Publishing Has Killed My NaNoWriMo Mojo!

Here it is, twenty-two days into NaNoWriMo and I've barely broken 7,500 words.  In the five (or six) years I've been participating, I've never struggled like I am this year and I blame the fact that I finally published my books.  I've resigned myself to the fact that I am not going to "win" NaNo this year, and that's okay as long as I get useable words out of my effort.

No longer can I just "vomit" words onto a page and feel okay about it.  Editing sucks.  Taking all those crappy words I threw up onto the page and trying to make something useful out of them is one of my least favorite chores.  Now that I know this, I'm struggling with putting the "right" words down the first time.  I understand why Tara Janzen says that writing is "excruciating" and "that it's like placing individual pieces of glitter with tweezers".

I find that I have to know where the story is going, whereas in the past I didn't care.  I find myself thinking things like, "will this tie into what is going to happen in chapter so-and-so?".  Or, "is this even believable?".  Things that never once crossed my mind in NaNos past.

And you know what?  I miss the free writing.  I do.  I just want to be able to shut off the "inner editor".  Now, just as soon as I figure that out, I'll let you know.

I'm currently working on two books: LYON'S RAGE and  PICEANCE BASIN PRINCESS.  My thought was that when I hit a wall with one, I'd switch to the other.  It worked beautifully for a couple thousand words.

LYON'S RAGE is a book, still early in Stacy's career as a Protection Specialist.  Her recent past comes back to haunt her when a potential client tries to hire her to kill his spouse. 

PICEANCE BASIN PRINCESS is Skeeter's story, how she came into my life after losing Her Highness.  It's not going to be a sappy, oh-she-saved-my-life story, because I honestly hate those stories.  It's more the reality side of things.  Yes, I loved Queen Estes and yes, I love Princess Skeeter, but it's hard work to keep from comparing the two.  It's more of a "she's different from Estes and I still love her" kind of story.

If I finish the month with a good start on both of these, I'll feel really good. I've taken vacation time over Christmas break, so I plan on continuing to write. I'd like to have RAGE in a publishable state by June 2015, and the other by the end of the summer. 

Reason #1,436,983 Why I'm a Lucky Girl

It's just a few hours until the kick-off of NaNoWriMo.

NaNo is one of the first things Jay and I decided to tackle as a couple and I look forward to it every year.

It's a bit odd, I know, but some of my favorite times are laying in the dark bouncing ideas off of each other in the nights leading up to NaNo.  This year, Jay's returning to his original NaNo book and I'm so excited.  His children's book is beautiful and I love the artwork, but his "grown-up" novel hooked me from the very beginning and I've been waiting for him to go back to it.

Last night, since we couldn't turn off our brains, we talked books, characters, and plots.

And it was the perfect way to drift off to sleep.

Yep, I'm a lucky girl.

Hunted Lyon

I've been more scarce than usual.  And that's really, really scarce.

But I have a good excuse.  Really, I do.

You see, my NaNoWriMo goal this year was to have the novel I've been working on for four years finally ready for publication.  At some point, I had to quit mucking around and just do it.

So I did.

I'm excited about this book.  It's been a labor of love and I've learned a lot about myself in the process.  Namely, that I am who I am.  I can't imitate other authors.  People will either love my writing or hate it, but it's me.  The more I tried to be someone I wasn't, the more I hated the book. I dropped the pretenses and - viola! - I love the book.   I've learned to appreciate (even more so) authors who can paint pictures with their words, for whom flowery descriptions flow from their fingertips onto the page.  I have an editor who makes my writing much less clunky, but who doesn't try to change my "voice", for which I am forever grateful.

I'm blessed to be married to an incredible graphic designer who comes up with drool-worthy covers.  Heck, even if you hate the book, you have to love the cover.

I'm also blessed to have a daughter who is a total BA and was willing to become the "face of Stacy Lyon".  Note: Ashinator can, and does, shoot.  Rifle, shotgun, pistol.  Ambidextrously.  Don't mess with GunDiva's daughter.

Barring unforeseen catastrophes, HUNTED LYON will be available for purchase from Amazon on Sunday, December 1.

Foodie Walk

It dawned on me as I left work on Thursday that for the first time in weeks, I had absolutely no obligations for the next three days. 

