A Cowboy's Christmas Prayer

I've been neglecting the blog--I've had bronchitis since just after Thanksgiving. Once I finally gave up on getting over it myself and got prescriptions from the doctor, I had a nasty reaction to them and ended up feeling worse than I did with the bronchitis. So needless to say, since I started feeling somewhat human again last week, I've been scrambling to catch up with the baking, the card-sending, the shopping and the wrapping.

But I was so excited to find this poem! It's something I enjoyed listening to on my mom's old Jimmy Dean Christmas album. I can still hear the scratchy sound of that record as I read the poem even now. My cowboy silhouette (background) may be temporarily missing for the holidays, but as most of you know, I love all things cowboy and this is the perfect Christmas wish! I hope you enjoy it!

A COWBOY'S CHRISTMAS PRAYER
By S. Omar Barker (1894-1985)

I ain't much good at prayin', and You may not know me, Lord-
I ain't much seen in churches where they preach Thy Holy Word,
But you may have observed me out here on the lonely plains,
A-lookin' after cattle, feelin' thankful when it rains,
Admirin' Thy great handiwork, the miracle of grass,
Aware of Thy kind spirit in the way it comes to pass
That hired men on horseback and the livestock we tend
Can look up at the stars at night and know we've got a friend.

So here's ol' Christmas comin' on, remindin' us again
Of Him whose coming brought good will into the hearts of men.
A cowboy ain't no preacher, Lord, but if You'll hear my prayer,
I'll ask as good as we have got for all men everywhere.
Don't let no hearts be bitter, Lord.
Don't let no child be cold.
Make easy beds for them that's sick and them that's weak and old.
Let kindness bless the trail we ride, no matter what we're after,
And sorter keep us on Your side, in tears as well as laughter.

I've seen ol' cows a-starvin, and it ain't no happy sight:
Please don't leave no one hungry, Lord, on thy good Christmas night-
No man, no child, no woman, and no critter on four feet-
I'll aim to do my best to help You find 'em chuck to eat.

I'm just an ol’ cowpoke, Lord-I ain't got no business prayin'-
But still I hope You'll ketch a word or two of what I'm sayin':
We speak of Merry Christmas, Lord-I reckon you'll agree
There ain't no Merry Christmas for a man if he ain't free.
So one thing more I'll ask You, Lord: Just help us what you can
To save some seeds of freedom for the future sons of man.

Special Guest: Paty Jager

My last guest blogger, Kat Henry Doran, is a long-time friend and CP. So it's fitting that today's guest blogger is someone I've known nearly as long. Paty and I met nine years ago (I measure by my oldest son's age, I was nine months pregnant when we first began emailing after I judged her MS in a contest.)Over the years, we've bonded not just over a shared love of the old west but motherhood, baking and all the fun stuff that goes along with it. Her topic today is fitting since Paty is my go-to gal for all things horses!

Please welcome my special guest, multi-publihsed author, Paty Jager!



Bud- The Equine Model

I’ve stated this before on other blogs- my horse- Bud, is the horse on the cover of “Outlaw in Petticoats” my recent release from The Wild Rose Press. Since you can all see how gorgeous he is let me tell you a little something about him.

Bud is the prodigy of my daughter’s mare, who she bought with her own money when she was twelve and used in 4-H for four years before purchasing an abused mare who she calmed and used as her 4-H project. Her little- 14.1 hand mare- had three other offspring before she was bred to a young stud. The owner wanted to see what kind of foals the stud would throw, so they gave me a good deal on a stud fee. And eleven months later on a dewy May morning there was Bud on wobbly legs.

I was able to run my hands over him and pet him. I did this every day and put a small halter on him. Both my daughters were away at college and one of their friends came over one day to visit and help me put a new halter on Bud. She got an arm around his neck and then he tried to get way, dragging her toward the pond. He stopped, planting his feet, and dumped her over his head into the water!

