HAPPY NEW YEAR - WHAT'S NEXT?

Post by Doris McCraw aka Angela Raines

Photo property of the Author

Have you ever heard of the AdAMan club? It had its beginnings in 1922 when the "frozen five" decided to climb Pike's Peak and set off fireworks on New Year's Eve. From that first climb, they have added one person every year since. Now if you can imagine climbing from about 7000 feet to over 14,000 feet in the middle of winter carrying gear and fireworks that's what these folks do.

So, you may ask, what has this to do with 'What's Next?' It's the idea of building upon something that you have created. For many of us that is a writing career. So what are we going to be building in 2023?

New Year's is a time of resolutions, which I think are a waste of time, but people still write them down with the intent of making all these changes for the coming year. Maybe, we might want to think about taking what has worked and building upon that, much like the climb to the top of Pike's Peak in 1922.

Taking off in 2023
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Taking a look at 2022, I spent some time with a couple of online conferences. There were online genealogy classes and other learning options. Growing that idea, I've created a 'living' document that I use to add classes, conferences, marketing options, etc. Now that it is started, I can add to it when something comes up. Once a week I look at the document to choose what I may want to add to my calendar.  

I am also all about supporting, sharing, and creating in ways that not only benefit me but also others. As we continue to carve out our careers looking at what we can do and build upon may be the best 'What's Next?'

Lastly, do I want to keep my website or transition to using a blog as a website or maybe even a Linktree option? Looks like more studying.

Of course, research, writing, and other creative endeavors will remain and grow. 

So I wish you all a wonderful 2023 and a glorious'What's Next?' 

For fun, some 'old' music as you plan your year.

Auld Lang Syne - Home Free

Let's Start the New Year Right - Bing Crosby

Happy New Year - The McGuire Sisters

Doris McCraw

EVER ASK YOURSELF, WHY?

 Post by Doris McCraw aka Angela Raines

Do you ever ask yourself why you are a writer or why you do anything on the creative spectrum? As the year closes out, perhaps it's time for reflection.

When I take the time to review my year, my whys, and my accomplishments it allows me to take stock of my creative life.

My goal this year had been to put out four pieces of work. I managed to get out three. By taking a look at how I was able to get done what I got done and what kept me from finishing my goal is a way for me to see what I need to change for next year.

I didn't do as much marketing as I've done in the past yet with the publications I managed to stay ahead of the curve.

Now you may ask why do I take the time to do this? I made the goal I just didn't finish it. Now here is where the WHY comes in. Why do I even write? Why did I leave music and theater where I was with other people to take up a solitary profession? All of this plays into the answers.

Photo property of the author.

Although I do love music and theater as time has passed I found that I enjoy my alone time more than I used to. At the same time, I have to be creative, it's a part of my DNA. Additionally, income does play a part in it. I made good money in the theater arts. The thing about the theatrical arts is it's not necessarily consistent jobs and incomes. As an author, I can make up a little bit of the difference in consistency by being responsible for my own output.

This takes us back to why I review my year. The 2022 review has pointed out the following:

1. Putting out four publications a year will keep my name in front of readers.

2. More focus needs to be put on marketing.

3. I will continue to add nonfiction work to my novel and short-story works.

4. Scheduling more time to share not only my work but the work of others is something that is important to me.

5. I still have a lot of stories I want to tell.

Do you know your WHY? Do you review your year? What are your end-of-year processes? I'd love to know.

Until 2023, have a wonderful rest of your year, enjoy the Holidays and keep on writing.

Doris McCraw

Music I Write By.

 Music I write by – Lindsay Townsend

I love music. I think to music and write to music, and have done so since my earliest days. My first published novel, my romantic suspense, "Voices in the Dark" was set in the world of Italian opera and the hero and heroine were opera singers. Remember the Puccini Tosca set on location in Rome, with Placido Domingo? That was shown during my research for that book, and I still have the video. In another of my earlier novels, the villain had an obsession with the arresting music of the tortured (and all-round weird) Gesualdo, renaissance madrigal composer. 

