I can’t believe it’s almost Saturday again. I swear, the days are passing faster than I can count!

Miss Janet Dean, a talented and lovely lady, will spend the weekend here in Wildflower Junction. The Fillies have spiffed up the place all nice and welcoming. We’re ready to show Miss Janet some down-home hospitality that she won’t soon forget.

In addition to talking about her new book, Miss Janet will spill the beans on her two brothers who gave her pure heck growing up. Hee-hee, I love to hear about the shenanigans of brothers and sisters! Should be entertaining.

I hope you join us and give her a warm welcome. You’ll have a chance to win a copy of her new book and get some things off your chest in the bargain. It’s a good swap. See you tomorrow! 

“I wanted to be the first to view a country on which the eyes of a white man had never gazed and to follow the course of rivers that run through a new land.” ~ Jedediah Smith

At the age of 22, Jedediah Smith signed on with the expedition of General William Ashley to travel to the Upper Missouri and trap beaver. On his second expedition he was attacked by a grizzly bear. The bear came out of the thicket and mauled Smith violently, throwing him to the ground, smashing his ribs and literally ripping off his scalp. When the attack was over, the scalp was hanging on to his head by an ear. Smith instructed Jim Clyman to sew it back on. Clyman did the best he could, but thought nothing could be done for the severed ear. Smith calmly insisted that he do his best to stitch it back on. After only TWO WEEKS of rest, he resumed his job as leader of the group and led his men–and become known for his comb-over hair style.

In his lifetime, Smith would travel more extensively in unknown territory than any other single mountain man. He traveled in the central Rockies, then down to Arizona, across the Mojave Desert and into California making him the first American to travel overland to California through the southwest. In a most amazing journey, he also came back from California across the desert of the Great Basin. The heat became so unbearable Smith and his men had to bury themselves in sand to keep cool. His expeditions and overland routes are said to have connected America, as the railroad later would for those who didn’t care to walk

 

Unfortunately he did not get the chance to publish his journals but he was a man who felt accomplished in life. “I started into the mountains, with the determination of becoming a first-rate hunter, of making myself thoroughly acquainted with the character and habits of the Indians, of tracing out the sources of the Columbia River and following it to its mouth; and of making the whole profitable to me, and I have perfectly succeeded.”

Hope you enjoyed this glimpse of Jed Smith. One of the things I find fascinating about him was the influence reading had on his life. As a writer, reading has definitely had great influence on my life and my passion to become a writer. My American History college course really fueled my interest in the American West, but it was the first western romance novel I read, FORGIVING by LaVeryl Spencer, that had the greastest impact on my budding interest in becoming a writer of western romance. Can you recall something you’ve read that had a profound impact on your life’s journey?  

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow, you guys are GREAT! Every time I came back to check today, there were so many new comments! I had fun chatting with all of you about ideas–and of course about brownies. The chocolate kind.

One of the benefits of being an author is the great people you meet, and P&P blogger are great people! Thanks for your participation and for joining us often. We enjoy knowing you.

And now…the names are all in my cowgirl hat. I would have Elijah draw, but he’s a little under the weather having just had his tonsils out this AM, poor little guy. So I’m drawing…and the winner is….

Cheryl C

Yee haw! Send me your address, sweetie, and I’ll send a book out to you first thing. An early Merry Christmas to you!

Stayed tuned for more good stuff — and watch for the special announcements about our Big One Year Anniversary Bash coming SOON!

Smooches!

As soon as people learn that I’m a writer, there are a couple of questions that I almost never fail to hear. Every writer who reads this is nodding his or her head. One question is particularly silly to me. I usually reply with a quip–that people take as a serious answer.

“I subscribe to Idea Monthly.”

They say, “Oh.”

“I close myself in a dark closet, chant a mantra, and don’t come out until a complete story has come to me.”

“Oh.”

“I remember everything everyone tells me and I use it.”

“Wow.”

“Little green men come to me and night and whisper plots in my ear.”

“Oh.”

“There’s this little warehouse outside Tulsa.”

“Cool.”

