The Journal: Rider Jones is back

In today’s Journal

* Quotes of the Day
* Rider Jones is back
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

Quotes of the Day

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill

“Fear is a reaction. Courage is a decision.” Winston Churchill

Well, that was a quick hiatus. Rider Jones is back. Apparently the guy wasn’t finished telling me his story.

This is a little like deja vu. Before I wrote my first novel, Leaving Amarillo (chronologically Book 4 in the Wes Crowley series), I’d never imagined writing a western novel of any kind.

But I’d written a western short story titled “Adobe Walls.” That’s where I met Wes, in a saloon in Charleston in southeast Arizona along the San Pedro River. Another website said “In their heyday, Millville and Charleston had a lawless reputation.”

But a short while after I wrote that short story, Wes tugged on my sleeve and asked why I didn’t tell the rest of the story. So I wrote Leaving Amarillo, then Longing for Mexico, then South to Mexico and thought that was the end of it.

But Wes wasn’t finished. He wanted to tell me the first part of his story. So I wrote three prequels to Leaving Amarillo. Later, the story continued, and I wrote five more novels in that series. The whole thing spanned 60 years or so and it was all about Wes and his friends and antagonists.

And now Rider Jones is starting the same old stuff. Maybe. As always, we’ll see. I can only write what I’m given, and frankly I’m a little annoyed. I expected to start the second novel set on the new planet of Terra 2 this morning, the eleventh novel overall of the FOH series.

But when I went looking for now-President Amanda Lowrey (on Terra 2) this morning, she glanced through her window at me, then closed the curtains. Mark Hanson was standing just behind her with his shirt off, so no telling what’s going on there right now.

And there was Rider Jones, almost 20 years old, sitting astride his horse Charlie and waving his left hand side to side over his head as he rode north from Agua Oscuro, Sonora, Mexico.

So I saddled up. I have a nice roan stallion I keep in the back of my mind for such occasions. When I caught up, all Rider would tell me is he’s going to meet Wes Crowley in this part of his tale. If he does, there’s no telling what might happen. But then again, that’s what makes this gig so much fun.

Update: Rider did meet up with Wes. For those who have read that series, Rider met Crowley in a saloon in Palominas, Arizona when Wes was headed south in South to Mexico.

Funny how one thing can lead to another. I first met Wes back in 2014. Flash forward to 2021, where I met Rider Jones and wrote a story about him encountering a portal to a different time (“Rider Jones and the Portal”). Dean accepted that story for an anthology and expressed interest in Rider Jones, and now Rider is getting together with Wes. Head shaking.

Here we go again.

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

See “Ethics, Integrity & Trust for Writers” at https://killzoneblog.com/2021/04/ethics-integrity-trust-for-writers.html.

See “Five Writing Tips We Love to Hate” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/five-writing-tips-we-love-to-hate/.

The Numbers

The Journal…………………………………… 550 words

Writing of Rider Jones and Wes Crowley (novella or novel)

Day 1…… 3288 words. Total words to date…… 3288

Total fiction words for April……… 76325
Total fiction words for the year………… 363402
Total nonfiction words for April… 16890
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 84290
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 447892

Calendar Year 2021 Novels to Date…………………… 7
Calendar Year 2021 Novellas to Date……………… 1
Calendar Year 2021 Short Stories to Date… 3
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 60
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 217
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31

Disclaimer: In this blog, I provide advice on writing fiction. I advocate a technique called Writing Into the Dark. To be crystal clear, WITD is not “the only way” to write, nor will I ever say it is. However, as I am the only writer who advocates WITD both publicly and regularly, I will continue to do so, among myriad other topics.