In my medieval historical romance "Master Cook and the Maiden", my hero Swein gifts the heroine Alfwen with a wooden pipe, as he noticed her liking of the music of bird-song - thus showing his own care for her and marking a growing closeness between them. I sometimes listen to the real medieval music of Guillaume de Machaut, to my classically-nurtured ear full of exotic, Eastern-sounding harmonies. I also enjoy Thomas Tallis, a slightly later composer, especially his Mass for Four Voices.

To me certain composers have certain associations. Beethoven with his energy and sublime slow movements makes me think of that state of shimmering, contented joy of those in love. Schubert makes me think of Gothic romance, dark romance – the knock at the door at midnight….but who is outside? Brahms and Schumann are passion and energy. I listen to them and think of heroes with dark, secret, wounded pasts. While I was writing "Master Cook and the Maiden" I listened to Dvorak's Stabat Mater over and over, as its large themes and urgency seemed to match what I was creating.

Gerald Finzi means the essence of ‘English’ landscape to me, that slightly fey element, even more so than my other favourite, Vaughan Williams. I listened to Finzi while writing "Unicorn Summer", one of the novellas in the anthology "One Midsummer's Knight." Finzi inspired me!

I can happily tap along to music – a bit of a rush and many mistakes in the quick movements, but I love it. Music somehow opens my mind and imagination, my emotions. It ‘sits’ firmly on my most niggling critic – my inner editor – and allows me to make music in my own way – on the page.

What music do you enjoy to read to or to write to?

To finish here is an excerpt from another of my Prairie Rose Publications titles, "Sir Conrad and the Christmas Treasure," where, in a dream, the hero Conrad admits to the heroine that he loves music and singing.

Excerpt.

Conrad dreamed he was floating above the long nave of York Minster, spotting the scaffolding beside the thick Norman pillars, watching the beams of light through the upper windows. Ahead was the great rood, the beam and screen marking the sacred spaces between the main church and the chancel, with its carved and painted figures of Christ on the cross, Mary the holy mother and Saint John the Baptist. Robed in blue and with her long golden hair loose to her hips, Maggie floated beside the statue of the blessed virgin, her arms wide in welcome.  

And why have I not understood before now, how very beautiful she is, more even than I first realised?

“See.” She nodded to the altar, adorned with bunches of mistletoe, their milky berries glistening in the candle-light. “The plant of peace and reconciliation.”

“Protection against lightning,” he replied, falling into their accustomed, easy rivalry.

“Mistletoe also guards against evil witches.”

“There are other kinds?”

She smiled like a brilliant summer. “My mother Florence was a wart-charmer in our village and a good hedge-witch. She would brush the cows with small branches of mistletoe to charm them, help to give them more calves in the next year.”

“My mother…” Even in the dream Conrad pummelled his mind, trying to think of a unique skill she had. It saddened him that his maternal parent, skilled in running a great house, had nothing that was simply hers.

“When did you begin to paint?” he asked.

She laughed. “Always! I would draw in the dirt with my finger if I had no brushes or ochre to hand.”

He nodded in understanding. “With me it was music. I would bellow out the old songs of the shepherds, until my voice broke.” And I was told by father that singing like a low-born troubadour brought shame to the family. 

“You sing well,” Maggie said.

“Thank you,” Conrad answered, recalling their duet with pleasure. After another moment he sighed. “Perhaps Mother had something. I forget.”

“I am certain she did.” Stepping close in the smoky air Maggie tucked a sprig of mistletoe into his tunic, her brief touch both comforting and promising more. “When she was a girl, Florence would gather sprays of mistletoe from apple orchards.”

“A good custom,” he replied, while the earthier part of him, present even in a dream, thought and a sign of kisses to come between us, a kiss for each berry. 

Content, he slumbered without stirring until daybreak.

Sir Conrad and the Christmas Treasure USA https://amazon.com/gp/product/B07KW6K5RL/

UK https://amazon.co.uk/dp/B07KW6K5RL/

What is the true treasure of Christmas?