None.  Zip.  Zilch.  Nada.

That's exceedingly rare during 9HealthFair season for me to have time off with no plans.  So, of course, what did I do?  I made plans for us to join some fellow WriMos for a "free" Foodie Walk.  Apparently, the Downtown Business Association sponsors a Foodie Walk every month, and though it's the same seven stops, the theme changes each time.

The walk turned into more of a shopping trip for us.  The sample of food were okay, nothing knocked my socks off, but I did find something to buy at three of the stops.  At the first stop, I bought a vanilla lotion bar.  Not even remotely edible, but I've been eye-balling it for a long time and my hands are a dried-out mess.  I know the lotion bar will help.  At the spice shops, we found some spices that we just *had* to have.  Jay managed to get me out of the Olive Oil shop without buying anything.  That, in itself, was a miracle, because I really, really loved the flavored olive oils and the garlic one almost came home with us.



Habanero Sugar (can you say Aztec cookies?)
Raspberry Sugar (I have no idea why I NEEDED this)
Ghost Pepper Salt (Jay's stepping up his hot sauce)

Ground Jalapeno Chiles (Jay's hot sauce is going to kill someone)
Tandoori (I don't know, Jay says it's good for chicken)
Madagascar Vanilla Bean Powder (shh...birthday present for the Bionic Cowgirl)
Piri-Piri Style Spice (again, not a clue, but Jay assures me it's good)
Vanilla Lotion Bar (not edible, but necessary for my hands)

 

 

Yes, that's my husband copping a grope on the statue :)

So our "free" Foodie Walk ended up costing us about $30, but it was fun anyway.  We might even do it again next month.

Resuming Life

A Family Affair -
Nebalee, Asset, Ashinator and me

You know how much I love the 9HealthFair?  Sure you do, I talk about it pretty much every April.

Well, I love it so much, I thought it would be a good idea to host a Family 9HealthFair.  Nevermind that the spring fairs consume my life from January through April, that wasn't nearly enough, apparently.  Nope, why not let it consume my life from June through September, too?

Jay's pretty patient.  I'm certain there was nothing in our wedding vows about being a 9HealthFair widower eight months out of the year, yet he never grumbles.  It's not like I get paid an additional salary for all of my work with the fair - it's a volunteer-run organization (for the most part - there are 20 paid employees that oversee the tens of thousands of volunteers state-wide).

And this year, it wasn't just me involved.  I recruited Nebalee to be my Wellness Coordinator.  The fall fairs are different from the springs ones in that the focus is on families, so I needed someone to coordinate kids' and family activities.  Cue Nebalee.

She did an outstanding job.  Her ideas really elevated our fair.  She asked for teddy bears to give out to the kids, so that she could teach "Teddy Bear First Aid". 

Is this the best idea ever or what?

The kiddos learned how to put pressure on bleeding and what to do if their Teddy Bear falls (Don't move!) and when to call 911.  Somewhere, there's a picture of Autobot and Kyzzer all gloved up with their bears.  Super cute.

Nebalee also managed to get the Smoke House from the fire department.  The Smoke House is a training tool that is used primarily with second-graders in our school district.  It has three rooms; the first room is where they talk about kitchen safety, the second about fireplace and heater safety, and the third room they talk about how to check a door to see if it's hot and how to get out of the room if there's smoke in it.  The third room is by far the coolest.  The bedroom door is actually designed so that if you run the back of your hand down it from top to bottom, you'll feel it go from cool to hot.  They also pump in theatrical smoke so simulate how dark and scary it can be if the room fills with smoke.  In the midst of the room filling with smoke, the smoke detector is screaming.  It's really quite an experience.

Even grown-ups like the Smoke House

This was the first year I've acted as the Site Coordinator, always in the past I've been a worker bee.  At times it was very difficult for me to do the schmoozing and glad-handing that goes on with being the Site Coordinator.  After about the first hour, everyone was settled into their jobs and didn't need me for anything other than giving tours and answering questions the bigwigs from the organization.  I guess that's a sign of success.  Everything went smoothly enough that I didn't have to race around putting out fires.

