One Author's Journey #9

When Walk Slowly Through the Dark was published, I could hardly believe that it was book #9. This book was one that jerked at my heart. The content of this book is personal to me. I suppose you could say from reading all the posts I have written about my journey of writing that all of my books reveal a part of me.

Hard subjects are addressed in this title. Dementia is one of them. My mother lived to be 93 years old. She passed away seven years ago this May. In her last few years there were times when she didn't know me. She spoke of loved ones sitting next to her who had passed away many years before. One day I went to see her at the rest home and she was sitting on a bench "Waiting for the train..." The trouble was, she had several others waiting with her. If I went to see her in the early hours of the morning, she was her old self. She knew me and we had lovely visits. Otherwise, it was a sad visit and she thought I was a stranger.

Another issue tackled in this book is how easily communication can be lost or never established between a husband and wife. Terry and I have been married thirty seven years. There are still times when we struggle with communication. It is possible to not know the thoughts and intents of one another's heart. To me, this was an important subject to reveal.

June, the main character of this book, has appeared to be almost too sweet to be true in the other books in the Nan's Heritage Series and the Rescued...a Series of Hope. She needed to reveal her warts and let the readers see what makes her tick. In my limited understanding of quiet people, I had thought that 'quiet' meant sweet and perfect. The saying, "Still waters run deep." was lost on me. I plumbed the depth of that saying and grew to understand it a little better.

It is amazing how writing these books has caused me to look deeper inside myself. I have been challenged to examine why I believe what I believe as well as to decided exactly what I believe about obscure things. I have learned the enjoyment of research and the humbling awe of ideas and creativity coming directly from the inspiration of the Lord. At this posting, I am elbow deep in two different books. I will reveal more about this next week.

Elaine Littau, author

One Author's Journey #8

It was November 2012 and I signed up for NaNoWriMo again. (National Novel Writing Month) Book #8 was supposed to be the next in the Rescued...a Series of Hope saga. I started the book, Walk Slowly Through the Dark, but just couldn't get the story to advance in an interesting way. One day, while I painted the steps from the laundry room up to our bedroom, a new book idea came to mind.

I had been watching the new television show "Nashville" and found it to be interesting. It seemed that a lot of people were watching and I saw a lot of advertisement for the show. It occurred to me that setting the next book in the Nashville area might be a good move. Perhaps people would find it while they looked for information on the television show. I had never written a contemporary book, but decided that it would be a good fit for this year's writing challenge.

When I told our sons that I was writing a modern day book set in 1974 they laughed. They told me it was hardly a current story since it was almost forty years ago. I told them it was set 100 years later than the last book I wrote so it was modern!

I wanted to write a little about how the young people in the heartland of our country felt in the 1970s while the Vietnam War was going on. I was a teen in those years and remember it well. We loved our soldiers and prayed for them all the time. We wore MIA/POW bracelets and rejoiced when one was returned home.

It was also important to me to show things about the farmers of the Oklahoma and Texas panhandle area. Some of my best friends worked the wheat harvest every summer and I was glad to get to experience it once with them. The farmers here are dedicated to their land and families. Even when other dreams of careers danced in the minds of the farmer's young, the land called them back home.

The characters of Six Miles from Nashville became very real to me. Sweetie, the owner of the diner was based on a very sweet woman I worked for after school. Betty could have been any girl from our high school. The song writing was a very different experience for me. Because I am not really confident in those skills, I always referred to the lyrics as the rough copy that Bill would have to work over to make into a good song.

Next week will be about Walk Slowly Through the Dark. In a lot of ways, it took me down a dark path.

Elaine Littau, author

One Author' Journey #7

 

 

Capture the Wandering Heart is the seventh book I wrote. It is set in the Texas Panhandle area of Palo Duro Canyon near present day Amarillo. Area towns of Clarendon and the now extinct boom town of Tascosa are also places that action takes place. It was important to have this book set close to my home. At many book events I was asked why I hadn't written about the panhandle area. I didn't have a good answer for them. I had contemplated writing about the Perryton area, but one day I knew it had to be set in the canyon.

 

I read an article from the Amarillo newspaper about how the Kiowa and Apache were subdued in the area by the U.S. army killing 1500 horses that were kept by them in the canyon. It was the last of the Trail of Tears saga. I knew I had to know more, In the following months I read three books and many more articles about the area in the 1800s.One book was about the Native Americans, one was about a land developer, and the other was about Charles Goodnight. I loved the research.

 

The story also included many folk remedies from the time. My sister was reading a book by "The Good Old Days" that was all about home remedies. There was some wild stuff in there. I had to borrow the book and use some of it in there. One remedy was the "Mad Stone". It was used to save people who contracted rabies. (Google it. You will be surprised.)

 

I found the research so interesting that I almost got bogged down in it. I discovered that in the 1800s, the Congress was considering putting all deaf people in one of the Western states. It would have been called "The Deaf State"! I am so glad that didn't fly.

 

One of my high school friends live near Palo Duro Canyon, so she shot some pictures for the cover. I love that she did this for me. Terry and I selected the close up of one of the caves. The other picture I posted here is the view of the canyon that everyone thinks of.

 

In writing this book, I learned a lot about the area and about myself. It was fun to think up inventions for 1877. I liked having a character who thought 'out of the box'. I found it difficult to write about spousal abuse and how it was handled back then. 

 

God really gave me a lot of wonderful elements for the story line. I know I can't write without His input. In some ways Capture the Wandering Heart is my favorite writing. I had a lot to think about for the next book in the series, but God had a different direction for me to go with book #8. I will tell you all about it next time.