Seriously, writers get ideas just like everyone else does. Ideas just come to all of us. As writers, we learn to brainstorm and embellish on the original idea until it’s plausible. Many of my ideas come from hearing a song, watching a movie, reading a book, or from my research. Something unique or emotional will catch my attention, and I’ll think “what if?” Then I play with the notion until I turn it into a story. From the original concept, I develop the characters first. I ask what kind of person will fit this role or this scene or this setting? Then I create the other lead character with built in conflict and an opposing goal.

Here are a few examples:

– Heaven Can Wait originated by taking a girl who knew nothing of the outside world from a sequestered environment and flinging her into a completely alien culture. That theme still fascinates me, and I have more ideas for others.

– Rain Shadow developed from the desire to do a sequel to Heaven Can Wait, using a secondary character as the hero, and needing an exact opposite to pair him with. Thus the gun-toting Wild West character of Rain Shadow developed.

– Land of Dreams came from my fascination with and empathy for the children who rode the orphan trains, and, as a result of the many diaries I’d read. So many of the children suffered in their new environments nearly as much as they had on the streets of New York, often being sexually abused or used as servants, and many thinking they’d been adopted into families, only to find out years later that they hadn’t. I wanted to give some of those kids a good home. And Too Tall Thea was a character burning for a story and someone to love her.

– Saint or Sinner sprang from my passion for watching late night westerns. There’s an old black and white flick with Joanne Woodward where this guy comes back from the war and builds a church. She’s just a kid he tries to reform, but I thought…”What if this fellow had a life after death experience and came back a changed man…and there was a woman who didn’t believe he’d changed?”

– Badlands Bride actually started out because of a title I’d saved for years. The idea of having an unprepared reporter go west disguised as a mail-order bride popped into my head, and I decided to send her to the badlands and use that title. I dearly love to create the underdog characters. Hallie is desperate for her father’s approval and eager to forge her way in a man’s world.

I’m excited because Badlands Bride is being reissued as a special release with a new cover this month! If you missed this book in the past, this is your chance to get one, but it’s only available through eharlequin.  Order here while copies last: http://eharlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=17109&cid=228

– A Husband By Any Other Name came from the Bible story of the prodigal son. One son runs away, squanders his inheritance and comes back to his father’s welcoming arms. The brother who stayed home and worked doesn’t think that’s too fair, even though he surely loved his brother. Seeing the father plan a feast and roast the fatted calf irks him. I further complicated that story by having the brother who stays home marry the fiancé of the brother who went away. Did I mention they are twins and he pretends to be the brother who went away?

– The Truth About Toby. I’ve always been a bit fascinated with dream interpretations, I guess. I had originally titled the book Dream A Little Dream For Me, because the hero is helping the heroine with precognitive dreams. Austin came to me first, a reclusive, tortured hero who simply wants to forget the horrors of his past. And for him I created Shaine, the woman he can’t resist, who needs him to remember it all.

– The Mistaken Widow is a historical version of the movie, Mrs. Winterbourne, where Ricky Lake pretends to be Brendan Frasier’s sister-in-law. As soon as I saw the film, I started picturing it in a historical scenario. My story has a bit more twists and turns, however.

– The Doctor’s Wife came from watching a talk show where the female guest told her story. She came from the “trash family” in a little town. I felt so sorry for her and her story was so sad that I sat and cried. Often when I’m moved by someone’s real life story, I want to write one that turns out better. It’s like I can fix the world one book at a time or something. The real person in this case was ridiculed and teased by the other children. Her family was so poor that she wore her brother’s underwear. Her mother gave birth to a couple of babies and made the daughter bury them. One particular time, she secretly gave the baby away. This was one of those reunion shows, and they brought out the sister whose life she had saved so many years ago, and they were reunited with hugs and tears. Bizarre story, eh? Once again truth is stranger than fiction. Well I changed all that and had the baby be my heroine’s and had her hide it to keep it safe. But that’s where the idea was conceived.

And on and on….

I’ve never found that warehouse outside Tulsa, so I do most of the dirty work on my own. Actually, coming up with the ideas is the fun part, the part that never gets dull. Carrying out the work is the hard part. There are a lot of people who call themselves writers. Many come up with ideas, but few actually do the work and get it all in publishable story form on paper.

Okay, so enough with the joking, I’m going to once and for all tell you where writers get their ideas. Are you ready?

Brownies.