Maggie’s younger brother, Michael, is kidnapped by outlaws, and it’s up to her to rescue him. Appealing to Sir Conrad, the grim steward of the northern English high lands, is the very last thing she wants to do. With the very real possibility that the outlaws know of Michael’s talent—the ability to open any lock, to reveal any treasure—Maggie races against time to find him before his usefulness to the outlaws is ended.

Sir Conrad desires Maggie from the minute he sees her—she makes him feel alive again—and that has not happened since the death of his wife. Though he hasn’t known Maggie before, a strange feeling of familiarity nags, and he agrees to aid the beautiful peasant girl in this quest of finding her brother.

Happy Summer!

Lindsay Townsend 

For a Change of Pace

 Post by Doris McCraw aka Angela Raines

Photo Property of the Author

I thought I'd change the pace a bit for fun since I've been celebrating another year around the sun. I've been reading W. B. (Bat) Masterson's book, "Famous Gunfighters of the Western Frontier". One thing is clear, you can tell who he likes and who he doesn't. 

In his write-up about Doc Holliday, he clearly does not like the man. Has his opinion, written in 1907, influenced the way we see the man? I don't know, but I thought it would be fun to dig up some titles where the good Doctor plays a big part in the story. So for fun, here are a few:

Mike Resnick wrote steampunk books in which Doc Holliday was featured. There were four books, three of which featured Doc Holliday:

1. The Doctor and the Kid (2011)
2. The Doctor and the Rough Rider (2012)
3. The Doctor and the Dinosaurs (2013)

M.M. Crumley has written a series of books with Doc Holliday as the main character:

Then we have 'regular' stories about Holliday:

Mary Doria Russell has one, and Victoria Wilcox has a three-book series.

What is it about Doc Holliday? What is it about the Old West and the people who lived then? One thing, stories are the product of our imaginations, and as you can see, they can take you anywhere. Have you taken a well-known story or person and given them 'another' life? 

I still remember reading Cheryl Pierson's "The Keepers of Camelot" and being so engrossed in how she took a well-known story and made it fresh and new in the Old West. If you get a chance, check it out.

So, for a change of pace, how can you take something old and make it new? Give it a try.

y Reading and Writing.

Doris McCraw

  

Writing - Blogging - Marketing

Post by Doris McCraw

writing as Angela Raines

As I work to finish my book, the thought hit me, we're coming out of our homes, going to events, and of course bookstores. The reason it hit me, I never had the option, nor did I want it, to stay inside. I continued to work, hike, and take photos. The one thing I didn't do a lot of, and I've heard others say, was writing. It just seemed harder to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard.

At the same time, I continued to write for the blogs I'd committed to. The exercise of following through on my promise was a good thing. It allowed me to keep the research and creative juices flowing. It was during this time that I started doing interviews for one of the blogs in addition to my regular post. 

It was also a time of education on the art of writing and how to market. So, even though I may not have gotten all the writing done on my WIPs, it was not wasted time. In fact, our writer's group still meets, just online. It has kept us all writing and connected. When we get together again, it will almost be like we never left. 

Therefore I thought I would share a bit of what I learned, or at least the resources I used.

1. My online improv writer's group

2. Attended two online conferences. (That was fun)

3. YouTube Videos. Here are a couple of favorites: How to get your life back on track

How to Show Not Tell

4. Book I found useful: 

Amazon

Amazon

Something I heard or read has stayed with me when it comes to marketing - People First/Books Second.

Now, what does that mean to me? It means it's more important that I connect with my readers, develop a relationship. I confess I'm still working on that one.

Some additional tidbits that fascinated me:

Raymond Chandler would type his manuscript on 4x6 note cards and something had to happen on each card. (That's approximately every 250 words)

Create a Story Box which is listing stories or ideas that resonate with you. If one stays with you for a long time, maybe it's the next story.

Write while you walk (I do that all the time, I just don't write them down. oops!)

The list could go on and on. The thing is, as people are getting back out again, are they taking the time to read, to study, to learn from others, like these blogs. Are we still going to continue to hone our craft or do we move on to something else? 

Regardless, I have set aside one morning a week, where for 2-4 hours I focus on learning something new on this author journey. What do you do?