I've now got a few weeks of downtime before NaNoWriMo starts up, so maybe I can get a few things posted and get caught up with everyone.  We've got very special company coming in from the 18 - 21 and I'm so excited I just want to jump up and down.

Then, of course, November means I'll be scarce again as I try to crank out another 50,000 words in 30 days.

So, pretty much, we're back to situation normal here.

Camp NaNoWriMo

...Because writing 50,000 words in November just isn't crazy enough, I decided at the last minute to join Camp NaNoWriMo.  Camp NaNo is like "NaNo Lite" - still 50,000 words, but much less pressure.

I figured it would be a good time for me to finish up edits on HUNTED LYON, and then I decided that I've only got until the end of June to get a book to the copy editor that I won back at the Thank Goodness It's Over (TGIO) party after NaNo last year, so I switched my focus to my book about my trail rides.  Still don't have a name for it.  I was going to go with TALES FROM THE TRAIL, but I want it to be distinctly different from my blog, even though a lot of the stories have appeared on the blog.

Camp NaNo started on June 1st and I've written zero qualifying words, but I have gotten the new book organized and polished up.  I have just a few more stories to add to it, which I hope will be done by the end of the week, and then off to the copy editor it goes.  As soon as I settle on a title, RCC will do my cover art for me - he does amazing book covers.

I've decided to self-publish in e-format this yet-to-be-named book.  I'm not seeking fame or fortune with it; I wrote it purely for fun and hope to share my stories with people who will appreciate them.  Trail riding stories definitely have a niche market that is fairly small compared to all of the readers out there, so I can't see pitching this book to an agent or publisher.

I've talked to Tara about e-pubbing, which she's switched to exclusively and she gave me some tips on getting the text formatted and will help me navigate publishing on Smashwords, Nook and Kindle.  If everything works out the way I want it to, I'm hoping to have it for sale by the end of August.

A small part of me wants to have "real" copies printed for sale, too, but that might be cost prohibitive. I'll have to look at how much the finished product is going to cost before I decide to have some printed up.  I could probably talk Mom into carrying a small inventory at the lodge and possibly can talk Compass into carrying some at the livery.  I don't know, one decision at a time. Even though I don't care about fame or fortune with my book, I don't want to go into the poor house either!  I spent enough time there and I don't want to go back.  Breaking even would be nice.

Any ideas for titles?  The book is primarily about my experiences as a wrangler, with some stories of horses who stand out in my mind thrown in.

500!

I'm not sure what I thought I'd accomplish when I started blogging.  I initially did it to keep my girls in the loop as my life was rapidly changing (betcha didn't know that Robs and Staci).  I had met RCC, traveled down south to be on Horse Master with Julie Goodnight, and life was moving super fast.

I had no idea the blogosphere was its own community when I started.  I never expected to meet so many amazing people who I now consider friends. I certainly never intended to branch out into having so many different blogs.

People who don't blog, don't get it.  They don't understand how bloggy friendships are every bit as real as "real life" friendships.  But they are.  The community is as strong as any neighborhood community; we draw together to celebrate successes and mourn losses.  There's not a "support group" out there any stronger than the blogging community.

I can't imagine not blogging, not checking in on my friends, so I was a little surprised to see my number of posts hit 500.  For this blog.  Not quite there on my other ones.  And 500 over a three-year period of time isn't that many.  There are far more dedicated bloggers who post almost every day and have a whole lot more posts than I do, but this is a hell of a milestone for me.

So...I thought I'd look back over the last 500 posts and my life as a blogger.

• My first non-family followers were: T!nk (he doesn't run a blog anymore, but I still love him and talk to him ocassionally), Shepherd K, and Momma Fargo.
• My first blog post was about my experiences at Horse Master.
• Post number 100: Busy Day and A Big Goal Met, written during my very first NaNoWriMo
• Post number 200: Winners!, I gave away a copy of each of Tara's CRAZY/LOOSE books to celebrate my 200th post.  She's since completed the series.
• Post number 300: The Monday Minute, boy, those were fun.
• Post number 400: Perspective, written just last year about my weight battle.
• And of all of my posts, the one that continually gets the most hits and comments is the one about RCC's epiploic appendagitis.  Go figure.
• I was trying to figure out if I had a favorite post and the one that popped immediately into mind was this one.

