the dog days of summer

Tuff enjoying a cool dip in the pasture dugout

We had a busy weekend, or at least I did. Saturday, I kicked my family out of the house to clean the garage. The mid-morning started out hot already, which was why, after pulling out as much stuff from the garage as we could and sweeping out all the leaves, dust bunnies, and insect carcasses, my youngest child kept asking me to spray her legs while we hosed and scrubbed the floor. By the time we finished cleaning, the temperature in the garage was almost 90 F and we had a fan going. The kids chickened out on us by then, so my husband and I finished the task of putting everything back. I had to wait for the floor to dry, while he built a quick shelf in front of where I park my truck; but that shelf allows more stuff out of the way and still leaves me room to fit my pickup so I can walk around it. A lot was rearranged. He and I worked in the garage a total of at least five hours. It was a long day.

Today, I started out tired but made the drive out to see my Buddy. I haven't seen him in two weeks because of weather and not feeling quite right. Today was blistering hot again with barely a breeze. I didn't ride, but I did check over my boy and gave him some treats. Afterwards, when I turned him out in his pasture and expected him to hightail it back to his friends, he surprised me. Instead, he followed me back to the gate with a look of "Aren't you forgetting something?"

I wasn't actually forgetting anything. I had just decided that he didn't need any body work, and I was already soaked in sweat just from the walk leading him in from the far side of the pasture and then brushing him off and picking hooves. So, figuring he wanted a quick work of his main problems, I went in and put my hands on his face. As soon as I did, he was yawning. It didn't take much, but I knew when he was done and happy. I said my farewell, and he meandered towards his friends--it was too hot to run.

I learned from my sister that I sometimes have a horse of a different color--apparently, Buddy likes to roll in the mud. I've seen her horses do it too. It's likely as much for natural fly protection as well as to cool off. Pasture horses know how to take care of themselves.

It's also haying season. Lots of cutting, raking, and baling going on right now. We pray for a few days at a stretch without rain so that the hay can be put up properly.

It was a quick trip, but I also delivered some goodies for the younger nephews and niece, toys that my kids no longer wanted or needed, which had been taking up space in the garage. And there were a few other items that my parents and sisters and their families could find useful. Now, if I could just get those old horse blankets and sheets sold, that would mean more space saving.

my Buddy and me

I think I overdid things yesterday. After a pretty good ride on Buddy, I trimmed his hooves. Today, I'm sore and extremely tired. Getting older sucks. I can't bounce back like I did in my younger years.

But I had fun getting to this. I've discovered more about Buddy, and he's learning more out on the farm than I ever could have done with him at a boarding barn with limited riding places. I've regained some confidence, even in the face of his getting a bit wild at times. He wants to play when I ask for a canter, but he's been a bit cooped up yet. Until the cattle get moved, the horses are in a paddock. Once the cattle are moved to summer pastures, the horses will get their pasture back.

But who am I fooling? I know Buddy. He'll still be mister wild child when he feels like it. Fortunately for me, he's also easy to control in those moments. But just to be cautious, I'm switching out his normal loose ring snaffle for a pelham with two sets of reins. I used to do that with my warmblood, who was far FAR more athletic than Buddy could ever be and dangerous when he had too much energy. The pelham bit gives me a little extra control when I need it. I learned to use two sets of reins before I ever started my warmblood in a double bridle. With Buddy, I'll have that shank rein for leverage when I need it but will usually only use the snaffle rein. Yes, he's been feeling like he could get out of control at times when we're riding. So far, I've been able to bring him back, but I'm too old to deal with a runaway. It's only when we're cantering or trotting that he gets a bit headstrong.

We're cantering more and more now too. We hardly did any canter until this spring, but the hills have been helping him learn to collect to carry a rider at a canter. Yesterday, we cantered circles on flat (although rough) terrain. He's learned from all of our lateral work how to listen to my body to pick up the lead that I want, which is pretty amazing; but he's always been very smart.

Also, I've been having to learn how to sit on him. Sitting the gaits is different on each horse, depending on their build and the saddle structure and fit. I'm figuring that out on him the more I get him to canter, and he's gaining confidence and roundness very quickly, but I suspect part of that is because he's depending on me holding him up in front. That will change in time. It's so much fun experiencing his development.