If you don’t believe me, I have a blog to prove it: http://ideascomefrombrownies.blogspot.com/

Today I’m giving away a copy of my October anthology The Magic of Christmas! I’ll put the names of all the commenters in my cowboy hat and draw one to receive an advance copy.

 <— Order yours from amazon
 

The Fillies are delighted and honored to have Miss Janet Dean here Saturday.

Miss Janet will take the opportunity to tattle on her two brothers and tell all the rascally things they did to her growing up. How better to pay them back. She’ll also talk about her new book that releases next week.

Courting Miss Adelaide sounds like a wonderful story about orphan trains. Miss Janet did a lot of research about the practice of ridding the country of unwanted orphans. I’m sure she’ll love to share lots of tidbits with you.

So, be right here with your bonnet on and grab a chance to win a copy of her book. We’ll durn sure be lookin’ for you!

  I am just standing around — Minding my own business

And suddenly

My face. My name.

My bookcover.

I’m a speaker at Husker Harvest Days.

http://www.huskerharvestdays.com/

 Uh…what is (are?) Husker Harvest Days?

 Well, there’s actual corn. They actually harvest it. With combines and tractors and there’s irrigation equipment and ATVs. It’s a demonstration of what’s coolest and newest and best in farm equipment.

A trade show. For farmers and ranchers.

Estimated attendance? Oh……..

I love writing. Duh, I’m a writer. I have been told that, in writing, I appear to be quite amusing and confident and even (on a good and lucky day) skilled at expressing myself with the written work. 

But ummmmmmmmmm Public speaking?

Not so much.

My daughter was on the Speech Team in High School. She had a T-shirt that said:

We do for fun……….

What most people fear more than death.

This comes from a survey done listing people’s top ten fears.

1. Public Speaking

2. Death

I completely get this. I HATE public speaking. I am no good at it. And here’s the real reason I hate public speaking…because it drives me crazy before and after I speak…for YEARS.

Not DURING so much…or at least the DURING is over quickly. Before and after I am HAUNTED.

Twenty-seven years from now…sitting in a nursing home…I’ll have a sleepless night…and I’ll lay there and think, “Why did I make that stupid lame joke at Husker Harvest Days in 2008? Why? Why? Why?

So anyway, I’m speaking at Husker Harvest Days next week. I know this because it appeared in Nebraska Farmer Magazine.

http://magissues.farmprogress.com/HHD/HH09Sep08/hhd016.pdf

(If you go to this link, you’ll see that YEP, there I am. There’s my book cover. YIKES) It also says what I’m gonna talk about. That’s good because I had no idea. I looked at what I’m supposed to talk about. Okay, I can talk about that stuff. I made notes.

I knew I was invited to go. I knew I had a booth. I even knew I’d have a turn ‘presenting’ something. I visualized about one hundred people all doing this ‘presenting’ at the same time…kinda Home Shopping Network Rural Nebraska style. Honestly I didn’t visualize it at all because if I start visualizing I kick off the pre-public speaking instant replay-worst case scenario-obsessive compulsive-insomnia-madness. So, because I have raised denial to an artform, I hadn’t given it much thought and had no idea what to expect, I’ve never been to Husker Harvest Days before.

Then The Nebraska Farmer Magazine comes out with my book cover and me…along with FIVE OTHERS…only five. What about one hundred? Where’d they all go? I mean sure, I only made that number up in my head, but still………..

Five of us giving daily presentations. I get the 1 – 2 p.m. hour.

An HOUR? I can’t talk for an hour?

I am so DOOMED.

I believe it is fair to say I have a God given gift for the written word.

Getting up in front of a crowd to speak.

Not so much.

So, anybody here like to give speeches?

Anybody ever embarrass themselves in front of a crowd?

I’m trying to be light-hearted about this, but honestly I’m just sick to my stomach. I am terrified. A little weepy. I may possibly be having a heart attack. But probably not. I’ve lived quite a while and I’m not all that lucky. So no reason to hope I’ll get lucky now and end up in an ICU until Husker Harvest Days are over

Consider for a moment your average sit-com.

About ten times a season they run a script of the main character being humiliated in front of a room full of people. There’s a reason for this.

EVERYBODY RELATES. EVERYBODY FEELS THE PAIN.