Doris Gardner-McCraw -

Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History

Angela Raines - author: Telling Stories Where Love & History Meet

Books: Angela Raines Books

Website: Angela Raines - author

Angela Raines FaceBook: Click Here

 

Philosophy, Music, and Writing Scenes

 Post by Doris McCraw

writing as Angela Raines

Labor Day Balloon Glow
Photo property of the author

On this Labor Day weekend, I thought I take a sharp turn and write about something I do, but don't always talk or write about; Philosophy, Music, and Writing.

I have always been involved with music, starting with singing for the PTA at two and a half. I began playing piano at five and was always surrounded by music. It informed my thoughts and actions. 

As I aged, I began a life-long love of philosophy. From the online dictionary "Oxford Languages", philosophy's definition is 'the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence..'

As I rewrite my stories, those two play a big part in how I try to convey the thoughts, actions, and environment of the scenes. Below is a breakdown of the process.

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If I'm writing a fight scene, my hero is usually reluctant to be the aggressor. He doesn't want to hurt people but realizes that sometimes you don't get that luxury. This ties into the Stoic philosophy of going for the greater good. I also will listen to Saint-Saens 'Danse Macbre'. The interplay of tempo, notes, and silences lend itself to the ebb and flow of fights. This works for both my Western and Medieval stories.You can listen here: La Danse Macbre

If I'm writing a scene where the setting is important, I think of Thoreau and his quote from Walden, “We need the tonic of wildness...At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed, and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature.”  If I'm writing Western I'll listen to "Grand Canyon Suite" by Ferde Grofe. Grand Canyon Suite

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Thoughts and character development in scenes rely a lot on what I perceive as their way of living. Machiavelli comes into play for some of my antagonists. The protagonist would fall into some of Nietzsche, Satre for the men and for women some of Mills, Locke plus a bit of Confucius and Lao Tzu for both. One of the few times I will listen to music with words is this section. "Dust in the Wind" by Kansas is a go-to. Dust in the Wind  or from the same group "Carry on my Wayward Son" Carry on my Wayward Son

For endings or other scenes, depending on where I want to go I have a few pieces of music, and a lot of Stoic philosophy will come into play. "I Am a Rock" by Simon & Garfunkle I Am a Rock  Almost anything from Bach, " Keyboard Concerto No. 4 in A major" Bach Concerto, Of course, there is always Pachelbel- "Canon in D Major" Canon in D Major,  "Ashokan Farewell" Ashokan Farewell or the Everly Brothers "Let it be Me" Let It Be Me  

I will finish with the following songs and invite you to share your 'writing' songs and prompts. These songs and videos always seem to help the creative process. We've Only Just Begun, We'll Sing in the Sunshine, 

Ethan Hawk on Creativity  and  A Video for every Creative Person

Have a great September and keep those thoughts and fingers going. 

Doris Gardner-McCraw -

Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History

Angela Raines - author: Telling Stories Where Love & History Meet

Books: Angela Raines Books

Website: Angela Raines - author

Angela Raines FaceBook: Click Here

Sinspirations

 Post by Doris McCraw

writing fiction as Angela Raines

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So what is 'sinspiratioin'? Well, it's what I call my inspiration for most of my antagonists. Perhaps some of you might like to see how my mind works as I develop the best 'villain' I can.

In my first novella, "Home for His Heart", my antagonist, Oliver, came from my work with juvenile delinquents. We had young girls who'd been convinced to work as prostitutes by men who would pretend to love these young girls, many of who were desperate to be loved. We also had a person who was probably a psychopath, and lastly a person who'd killed their best friend and partner in what was defined as a homosexual rage. These traits were used to compose my villain.

In the short story for "Hot Western Nights", one of the antagonists was a land-hungry rancher. Although a common trope in Westerns, I used the man who wanted to buy my great-grandparents property. While he was a really nice man, he was determined to purchase the land. I just made him meaner and a bit larger than life.

