I’m redrafting a historical romance I started writing on a train ride to Dallas, Texas and back (Austin) more than a year ago. It might have been two. THE CIMARRON BRIDE.

When I dragged it out of mothballs to edit, I didn’t like the main character, and some of the plot was ridiculous. So very glad I waited on this one.

I’m at chapter eight now, which I feel might need a few more revisions in the long run, but I’m soldiering on into chapter nine. It’s Stephen King’s advice, to keep writing forward, and it has helped turn me from a writer with six or seven partial novels in my desk drawers, to a writer with twelve published books who is working on her thirteenth and has part of the fourteenth stored under the keyboard I’m typing on right now.

Yea, Stephen King!  

Here’s a very small sample:  

It was Valentin.

Everyone in the room recognized that voice. May Ling was surprised she hadn’t. The deputy seemed scared. While he sucked on his bruised and cut hand, Big Jim cautioned him. “Better pour some spirits over that, and I mean right now. Wrap it in some cloth.” Everyone else stood stupefied, even the previously manic Squash Blossom.

May Ling wanted verification that it was truly Valentin out there. To see with her own eyes. She moved toward the door.  Big Jim pulled her back into the office. “It’s him all right. No need to meet him head on, Miss May Ling.”

The three horses inside had retreated to the back of the room and stood with their heads hanging down. “That’s not a good sign,” Big Jim commented. “I’m going to open the door back up and let them out.”

Richard walked over to shut the exit door, but stopped in the threshold to watch what May Ling could no longer see. “They’re gone,” he told her, talking over his shoulder in her direction. He wafted his hand in front of his face to disperse the settling dust. “And here he comes,” he added. “Earlier than I expected,” he told Big Jim.

You can find one of my books in Austin at Bookpeople. You can find all of my books in Lockhart at Logo’s and Buffalo Clover and some at Printing Solutions. Go to http://barnesandnoble.com/c/gretchen-rix  for NOOK books and https://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix  for KINDLE books.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:  Deadly Games by Lindsay Buroker. Conspiracy by Lindsay Buroker.