It’s my turn. Next week. At Husker Harvest Days.

If I survive, you may hear how it went.

Or not, I’m working on the other end of denial, forgetting it after it happens.

          FYI, that picture right there on the left? A Corn Husker. A weird leather and metal device strapped on the hand of a person who is husking corn. There’s a contest, fastest corn husker. There is also a display of combines. Prices run around $200,000. The newer, flashier Corn Husker.

click to purchase

Recently I was researching the aftershave that was used by barbers in the West for a story I’m working on and ran across a ton of interesting things.

Of course, I already knew that barbers used a soap cake that was round and hard. They put it in a mug, added some water, and whipped it into a lather with a brush. I watched my daddy do the same thing in the 50’s and apply the lathery cream to his face with a soft bristle brush. And I can’t think of Old Spice aftershave today without him coming to mind. As a little girl I loved the smell of Old Spice. I related that smell to love and a feeling of security.

In the West the most common aftershave was probably Bay Rum. Other than that, maybe simple lilac water. I couldn’t find a lot of references to the different types. I’m sure it depended on what part of the country the barber shop was in and what was available. And I think the barber might’ve made his own most of the time. It was easy to soak bay or mint leaves in rum, water and oils and let it sit for a few weeks or so.

Then one thing led to another in my research. You know how it goes.

Before long I was deep in the history of the perfumes. The very first form of perfumes was about 4,000 years ago in the form of incense. Shortly after, ancient cultures began soaking fragrant woods and resins in water or oil and rubbed the liquid on their bodies. Perfumes were also used by the Egyptians in the embalming process.

By the way, did you know that the pharaohs, queens, and wealthy Egyptians took several baths a day? They liked cleanliness I guess.

France quickly became the European center of the perfume industry and they took it to another level. Perfumes were needed to mask body odors resulting from the lack of hygiene practices of the day. In the 18th century, King Louis XV demanded a different fragrance for his apartment every day. Napoleon had two quarts of violet cologne delivered to him each week and it’s reported that he used 60 bottles of double extract of jasmine every month. I wonder if he drank the stuff. That’s a heck of a lot! Josephine had stronger perfume preferences. Musk was her choice and she used it so heavily that the scent lingered in her bedroom 60 years later. Can you imagine how that must’ve overwhelmed?

In the West, rose water was the preference of most women. It was very easy to make.

All it took was putting rose petals in a pot, covering with water and boiling until it reached the fragrant stage desired. Then it was strained and put into some type of container with an airtight lid. Of course, if roses weren’t available, any type of flower worked. Women were resourceful in the West and learned to make do with anything. They also were known to dab household vanilla and other flavorings behind their ears.

When I was young, I had Blue Waltz perfume. Does anyone remember that? Five and dime stores sold it for around fifteen or twenty cents. I thought I was really grown up to have a bottle of Blue Waltz. It was sweet and floral and if memory serves it didn’t smell all that bad. Unless you used too much. Then it was awful.

In doing my research, I learned there were different classifications.

Single Floral – used only one type of flower
Floral Bouquet – used a combination of flowers
Ambery – came from animals (musks)
Woody – from trees like sandalwood and cedar
Leather – family of fragrances using honey, tobacco, wood, and wood tars to try to reproduce the smell of leather

Do you have a special perfume or cologne that you like and if so, what kind? Or is there a scent that reminds you of times past and holds pleasant memories?

Don’t forget our Sizzlin’ Stampede of Prizes Contest! It ends September 15th.

  Click on cover to order from Amazon.

Sorry to be late today.  Labor Day threw me off a bit, along with finishing up readiing page proofs.   For the non-writers here, page proofs is the last chance you have to fix your manuscript.   Publishers hate last minute tinkering, but I can’t seem to help myself, and so I ponder over every correction or change, wondering whether it’s worth the fight.   It almost always is.

But I digress. 

I’d already decided to blog about TV westerns.   Many of you probably don’t even know what I’m talking about.   Unfortunately they disappeared from TV screens in 1968, at least for the most part.   But prior to that, TV westerns were THE thing.  They dominated the small screens.

