stay in it”. While others advise us to remain open to every opportunity. So, what’s a hard-working writer to do? Do you resist or walk through those doors?
Several of my favorite authors who have crossed genres successfully are listed here.
*Texas author Jodi Thomas earned a sizable fan base with very successful historical western romances and then moved into equally successful contemporary romances. She remains the Queen of Texas romance.
*James Patterson is best known for his mystery-thrillers and he also pens a young adult series (Take his writing master class because it’s fantastic at masterclass.com).
*Joanna Penn writes horror/thrillers and how-to nonfiction, plus she has a new travel blog which is very interesting at Books and Travel.
*Neil Gaiman writes dark fantasy, comic books, graphic novels, audio theater plays, children’s books, short fiction, and even poetry.
There are many other authors I could name, but you get the point. Some have successfully crossed into other areas of the craft.
IDEAS ARE EVERYWHERE
In my mind, I wanted to be a freelance writer with articles in a wide variety of publications, anthologies, and popular magazines. But I got an idea for a children’s book (TROUBLE IN TEXAS Series) which went nowhere with an agent, so I became an Indie Author. And then I was inspired by several rescue horses (FLASH and TAZ) which prompted several books in a RESCUE ANIMAL Series. At a Western Writers of America conference, an opportunity to write a book about chuck wagons gob-smacked me in the face and the result is a cookbook set for publication May 2021. A cookbook author? No way, not me.
SHOULD YOU WALK THRU THAT DOOR?
Which brings me to the most recent label that dropped into my lap—romance author. From the very beginning of my writer’s journey I remember saying more than once, “I don’t want to write romance books.” A HUGE fan and reader of romance absolutely, but I had no desire to learn that genre. But then an idea happened, and you know how writers are. It’s impossible to ignore the people in our heads. A girl inherits a Texas ranch from grandparents she never knew, and her story refuses to leave my brain.
It was at a Western Writers of America conference that I met Denise McAllister, a book editor ( https://www.mcallisterediting.com) who I hired to edit my self-pub projects. The ranch story kept brewing and over the next few years while working with Denise, I discovered she used to show horses. I needed a horse savvy co-author who could deepen the relationship my character had with her horses (the climax of book #1 was a fire which killed the MC’s horse.) Denise came on board but said no way to the horse burning up, and a new series was born. The genre in my mind is women’s fiction. I wanted to write about a young woman’s deep emotional journey.
It was also at a Western Writers of America conference that we met Lauren Bridges with Wolfpack Publishing, who had just been named Managing Editor of a new Christian imprint. Long story short another year went by, Denise and I kept writing and working on our co-authoring process and Lauren kept reminding us that she was interested in reading our work.
BIG NEWS!
This past week we signed a contract with Lauren and CKN Christian Publishing for 3 books in the new WILD COW RANCH series in the genre of ‘Christian western romance’. Book 1 MAVERICK HEART is set to release January 2021 and Book 2 WILD COW WINTER soon after. We are editing Book 3 now.
Romance author? Alrighty then, let’s do this!
ARE YOU RESISTING?
What are you resisting along your writer’s journey? YOU might be the only one holding YOU back.
Do you think writers can be successful in multiple genres? Share, like and let us know your thoughts. Thanks for following Wordsmith Six.
Onward, and be fearless. We will make it thru 2020.

STATING YOUR OPINION: DO WE CARE?

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STATING YOUR OPINION: DO WE CARE?

Natalie Bright

The extremely prolific author Marie Force indicated in an interview that she wants her social media sites to be a place where readers can escape. They can disappear into the world of her fiction and get away from the stresses of their day. She writes to entertain and has always limited her personal opinion on controversial topics. NO political rants. She doesn’t want to offend her fans. Her books recently hit 10 Million in sales; Ms. Force knows how to sell books.

How refreshing! I just bought several of her books.

Which brings me to the dilemma I had faced just this week. After purchasing an author’s newest release, which I loved, I thought about posting reviews on Facebook and Twitter, and even considered featuring this book in a future blog. It really is an unusual, beautifully done book. I was so excited to share it with my followers. The problem is that this author’s Facebook posts are ALL political, and not the nice kind. Whether or not we agree on issues isn’t the point. I don’t want to offend any of my followers by sending them over to this author’s sites.

Every follower is a potential reader, no matter their background, religious leanings,  or political convictions. I want them to buy my books. Period. I agree with Marie Force. The thought of offending anyone causes me stress, particularly in today’s world. Even the slightest, most innocent jokes are making people turn ballistic.

In this crazy world, will my readers reflect on the people I connect with and possibly reconsider their connection with me? Sadly, yes. My stories don’t have an agenda. I write for entertainment (mainly my own). I read fiction to escape. I listen to music for entertainment. That’s not to say we shouldn’t stand up for what we believe, but if you create products for sale is there a cautionary line to consider?

Just food for thought in this PC world. Let us know what you think by leaving a comment. I wish for you a productive week with lots of word filled pages! Thanks for following WordsmithSix.

Here’s the interview with Marie Force on The Self-Publishing Show Podcast.

https://selfpublishingformula.com/episode-241/

And find out more at her website here  https://marieforce.com/