Needing a Little Help Today Contest

Argh! I’m in a major deadline for the next couple of weeks and surfaced long enough today to realize — oops, I have a blog to write for Petticoats & Pistols. Well, needless to say, my mind is in a major fog. My current book is giving me the fits. I like the story, I do, but I’m having to plow through the pages. My best friend tells me this will probably turn out to be my favorite book. Hmm. What does she know?

So, back to my blog. I figured I might have some fun with it and, hopefully, fun for all of us. Why not a contest related to my current fit-giving book? Yeah, great idea, right?

I have a miniature donkey in the story that my hero Ridge has agreed to temporarily foster and will likely wind up keeping. He’s that way. Tough on the outside and a marshmallow on the inside. I imagine the donkey to look something like this sweet girl:

She has a particular trait – a really loud and distinctive bray, one that sounds much too big for her small size. Her bray also echoes and reverberates off the barn walls like a tornado siren. It’s rather comical, when Ridge and my heroine Elena aren’t covering their poor ears.

Here’s my problem. I need a cute name for the donkey. One that reflects her particular vocal abilities and, perhaps, her small size. To figure out a name, I thought I might have a little contest here at P&P. Submit your ideas in the comments – as many as you want, no limit – and I’ll choose a winner at the end of the day. The name will then go into my book, and the winner will get a prize package that includes one of my cowboy coffee mugs, Starbucks gift card, a book or two, and some author swag (I need to add, U.S. shipping only – sorry). The package will be similar to the picture below but not exactly the same. Fun, huh? And, really, you’d be doing me a big favor. I can use all the help I can get with this book ?

 

 

 

Researching a Historically Accurate Shooting Competition

kari trumbo header

Good Morning Filly Aficionados!
I’m working on a super-secret historical novella right now and the main part of the story revolves around a shooting contest.

Well, I needed to find out what, exactly, that would’ve looked like. Interestingly enough, there are groups today that do live reenactments and some even allow people to enter and compete! How fun is that? What’s even more fun is that they expect those who enter to not only shoot the proper guns, but look the part!

Image from Pinterest

When we think of a gunfight, people often think of two men, like in the picture on the left, but that isn’t exactly what I had in mind for my book. The last man standing doesn’t really make for a good romance.

And I’m all about the romantic western.

In my story, the shooting contest is not only distance but precision.

Requirements for that type of contest would’ve been four firearms: 2 single action revolvers which could be either lever action or pump action but must be in pistol calibers.
Also required were 2 shotguns. These could be double barreled or slide action. The only caveat is that they could only have one live round loaded at a time.

Photo credit: Cowboy Action Shooting Mcall.com

While most people probably think this would be just one or two shots and the contest would be over, that’s not actually the case. At least in the recreations, it takes over 120 rounds (on average) for the pistol portion of the event, and another few dozen light shot shells. That’s a lot of shooting!

They carry so much that it often required a cart to carry it all (which I never expected, this is why we research!)

There are multiple stages to the event. In the first, shooters are divided into “posses” of three or so shooters, depending on the number of people competing. Contestants are not allowed to load their own firearms. They must aim at a target about 10-15 yards away. 5 shots from each pistol and 8 shells. They will be judged on not only accuracy, but speed. Winners from that round proceed to the next.

Further stages involve hitting targets in a certain order, accurately, and quickly. These stages get progressively harder as the contest continues. The fastest, most accurate shooter would take the prize. Can you imagine the noise and confusion of multiple contestants going through multiple stages at once?

I’ve never competed in anything like this before, though I might like to someday. Have you ever done any sort of competition with multiple stages and competitors?

Beach Inspiration

My view from my friend’s condo.

As I write this, I’m in Panama City Beach visiting a friend and am sitting on the beach. My mind is inspired by the beauty and serenity around me and turning to writing and cowboys. If you know me or read my books, you won’t be too surprised my mind has taken this peculiar turn. First, my wanders and takes unusual side trips all the time. Sometimes it’s like herding cats. Secondly, I love writing fish out of water stories.

The first story I sold, Big City Cowboy, was one. For those of you who don’t know, on a Colorado vacation I met a cowboy bit city slickers kept asking to model. Big City Cowboy sent a born and bred Colorado cowboy to New York City to model to earn the money for his mother’s experimental cancer treatment. That fish out of water concept hooked my editor. She bought that story and Bet On a Cowboy about the first hero’s brother.

Sitting here watching waves crash against the shore and rush out taking part of the beach with it, my mind’s spinning. What would send a Texas cowboy to a Florida beach town? What would he be running from—lost love, trouble with the law, money issues? Or would he be running to something or someone he sees as a solution or his salvation? Whatever the answer, he’d have to be at rock bottom, desperate and tortured. What does he want, but more importantly, what does he really need?

