What's going on with the Writing???

I try to keep everyone up on the latest with my writing. It seems lately I have had a lot of interest in Sawyer's Rose and Wyatt's Bounty due to the narrated books being available. And I have been getting a lot of questions on when the next story will be released and will there be a story for various characters. And the answer is yes and yes and yes! There will be plenty more on the McCades with some spin offs of extra characters....one day.

 

You guys gotta remember I work a full time job as an RN Quality Analyst, Monday thru Friday, 8 to 5, and I have daughters aged 10 and 13 , ad husband (who does way more than I do around this house) and we also have my husband’s mother with dementia—so no rest for the weary.  While my main goal of each day is to make it to that part if each evening where I can write, somewhere in the middle are the things that must come first:

 

Up at 6:00 am

Out the door by 7:15am

Drop one daughter at elementary school

Drop the other at middle school

Race to work avoiding cop who always sits a little store on the corner-listen to books on the way there and back.

8:15 to 5:00...The Day Job  

5:20 Pick up one kid (the other buses home)

Home at last.....oh but wait....there's more

Cook supper

Dishes

Laundry

Feed the pets-2 dogs and 4 guinea pigs

Yard work

House pick up

HOMEWORK HELP

Mail and bills

Baths

Somewhere in the middle of all this being a mom and wife

9:00pm Off to bed for the girls

Yipee....WRITING TIME....and I am exhausted!!! But the weekend is on the way, isn't it hump day or is it Friday yet?

 

No whining but you guys can see I get 1 to 2 hours a night to write if I am not exhausted. Some weekends I get a lot of writing time, others not so much. But here is what is in the works:

 

Dawson's Haven, the third in The McCades of Cheyenne Series is more than half done. I am pushing hard on this story each night making progress. But I have to take the time to make this story right so that the character and the readers get the story they deserve. The gist of this story without giving too much away is: Dawson will be wrongly accused of a crime and it is the woman who he recently rescued that will return the favor.

 

The delay on Dawson’s Haven is due to me working hard to submit a fully written contemporary story that I completed in 2013. The Wild Rose Press had a call for contemporary cowboys and I pulled out a story I had written back then and dusted it off for several months last year. I have learned a lot since I first started writing in 2011 and so there were some craft issues I had to fix up. Anyway, this story was contracted by Wild Rose in January 2018 (Yipee!) And edits will begin soon which means this story All But the Fall will be out sometime this year if all goes as planned. It is about a horse stunt jumper on the set of an old west television series who falls for the nurse consultant on the set. She is running from the past and he is running to her and he is very yummy! And of course he has 2 brothers so more to come on this series too.

 

In the meantime, as some authors know characters sometimes demand to be heard. This time the voice in my head was Leaning Bear, Dawson's BFF Cheyenne Medicine Man buddy. And so in less than a week, and I am not by nature a plotter, I mapped out an entire story for this guy. Not only did I make an outline but I know all the characters and what happens in every chapter thru the whole story. For a pancer this is amazing. And then because this darn Medicine Man wouldn’t leave me alone, I have already written the first two chapters with a goal of this story following closely after Dawson's story if I can get my act together. In this book it seems Leaning Bear falls for the school teacher sent to the reservation, but I can’t tell much more without telling too much. Maybe this story, Paint the Sky, will be a good read in between Dawson and Evan's stories.

 

And I do have a full outline for the 4th McCade brother Evan!  Evan's Ransom will follow as soon as I can get these others out there. The youngest McCade will be loaded with a number of surprises that will bring something from all the previous stories full circle. Let's just say this youngest McCade brother has a lot of surprises!

 

And then the big question! WILL THERE BE A STORY FOR DODGE AND BRETT? When I first started writing this series, I never expected Dodge to be such a loved character and the response to her has been huge. I like to say I write romance and I write the west but truly I think my stories would fall into a family saga genre easily. With that being said and given the time, I would love to write a story for Dodge. The requests have been mostly for a current story for them and some for a story from their past. I am thinking I can accomplish both with a current story where she and Brett both reflect on the past while they tackle their romance and all the happenings around them.

 

And the saga will continue...everyone loves Zane, Sawyer's son and so do I. But I have not mapped any story for him yet though I think there is a good possibility he will find his girl back home on a visit to where he grew up!

 

Oh and there is still Hudson Collier, the deputy BFF of Wyatt who has a comically fun way of putting his words

out there. He ends up the sheriff in Denver at the end of Wyatt's story. I do believe I have a bit of story mapped out in my head for this guy but it will be a while.