We still see a few on TVLand, but some have disappeared forever.   Others have are now being offered in CD and DVD formats.   I found them when searching for “Rawhide,” one of my alltime favorites, mainly because of the music.   In the search I found a treasure of old TV westerns.

At the risk of being a shill for a commercial website, I have to mention http://www.fiftiesweb.com/western.htm     I thought I had died and gone to heaven, and I’ve already dropped hints to all my relatives that I would dearly love some of its offerings for Christmas.

Basically, the TV western reigned supreme in the fifities and Sixties.   There were about 120 of them depending on what you consider a western.   One of the really nice things aboaut them, you could always tell the good guys from the bad, and none of the guns were fully automatic.

The earliest ones were most for kids.   I remember running down the street to watch Roy Rogers.   Hopalong Cassidy was a real treat.   I think I was five or six at the time, and TV was a new-fangled invention.

 In the mid-fifities, Gunsmoke began a 20-year run, and it was so successful others followed.  Some of the most popular — and my favorites — were Wagon Train and Rawhide, along with Maverick (which lives today) and Have Gun Will Travel. 

Studios realized that the western didn’t just appeal to men and “accordingly cast hunky leads, who often appeared shirtless, to please the women (and they did). No longer did the hero kiss his horse and ride off into the sunset,   Now he fot to kiss the girl too.”

By the Sixties, the offerings included great sprawling westerns such as The Virginian, High Chaparral, Big Valley and Bonanza.  

 But the world was changing.  Viet Nam spoiled the mood of the country or, according the website, perhaps “there is such a notion as too much of a good thing (Not for me).”

I think that happened to the western romance novel as well.   I first started writing them in 1983, and westerns were so successful that the market was glutted.   There simply were too many books for the audience, and everyone’s numbers faded.   Publishers started looked for the next big subgenre.

But once more I digress.   Back to my TV westerns.   Attempts to resurrect the genre failed.  Westerns are expensive to make and younger studio executives just didn’t get it.  The explanation from the website:  “They assume that we all want to watch sexy young actors and actresses who haven’t eaten yet this month, talk about nothing in their apartments.”

Which is why I don’t watch much television today.  

But I thought I would take you down memory street and mention some wellknown western series and others not so well known.   You can buy some of them at the above website.

The not so well known series:

A Man Called Shenandoah, starring Robert Horton.   Two buffalo hunters find a stranger who has been shot.  Thinking he may have a price on his head, they take him to town.  Although he is not wanted, when he comes around, he cannot remember who he is.  Calling himself Shenandoah, he wanders the west trying to find his real identity.

The Loner, starring Lloyd Bridges.   After the Civil War, a former Union Cavalry officer travels West to try to find some meaning in life, something to value.  Rod Serling wrote some of the scripts.

Iron Horse, staring Dale Robertson.   Ben Calhoun wins a railroad in a poker game.   An unfinished railroad.  So Ben has to complete the line.  Lots of action as he and his friends tame the way for the railroad.

The Road West, starring Andrew Pine.   Benjamin Pride moves his entire family from their home in Springfield, Ohio, to the Kansas Territory after the Civil War.  The stories were about the struggles of a pioneering family.

Hondo (one of my favorites), starring Ralph Taeger as Hondo Lane.   Taken from the Lous L’Amour story, this series is about a cavalry scout in the Arizona Territory.   Hondo had been a Confederate officer who came to live with the Apaches.   But his Indian bride is slain in an army massacre and now he works for the Army trying to avid further Bloodshed.

Dundee and the Culhane, staring John Mills and Sean Garrison.   Although British attorney Dundee’s offices are in Sausalito, he and his apprentice Culhane wander the west for their clients, always trying to impose rule of law in a lawless land.

And here’s a few of the better known ones.   Many of these have been preserved and are available for sale:

Rawhide: Gil Favor is the trail boss of the cattle drive from North kansas to Sedalia, Kansas.  His ramrod is a young Clint Eastwood playing Rowdy Yates.  

The Virginian, starring James Drury and Doug McClure.  The Virginian was the first of the 90-minute westerns.  The Virginian is a man coping with change and trying to live by a strict moral code

Little House on the Prairie.   Enough said.

It’s great fun to visit the sight and read about these westerns.   There’s a description of all the 120-plus series.   Just be careful,  You can get lost there.