Last of all, this spring has been a cold one, but he's finally slicking out. Just a little winter hair left on his nose and ears. My little dressage/trail/cattle horse.

ps--It was too muddy and he was too ornery for me to feel safe riding him at the branding last weekend. But we observed from the ground. He settled in to the commotion quite nicely, even if he really wanted to run and play when given the chance; but he couldn't because he kept slipping on the wet grass.

pps--Although the western saddle fits him with the special shim pad and cinching system, he doesn't like it. He doesn't get sore, but he doesn't like it. He prefers our dressage saddle...and so do I.

Memorial Day

Thank you to all who have fought and died to guarantee our freedoms... One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Reminiscing and writing

I hope you enjoyed yesterday's post. Baxter Black was a rare treat when I was growing up. Where I live, we had Rodney Nelson as our local cowboy poet. I recommend anyone looking for a good story and a laugh look up more on Youtube.

So, what else have I been up to, besides reminiscing? Working at my day job for one.

Buddy with his new saddle after a long trail ride.

And training Buddy. It's that time of year when ranchers in my area brand, vaccinate, and castrate calves. (Don't want a bunch of little bulls running around.) Buddy is ready to help round up cattle now. He's becoming a real cowhorse, as I posted a couple of weeks ago. The big test is coming up. All the commotion and comraderie of neighbors gathering to help each other becomes a working party. It's a simple life well lived. But for a horse, it can be a bit frightening initially. We'll see how he handles his first branding roundup this spring.

And I'm excited that my brother and his family will be home for the branding also. Farm families are some of the closest knit families you'll ever meet. We rely on each other. Granted, like my brother and his family, who live in another state, I don't actually live on the farm/ranch anymore, but it's still in our blood. My sisters still live and work on the farm with their families, and my brother and I both wish we could too. Alas, our lives have taken different routes, but home is home. There's a peace about the open country where the closest neighbor is a mile or two away. There's real freedom in that, and it's a balm to the soul. Getting back to my roots has provided the greatest healing for me.

It's that peace that lets me regain my writing focus. The long drive to and from the farm of my youth gives me lots of time to think and clear my head. I've been using that to work out details of whatever story I'm working on. Because of that, the writing has been going well on #4 of Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds. Yes, #4 already! I like being two books ahead of the one I plan to release. And the shorter lengths keep me from getting bored.

I am really enjoying the way this series is going so far. The first draft of #4 (title TBD) is halfway done already. As I mentioned last week, I met a new character in this one who really intrigued me. He was exactly what the series needed, and I plan to keep him as a regular character from this point forward. I have a working title and a cover image, but I'm not sure if the title will fit by the end of the story. If I was as sure as I was with Vault of the Celestials, I would announce it here, but it looks like that announcement will have to wait until the end of June. Ironically, VotC (SA:FW #3) was an easy title and cover but a hard book to write; now, #4 is pretty easy to write but difficult to title. That's writing.

Speaking of June, THE RULE OF YONDER will be available June 20th. I'm going into final edits on that this week to have it ready in time to go out to all the retailers. I hope you're as excited as I am!

Despite their narrow escape from the Issan, Zaer's starship, the Da'Nelgur, was severely damaged. Vel and Shen have tried to fix the hyperdrive, and Nya is sound asleep. Their only chance to repair the ship to continue their journey to Ethal is a crime-syndicate-run remote city in interstellar space.

Yonder Station is not a place where anyone with sense wants to stay long, but it has its advantages. A home to salvagers, dealers, hustlers, and assassins, it is also a valuable trading post for the fringe of the galaxy, especially for information. The latest news is the Da'Nelgur's involvement with the Issan and the mysterious portals.

When Zaer is taken by one of the crimelords seeking what she knows about the portals, it's up to Nik and Nya to rescue her. But that same crimelord wants them too. To rescue Zaer, they'll need to avoid being captured while tracking where she might have been taken. What they discover could get them killed, or it could gain them powerful new allies. What could go wrong?

Pre-order your ebook copy today from major retailers:

Amazon
Apple
Barnes and Noble
Kobo
and many others

I am not on social media

You will not find me on Facebook (quit a year ago) or Twitter. I have also closed my Instagram account. Google+ is closed. MySpace is dead, as is LiveJournal. I haven't had any other accounts that I can recall, except blogs. Social media is the virtual wild west, too abusive, and too time sucking. I'm done with it. I am only hanging out online in private groups.

If you see someone masquerading as me on the primary social media hangouts, it is NOT me. Please let the platforms know if you find anything like that. I can be found here, on my blog. (I don't consider groups like Goodreads to be social media since it's more like a forum; although, depending on your definition of social media, a forum could fall under that heading. I just don't group it in with social media because it isn't quite the same.)

