Over at Women on Writing, today's post was a writing challenge. I've always loved writing challenges, and have done several in the past. Since I'm trying to get back into writing shape, the Webb Writing Challenge is exactly the exercise I need. I've linked directly to the post, but I also want an easy to access list for myself, so I've copied it below:

1. Write a poem
2. Use your name as a writing prompt.
3. Pen a flash fiction in a genre you don't usually write.
4. Find inspiration in a favorite song - either the lyrics or memories connected to the song.
5. Everyone loves a surprise ending. Write something with a twist.
6. Try some epistolary writing - tell a story through other writing (letters, texts, emails, diary entries, police blotter, etc.).
7. Learn something new and use it in your writing.
8. Write about a place you've never been - an actual place or an imaginary world you create.
9. Create a random question (or use a question generator), then answer it with a piece of writing.
10. Condense the time period of your piece - have it happen in 24 hours or less.
11. Be someone new! Write from a viewpoint different from yours - different age, gender, religion, politics, financial situation, time period, profession, etc.
12. Choose another piece of writing as your jumping off point; anything from a novel to a news story to a birthday card from your Aunt Marion.
13. There are 27 emotions: admiration, adoration, aesthetic appreciation, amusement, anger, anxiety, awe, awkwardness, boredom, calmness, confusion, craving, disgust, empathic pain, entrancement, excitement, fear, horror, interest, joy, nostalgia, relief, romance, sadness, satisfaction, sexual desire, surprise. Focus on one in your next writing.
14. Allow the next person you eat a meal with to suggest a writing topic.
15. Infuse an inherently unlikable character with traits that make your readers root for them.

This one is going to be tough and require me to really push my boundaries. There's not a single prompt listed that is a no-brainer for me. I'm excited about this, and will be sprinkling these writings throughout my blog posts for the next year or so.

6 Months Already?

Holy cow, it really has been 6 months and a handful of days since I last posted.

Oops, sorry about that. I wish I had a great excuse like I was busy finishing my next book or finishing my horse or something. Nope, turns out I'm just lazy. In an attempt to break my lazy streak, I'm going to attempt a 30 day writing challenge. I'm typically not very good at challenges like this, but I'm trying to get my writing mojo back.

I'll be using the following writing prompts from The Writer's Circle.

There are some prompts that I feel are kind of negative, so I'll probably change those to positive prompts - there's enough negativity in the world, especially during an election year.

WPA-bound

You know, for a writer, I don't get much writing done. I always have grand intentions of breaking out the computer when I get home from work, but it rarely happens.

I am currently revising TALES FROM THE TRAIL, adding about ten stories, including Estes' final chapter. It should have been included in the first edition, but her death was too raw and I'm just now ready to write about it.

The second book in the LYON'S ROAR series in flitting around in my brain. I even have the first chapter written, but it scares me a bit, so I'm finding it difficult to move forward. Next week, I'll be headed to Wisconsin to the Writers' Police Academy - a move I hope will help light the fire under my butt to sit down and get the next book out.

It was at the 2010 WPA that I learned the method by which Faceless Bad Guy used to enter Stacy Lyon's house. Each year, the WPA gets bigger and better, so I have no doubt I will return full of ideas that will appear in future books.

I leave on the 20th bright and early and return bright and early on the 23rd. The only decent price I could get back was at the butt-crack of dawn, so I'm going to miss the debrief on Sunday, but I'll have two and a half days of learning under my belt by then. (And I'll be back in time to see the premier of Fear the Walking Dead!)

I am pretty bad at posting to Twitter (@CSWilson_Author), but I'm going to work on it while at WPA. If you want to follow along with me and the other 299 authors who will be attending, watch #2015WPA for updates.

I'll also be posting cool things on Instagram (AuthorCSWilson), and my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/AuthorCSWilson), so if you think about it, jump on over to follow along.

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. 