When he was old enough to start training to saddle, I’d catch him and saddle him up and walk him around. During the learning to be saddled process, he would twist and pull the blanket off before I could set the saddle on it. Yes, this big boy has a sense of humor!

Last summer he had a set-to. I wanted him to go into the dry land for a ride and he wanted to walk through shoulder high grass so he could nibble. With us both having different mind sets, he started hopping and bucking. I hung on until he calmed down, then I bailed off and growled through clenched teeth, “You don’t ever do that again!” He was shaking and looking as if he wasn’t sure what happened. When he’d calmed down, I walked him into the dry land and mounted. We finished our ride, with him jumping at every little thing.

As for the photo shoot for the cover picture, he was a true gentleman. I saddled him up, strung all the props on his saddle, and we marched out through the property looking for a place to take the photo. When we found the spot, I unloaded the props and he went to eating the grass. I’d push on his hips to make him move different ways so my daughter could figure out the best angles and photos, but he was very tolerant of us. More so, than a person would have been.

Bud is eight years old and with his personality and stocky build, he’ll be around many, many more years for my riding pleasure.

If you have read my latest release, Outlaw in Petticoats, featuring Bud on the cover, I’d appreciate your vote over at Love Western Romances. http://www.lovewesternromances.com/index.html

Nicole, thank you for having me here today. I enjoyed sharing my equine friend with you all!

Guest Blogging Today

Come visit me today at the Scandalous Victorians blog site as I talk about social etiquette in the Victorian era. You just know I had to work in something about cowboys...

Another blog worth checking out (I read it nearly every day) is the Behind the Garden Gate blog over at TWRP. Check it out if you have time!

Happy Reading!

Nic

In Esteemed Company

We all (assuming everyone reading this is a fellow author) dream of finding ourselves on a best seller list. Finding yourself on a bestseller list with the likes of Stephen King, James Patterson, Clive Cussler, Janet Evanovich, Sherrilyn Kenyon and JD Robb is almost too good to be true. But I've been following this site for a few weeks and finally have stopped trying to convince myself that it's a mistake. It's real!

Check out the Sony E Reader store listing of best selling mass market paperbacks and find yours truly at #10 (down from #2 a couple of weeks back!) with Small Town Christmas! http://ebookstore.sony.com/bestseller/mass-market-paperback

I wonder if these big guys are looking at any of these lists and wondering "who in the heck is this Nicole McCaffrey person and how'd she get into our exclusive little club?"

If I'm dreaming, please don't wake me!

Psyched!

My CP’s and I have been having difficulty getting together lately. Between sick kids, traveling for work or just lifus interruputs in general, we’ve only met twice since September. Meliss still didn’t make it, but Kat and I had a great time. (Since we meet at a mall Barnes & Noble location, it’s probably also the last time we’ll have a quiet place to meet or a halfway decent place to park until mid-January or so, LOL).

It was fun to catch up, but best of all, when we’d finished critiquing we did some brainstorming. I’ve had only the tiniest seed of an idea for a time travel story (involving the civil war, of course) –and by the time we left, we had practically plotted the entire thing! (Now if only I had time to actually write it, LOL). I was so excited I tossed and turned half the night thinking about it!

Don’cha just love when that happens?

Guest Blogging: It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year....

Well, LOL, almost. But whether you're a Bah Humbug or a Christmas nut, (like me!) you can't help but feel just a little inspired by the snow-globe like snow that has been falling in my neck of the woods the past few days.

I'm blogging about my life-long love of all things red and green and twinkly on author Dayana Knight's blog today.

Be sure to leave a comment, I'll be giving away a free PDF copy of my holiday release Small Town Christmas .

Now sing along with me..."It's those holiday meetings and gay happy greetings when friends come to call...."

