777 Challenge ~ I've Been Tagged!

Evenin', cowpokes. Just found out I've been tagged by Lyn Horner in the 777 Challenge. Thanks, Lyn! ( I think) ;) The challenge is to go to page 7 of your current work in progress and post at least 7 lines from the page, then tag 7 other authors and challenge them to do the same on their blogs. So, here we go.

My work in progress is a Western Historical Romance titled Wild Texas Rose. I'm afraid the sample is much longer than 7 lines but, oh well. I've included two covers I've been playing around with. Haven't made up my mind yet which one I like best, or if I want to scrap them both and start over. Would love to know what you think so, opinions, please!. This book has been a long time coming and, hopefully, it won't be much longer. Hope you enjoy the out of context sample. :)

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From Wild Texas Rose, pg. 7.

 Mattie looked at the skirt and then at Rosalie with a knowing gleam in her eyes. She wedged her hands against her hips. “Where do you think you’re goin’?”

“For a ride. I’ve got some thinking to do.” Rosalie returned her attention to the wardrobe and picked up her boots from among an assortment of slippers and button-up shoes arranged side by side on the wooden shelf.

“Ha!” Mattie retorted. “I know what you’ve got in mind and thinkin’ ain’t it.”

Rosalie ignored the remark and continued to gather the various garments she intended to wear. Mattie knew her too well, was privy to all her secrets and nothing got past her, so trying to allay her suspicions was a waste of time.

But she should have known her silence was as good as an admission of guilt. The woman was as relentless as a starving hound on the scent of a wounded jackrabbit once she picked up a hint of mischief.

“Now, you listen to me, Rose. For your own good. You stay away from that boy. He can’t help you, and you’ll only end up bringin’ trouble down on his head.”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rosalie denied.

“You know exactly what I’m talkin’ about,” Mattie pressed on in strident tones. “Trey Delaney, that’s what. If Walter ever got wind there was something goin’ on between the two of you…” She shook her head, evidently the thought of it even too horrible to articulate. “He can’t go against your father, Rose. Walter would destroy him if he even tried it. Then where would you be?”

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Here's my list of authors I tag to do the 777 Challenge:

Teresa Reasor
Amy Durham
Taryn Raye
Michael Embry
Alison Bruce
Cheri Kay Clifton
Tara Manderino

Will they do it? We shall see. I'll post an announcement on Facebook so they'll all know they've been tagged. Then, I'm ducking for cover. ;)

Happy reading and writing!
Devon

Western Trivia

One of my favorite time-killers is trolling around on the internet and through my reference books looking for those hidden nuggets of information that I might use to enrich my writing and knowledge of the Old West. Recently, I ran across a couple of interesting pieces of western trivia and thought I'd pass them along.

First up, for many years it was believed that William Bonney (born William Henry McCarty, Jr.) and also known as Billy the Kid, was left-handed because of the tintype image to the left that shows him with his gunbelt hanging on his left side. At some point some history buff must have taken a closer look at the photo and realized there was a problem. You see, most tintype cameras produced a negative image that appeared positive once it was developed, which means you ended up with a mirror image of reality. That's exactly what happened in this famous photo. This was confirmed by the rifle he's holding. The gun is a Winchester Model 1873 lever-action. In the photo, the weapon appears to have the loading gate on the left side, but Winchester only made the 1873 model with the loading gate on the right. The rifle was the proof that Billy the Kid was a righty, not a lefty, as was assumed for many years.

On a different topic, here's something I found really interesting.The California Gold Rush of 1849 wasn’t the first gold rush we had in this country. In fact, it wasn't even the second.

Back in 1799, in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, a young fella named Conrad Reed found a big yellow rock in his father's field one day. Conrad had no idea what the rock was, and when he took it and showed it to his father, John Reed, he didn't know either. But the rock was odd so the family kept it and used it as a doorstop for several years, until a jeweler happened to be passing by one day and saw it. The rock turned out to be a 17-pound gold nugget. (Whew-ee! I just checked the market and the current value of that rock would be $442,312.80) As soon as word of the find got out, the rush was on. Congress ended up building the Charlotte Mint to handle the sheer volume of gold dug up in North Carolina. Later, in 1828, gold was discovered in Georgia, which led to a second gold rush. The third and most famous gold rush started when James Marshall struck the mother lode at Sutter's Mill in California. Thousands of men (and even some women) known as the Forty-Niners all flooded into California looking for their own mother lode, but very few ever left any richer than when they arrived.

Hope you enjoyed these little bits from our past as much as I did.

Happy reading and writing!

Devon

Guess What Time It Is

Howdy, friends! Yep, it's that time again. I'm over at Cowboy Kisses today. This month I'm talking about how to dress your cowboy. Yee-ha!

While I've got your ear, let me bring you up to date on what's been going on with me. For the past two months I've been dealing with some health issues that nearly put me out of commission. I'm on the mend now so you'll likely be seeing a lot more of me around here.

Now that I'm feeling better, I'm back to writing. Took a while to get my mojo tuned up, but I'm finally there and the next book is coming along nicely.

Hope you'll come visit me over at the group blog, and leave a comment if you're so inclined so I'll know you were there.

Happy reading and writing!

Devon