So You Want To Be A Writer

Every once in a while, someone on one of the FB pages/groups I follow or am a member of will pipe up and ask opinions on whether or not they should write a book.  The post usually looks something like this:

so ive been thinking about writting a book lol i've just allways wanted to rite n i no i have a good book people wuld by it's title is: the next best amurican novel n i no it wuld be a best seller what do u think shuld i do it

Now, I know I'm not an expert on all things writing.  Heck, there are some days when I just can't get the right words to come out of my mouth for anything.  I have not, and will not, write the Next Great American Novel.  Frankly, I don't have the time, patience, or creativity to do so.

I'm proud of the two books I've written and published.  They are solid books, good for entertainment, nothing more, nothing less.  TALES FROM THE TRAIL has hit #1 on Amazon's free list a couple of times and hovered in the top twenty for a while.  HUNTED LYON faces much stiffer competition, but has still sold relatively well.  Since I don't intend to make a living from writing, the little bit extra is kind of fun, but mostly I just enjoy my books and hope other people do as well.

I am a voracious reader, though, and have some very strong opinions about writing from a reader's standpoint.  When I see posts like the one above, I want to scream and tell the person who posted not only no, but hell no, they should not write a book.

Based on my limited experience as an author and my extensive experiences as a reader, here are a few "tips" for people who want to write a book:

• Punctuation.  It is a really go idea and helps the reader understand WTF it is you're trying to say.
• Spelling.  Try it some time. Even if you can't spell, your computer can and it will helpfully underline the misspelled words in red ink.
• There is no "x" in eSpecially
• No is there an "x" in eSpresso
• Text-speak.  See Punctuation and Spelling
• Sentence Structure.  A very basic understanding of  how to build a sentence will go a long way in your writing endeavors.  
• Word Choice.  Your computer cannot decipher if you are using the wrong word, but spelling it correctly, to help you out here.
• Could've, should've, would've are contractions for could have, should have, would have = NOT could OF, should OF, would OF
• You must know the difference between homophones.  Your and you're are not the same thing.  Neither are there, their, they're.

In all seriousness, though, I think people need to pay attention to how they come across online.  The people who post things on FB/Twitter/Instagram need to pay attention to how they present themselves.  I know the social media thing has been done to death when it comes to professionalism, and I'm preaching to the choir here, but if you want to be taken seriously, you must put forth an effort.

I know that I have blog posts up with errors - I try my best to avoid them, but often, I'm just jotting something down to get it off of my chest (like I'm doing here) or because I'm excited.  My blog posts are written very much the same way I speak.  However, my books are not.  TALES is a narrative, but I put a lot of effort into cleaning it up and "formalizing" it to make it more readable.  HUNTED LYON is written in a completely different manner, much more formal, but my voice still comes through.

I know I've posted things on FB with errors (usually simply swype-os), but I always try to maintain a certain level of professionalism.  After all, I want people to buy my books and I know they won't if my posts, especially on my author's page, are so full of errors that they are almost unreadable.

The people who post that they want to write a book, yet have zero apparent writing skills are people I'll never buy a book from - even if the book is free.  Those people have killed their market even before they know they have one.

I know self-publishing has opened up many doors, for which I am very thankful. However, for every well-written self-published book out there, there are many more poorly-written books by people who post statuses like the one above.

My advice to the people who post statuses like the one above:

Just don't.  Please.  You're killing those of us who put time and effort and a bit of pride into our work.

THIS is a bracket I can get behind!

I follow Grammarly on Facebook and several times a day, they post something that makes me laugh or cringe (or both).

Over the weekend, they posted "The Battle to Determine the Most Maddening Writing Error".  I don't do March Madness brackets or anything of the sort, but this?  This I can get behind.  Take a look at the competitors:

Your/You're beat out Two/Too/To in the first match-up.  Today's match-up is "I could care less" v.s. "Could/would/should of".  I voted for the could/would/should of, which makes me want to scream, "HAVE! It's could HAVE!" and then mutter under my breath.

When I shared the bracket with Digger, though, he lost it over "I could care less" and went on a mini-rant.  I guess the family (the two of us anyway) is divided for this match, but that just makes it more interesting.