Welcome Speical Guest: Kat Henry Doran

They say time flies when you're having fun, so maybe that's why it's so hard to believe I have considered today's guest among my very closest friends for close to ten years now. I can still remember the day she invited this frustrated writer to join her critique group. It literally changed my life, since I probalby wouldn't be writing today if she hadn't. (Or at least not writing as well, LOL)

So it's rather fitting that my first-ever guest blogger is the woman who taught me everything I know about writing. She does it better than anyone I know. Without further adieu, I give you Kat Henry

Doran. (Please excuse the underlining, I have no idea how to get rid of it!)

Hey, my friend, thank you so much for offering me the opportunity to make a few comments about characterization and how to create viable, unforgettable characters.

First, we should think about the characters we already know and love, then decide what makes us keep returning to either watch them on the TV screen each week [Brenda Lee Johnson from TNT's The Closer] or read [again] our tattered copies of Kathleen Woodiweiss or Harry Potter or Eve Dallas and Rourke.

I will grant you that some of Ms. Woodiweiss' books go back to the 70's and 80's but the characters are unforgettable:

1. “Ashes in The Wind” takes place in the American Civil War. The hero, Cole, is a US Army surgeon; Alaina is a rose of the south, who must disguise herself as a boy in order to survive.

2. “A Rose in Winter” is a funny, dangerous, and mysterious story patterned after Beauty and the Beast.

3. “Shanna” has the hot sullen influence of the Caribbean Islands as a background and moves between England, the Caribbean, and the pre-Revolutionary War American colonies. The heroine, Shanna, in order to meet her father's dictate that she marry, finds a man in an English jail who is bound for the hanging tree. She has him cleaned up; they marry based on her promise of one night of marital bliss—but just as the bliss is about to take place, she chickens out and sends him off to be hung. He escapes and follows her to the Caribbean as an indentured servant. Of course he's looking for “bliss” while she's looking for peace and quiet. Another hoot of a story.

4. And we cannot forget “The Flame and the Flower” the story of Brandon Birmingham and his marriage of convenience to Heather, whom he calls the “little purple flower of the moors”.

How do we build characters? How do we intrigue the reader into turning the pages, and coming back for more? Try throwing them into the deep end of a strange pool—and be sure to keep a few boulders hidden beneath the surface to keep them on their toes.

Brenda Lee Johnson, a police officer known as The Closer for her skills in closing cases by getting suspects to confess, is a transplanted Georgia peach who finds herself lured to the Los Angeles Police Department by a former lover/Deputy Chief of the LAPD with promises he never intends to keep. Brenda finds herself heading up a renegade bunch of detectives who investigate priority homicides. She is a woman who has built her wardrobe at the local Volunteers of America store, never leaves a room without her over-sized handbag over one shoulder; has a passion for anything chocolate; and every other word out of her mouth is “Thank yewww, thank yewww very much.” Now going into the fourth season [I think], each of these characters is a story in and of themselves. Lt. Provenza, who never dates women over 30, well . . . 40—if he's in the bag. Lt Flynn the late 40's Lothario with a toothpick hanging out of his mouth who has taken indolence to new heights. Detective Sanchez with dark, haunted eyes whose talents lie in understanding the culture of the barrio and Hispanic gangs. Lt Tao is a wizard with computers and Brenda's aide Sgt. Gabriel, a hunk if there ever was one with eyes to burn the soles off a woman's shoes, is destined to be chief one day. He's bright, savvy, intelligent and devoted to Brenda.

As evidenced above through Woodweiss' leading characters and the squad of detectives comprising Priority Homicide on The Closer, one way to build intriguing characters is to make them vastly different from each other. This takes some planning. I use a tool which I call the Character Interview. This is a multi-page document, a former RWA chapter mate brought back from the New Jersey Romance Writers conference many years ago. It has undergone many changes over the years but the concept remains the same. In long hand, I interview my lead characters. Before I can do that however, I have to know at least one basic thing about them.