Now, back to your reading enjoyment.

edit 5/4/19: There is still one account that I mostly ignore. I get bothered by the company so much I may close that down too.

Cat pic spam

We have four cats in our house. They keep us smiling, and you'll see why.

The three musketeers - (left to right)
Suki, Jack, Dargo

The boys are BFFs

little miss tortitude cleaning her belly

Dargo is a big baby and a goofball

"My towels!"

Our geriatric Siamese, Padme.

The two Siamese and oldest of our kitties - Dargo and Padme

A wonderful day with my Buddy

I don't get many days like this, so I really enjoy them as fully as I can.

It's Easter weekend and I felt the blessings I have, despite middle-age health issues and having my horse fifty miles away. Today could only have been better if my sisters had been home to visit. But it was a great day, nevertheless.

I drove out to my family's farm to see Buddy and my parents and all the new baby calves. (It's that time of year.) I brought him in from the pen with his friends and trimmed his hooves, then had a great ride. It didn't start out great, but it ended that way. He started out being mister fussy-britches-somewhat-naughty boy, so we worked through it to get him focused. He even gave me some trot leg-yield. Seeing that he could do that, I asked from some walking haunches-in. Bending like that was a little difficult, but it kept him focused on me instead of worrying about not being with his friends. We had gone over the hill from the farm and back.

Then we rode around the yard a little and to the other side of the farmyard. He was trotting nicely, suppling in his jaw, and even letting me let the reins out while walking without him hurrying to go where he wanted to go. We had a puddle in our path that he took some convincing to walk through but not much. Seeing how he didn't need much more than to see that there wasn't any way around, I was pretty proud of him for that. But he got even better.

Saying "Hi" to Babe and Freckles on our
way back to the barn.

We continued around the first-calf heifer lot, then continued out to where his friends were in their pen. By then, he was walking on a nice loose rein with his head level with his withers. We walked by his friends with them following us and out through a steep, dry ditch and out by the south pasture, where he got a little nervous about a huge rock and a little calf, but otherwise continued with a moderately loose rein. We rode back over the culvert rode of that ditch we had ridden through to get out to the pasture, then came back riding on the buckle along the pen with his friends. I was very proud of him by this point.

Coming back brought on some anxiety for him, as we rode between the yearling and bull lots to return to the barn and untack. He earned a double helping of grain with his supplement. For once, he wasn't super sweaty, despite the 76 F temperatures and his winter coat, which you can see in the pictures. I think his mostly relaxed state today made a big difference, since he normally is a nervous nelly (and sweats a lot to go with it). Buddy seemed so much more confident than normal today, but not yet ready to ride among the cattle. Around them with a fence between him and them, okay. With them... We're working on it. This trail riding is what he's needed for a long time. It's building his confidence tremendously.

Nom Nom Nom!

After our ride, I gave him his spring 5-way shot including West Nile Virus while he enjoyed his treat. Then, I gave him more of a treat by letting him enjoy some of the spring grass coming up--he more than earned it! He even ate along the yearling lot on our walk back to his paddock with the yearlings crowding around him. (Yearling cattle are always curious. My horses growing up who were used to working cattle would occasionally get spooked when the yearlings would run to the fence to check us out.)

I didn't get many pics, but I managed a few.

Curious yearlings couldn't ruin his treat

the puzzle box

Writing is a puzzle, but a three-dimensional puzzle, like a puzzle box.

A well-crafted story has a conflict and actions that lead to a resolution at its most basic plot. But there are layers, extra dimensions, and also subplots that deepen a story and draw readers in. The trick is to give away just enough to spark questions in the readers' minds without giving away the idea, then lead the readers on the journey.

Every step of the story should inspire readers with questions of what COULD happen next.

That can be one of the most difficult parts of the craft of writing. But what happens when the puzzle pieces don't fit? I don't usually focus on the technical until something isn't working and I can't quite put my finger on it. That's when it's time to walk away and do something else for a while.

Think of it this way--corn starch and water aka oobleck. Put pressure on it, and it solidifies, becomes impenetrable. Release the pressure and it flows.

Sometimes creativity is like an oobleck. We push and push and it's like our creativity freezes. Then, we put it aside and at some point--poof!--the answer comes without effort.

I finally resolved an issue with Vault of the Celestials that had been bothering me throughout writing it and then after finishing. I knew there was something missing but could not put my finger on it and was getting frustrated. I took a break, did some editing on The Rule of Yonder (available for pre-order), and then needed a long drive. The best ideas always come during mundane tasks, like long drives, showers, and walking. Sure enough, the idea struck.

