I love it when I meet my goals. Sometimes I set the bar too high and I miss it, falling flat on my face. The other day I surpassed 50, 000 words on my work in progress, Cherish Me. For a moment it felt great. I was looking at the half full glass and rejoicing. Now, all I'm seeing is that half empty part that I need fill, and quickly. But instead of looking at the last 40,000 words that aren't even written yet, I'm going to focus on a little bit at a time.

Here's to goals being met. I'd also like to shout out a huge congratulations to my writing partner, Christiana Cameron. Way to go at reaching 70K!

It's no secret that my current work in progress revolves around the railroad. In my research I found an interesting article involving some of the smaller towns along the railroad south of Topeka. Our first stop will be Wakarusa. According the article, the Santa Fe Railroad brought supplies to the end of the railroad near Wakarusa on May 15, 1869. By June 28, 1869, the tracks reached Carbondale an up and coming coal mine.

Wakarusa is a very small town situated on the Wakarusa River. What homes are left are tucked behind the trees. This small area actually reminds me of some places in the Ozarks. As my daughter and I were driving through town, all one and a half blocks of it, I took some pictures. It wasn't until after I got home that I realized one of the elongated abandoned buildings was more than likely the old depot, although I can't be for sure. But the building did look similar to many of the pictures of seen of other train depots along the railroads.

One of the things I found very interesting was found in the article and there is no way I can explain it so I'll quote it all below. You can click on the quote to take you directly to the article. The non-italicized area is what I found interesting.

Locomotive number 2 (first number 2) was purchased from the Rhode Island Locomotive works in Providence about the middle of June, 1869. "It was named Gen. Burnside after the Civil War general, Ambrose E. Burnside, who was governor of Rhode Island, an officer of the locomotive works which manufactured it, and a stockholder in the Santa Fe as well as in the construction company building the road". The number two a 4-4-0 like number one cost $11,500. First number two was quite a contrast to first number one. Number two weighted in at only 26 1/2 tons in comparison to number ones 30 tons. It was reported that Number two had to get a running start to make it up the Wakarusa hill with four or five cars. This was a problem since the Santa Feâs water supply for the locomotives was the Wakarusa river at the bottom of the hill. Fuel for number two was wood, which complicated the fuel situation, as number one was a coal burner.




Typical Kansas. A lone tree on a hill.
I love the how the trees arch over the road way.
Here we are heading toward the low water bridge. It's fun and beautiful when the water is actually flowing. But when it's still, it becomes stagnant, it turns muddy and sometimes it stinks.
We didn't spend too much time here since there was a couple target practicing with a shotgun.



This is a stream off the Wakarusa.
I have no idea how old this bridge but my imagination went wild. Can't you just see an old wagon traveling over this stone bridge on their way to church?

This picture comes from More Junkmail from Bob. To see more pictures click on the link.


I don't know if the Dust Bowl is a well taught subject outside the Midwest. For those of us who grew up here, most of us know about Black Sunday, April 14, 1935. And no the photos weren't photo shopped. The pictures look like something out of The Mummy, only with rickety homes and old time cars.

I've never seen anything like it. Close, but no cigar. When I was five, I got a piece of sand embedded in my eye, thanks to a dust storm. Took the doctor six weeks to remove that tiny piece of sand.

Once when I was in high school working at a local fast food place, I saw a monster similar to the one pictured. Instead of several feet of dust piled against buildings and ditches, there were only inches. But for someone who had never experienced this type of weather, it was scary. It's no wonder you see so many pictures of cowboys wearing hankies around their faces.

I live in Kansas. Weather is a fact of life every where, but here, weather extremes seemed to the norm. We get raging storms, horrendous heat indexes, and below zero temperatures. But we also get our fare share of beautiful blue skies.

I'm not stepping away from my posts on research. Not really. But isn't it pretty? I took this picture over the weekend.

So, it's near the end of June. My current manuscript is dated in June 1868, yes there is a reason for June, but that is another blog for another day having to do with trains.


And I've set out to prove that Eastern Kansas isn't flat. Well, I know it looks flat, but stick with me for a bit and you'll see. For now this picture was taken on the way home. See the train tracks in the side mirror? I'm headed west, the camera is pointing south. Pauline, is north about two miles, Wakarusa is about three miles south, and Carbondale is about seven miles south.