If this milestone hadn't snuck up on me, I would have organized another give-away.  Sorry about that; I kinda dropped the ball there.  But please know, all of you, that I'm glad you spend a little bit of time with me each day and I'm honored to consider you friends.

The End

Two words I've never written before today, "The End".

I've written my whole life.  In fact, I don't remember a time when I didn't write.  It's just something that I do.  Sometimes I do it better than others, but I do it.  I've always got something buzzing around my brain trying to morph into a full-blown story, but today I finally made it!

I've got tons of half-completed novels on my jump drive and in random notebooks around the house, but now I can say I've completed one!  As in, from the beginning, all the way to "The End".

There's a lot of editing that needs to be done, but I think I'm just going to sit and enjoy this surreal feeling of actually being done for a bit before I jump into the sad business of editing.

~~~~~~~~~

Don't forget the Double Dog Dare!  Click on over to Once Upon A Miracle for directions on how to vote for Itty Bit and help Rachel win the $1,000 she's planning on donating.

Seven Days

It's almost time for NaNoWriMo!

I'm a NaNo rebel this year; someone who is working on an old project, not a new one. I love HUNTED LYON and want to finish it. I'll be working on revising/making more coherent/building character depth this time around. Hell, I might even get to write "The End" this time around.


I'm going to throw a plea out, though. The Office of Letters and Light, the folks who keep NaNo, Script Frenzy and the Young Writers' Program running from year to year are a fantastic group of people. NaNoWriMo is funded solely on donations and I'm looking for writing sponsors. Your donation can be as little as $1 that goes directly to OLL. If you've got a spare $1 laying around or are willing to forgo a couple cups of Starbucks and want to help keep the organization running, click here. I've earned my halo - I've donated $10 to OLL and RCC will be donated his time to design book covers for our local writers. Last year, he was the single largest fund raiser in the group and it looks like he'll be doing the same this year.

We Now Return To Our Regularly Scheduled Program

Whew!  I did it.  50,000 words in 27 days, ten days longer than it took me to finish last year.  At times, I doubted I'd be able to make it this year.  Being the competitive critter I am, I really need someone to push me. 

Last year, it was Molly.  I beat her to 50k by ten minutes.

This year, it was Dan who stepped up to push me.  We both updated 50k at the same time; it was too close to call.  I thought I had him.  I put my numbers in to update, pushed the button and both of our bars came back green (meaning we finished).  Only the Office of Letters and Light (who runs NaNoWriMo) will know who finished first.

I'll be back with my usual drivel in a day or so.

Of course, if any of you are interested in what's kept me so busy this month, head on over to my NaNo blog, HUNTED LYON.

I'm Not Really Missing...

...I'm just posting more frequently at Hunted Lyon.  Come on over if you want a peek at what's got me so occupied this month.

I've got a great TST for this week; I just have to find time to sit and write it.

I'm trying to stay caught up on everyone's blogs, but not being very successful.  I'll be back to regular commenting in just a couple of weeks, I promise.

NaNo News

I tossed around the idea of starting a temporary blog for this year's NaNoWriMo and finally decided to do it.  I did it for a couple of reasons, but mostly because I don't want to bore my followers who may not be interested in NaNo with daily updates.  I'll cease posting NaNo related stuff here and will keep this blog for my randomness/daily life/BS.

If you are interested in following my NaNo progress (and getting a peek at the novel I'm working on this year), head on over to Hunted Lyon.  Posting will be sporadic from now until November 1st, but expect almost daily updates during the month of November.  If the writing goes well, I may keep the blog up as I continue to work on the book.  (Oh, hush Mom.  I know I never finished last year's NaNo.  They got their Happily Ever After - okay?)

It's Almost That Time Again...

2010 NaNoWriMo is just around the corner! 

What is NaNoWriMo?  It's National Novel Writing Month and begins at 12:00:01 on November 1st and ends at 24:00:00 on November 30th.  In that thirty day period the goal is to write a 50,000 word novel.  It doesn't have to be a good novel; it doesn't have to be a complete novel; but it does have to reach 50k.  I "won" last year with over 60k.

