Hard to keep up with all that is going on. I sent "Turnagain Love"  to London with our group, the Indie Book Collective. That group works together and we all help each other sell our books.  This is a photo from the London Book Fair, currently in progress. Turnagain Love is on the board behind them (on the rt) and in front on the table, second row, third from the right. (I'm not in London, but hard at work here at home, writing, editing, putting out our newsletters. Turnagain Love will be free this Friday morning, and Stolen Secrets is free (both as ebooks) today and tomorrow. 

The Trahern series usually has an animal or two featured in the book, as a source of humor or plot development. Not always, but as I was writing "The Bravest Woman in Town," I realized I had no animal, so put in Ozymandias. Some of the animals, like Hero, Sir Galahad, and General Wheezer, are like having an extra character in the story. 


When I wrote the "Sisters" series, I had a fully developed plot before I even started. But when writing the Trahern series, I start with the main character and follow that character while things happen. It is like reading a book, as I let the story dictate what is going to happen next. This makes writing a story as close to reading one as you can get, and make them really fun to write. I get one event finished and think, "what next?" That is answered, either by introducing a new character or animal or situation. When the book is finished, I go back and make sure everything came in logically and foreshadowed if needed.

I keep thinking I will run out of ideas, but they do keep coming. Also, I am sometimes tempted to throw in a lot more detail, but the joy of these stories is how fast-paced they are.

    "Grandpa was a good judge of men. He wouldn’t have hooked up with you, if he hadn’t thought you were worthwhile. He told me, when we were leaving the inn, to stick to you. I’m sticking,” Eden said.
    “I want a woman who’ll stick.”
     She pressed up against me. “Like glue,” she said. “No room for anyone else.” She sent my senses shootin’ off in all directions.
    “Exceptin’ me,” said Toby, from the wagon.
    “Go to sleep,” I told him, brought back to earth right sudden-like. “You’ll be included. In the family, just not in our marriage.”
     I took Eden’s hand and led her away from the wagon, over to where the General was a’grazing. “That boy has ears nigh as big as the General’s. We’ll do well to remember that,” I said, getting another kiss. They could be habit forming.

Owen Putman paused, then stood still in the heavy tropical heat. He used the back of his hand to wipe away the sweat-covered dirt on his brow, while he watched the huge caterpillar earthmover take gigantic swipes at the mountainside in front of them. He wanted to make sure the driver saw him, before he moved in any closer.

The man, part of Chris Galbec’s construction team, stopped the machine and stared up the slope. He had been cutting away at it with his bucket, moving tons of dirt from the side of the hill, and was waiting for the trucks to come back to get their loads.

Owen knew better than to march unannounced up to any worker on the site, so waited for the driver to acknowledge him.

“Rock!” the man yelled and pointed.

The warning, although unexpected, alerted Owen to the "rock," that barreled toward him. A huge boulder, dislodged from the top of the cliff, came tumbling down upon them, bringing smaller rocks, pieces of jungle foliage, and a shower of red dirt bouncing along with it.

Pelted by some of the smaller rocks thrown forward by the boulder, Owen raced for the earthmover and dove between the tracks. He reached it just in time to keep from being crushed, although the smaller rocks and dirt buried his right foot.

He yanked it free as his thoughts raced. Had someone found out who he was? Was this one meant for him? 

http://www.amazon.com/Loneliest-Mountains-Traherns-Western-Historical-ebook/dp/B00IH3JRA6/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1392530026&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Loneliest+Man+in+the+Mountains

PRAISE FOR The Loneliest Man in the Mountain:  "I have read all the Trahern books, they are all good and this one is really a pleasure to read. It is fun, happy, sad and a good ending. It is just plain wonderful." samann


EXCERPT:
  I brought down the young woman last, who started to cry when I picked her up.
  “Thank you. Thank you,” she gasped between tears.
  “What happened?” I asked.
  “An avalanche. It wiped out our entire valley. Except for the school. These are the children.”
  “You were teaching them?”
  “Yes.”
  The children looked half-starved. “How long ago?”
  “Three months. I was trying to wait until the snow was gone. But we ran out of food, and the elk had all gone to the lower elevations during the winter.”
  I brought her down and handed her over to Erastus, who held her like a precious package.
  “Hello,” he said. “I’m Erastus Courtney. You and the kids are safe now. Philip and me, we’ll take care of you. We got us some food, and enough horses here to get your whole school out of these here mountains. Don’t you worry none.”
  She threw her arms around his neck and hung on, tight as a cocklebur in a mare’s tail.
  The kids all stood around in a huddle, too exhausted to act like children. Dixie walked among them, her tail wagging, licking their hands. She loved kids.