Maybe it’s because I’m the mom of three boys, but I always start with the hero. Once I clearly see him and the conflict tormenting him, once I know he’s someone I could fall for, I turn to my heroine. She will push his buttons at every turn simply being who she is. She will make him think about who he is, everything he thought he knew, who he wants to be, and who he could be. And he will do the same for her. They will be the last person the other would pick, but something draws or forces them together, and in the end, they are exactly who they need.

Florida 4With my cowboy, I see him as someone who needs order, predictability and to be in control. However, something or someone has destroyed that for him. Because of this trait, my heroine will be the opposite. She’ll be a laid-back, go with the flow, loves unpredictability, and lives on beach time gal.

That’s how a story starts for me, with a tiny kernel. In Big City Cowboy, it was a hunky cowboy who wanted nothing to do with the city and modeling and my warped need to force him to do the last thing her wanted to. Today the beach’s laidback lifestyle and calming presence have me wondering how I could torture a good old Texas cowboy to lead him to his true love.

Only time will time will tell whether I can answer these questions to get this little seed to grow.

To be entered in today’s random drawing for a signed copy of Home on the Ranch:  Colorado and the books and birds tea towel leave a comment on what you think should be the reason my hero goes to Florida.

I Wasn’t Born In Texas, But I Got Here As Soon As I Could!

 

When my cousin Jacque moved to San Antonio when I was in middle school, I became fascinated with the state. After I graduated from high school, my Aunt Verna, Jacque’s mom and I drove to visit my cousin. That was when I knew I wanted to live in Texas, and sure enough, my husband and I moved to the Dallas area after he graduated from college. Today I’m sharing a few interesting facts about my adopted home state.

 

Examples of how things are bigger in Texas:

  • One Texas ranch, the King Ranch, is bigger than the state of Rhode Island.
  • The Texas State Fair is the largest, longest running US state fair and boasts North America’s largest Ferris wheel.
  • Austin is home to the world’s largest urban bat colony.
  • The Texas State Capital is fifteen feet taller than the nation’s capital in Washington, D.C.
  • When you are in Newton County in southeast Texas, you’re closer to the Atlantic Ocean than to El Paso. When you’re in El Paso, you’re closer to the Pacific Ocean than Newton County.
  • If you’re in Brownsville, Texas, you’re closer to Guatemala than you are to Dalhart, Texas.

 

Tidbits on some Texas towns:

  • A town formerly known as Clark, Texas, changed its name to Dish so its 201 residents would get free TV service for ten years.
  • Decatur voted to reschedule Halloween in 2014 because the holiday conflicted with high school football. Yup, that’s how important high school football is in Texas!
  • Austin has more live music venues per capita than anywhere in the United States.

 

On Texas highways:

  • The Texas Department of Transportation employs a group of gardeners to spread more than 30,000 pounds of wildflower seeds annually to beautify the state’s highways. For generations when the state flower is in bloom, families flock to fields of the flowers to snap photos.
  • County road Highway 130 between Austin and San Antonio is the fastest road in the US with a speed limit of 85 mph.
  • The Katy Freeway at Beltway 8 with 26 lanes across is the world’s widest freeway. (I won’t be driving on that road any time soon!)

 

Katy Highway at Beltway 8 in Texas.

 

Texas inventions:

  • Pepper was invented in 1885 by Charles Alderton, a pharmacist in Waco.
  • The frozen margarita machine was invented in Texas. (That’s definitely something to celebrate!) The original machine is on display at The Smithsonian.

 

A few miscellaneous facts:

Texas Ranchers Museum in Waco
  • The Texas Ranchers founded in 1823 by Stephen F. Austin are the oldest state-wide law enforcement agency.
  • True Texas Chili is made without beans.
  • Y’all is singular, while all y’all is plural.

 

If you visit Texas, be aware it’s illegal to do these things:

  • Milk someone else’s cow
  • Sell your eye
  • Dust a public building with a feather duster (I wonder if it’s okay to do so with a cloth.)
  • Shoot a buffalo from the second story of a hotel (But I guess the first story is okay.),
  • To let a camel run loose on a Galveston beach.
  • However, you can kill Bigfoot if you find him!

Since everything in Texas is bigger I’m having two giveaways today. One is for a coozie, to-go coasters with one of my favorite Texas sayings, and a cactus coaster. The other is for the Blessed and Lucky T-shirt in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. To be entered, tell me which of the facts I listed you found the most interesting and why.

Now I’m off to figure out how to use one of those odd laws to get a hero or heroine into trouble…