I'm in a bit of a panic, because up until just a couple of days ago I had no idea what I was going to write, despite having just returned from the Writers' Police Academy.  I logged into the NaNo website and plugged in my synopsis of the book I had in mind and then had a change of heart last night.  Completely changed my mind on what I'm going to write.  I've started plotting in my little brain and couldn't sleep last night with all of the scenes running through my head, which means I've chosen the right book to write.  For a while, I had a blog called "Lyon's Roar Protection" (I took it down when I realized I was writing utter and complete trash).  The book I will be writing this year is the precursor to Lyon's Roar.  Maybe once I get the groundwork in place I can resume where I left off with the blog.

This year I'm going to try something a little different.  I went into last year's NaNo without a plan whatsoever and did okay, but this year I think I'm going to storyboard it.  RCC and I gathered our materials for storyboarding and will be getting started probably this week.  I've never done it before, but was inspired by Terry Odell's non-plotting posts.  Rather than using a large poster board, we'll be using file folders and different colored sticky notes.  We figure the file folders are easier to pack up and move when we go to our nightly write-ins.

RCC will be putting his graphic design skills to work again this year designing cover art for the other writers (as well as for the two of us).  Once I've settled on a title and get my cover done, I'll post it up here.

Anyone else interested in joining up?  Just go to the website and sign up; if you want to add me as a writing buddy let me know and I'll be sure to add you.  It's a lot more fun with some healthy competition.

Another Anti-Gunner Comes Out Of The Woodwork (or Bunk House)

So, another character caught me by surprise today.  I haven't had time to work on my NaNo because, well, I've got my required 50k and the last couple of days at work have been hellacious very busy.  I sat down to pick up where I left off with Shelby shooting VW Bear in the ass (boy I've wanted to do that myself for a long time).  Turns out that one of the wrangler applicants is an anti-gunner and cannot work in a place where there are guns on the property. 

I love that I can talk to Jay about my characters, because when I told him what Carrie (the character) told me, he looked at me and said, "Well, duh, the ranch is in the mountains.  Of course there are guns."

This is the shotgun that Shelby shot VW Bear in the butt with.

Damn I love that shotgun.

I Won, I Won!!!!

At 10:47 pm, I reached my goal of 50,000 words! 

Is my novel complete?  Not by a long shot. 

Have I built confidence in my ability to write what seems an exorbitant amount of words? Yes. 

When I first joined NaNoWriMo, I was completely overwhelmed by the task, but by breaking it down into words per day, it seemed more doable, only 1, 667 words per day.  What I found was that I had pretty much composed the story in my head, so on my first day of writing, I managed to spill over 9,000 words.  My biggest block came when I realized, I'd only thought ahead a couple of days in the book.  Once I finished writing about those days, I had a really bad block. 

What I found most helpful to increase my word count wasn't padding at all, it was my overly competitive nature.  The timed Word Wars at write-ins pretty much guaranteed me five hundred words in ten minutes.  I found one of my fellow NaNos who was writing at approximately the same pace as I, and pushed myself to keep up with her.  Going into the weekend, she had 14,000 words on me.  After the Night of Writing Dangerously, I had closed the gap to just a few thousand.  I caught up and had her by two hundred words this morning, but she rallied and jumped ahead by a few hundred words.  My competitive nature jumped into overdrive and I cranked out the required number to beat her to 50,000.  I just got my 50k posted just a couple of minutes before she posted hers.  If we'd been in a horse race, it would have been a photo finish. (Thanks, Molly!).

So, I've "won", now what?  Keep writing.  It won't do any good to have a half-finished novel.  Even if nothing ever comes of it, at least I can say I did it.

Here's the winning scene, the one that put me over my 50k.

Jake’s low growl wakes me out of a deep sleep about two o’clock in the morning. I have a hard time shushing him, but once I do, I hear what set him off. There’s something big on the deck snuffling around. Jake’s growling gets louder until it covers the sound of whatever is on the deck. I shush him again, climb out of bed and into my jeans and boots. I had hoped that whatever it was on the deck would lose interest and move on, but the snuffling is getting louder and I can hear things being moved around on the deck.

