I have observed over and again how people react in different ways to items they come into contact with, make selections from the smorgasbord of life of those offerings they most enjoy to return to for satisfaction time and again.
For me the dish I continually craved and pigged out on when possible was books.
It started when I was a preschooler. My older sister played school with her friend and the two of them sparred, vying to see which one could first teach their younger preschool sister how to read. My sister never knew what a gift she gave me with all that personal reading coaching.
My mother had a set of 1912 - 1920's James Oliver Curwood novels that were given to her by her Aunt Irma. These books were passed on to me and I still thumb through those worn pages from time to time. I never tire of them, Back to God's Country, especially. One day my sister took me home after another day of playing school with her friend. I picked up one of my mother's Curwood novels and discovered I could read the words. I couldn't put it down. Isat on the floor in front of the bookcase and read all four Curwood books almost nonstop in just a few days. Curwood's books and later Zane Grey's series of Western novels, hooked me on reading for life. I have read all of the Zane Grey Western novels, and still have my favorite, Wildfire. My brother has the rest of the set.
When I began to write my own first Western Historical, Breaking Point, I went back and reread Curwood and Zane Grey because I wanted to write my stories the way I saw theirs - smooth, clear prose that journeyed up hills and down valleys across the pages and kept me reading, entranced, unable to put them down. Now my Western Historical series is being published.
I wonder, does my prose come across clear and journey up hills and down? The jury is still out.
Breaking Point was released by Desert Breeze Publishing on May 11, 2012.
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