The following pictures are all from Territorial Kansas Online. It's a wonderful resource, especially if you're researching Kansas History. If you click on the films you'll get a closer look at the simple architecture and a glimpse at their clothing. There was a picture, which I misplaced among the links, that showed a lady wearing a much fuller skirt than the simple black ones shown.



Kansas Avenue, Topeka 1860





Another view of Kansas Ave



Fourth Street and Kansas Ave



Methodist Church



The First Congregational Church

Who knew horses could be so complicated? I admit it, I'm a city girl. And although I think all horses are beautiful creatures, I really wanted to use the paint breed in my story. Now, I'm not so sure that I can.

The more I dig into the research the more I realize that Paints may not have been Paints at the time my story takes place, which means that I'll have to change my horse breed.

Instead of going to the Internet, I think I'll look for an authority on horses, Caroline Fyffe, for those of you who don't know, she has a wonderful blog called In the Nicker of Time. Her debut, Where the Wind Blows, will also be out through Dorchester in August.

When I figure out what I'm going to do about the horse issue, you all will be the first to know.

Do you know of John Wesley? Other than the fact that he was one of the founders of the Methodist movement and that he was born in the early 1700's, I don't know much. He was one of nineteen children, and his mother Susanna Wesley was known to cover her head with her apron when she wanted to be left alone in conversation with God. Amazingly, all of her children knew not to approach her while she was in such a position.

So, why bring up a man that was born over three hundred years ago?

In my current work-in-progress, a western, my heroine is asked to sing a hymn. The thought of having everyone's attention on her makes her want to be sick. The fact that the congregation didn't like her much made things that much worse. But when a to-die-for blue eyed, curly haired, blond man standing near 6'5 enters through the snow white doors, a man that she had shot at and had bound to a baggage car only days before, all she can say is "Sweet Jesus".

To save face, she belts out a tune written by John Wesley.

Jesus, lover of my soul,
Let me to Thy bosom fly,
While the nearer waters roll,
While the tempest still is high.
Hide me, O my Savior, hide,
Till the storm of life is past;
Safe into the haven guide;

Click on Jesus, lover of my soul, if you'd like to read the rest of the lyrics. Wesley, published the song in 1740, he would have been in his thirties.

Since my manuscript is written around 1868, I had to find a song that would have been published before then. And since Mr. Wesley lived in England as did a lot of hymnal writers I had to make sure that this song was feasible for my heroine to know and sing. The lyrics fit rather well for the turmoil my heroine is feeling at that very moment, as if the entire world is out to get her. The thing is all she can think about is the curly blond, giant of a man that she owes a huge apology to. The only thing is, she's never apologized for anything she's done, and she's not sure how to go about doing so.

In case you're wondering, I do not intend on making this an inspirational. My heroine is far from the side of purity to be considered anything but ruined.

As you can see I'm changing things a little. I'm still in the process of tweaking so please hang in there. I'm really trying to prepare for my writing career.

What's going on with me?

Well, I've decided to make some changes to Hellion's Highlander, which now has a new title. I'm not quite ready to reveal the title, but when I have the new query and pitch done, I promise to post it all here for your viewing, well most of it.

I've also hit the half way mark with Cherish Me. Yay, me. The more I write on it the more excited I become.

I've been working like crazy at the shop. Sewing. Did I ever tell you how much I don't like sewing? Well, I'm actually finding out that it's not so bad, except maybe when I run my finger over. And I'm working with an industrial machine. Ouch! I haven't needled it yet. I hope I don't either.

On the menu for this week-

This is a tough one. I joined Twitter awhile back and then joined a twibe called Vano. Each week we list our weekly goals. The first week I succeeded. The second, third and fourth, I failed. Miserably. I even dropped my word count down from 14k to 5k. I fought like crazy to get 3k. So this week I'm a bit shy of making goals, since it seems I've been unable to follow through.

Here is what I have to do though. I have to make it 1/3 of the way through the changes on Hellion's Highlander. I have to make it to 55k on Cherish Me. And I absolutely must start working on queries, pitches, and proposals.

So, that leaves me with 10k to write on Cherish Me. And 80 pages of rewrites on Hellion's Haven.

Do you know what today is? It's the last full week of June, which means RWA Nationals is right around the corner. Are you ready?

Testing 1. . . 2 . . . 3