 

And while we are at it, except for a few of my beta reader friends, I will bet you didn’t know unless you paid good attention in my current stories that I have stories for The Hagen Brothers. Remember the mention of the horse guys in Sawyer and Wyatt’s stories? Well, if I can one day get my act together these are full stories I have written for Adam, Samuel and Will Hagen. I wrote these three stories all in 2011 and 2012  and they need a good deal of work and story changes, but I would love the chance to rewrite these and get them out there to readers.  

 

Whew…no wonder I am tired. But for now, back to the story which must get written!

 

Kim

 

A little research on Indian Agents...

Just a Little History in Indian Agents

As you may know, I have a western historical romance series; The McCades of Cheyenne that I began researching the idea some time in 2012. The first story Sawyer’s Rose was published in March of 2016-Will a sheriff set on revenge fall for a mail-order-bride with secrets of her own.  The second story, Wyatt’s Bounty was released in April 2017-Will a bounty hunter risk it all to save the lady doctor who walked away.  While these little twists of words make the stories seem interesting, I think there are times I fall short on pleasing those who only want romance while at the same time, western readers think it is too much. I like to say my stories are really family saga with romance and suspense. The third story in this series I am working on now. Dawson’s Haven won’t disappoint, but I had wanted Dawson to be an Indian Agent but as I began the research on the topic, I found that these “Agents” were not always thought too well throughout history. This was a tough one to swallow as we authors want to put our hero in a good light and after doing a good bit of reading on the topic, I decided to change up what capacity that Dawson works in order to assist the Indians. I now have him as hired as an interpreter, but he doesn’t like it when he is referred to as an Indian Agent.  Gonna see if that will work for me, but I thought of all the research and planning I had done to no avail so I’ll present that to you here and let you decide.

In 1789, it was Secretary of War, Henry Knox who first delegated the idea to assign peace agents for working with Indian Tribes. These government assigned employees would act as a buffer in acclimating peaceful relationships between the tribes as well as the relationships between the Indians and government. Most often the agents would reside with the various tribes and were assigned the task of teaching the Indians trade and commerce, along with farming and “White man” religions. Tasks varied according to location but most often the “Agent” was responsible for supervising the Indians in commercial opportunities involving the trade of their goods. By the nineteenth century the Indian Agent was a well coined term for the men who worked to push Indians into dependence on manufactured goods which started during the Thomas Jefferson Administration. While the Indians were forced to purchase commercial goods they could only trade the raw materials such as hides and furs for their part of the deal. Agents at the time were responsible for reporting any illegal violations in what was traded and purchased and reports were sent to leaders on high.

One of the first official tasks of the Indian Agent was to disperse government monies to the chiefs of various tribes who would then render the distributions to the tribe as needed. As would be expected this process slowly turned into one that would open the door for corrupt practices where dishonest Agents and Chiefs were concerned. Allocated monies often didn’t make it where intended. Not all Agents were corrupt but as time went by, many still mismanaged the funds in other ways and poor record keeping added to that process. For the most part Indian Agents had little education and no formal training of correct policy and procedure, not that there were defined practices in the earlier years of the job. Over time the credibility of the Indian Agent declined as rumors of dishonest practices surfaced time and again. It was thought that with the failure of the fur trade, some of the traders opted into the service of Indian Agent at an opportune time. At the same time, however there were Indian Agents who did a good job in their duties and were successful in assisting tribes to acclimate into “civilized” peaceful camps.  

By the Civil War in the 1860’s periodic outbursts of public concern had pushed for more humane treatment of the Indians. President Ulysses S. Grant’s administration was the first to allow for Christian denominations to take control of various tribes but that lasted only a short time with the religious establishments ultimately pulling out of the practice of “civilizing” the tribes. In the 1880’s, Indian Agents, though no longer thought of in that term, spent time educating the tribes in industry and agriculture, with alcohol use strictly prohibited. Most agents of the time were assigned for political reasons rather than their education and knowledge and this lead to the failure of the system for the most part.

In 1896, President Grover Cleveland decreed that those seeking positions such as Indian Agents, Teachers, Doctors, Nurses, etc with the tribes would be certified in their various fields in order to be assigned. This over time improved the quality of those assisting with the tribes, but it did little for promoting Indians themselves to better lines of work.

Early on, and prior to this last bit of progress Indian Agents were assigned and responsible for the following:

Preventing conflict between the Indians and settlers

Watch out for Commerce and Trade Violations

Assist in keeping peaceful negotiations between the tribes and soldiers/military

See that annuities were properly dispersed to the tribes

See successful removal of tribes from lands assigned to settlers

See that Indians weren’t idle and labored accordingly

Teach the Indians to farm and grow crops

Indian Children were to wear “Civilized” Clothing and Learn English in “Indian Schools”

Children were also included in being taught the industrial trainings of the adults

Agents were assigned to keep a Census of the tribe and to give English Names to the Indians

So as you can see, there were some good things that came out of acclimating the Indians to what I will refer to as the “New America”, especially when the agent was a good one but it seems those were few and far between. But as not to bash all the Agents in history, there are a good number of them that I wouldn’t mind reading about some time and I may very well do some for future writes here. I do think we all know that history wasn’t very kind to the Native American tribes. But I am also a fan of not erasing history as it happened, so that we can all learn from it.