Here are my picks (I meant to post this before Grammar Madness began, but I'm late):

And here are Digger's picks:

After we completed our brackets, we had a rousing discussion about who was going to win.  I'm fairly certain that Misused Apostrophes is going to take it all, but he's pretty certain Irregardless is going to win.

I can't wait to show him Mother Knows Best!

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.

We're Officially a Writing Family!

Back in August, I published my first book.  It was a long time in coming, as the stories contained in it spanned nine years.  I was overwhelmed to hold my book in my hand when it arrived in the mail.  I thought nothing could ever come close to that feeling of accomplishment and pride in my work.

But then, Jay finished his children's book.  When I finally got my hands on his proof copy and got to look at the vibrant colors in the illustrations and run my fingers over the characters I have loved for almost five years, well, that feeling was even more profound than when I held my own book.

I watched Jay bring his characters to life and to finally get to hold the book in my hand - it has to be similar to holding a newborn after watching your spouse go through pregnancy and labor.  I couldn't stop picking it up and flipping through it.

If you have small children, you have to buy his book, not because my hubby wrote it, but because it's just so beautiful.  In most children's books, the artwork supports the story, but in Jay's book, the story supports the artwork.





You can find it on Amazon now or Barnes and Noble in a couple of days.

Green Squiggly Line

We all know that in Word, the red squiggly line means you spelled something wrong.

The green squiggly line means there's a grammatical error.

A cool bonus about the green squiggly line is that if there is an incorrect word used, it typically leads to a grammatical error, which means the green squiggly line will appear.  Cool, huh?

Authors should take note.

Their editors should take note.

I told you that so I can tell you this...

Authors - don't use your friends/family as editors.  Stop being cheap and hire a proper editor.  One who can spell AND who knows the rules of grammar AND who knows what homophones are.

I started reading a book yesterday that I'm enjoying. However, the author doesn't know the difference between site (location) and sight (to see).  Nor does she know the difference between roll (the action) and role (a part played by a performer).  Apparently, neither does her editor.

To recap:

• site = place/location
• sight = to see
• roll = an action (or a very yummy hunk of bread)
• role = a part played by a performer or a character

When I was bitching whining about this to my parents, my mom came up with the homophones that make her homicidal:

• rein = steering device for equines
• rain = the wet stuff that falls from the sky
• mane = the long neck hair on equines
• main = chief or primary

At least I come by my word snobbery honestly.

Which words are used incorrectly that make you twitchy?

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.

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.

*Sigh* Another Year Dawns

It seems like I didn't have enough time in 2010 to get everything done.  I checked in with last year's resolutions and felt like it was a draw.  No surprise, I'm recycling all four of them for this year and adding one.

#1: Be healthier.  I semi-succeeded with this one, in that I ended the year weighing less than I started the year.  But I'm in worse shape, not better.  This year, I'll be turning the big four-oh.  I so want to hit my birthday forty pounds lighter than I am now.  Turning the big four-oh, forty pounds lighter.  Yep, sounds like a good omen to me :)  Going to check out a gym tomorrow; have to join one.  I'm too much of a wimp to 1) run and 2) run in the cold.  Screw that business.

#2: Write, write, write.  Re-query TALES FROM THE TRAIL.  Finish HUNTED LYON and begin editing it.  Get to work on the second book in the Lyon series, LYON'S ROAR.

#3: Spend more time with my little girl.  Because, let's face it, there's just never enough time to spend with the equine loves of our lives.  I'm even going to take riding lessons while she's at winter pasture so that I can utilize my seat better.  I ride okay and have lots of hours on the back of a horse, but I'd like to have better leg/seat control.  Estes is much better trained than I am; I'd like to be a worthy rider.

#4:  Continue my Master's program.  If I play my cards right and work my arse off, RockCrawlinChef and I will walk together at graduation in 2012.  How cool would that be?

#5: Be a better person.  I'm kind of a catty, snarky bitch.  I'm trying to learn to live and let live.  It's hard.  I've always spoken my mind, hurt feelings be damned.  I grew up believing that you say what needs to be said, when it needs to be said.  I still believe that, but I think I can learn a lot from my Southern friends who can tell someone to go right to hell, give them directions, and make them think it was their idea to begin with.  It's a skill I envy.  I want to be able to bless hearts with the best of them.

