What I read this week: Night Magic by actor-turned-writer Thomas Tryon. Although it’s more accurate to say What I finished reading this week. It took me a long time to read this book and the overly-literary style was out of my comfort zone, but I did enjoy it. I also read two Jack Reacher novels, one totally this week Nothing to Lose, and finishing up one other Worth Dying For. They had a lot in common and I’m glad I read Worth Dying For first. I think it was the better story.

Ate at Dan’s Hamburgers in Kyle (onion rings were great!). Got a mammogram from ARA in Kyle too. On Tuesday and Wednesday we had a huge rainstorm. Looked like most people were staying home, at least on Wednesday when I ventured out to Black’s BBQ for their 4 for $10.00 chopped beef sandwich sale.

Reading The Son of Tarzan right now, even though I’ve read it before. Pretty good, but over-bloodthirsty and a bit more racist than I remembered. A great story illustrating tell, not show as a form of writing. I hardly noticed it.

The weather is turning warmer, thank you. And if you’re interested, Nine of my books are in the Austin Public Library system. Several of my books are in the Lockhart Public Library, three are in the Bryan, Texas library, and they are all available through Amazon and Brown and Noble as e-books.

It’s a week into the new year of 2024 already. I didn’t make myself any promises. Except to write. I got an order of The Goodall Mutiny books in the mail yesterday which reminded me this is one of my favorites (that I’ve written). I am currently writing the third in the series of Boo-Done-It mysteries. Working on chapter 4. Here’s a cover from one of the first two.

When I wrote my first book I did it by writing at least 100 words a day. Only 100 words a day! (Although some times I just kept going). But just a little and every day will get you to where you want to be–to a completed novel. Below is its cover.

If you want to be a writer, just write!

It’s pretty much the end of the bookselling season for this year, for us. Alas. Starts back up in February. But three of my titles can be found at BookPeople in Austin, Texas, most easily in the local author section.

And if you are ever in Lockhart for the barbecue, keep walking around town until you get to Wendy R’s bookstore. I have three titles there as well, also in the local author area. Books by Tammy Francis and Phil McBride and Wayne Walther (I could go on with half a dozen names) are also in stock.

E-books can be found on Amazon.

And, though I’ve only done this a couple of times, you can write or email me and I can sell you a paperback of one of my more than 20 books.

Another option, ask your local library purchase one of my books (or more).

If you live in Austin, the Austin Public Library has 9 of my titles. And if you live in Lockhart, the Lockhart library has several of my books. And the Bryan, Texas library has my Goodall science fiction series.

. . . it was my best story, and it had another cover.

I”ve forgotten that it had a plug at the top–You need teeth–to smile.

Not bad.

Sometimes I put this story up for free.

One of my favorite covers, and one of the most difficult. I think Streetlight Graphics went through three different cat types before I got my idea across to them. A cat with a mouse in his mouth.

This is also one of my favorite stories. Part of it is true. And there is a sequel. Just above here. See?

Both of these stories are on Kindle Unlimited, or for sale on the Kindle site.

Not counting the individual stories I wrote and published, here is my third cover. Again, and likely each and every time going forth, this cover is the work of Streetlight Graphics. It is almost exactly the way I asked them to do it. The oval book title was their innovation.

Talking to the Dead Guys is book I wrote about our dog, who was actually named Boo Radley. She was big, she was sweet, and she was scared. I think I left the scared part out of the novel, just retained the stubbornness. If she did not want to walk one step further, she didn’t, though going home was another matter.

Anyway. One year when I tripped over a grave boundary in Lockhart’s old historical cemetery during their annual Speaking of the Dead walking tour (in the dark) I pictured Boo Radley dragging me off my feet and onto a dead body at the edge of the graveyard. Thus this cozy mystery novel was begun. The picture on the cover is of our actual dog, and the old historic jail can be seen in the top background.

Most readers enjoy this book. And it has a sequel. And I’m writing on the third in the series now.

This was my third book cover (but my second book, I think. I’m not going to look it up.) Streetlight Graphics again, and for always, they are so good. But this cover was not what I wanted, although it gradually became one of my favorites.

Arroyo is a weird western with three main characters. Ramona the witch, Sinjin the Indian (India) prince, and Daniel the angel. The story opens with Ramona captured by the Indian prince and forced to climb up the side of an arroyo with a wooden Indian statue strapped to her back. Perfect visual for the pulp style adventure Arroyo is. I wanted to see a buxom Mexican beauty clawing for purchase at the lip of the canyon top and falling off with her wooden Indian statue still on her back. Screaming in terror (the young woman, not the statue). Pure pulp.

The above is what I got. And it took me a long time to realize that my three heroes were indeed standing at the bottom of an arroyo. The above artwork actually fits the book, and I guess my vision was too complicated. I did not ask. And over time I came to love this cover. It attracts reader everywhere we sell it (except on line, alas).

Purpose of this little essay: the cover artist might just know better than the writer. And in this case, he did.

This was the original cover to my first book. We made it all by ourselves (with the help of a friend). Spent a lot of time driving the countryside snapping photos of fields, cattle, flowers, trees, houses, horses. You get the idea.

I still like it, but about a year later we decided to get more professional and hired Streetlight Graphics to re-format the book and create a new cover. If I remember correctly, their first try was of a giant golf ball (because some of the story concerns the golf course that was mistakenly built on a wealthy reclusive woman’s ranch. I didn’t keep that so I can’t show you. And I don’t remember how much back and forth we did before coming up with the silhouette idea you see above.

The idea didn’t come from me (other than adding the golf clubs and bag, I think.) Usually I have an idea in mind, and then my sister adds her input, then we see what Glendon can do. But on my first novel, Streetlight Graphics was on its own.