Just a hint of what's to come for Dawson's Haven...

Just a hint of what is to come, as it seems a lot of readers are waiting. Just know that it takes a bit to get the story just how it needs to be for the character and the readers, but I hope this lets you know Dawson's Haven will be worth the wait!

Excerpt Dawson's Haven---The first kiss

                He took the bag from her and drew the straps apart and tilted it. A small light blue polished stone rolled into his hand and he held it out to her. She lifted it into her palm as he leaned ever closer, having never shared anything from the small leather bag with anyone before.

                “Turquoise. Polished it myself. For wisdom and protection. It’s…” Her cheek brushed against him once more and he stopped without finishing, wanting the kiss he hadn’t taken.

                Her breath was on his skin but as he leaned closer she pulled away, bounding to her feet and taking off on a run, turning back with a giggle, enticing him to follow. “Catch me and I will return your precious stone.”

                He chuckled. What was it with this woman, so carefree? He scrambled to his feet, giving chase, catching up to her in a few strides. He caught her around the middle and they fell into the high grass, his body across hers. Her laughter echoed through him as he studied her face and lips and settled his gaze on her wide hazel eyes.

                “Kiss me, Dawson McCade.” Her whisper filled his ears as she caught her breath.

                He wanted the kiss and he’d have it too. He placed his hand on her cheek, brushing the bruise that had faded, her skin flawless save a sprinkle of tiny freckles. He pressed his thumb across her lips and her gaze never left him as he touched her, though she wore a pleasant shade of pink. Her lips were plump and moist and—

                The impact of his mouth against hers made his heart race and his groin tighten. She was tender and parted her lips with little coaxing. Touching his tongue to hers, he wanted to consume all of her. Her warm mouth tasted of mint and her sigh of passion or surprise made him moan with the hard want of her. He rested his hand across her belly and slowly slid it to rest underneath her breast.

                She pulled from the kiss breathless, her breasts pushing against his chest and he continued his fervent kisses along her cheeks and across her jaw and to her neck. He raised his head, finding her gaze once more. It surprised him when she lifted her hand and tucked his hair behind his ear making him shiver. The sensation of her touch went clean through to his heart, warming his chest. He’d never wanted a woman as much, but more than that he wanted to know her mind and her thoughts. All of her…

                “My heart’s beating so fast.” She placed a hand to his chest. “I’ve thought of you so often.”

                He had no words, but touched her cheek again as Josie came close enough to drag her reins across them.

                She giggled and grabbed the reins. “Oh, Josie.”  

                “When you were at my cabin, I wanted this, to touch you, kiss you…” And he was falling ever deeper in admitting anything within his heart, knowing full better that she was too young and he had no lifestyle conducive to having a woman in it.

                “Then kiss me again, Dawson.” She ran her hands into his hair drawing him back to her lips.

                In spite of his thoughts, he lowered his mouth to hers, this time kissing her without mercy, tasting and letting his hands roam her body. Hell, he’d like to undress her here and now, taste the pert peeks of her breasts and then, take her as a man, not yielding until her legs quivered and she bowed beneath him in her first pleasure. And then he wanted to simply hold her and lie with her forever in a peaceful state of bliss and warmth he hadn’t known for a long time.

                He sat up abruptly, leaving her in the grass. Hell, he had to stop now or he’d do exactly what he was thinking. That was the problem, he wasn’t thinking was he?

                She sat up and opened her palm breathless. “Your stone.”

                He struggled to inhale enough air to recover and glanced at her, dragging a hand through his hair. He placed his hand under hers and closed her fist around the stone. “It’s yours now.”

                “Oh, no, I couldn’t. I mean it’s sacred.” She shook her head.

                “It is yours.” Some part of him he wanted her to have it, to keep something of him forever safe in her grasp.

                She leaned against his shoulder studying the stone. “What just happened between us?”

                How was he to answer a question like that? Hell, he was more unnerved by what hadn’t happened and the tightness of his buckskin trousers had relented little. He sucked in a much needed deep breath and glanced across the meadow having not felt what he was feeling ever before. “What would you want it to be?”

                The pink blush across her face hadn’t abated. “The beginning of something very beautiful.”

                He gave a slight chuckle and shook his head. “If you knew my thoughts, you’d run faster than you did from those Dog Soldiers.”

                She took his hand again. “I have no fear of you, Dawson McCade.”

                He smiled and stood, dragging her up beside him. “You should.”