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There are also many news articles about crimes and criminals from the 1800s.  A  retired police officer, and friend, has been compiling the homicides in the newspapers for the Pikes Peak Region and it is a constantly growing resource. I have studied those pages many times. I've drawn on the descriptions of people, their crimes, and how the public perceived them. Sometimes the crimes are exactly what I'm looking for so they end up, with a bit of editing, in my work.

I am looking for a way to create a villain from a compilation of a young man who slept with his girlfriend's sister, and another who felt it was his boss's fault for giving him money to deposit in the bank. (He kept it.) I simply haven't found the right story, yet.

Of all the characters I developed, the villain is probably the easiest for me to create. Not because I'm a bad person, at least most don't think so, but due to my work with delinquents, my research, spending time in cemeteries, and my fascination with human nature. I've always thought, although not always successful in creating, the antagonist is what makes the story worth reading. I do love a juicy villain who believes he's doing no wrong. The person who believes in their own truth.

So how do you find your 'sinspirations'? 

Doris Gardner-McCraw -

Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History

Angela Raines - author: Telling Stories Where Love & History Meet

Books: Angela Raines Books

Website: Angela Raines - author

Angela Raines FaceBook: Click Here

RESOURCES I FIND USEFUL- PERHAPS YOU WILL ALSO

Post by Doris McCraw 

writing as Angela Raines

Photo property of the author

Here it is a New Year already. If you're like me it's a time of reflecting on what's gone before and preparing for what's to come. I thought I might combine both and pass on some resources I've used or will use in the future as I continue the author journey.

A number of years ago I spent many an hour listening to Bill Moyers interview Joseph Campbell. Campbell is known for his work on "The Hero's Journey", "The Power of the Myth" and "The Hero with a Thousand Faces". While all his work is fascinating, "The Hero's Journey" is the one most quoted, the most familiar. If you've watched "Star Wars" you've taken the hero's journey with Luke Skywalker. If you've watched "The Adventures of Merlin" you've taken the hero's journey with Merlin. (This is not to say women don't make the same journeys. Think "Xena, Warrior Princess".

Campbell is quoted as saying in the book, "Joseph Campbell, The Hero's Journey, Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work"    "You know, I didn't write my books for critics and scholars. I wrote them for students and artists. When I hear how much my work has meant to them - well, I can't tell you how happy it makes me. That means that this great stuff of myth, which I have been s privileged to work with, will be kept alive or a whole new generation. That's the function of the artist, you know, to reinterpret the old stories and make them come alive again, in poetry, painting, and now movies." (and I would add books)

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Most say the journey is composed of twelve stages. 

1. Ordinary world 2. Call to Adventure 3.Refusal of the Call 4.Meeting the Mentor 5. Crossing the First Threshold  6. Tests, Allies, Enemies  7. Approach to the Innermost Cave  8. Ordeal  9. Reward  10. The Road Back  11. Resurrection  12.  Return with the Elixer

With my background in theater and film, the three-act structure is almost second nature. 

1. Introduction of the characters and conflict  2. Develops the story, heightened drama, twists, and turns 3. Final confrontation, climax, and conclusion.

Although I may not always use all the above options, I think they follow the natural flow of a person's story. When I find a story idea, I tend to think in terms of the above structures. 

To continue the idea of the hero/heroine's journey, Steven Pressfield, in his book, "The Artist's Journey", writers have already taken the journey. He lists the stages of the journey a follows:

1. The Ordinary World,  2.  The Call,  3. Refusal of the Call,  4. The Mentor Appears,  5.  Crossing the Threshold,  6.  Trials and Tribulations, Friends, Foes,  7.  Primal Ordeal,  8. The Payoff,  9.  Getting Our,  10.  Resurrection,  11.  A Gift for the People.

Pressfield contends that prior to our writing we have taken and completed the journey. It is the journey that has allowed us to write. It is our gift for the people. 

So where do the ideas come from? For me, they may be the 'what if' for a minor character in a story I've read. It could have been an article in an old newspaper or history book. It could even be a snippet from a television show or movie. There are ideas all around, even your home town or family stories.

Here are some books, tools, and ideas you may find useful.