When I finally sat down to write, it all came together, FINALLY! Now, it all makes sense, and those extra layers of the story all tie together the way they were meant to. And what is resolved at the end is sparked early on in a way that will create the right questions to lead readers to what comes next.

Persistence pays off, but so too does knowing when to step back and take a break.

the rules of writing

I don't participate in online discussions as much as I used to even five years ago. Life has changed.

However, I was interested in a post that someone shared a link to in a new group I joined. It interested me because I use side stories tied to the main story in my Starfire Angels books. Since the Starfire has been through many experiences, they share these to teach. The discussion shared was about flashbacks and time jumping.

It got me thinking, because the OP had questioned using such devices. I remember early in learning to write that the advice was not to use flashbacks because they slow the action of the story. I disagree.

Anything goes in writing, if you can do it well and it makes sense to the story. A skilled writer makes it work for the story. What is that line from Pirates of the Caribbean--something like "Hang the code, and hang the rules! They're more like guidelines anyway." That's how I think about the "rules" of writing.

Every rule can be broken in a way that works, but that takes skill.

The only rules I follow are 1) finish the first draft, 2) editing can improve anything, and 3) if you don't like it, neither will anyone else. I guess those are more like guidelines.

Writing life

Writing a story is quite the adventure in itself, and not only in what happens to the characters. Rather, the process of writing each book is quite an adventure.

That process begins with the pre-writing: noting ideas, maybe even making a full outline, creating character bios (for new characters), synopsizing scenes, etc.

Then, we move on to drafting. That involves the nuts and bolts of what we consider a story: writing out scenes, action, descriptions, dialogue, etc. Basically, telling the story.

Then the rewriting happens. Adjusting dialogue, changing details, adding/taking out lines of dialogue/scenes, sometimes even removing whole scenes and chapters and completely rewriting them from scratch. This is a long process with lots of sulking and contemplation.

Then the editing happens. There are different stages to editing. Rewriting and editing go hand-in-hand. I consider rewriting to be far more than editing, however. To me, editing is the refining work that happens after the major rewrites. Editing is broken down from the content edits at the most extreme, beginning end of the process to copyediting, which is simply the grammar, punctuation, and word usage. By the time that's done, the book should be finished.

The real adventure happens before the editing, when we're sweating blood to make the story work. Vault of the Celestials has been quite the adventure since the beginning. It hasn't been easy, but it's not simply action. This one is more in depth in the characters' psyches. I have some personal issues to resolve for them before they can move into the next stage of their journey. Figuring out how to do that hasn't been easy.

I've completely rewritten the first chapter to give it a literal "Bang!" ... More like a "Crash!" as I mentioned previously. And the second chapter worked much better from a different character point of view than I had originally written it. By the time I got into the third chapter, I had a better idea of how to make this story work, but I still hit a bump in the road a couple chapters later. That's when I realized that I had it all wrong.

Once I took out what I thought needed to be done and followed where the story was leading me, everything flowed again... like a mountain stream! It poured through my fingers to the keyboard. Yesterday, I wrote a whole 2,500 word chapter in one sitting! It was a wonderful feeling. And later, I picked up and could have written another chapter, except that it was late and I needed to get to bed.

Today, I'll pick up where I left off, but each day brings a new mindset. Today, I was in the mind to change one little detail on a different book, a detail that has been bothering me since it could be misconstrued as a symbol of our modern politics, even though the story is set in a parallel world with totally different politics. All the updates are uploaded now, so that detail will be gone. No one said anything, but I didn't want anyone making judgments one way or the other, especially those I agree with! I write about made up worlds and just do whatever works in the story. What I had works, but my audience lives in this world, and that needs to be taken into consideration. It wasn't an issue when I first published the story, but it's become a symbol of politics since then.

With that done and the weight off my mind, I am focused again on this story. I've been making notes about Vault of the Celestials and figuring out what needs to happen to make the story interesting and give it the ending that satisfies the issues presented to the characters at this stage of their journeys. I love problem solving in this way; it's what keeps me excited. I never really know what might happen until the time is right that it's revealed to me.

This is the joy of writing for me--not only the adventure I share with the characters, the personalities on the page, but also the adventure of bringing an idea to life in a way that means something to readers.

Next month, I'll reveal the cover for The Rule of Yonder when pre-orders become available. Look for that book in June.