I’m pretty sure that it’s a bear on the deck, so I get my tactical shotgun from the closet and load it with 12 gauge rubber slugs. I shut Jake in the bedroom and move through the house in toward the kitchen, trying to get a lock on where the bear, or whatever it is, is on the deck. Remembering the BBQ chicken that we had at lunch, I’m pretty sure that he’s checking out the grill and if I go out the kitchen door, I should be in a good position to get him the hell of the porch. Just as I’m moving through the kitchen, Allie joins me with her own shotgun.

“I forgot to burn off the grill,” she whispers at me, “I’m so sorry.”

“No worries, we’ll just train him right off the bat. Stepping up on the deck hurts.” I whisper back and open up the kitchen door to step out on the porch.

I shoulder my shotgun and trigger the tactical light on the forend, lighting up an enormous black furry butt. The bear is sniffing around the grill with his back toward us and as he lifts up one enormous paw to take a swipe at it, I pull the trigger, shooting him square in the ass with a rubber slug. I rack a new round into the chamber as he jumps a mile and turns to face me. I shoot him in the shoulder while he’s turning and Allie nails him in the chest. He’s less than twenty feet from us, so I know that those rubber slugs hurt like hell and I’m hoping that they didn’t break his skin. I’m hoping to just cause a couple of deep bruises and instill in him that getting up on my deck is a very bad idea.

He doesn’t immediately move off of the deck, instead we have a stand-off of sorts; Allie and I with our shotguns shouldered and our fingers on the trigger versus six hundred pounds of post-hibernation black bear. If he wanted to, he could take us, but we are determined to teach him a lesson. It feels like our stand-off lasts hours, when in reality, it only lasts a few seconds, but each passing second is an eternity. Finally, he huffs at us and ambles off the deck, deciding that our chicken drippings aren’t worth the effort. We keep our shotguns shouldered and follow his movement across the yard until we’re sure he’s gone and not coming back.

I didn’t realize that I’d been holding my breath until I let it all out in a rush, relaxing the shotgun from my shoulder. I flick the safety on and turn to Allie, “Good shootin’, Tex.”

“Me? I can’t believe you shot him in the ass. I wish I’d had my camera. That was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.” She puts her safety on and doubles over laughing. “Only you would think to shoot a six hundred pound bear in the ass.”

“He was going to destroy our grill. It’s a good grill. He deserved a shot in the ass.”

42k In And Finally, Shelby Starts Her Online Search...

So, Mom's been whining about no romance yet in the book.  This isn't romance, but possibly the start of it...

The kids are sitting around the coffee table, working diligently on their homework, pretending not to watch Allie at the computer. I bend over her shoulder, “Alright, I’m here. Show me my virtual matches.”


“Trade me places, so you can see better. I’ve already got you logged in and brought up your hits. All you have to do is sort through them.” She gets up and grabs a chair to drag over so she can watch over my shoulder.

“What about your hits?” I ask, taking the desk chair.

“Oh. They were all losers, but don’t worry, there will be more tomorrow, I’m sure of it.” She’s treating this online dating as just another adventure in her life.

I start scrolling down my list of potential matches, or hits, as Allie calls them. I suppose the ten or so I see aren’t bad considering that my profile hasn’t even been up for twenty-four hours. I start at the top and work my way down. I’m really trying not to be too picky, but the hits who are blatantly looking for nothing more than a bed buddy get denied, along with the ones who can’t spell or punctuate. If that’s the best they can do while trying to impress someone, I can’t imagine how bad they would be when they quit trying to impress. In less than a half an hour, I decide that my hits, too, are losers and turn hopelessly to Allie. “C’mon, Al. Have we really been reduced to this? Are we really so horrible in person that we can’t find our own dates?”

“Hell, no, we’re not ‘so horrible that we can’t find our own dates’. The problem is, we never leave the ranch to meet anyone else. Everyone we come into contact with is business-related. Even the hot guests we get are off-limits. How the heck are we supposed to meet any decent guys this way?” She gestures around us. “Look, I love our life here, being a part of your family and helping raise the kids and run the ranch, but you know, occasionally, I’d really like to get lai…,” she catches herself, remembering that the kids are right behind us at the coffee table, “I mean, I’d really like to have some companionship.”

Luke snorts behind us and I know he caught Allie’s little slip of the tongue. I glare at him in warning to keep his knowledge to himself. He looks away, grinning.