The interview between Moyers and Campbell and/or any book by Campbell

"Fill-in-the-Blank Plotting by Linda George

Although I've not used it, friends have spoken of the software 'Plottr'

I hope some of these resources will spark anew your desire to tell the stories only you can tell. The world needs them. Here's to a year of creativity and fun as we all take this 'author' journey. Please share any readings or resources you have used. Sharing is one of the ways I learn since time is not always on my side. <Smile>

Doris Gardner-McCraw -

Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History

Angela Raines - author: Telling Stories Where Love & History Meet

Books: Angela Raines Books

Legacy -The Beginning?

 Post by Doris McCraw writing as Angela Raines

Photo property of the author

As this year 2020 winds to an end my mind reflects on endings. The long-running show 'Supernatural' came to an end in November. Now you may ask what a television show has to do with endings, with legacies. There was a line in one of the early shows in which the writer, Chuck, says "No doubt endings are hard, but then again, nothing ever really ends." after which the character disappears from the screen.

The end of that line "...nothing ever really ends." is what brought the thought of legacies to the forefront.

So what is a legacy? The online dictionary has among its definitions: a thing handed down by a predecessor.

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We are those predecessors for those who will come after us. What are we leaving. As authors, our work will live on past us. To me, that is a very good thing. But we have more to offer, don't we?

Perhaps all the hours of researching the lives of pioneers, inventors, farmers, lawmen, and ladies of the evening, especially this year, has made me aware of what we have. We can still access old books, diaries, and letters. In this digital age, what are we going to be able to leave to those who come after us? What do we want them to know?

I'll be taking a look at, and sharing some of those 'legacies' over the next month or so. The lure is just too strong as I move toward 2021 and another year to my chronological age. It's the human aspect, the errors, and the following corrections that give me hope. No one is perfect but who we are is important. Share your stories, write those books, and give of your time to what is important to you. That is a wonderful legacy, and then as the line says, "...nothing ever really ends."

Photo property of the author

I share my walks and photos online, Will they go away, perhaps someday, but for now I can share with those who don't have the options I have. I also appreciate all that you have shared with me on my journey. The larger legacy, we are all in this together and I've loved the company.

Doris Gardner-McCraw -

Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History

Angela Raines - author: Telling Stories Where Love & History Meet

Books: Angela Raines Books

EVER HEARD OF LAURA GILPIN? (OR HOW I BEEN SPENDING MY TIME)

 Post by Doris McCraw writing as Angela Raines

So who was Laura Gilpin? Laura Gilpin was a photographer who was born in the Colorado Springs area, Austin Bluffs to be exact. Although the family had a ranch further from the town of Colorado Springs, Laura's mother, Emma, wanted to be near to doctors for the birth of her first child. On April 22, 1891, Laura entered this world. 

If you want to know more about her early life, here is a link to a Wikipedia overview. Laura's Life

So how does Laura fit into how I spend my time? 

1. As a photographer, Laura was always experimenting. For myself, I take my cue from her willingness to keep trying, to make mistakes, and learn from them. Additionally not only does this apply to my writing, but to my photography as well.

                                              One of Laura's Photographs from en.wikipedia

2. Once she focused on a subject she would do her best to highlight all the parts of it she could. As I've been hiking and photographing what I see, I many times will traverse the same general area. Guess what, each time it is different, each time something new shows up. As the seasons' change, so does the panorama.

                                                     One of my recent photographs

3. When life handed Laura challenges she rose to the occasion. Even when left to care for her father, she still managed to make the best of it. While I've not been as challenged as Laura, these last six months of having to adjust to life's curveball, I noted what I could and couldn't do and followed my 'bliss' and got outside and began to enjoy what nature had to offer.

                                            Another recent photo from one of my hikes

I've been lucky to still work, even though it has always been part-time. I've not written as much as I could, but I've been writing. The time outside gives me a breather from stress, lets my imagination wander, and visualize scenes based on the trails and what I'm seeing. Some of the trails made me think of traveling in Medieval times and others walking to town from a ranch. 

So, I've been spending my time following what I have garnered from Laura's life. Plus, I've always admired her work. 

So the next time you may be feeling stuck or in a rut, find someone whom you admire, look at why you admire them and see what you can learn from their life and how they succeeded in what they did.