Five Days and Counting...

Remember this?  When I took the leap way back in February and registered for the Writers' Police Academy, it seemed like it was forever away.

Now it's just around the corner and I'm starting to get excited/nervous about the trip.  One of my co-workers who is also a writer is going, too.  I even decided to ante up the money to go to the dinner with Jeffery Deaver.  You know, just me and the hundred other people who also forked out the money to dine "with" him.  I'm not sure I'd like to be in his position - you know, up on a pedestal with people watching my every move, asking the same questions everyone else has asked a million times and having to be "on" all the time.  Yet I still paid the money just so I can say that I dined with him (and the other hundred people) and had him sign my books.

I've been waffling about whether or not to take my laptop.  In my blogging heart I know I should, but my physical body says "oh hell no, that's just one more thing to lug around the airports".  So, the laptop stays.  I'll be off the grid for about five days starting on Thursday, but after looking at the schedule we're going to be following I'm pretty sure I'll be too exhausted to even open the laptop anyway (much like I recently have been).

I'm going old school to the WPA - I bought some ultra-fine tip multi-colored pens and a spiral notebook.  It's been a long time since I took notes by hand, and they may not be legible, but they sure will be pretty and colorful :)

Resolution Check-in

Remember this resolution?  It would be the resolution that I would write, write, write.

The dedicated writing time hasn't happened. 

The 1500 words a week hasn't happened.

Well, then, why the heck are we having an update?

'Cause one part of my resolution has happened (albeit late, but it's happened).  I just sent my query letter, author bio, and three sample stories from TALES FROM THE TRAIL off to the publisher.

I know that in real life, the chances of being published, especially the first time out the gate, is slim to none.  However, the worst thing that can happen is that they can say "no", which is actually better than what they would say if I never submitted anything.

Would you all, please, please, please, send good vibes to Johnson Publishing in Boulder for me? 

Yes, I'm begging.

Query Letter Contest

Elana Johnson, a YA author and query letter guru, is having a great contest for writers.  As I'm finishing up my Tales from the Trail, I'm now looking for an agent and/or publisher.  In order to do so, the query letter has to be amazing.  In truth, the query is scaring me to death.  Elana is offering up query critiques from five literary agents.

I know that some of my followers are not only readers, but writers, and could benefit from this contest as well.  (Are you listening TJ and Mark?  Your writer friend might be interested.)  If you're interested in throwing your name in the hat for a professional query critique, jump on over to Elana's blog and enter.

I Can't Believe I Just Did It...

I finally bit the bullet and registered for the Writer's Police Academy in September.  Terry Odell, mystery writer extraordinaire, over at Terry's Place "introduced" me to Lee Lofland of The Graveyard Shift, author and font of knowledge regarding police procedure.

From the moment I found out about WPA, I've been dying to go.  It's three full days of instruction in police procedure; everything from shooting to driving to crime scene procedure.  The keynote speaker is Jeffrey Deaver, who first whetted my appetite for a well-written forensic novel.  I fell in love with "The Bone Collector" and quicky ate up the whole series.  Shortly thereafter, I found Patricia Cornwell, who cemented my love for forensic novels.

I've been kicking around the idea for a month or more, trying to justify the expense of both the conference and the travel.  I'm pretty sure that my work family is tired of me debating back and forth, so they'll be thrilled to find out that I finally registered for it. I saved a good bit by registering early and I love a good deal, so I was able to pay for the registration for the conference and pay for the FATS (Firearms Training Simulator) training for less than if I'd waited another week.

Now I've just got to stave off the nervous breakdown brought on by spending that money.  By God, I had better learn a TON in those three semi-expensive days.

2010 Resolution #2

Continue writing, which really isn't too hard, but I really need to get my act together and join a writing group or continue with the Loco FoCo Wrimos.  Jay and I have decided that we'll be staging our own write-ins once a week some place other than home.  We both have fabulous starts on our novels, and by God, we're going to finish.