 

Elaine Littau, author

 

 

 

 

 

Spring Cleaning is Not For Wimps

 

 

Here in the Texas Panhandle it seemed that Spring would never arrive. The temperature would reach 70 degrees one day and the next day it snowed. (This happened in May!) Because of this, it has been difficult to believe that the season would ever change.

 

I went to my sister's house and they were in full swing of planting flowers, repairing irrigation to them, fertilizing, reseeding the lawn, and working on fountains. They keep a beautiful yard. They sat down for a break when I came to visit. Seeing all this activity caused me to feel somewhat lazy. So...

 

Yesterday I got out my water hose and began spraying the dirt from the windows and brick. The last time we had a little sprinkle of rain or a dusting of snow, my windows looked like someone had taken a squirt bottle and sprayed the windows with mud. I had to get that off the windows.

 

Little dirty rivers trickled down between the bricks as I sprayed the entire exterior of the house. I got in the screened in porch and swept it clean, sprinkled it the floor with detergent, and blasted it with the water hose. It took awhile to broom off the standing water, but shooting the floor, stucco ceiling, and screens with blasts from the water hose made everything smell so fresh.

 

There was still a little bit of standing water on the porch so I got out my little Mint robot, "Cindy" (short for Cinderella) and had her mop up the rest. The result is a really nice and clean floor on the porch.

 

I then went to the decks and washed them off. We have two small ones that are at two of our doors and one larger one that is outside our dining room and patio doors. I was amazed at the difference rinsing them off with the water hose did.

 

Next, I went to the patio area at the West side of the house. We like to sit there in pretty weather and watch the sun set over the prairie. Our little family had labored many hours in making the patio with a concrete form that shaped the concrete into what is supposed to look like rocks. We didn't get it all that level, so dirt collects in the low spots. We should redo it, but I can still see my teen aged sons and hubby as they work on this. (I helped, too. Stop laughing....I really did!)

 

We have buffalo grass and I am so grateful. It is sturdy stuff that doesn't die when there is a drought. However, even the buffalo grass is looking like it is on its last legs. I decided that I had to water it after I made sure all the trees were watered.

 

People from other places do not think I have many trees, but they haven't had to water them. We have somewhere between 60 to 80. Our cedar windbreak is looking pretty bad. There are many dead limbs. I am desperate to save those trees because they are our privacy for the swimming pool. (One of those above ground kind with the blow up ring. We have a terrible time getting the ph right on it, but that is another story.)

 

I know we live in the country, but a neighbor owns a roping arena next to our house and pool...Sometimes they go out there to practice calf roping or to plow it up. (makes a nice dusty mess for my screened in porch) I can stay in the pool because of those trees. Without them...I would be inside.

 

By the time everything was washed up with the water hose and the sprinkler set...I was pooped. There is no way my yard will compare to my sweet sister's, but I was happy for the hope I have for the coming seasons. I love to take good care of the things God has given us.

 

We have been working on the laundry room. Terry laid a new floor and I have been painting some. My biggest struggle has been with removing the wallpaper border. Grrr.

 

Nothing is more motivating than watching a marathon of "Hoarders" on television. lol Terry was okay with getting rid of some of my excess, but not very inspired about looking over his stuff. I think all of us are a little like this aren't we?

 

Right now, I have a half-painted laundry room, a bunch of boxes of things to donate and only a pocket full of energy to complete everything. I will keep you posted!

One Author's Journey #6

If my dad were alive today, he would be 104. When he was a small boy (There is a dispute in the family as to exactly how small he was.) he was asleep in the back of a wagon. His family did not own an automobile at this time so they were using horses and wagons to move from Kansas to Oklahoma. As he slept, he rolled off the tailgate of the wagon and landed in the tall grasses or the prairie. He hit his head and was knocked out for some time. When he came to himself, the wagon was just disappearing down a dip in the flat land. He followed the trail the wagon wheels made from denting the grass until he reached the camp of his family. They had not missed him because they were occupied with the livestock and gathering cowchips for fuel for the cooking fire.

This story always scared me when my mother recited it at family gatherings. The grass was as tall as my dad was. She said that many children were lost forever in the old days because of situations similar to this. Because of the danger and family connection, I had to use this story in my sixth book, Some Happy Day, Book I of the series, Rescued...a Series of Hope.

I changed the story to me a baby girl who was around fourteen months old. A cowboy who was running from the law found her in the tall grass. She was not old enough to even tell him her name. The story grew from this.

As I worked on this book, I found myself even more engrossed in marketing all the books I had written. I am so thankful for the authors who have written great marketing books as well as for those who have befriended me an helped me hammer out a good marketing plan. I have discovered many kind and generous friends within the 'author community'. It is a pleasure to network with people who do not feel that we are in competition.

Rescued...a Series of Hope is a series that is still in progress. It intersects the books in the Nan's Heritage Series. There were nine girls who were rescued from a bad situation. This series details each girl's life before, during, and after their kidnapping. It as been interesting how ideas in these story lines have developed. I think a lot of the situations and challenges the characters face come from the old timey stories my mother and daddy told us. They also had friends who loved to tell about their lives. I am thankful for the time my parents invested in me.

I had tackled one of the rescued girls in this book. The next book had to follow two of the others. The setting was close to home, so I had to get it right. I will attempt to tackle the job of telling you about those challenges next week.

Elaine Littau