Laura died in 1979 and is buried in the cemetery I frequently walk, Evergreen. 

Doris Gardner-McCraw -

Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History

Angela Raines - author: Telling Stories Where Love & History Meet

Books: Angela Raines Books

Website: Angela Raines - author

Angela Raines FaceBook: Click Here

 

AS I PONDERED

Post by Doris McCraw
writing as Angela Raines

As I pondered what I might write about this month I decided to take a look at my walk/hikes, research, and writing to see what I could find.

A trail in Garden of the Gods
photo property of the author

As most know, I've been getting out on the trails and in the parks during this time of physical distancing. I'm fortunate that I have so many options available close to me. Although I try to combine errands with the walks, sometimes that hasn't been possible. My journeys have taken me over some challenging terrain and through fascinating cemeteries. The current novel has my heroine having to walk out of the area where she and her party were attacked. The trails in CMSP and Garden of the Gods are just the right kind of terrain she may have had to journey across. Talk about being able to be realistic. The trails are heaven, though somewhat challenging, and I get to use my experience in the story.

Landscape and trail in CMSP
photo property of the author

The cemeteries are a wealth of names, dates, and stories in stone. One stone told of how the couple met at a river here in Colorado, fell in love and married. Many times I can follow the stories of these pioneers via Ancestry, City Directories, Newspapers, and Google Books. Another couple I located were early pioneers in the Bijou Basin just east of what is now Colorado Springs.

Did you know Melinda has sometimes been spelled, Malinda? How about Charles N Green, born in Illinois in 1856 he had later moved to Colorado. In 1900 his occupation is listed as a mining broker, and he and his wife Mary had a three-year-old son. Both were forty-one at the time of birth if the math is correct. Christine McIntosh dies of uterine cancer at the age of sixty-four according to the death record I found in on the library's research website. She had been born in Canada but that's all I've found on her at this time.

Headstone in Evergreen Cemetery
Photo property of the author

My heroine is a doctor and in my research, the story of an early Colorado Springs doctor fits the profile I have of Pauline. (Her name at this time). Researching Esther's ancestry, her marriage, and information gleaned from papers and other sources is a way to add veracity to the story.

Sometimes I have found pieces written about people or an area in Google Books. The history of the Arkansas River Valley in Colorado is a rich source of what life and the land was like in the 1870s. I also found the autobiography of Harriot Kezia Hunt, an early doctor in Boston. It is called "Glances and Glimpses ..." and was published in 1856. A book published in 1912 even states she was the first woman to practice medicine in the United States, having opened a practice in Boston in 1835.

So you see my pondering and wanderings do lead to some interesting information. The last few months of 'staying away from people' has had its silver lining. And, yes, I am still out on the trails, still reading, still writing and still digging into the stories of those who came before me.

Triple Threat Trail in Ute Valley Park
Photo property of the author

The above photo would have been what my hero and heroine in my first novella, "Home For His Heart" might have had to traverse.

Here is a very brief excerpt:

     “Sam, Sam, saddle up.” shouted Paul. “All hell has broke loose. Where are you?”

     “I'm here by the barn,” answered Sam. “What do you mean all hell broke loose?”

     “Saddle up and I'll tell you on the way.”

     Riding toward town, Paul explained. “Shortly after you left this man came rushing into town, how he managed to stay on his horse is amazing. He was talking about dangerous men, warning, fire. It was hard to understand what he was saying. He was in bad shape.”

     “Any idea who he is or where he came from?” asked Sam.

     “No, and that isn't all. It may be coincidence, but as we were taking him to Sally's, Fred came staggering out of Clara's house. Said someone hit him and Clara's gone missing,” said Paul.

     “What do you mean missing?”

     “Sam, I mean Clara is nowhere to be found.” Paul stated. “I headed to Clara's and the house was in shambles as if there had been a fight,” said Paul.

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Doris Gardner-McCraw -

Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History

Angela Raines - author: Where Love & History Meet

Books: Angela Raines Books

Angela Raines FaceBook: Click Here

Website: angelaraines.net