In “Captain Marvelous” I wanted a heroine with a brain and balls to match, who will do anything to achieve her career goal of becoming a physician. Throughout the story she vows to let nothing and no one stop her. That's all I needed to interview Annie Wolfe. Why does she want to be a doctor? Why will she never marry and have children? I asked her to tell me about her family of origin; where did she grow up; did they have money, live from paycheck to paycheck, or did they eat out of dumpsters? Then I asked her to tell me about her family of the heart. Who are her friends, heroes, enemies? I need to know how she relaxes, what turns her on, what turns her off in terms of favorite foods, music, patterns of dress; what kind of car does she drive? How does she drive [like a speed demon or careful and cautious]?

I decided the hero had to be the exact opposite of Annie: staid, rigid, always in control, a single parent who wants more children, someone who follows the rules no matter what. I interviewed him, too. Captain Ronen Marvelic [get the title of the book here?] is a New York State Trooper with a steel rod up his spine. After being banished from the cultural hub of Western New York he arrives in the bowels of the earth known at Nohmensville, quickly turned into No Man's Land. This is a place where a man would take a woman to the local drive-in for a Rambo marathon or to the town dump to shoot rats. He encounters the woman who lives in the apartment across the hall from him, a long-legged, softball playing smart mouth named Annie Wolfe, aka the Wolfgirl, for her abilities at short stop. He thrives on opera; Annie considers it all a bunch of fat ladies singing their brains out. He loathes sports of any kind; she has life-sized posters of baseball players and golfers papering her apartment. Ronen is assigned to investigate the murders of six women; Annie is coerced into helping him by developing victim profiles. Throw in a landlady who's a throw-back to the 60's, a decrepit town doctor, and a 17 year old college bound teenager and the fun begins.

Before I close, I must put some emphasis on a special type of character which I have found some authors forget: Location, location, location, or setting, setting, setting. It is my belief the setting becomes another character as in:

1. Say the word/name Hogwarts and all kinds of images jump out at us.

2. Los Angeles with its freeways, and streets with similar names made Brenda Lee Johnson's life a nightmare for the first two years of the show. She continually got lost trying to find crime scenes until she bit the bullet and asked Sgt Gabriel to drive her everywhere.

3. Kathleen Woodiweiss used New Orleans and the wilds of Minnesota for “Ashes in the Wind”. Who doesn't love New Orleans?

4. She used pre-Revolutionary War Jamestown Virginia for the conclusion of Shanna. For the Caribbean portions of the story her descriptions of indentured servitude are evocative and thought provoking.

5. In my second novel, “Try Just Once More” I used Saranac Lake in Upstate New York's Adirondack Mountains because I love it, but also for its place in history for landmark strides in the pre-antibiotic treatment of TB, the influence of the Olympic games, 1932 and 1980, in nearby Lake Placid, and its small town atmosphere in general. Much of TJOM takes place at the local hospital. I am a nurse so I am comfortable writing “medical stuff”. I would not advise it for all writers—unless the POV is in the non-medical character's frame of reference. Just like if you're going to write “legal stuff” you better know what you're talking about or your story will tank faster than the Andrea Doria.

I'd be happy to share the Character Interview. People can contact me at kathenrydoran@Frontiernet.net or visit my website: www.KatHenry.com

Nurse, insurance investigator, forensic nurse examiner, professional workshop presenter, seamstress, author, wife and mother; Kat Henry Doran has been there and done all that--and more.

A native of Upstate New York, Kat uses the years she spent haunting police stations, Emergency Rooms, and criminal courtrooms, advocating for victims of sexual violence, as background for her writing which has been described as brutally realistic and starkly honest.

Even though Kat has retired her speculum and no longer paces the corridors outside Grand Jury and police interrogation rooms, she continues to advocate for disenfranchised women, currently through Panties For Peace.

For excerpts of her books and information on the professional programs she presents, check out www.KatHenry.com

Nic, thanks for offering me this opportunity to show off!

Kat