We're going to shoot for 1,500 words a week each, and my blog words don't count.  It has to be 1,500 words per week on my novel until it's complete and then revisions start.

My other goal is to submit my query letter for Tales From The Trail by the end of January.  The publisher warns there's a four month turn around on queries, so I really don't have a whole heap of time to get my act together.

Exhaustion - I Mean NaNo - Update

Finished the day with just over 15,000 words.  Lost my mind and joined a challenge to write 20,000 words between Friday at 4:00 pm and Monday at 7:00 am.  Probably won't be able to write tomorrow, as it's finals day and I'm way behind on my grading, which I only have 24 hours to turn in.

NaNo summary of the day:

Fourteen ton of hay was delivered.  The Buckle Bunnies copped attitude with Shelby and got sent packing.  Allie (Shelby's best friend and live-in cook/nanny) decided that she and Shelby were going to go speed dating in the very near future.

It's kind of depressing how easy it is to boil down all of that hard work into three short sentences.

I'm still trying to figure out which story to write for Tales from the Trail and I've got to get a new post up for Lyon's Roar.  Those posts may be my break from NaNo this weekend.  I've got a couple of things in mind for Mr. Brody's reception dinner to liven up the story a bit again; we'll see what ends up on the page.

NaNo Update, Day Two

I slowed down considerably today, finishing the day with a grand total of just over 13,000 words.  I know, rationally, that of course I wouldn't get almost 10k today - hello - I have to work, but maybe getting off to such a strong start is kind of depressing.  I whipped out the first 9,498 without breaking a sweat.  It also took me hours to do it; hours that I won't have during the week.  All I can hope for is to stay on track during the week and really crank out the words on the weekend.

Summary of today's work:

First full day on the ranch.  Already, half of the girls missed breakfast because they were fussing with their hair and make up or were sleeping until the last second.  Their choice, but I can tell you, they are going to be starving come lunch time.  The first load of hay was delivered and the crew is learning how to stack it in the hay barn.

Yup, that's pretty much what happened in 3,300 or so words today.  Pretty sad that I can boil down that many words into a four sentence summary, ay?  Let's just say that conversations are the best way I've found to pad my word count.  Heck, we haven't even laid in a hundred bales.  I've still got all of the horses to introduce; that should be good for another 3-4k right there.  A couple of lines of description on twenty two horses will add up.

One of the girls in our region has already cranked out more than 20,000 words, which makes me feel like a big ole slacker.  Jay's closing in on 6,000 as I type this and Jordan's last update was about 5,700, so we're all just tooling along.  The trick, they say, is to maintain the enthusiasm for the entire month, not just the first week.  We'll see how it goes.

Busy Day And A Big Goal Met

Whew!  The day's winding down and I'm happy to say that I not only met my goal of 5,000 words, but I obliterated it and I'm more than halfway (well, barely more) to my second 5,000 today.  I was thinking that 10,000 words would be a lot to post here, so I'm just going to give you an overview of today's work.

The wranglers arrived at 3 Heathens Ranch for Wrangler Boot Camp.  Ten women, mostly young girls, arrived bright eyed and bushy-tailed to compete for four full-time positions at the ranch.  After a couple of years doing hiring the tradional way, Shelby came up with the idea of Wrangler Boot Camp.  The applicants arrive to do what the restaurant industry calls a stage, a working interview, for a week.  And then at the end of the week, the four top applicants are offered the job.  Some of the things the applicants will be required to do:

• unload and stack three hundred fifty eighty pound bales of hay,
• clean and oil tack for twenty two horses,
• de-worm and vaccinate twenty two horses,
• spend some serious saddle time learning the trails and the horses

Also, we got a glimpse into Shelby's past and find out how Allie, her best friend, came to live with her and her three heathens at the ranch.

Surprisingly, at one point while I was writing Shelby's past, I made myself freaking cry.  WTH?  But I wiped my tears and got over it.  Hmmm.  Damn RCC putting me in touch with the softer side of GunDiva.