“I know,” I say quietly, “We really appreciate everything you do for us, really. I’m sorry that being here with us is screwing up your life.” I feel guilty about depending on her so much, at the same time, the thought of her finding someone to start a family of her own with scares the hell out of me.

“Stop right there. I know what you’re thinking. Just stop.” She puts up a hand, “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want to be. And I love it, I really do, it’s just that sometimes…”

“I know. Me, too.” I turn back to the computer, “Show me this dynamite profile that you’ve created for me that’s attracting all of the losers.”

“Not all the losers, I got my share today, too.” She reaches across me and clicks over to my profile.

The picture she has posted for me takes my breath away. I usually hate pictures of myself and was wondering what she’d post. My profile picture was obviously taken this morning during my wild ride from the barn to the trail on Purina. I’m leaned up over Purina’s neck, practically glowing with the thrill of the ride. My long auburn hair is streaming back from under my cowboy hat at the same angle as her straw-colored tail; her mane is flowing back up over my hands, which seem to disappear into it. Allie and her camera with its ultra-fast shutter speed managed to capture Purina with all four hooves off the ground; we look like we’re flying through the air.

“Wow,” I finally breathe, “this picture is amazing.”

“I heard you two coming and got my camera out just in time. I got a lot more, but I think this is the best.”

“Heathi, come look at this picture Allie took. It’s amazing.” I can’t move my eyes from the monitor I’m so mesmerized by the picture, so I just wave to them to join us. Allie clicks on it, enlarging it to fill the whole screen.

“Mom, that’s you! And you look so happy!” Caitleigh squeals.

“Free,” Luke corrects, “You look free.”

“Mom, you’re the prettiest Mom in the whole world,” CJ tells me seriously, choking me up.

“Thank you guys, but Allie took this, isn’t it the most beautiful picture? Look, she even got Purina with all four hooves off the ground. Doesn’t it look like we’re flying?”

Cait climbs up onto Allie’s lap and squeezes her neck in a tight hug, “Thank you for making Mom look so good. Now she’ll be sure to find a boyfriend!”

Stacy Westfall - My Big NaNo Boo-Boo

While re-reading my bareback scene, I realized that Shelby had told the wrangler applicants that she didn't expect them to turn into Stacy Westfall, who is known for her amazing bridleless bareback riding skills. 

However, I did manage to forget to have Shelby give them bridles to ride with.  They arrived at the arena with their horses in tow, a few sentences later they swung their reins (apparently they were imaginary since Shelby forgot to give them bridles) over their horses' necks and rode into the arena. Oops.  I did manage to get all of the wranglers into helmets, though (surprise, surprise, Heidi and Julie - and you thought I'd never use my helmet again).

The good news is that when I realized my mistake and fixed it, I'd added a couple hundred words to my word count.  And Shelby's wranglers don't have to ride like Stacy Westfall.

I Hit The Wall...

I was doing so well, cranking along with nary a worry.  It looked like the challenge of 50k, one I started, was actually going to be a breeze. Yeah, until now.  I'm 31+k in and stuck.  I know where I want to go.  I can see it, but I'm getting bogged down in the details and can't seem to get there. 

Damn.

Last night, in an hour, I only had added six hundred words to my count.  Today, I've been sitting at the computer for going on two hours and haven't managed to squeeze one hundred words out of my fingers.  I keep hovering them over the keyboard like it's an Ouija board; I just need to channel my inner writer and I'll be just fine.  Problem is, my inner writer seems to be on a vacation where NaNo is concerned.  Anyone wanna hover their hands over my Ouija board, I mean keyboard, with me?

A Birthday and A Day of Surprises

Happy Birthday, Dear Deejo!  I told all of my funny stories about you last year on the blog, and I haven't seen you except for my reception this year, so I guess all you'll get from me is the standard Happy Birthday greeting.  Love you, brudah.

Surprises...today, while writing, I found out a couple of things I didn't see coming.

• Shelby's son, Luke (13), finally asks for a horse of his own, since Taco (the kids' horse) is a baby's horse and he's old enough to have one of his own.  Shelby and Allie had already been talking about it, so she was ready to agree until he threw her a curveball and said that he wanted to adopt a BLM mustang from Canyon City's WHIP.
• Shelby's equine baby, Callie (short for Calypso) is preg checked on advice of the woman whose winter pasture the herd roams.  One of her neighbors claimed to have seen some feral mustangs mingling with the herd.  Turns out those ferals were potent, as all of the mares in the herd are pregnant.

And, Shelby released one of her potential wranglers.  I've included an excerpt of the exchange:

“Heidi, Twila, stop for a second and take a few deep breaths. Turn your back on your horses and relax. They’re moving away from you now because they can sense you’re frustrated and angry and they can’t figure out what you want. They can tell the difference between confidence and anger.”


“But we’re not angry!” Heidi hollers back at me.

“Really? Because the tightness around your eyes and your tense body posture tells me otherwise. Your jaw is practically locked shut. If it looks like anger to me, it definitely looks like anger to the horse. Relax your jaw, take a deep breath and just release the tension.” I smile when I see Heidi do what I say and watch her horse take a tentative step toward her. “Great, do it again and then look behind you.”

She takes another deep breath and exhales. This time I can see her body release the rest of the tension and her horse takes another step toward her, stretching out her neck, almost close enough to touch her back as though asking ‘what’s wrong?’. Heidi looks over her shoulder at Raja, who is standing respectfully behind her, waiting to be caught. Heidi murmurs Raja’s name, loops the lead over her neck and halters her without any further drama. I smile when I see her give Raja an extra pat before leading her to the barn door.

Twila huffs and puffs a little bit before she calms down enough to try my way of catching Shy. As soon as the tension leaves Twila’s body, Shy turns to face her and takes a step in her direction. Resigned to the fact that I do actually know my herd, she tosses the lead rope over Shy’s neck and roughly halters him. Shy can’t figure out what the heck he did wrong and balks when Twila yanks on his lead rope to pull him toward the barn. I can see that she’s seething with anger and am at her side before she can swing the end of the lead rope at Shy, “You’d better think twice about hitting my horse. You’ve got a choice to make right here, Twila. Chill the fuck out or leave. Those are the only two choices you’ve got. What’s it going to be?”

“What do you mean chill the fuck out?” She screams in my face, yanking on Shy’s lead rope, “He wouldn’t let me catch him and now that I have, he won’t follow me to the barn! He needs to learn some goddamn manners!”

I put my hand on Shy’s neck and take the lead rope from her fisted hand, “Twila,” I start quietly, “I had high hopes for you, but your temper and my horses won’t mix. Please go back to the bunk house and pack your stuff. Allie will meet you there.”

“You’re sending me home! I’ve got the most experience here and you’re sending me home?” She screams.

I catch Angie’s eye and hand off Shy’s lead rope to her. Angie quietly leads him away from me and Twila, headed out to the dude rail.

“Yes, I’m sending you home. Please stop making a scene and go quietly,” I tell her calmly.

“You can’t fucking do this to me you bitch! Do you know how much work I put in for you? And this is the thanks I get? You’re sending the most experienced horse person home?” I stand my ground as she takes a step closer, really getting in my face and doing her best to intimidate me with her height. She does have a good few inches on my five foot four, but if I’m not intimidated by a herd of one thousand pound horses, I’m sure the hell not intimidated by her.

“Just because you’ve grown up with horses and riding does not make you a horse person. The people who will be staying are the ones who want to learn, not the ones who think they know it all. This is the last time I’m going to ask you nicely, please go to the bunk house and pack your stuff.” I refuse to get caught up in arguing with her or escalating my temper to meet hers.

She makes up her mind and brushes by me, trying to knock me off of my feet. I step to the side and let her stumble her way out of the pasture before heading to the barn to phone Allie. As I walk toward the barn I hear someone singing, “And another one down, and another one down, another one bites the dust. Hey, we’re gonna get you too, another one bites the dust.”

NaNo-isms: When Your Brain Thinks Faster Than Your Fingers Can Type

Oh, I've got a couple of doozies from the last twenty four hours:

• Leaving the keys in the transmission, I park the car in first gear and set the emergency brake.
• I put her rack up on the saddle...

No, it's not a lesbian romance, so quit thinking about Shelby woman-handling another wrangler's rack.  I meant "her saddle up on the rack" just like I meant "leaving the keys in the ignition".  Oy.  It's going to be a long month.