Kristy McCaffrey stops by for visit!

Morning everybody!  I'm thrilled to have the talented Kristy McCaffrey visiting on Penny's Tales.  Not only is she a best selling author, but a sister Arizonian!

Let's get this show on the road!

How did you get started writing?

I’ve always written, ever since I was a young child. It’s always been a compulsion for me. But I didn’t get serious until I was a stay-at-home with four rowdy youngins’.

What genre do you write and why?

I write historical western romances, set in the American southwest because … heck, I don’t know why. I grew up in Arizona, so maybe it was storytelling osmosis.

What is your favorite part of writing?

Nothing haha. Well, if I must choose, then I’d say when the first deep editing pass has been completed. That’s the point at which I finally have a viable story and I stop feeling so anxious.

What is your least favorite part of writing?

All those endless moments in the first draft when I wonder where the story is going.

When did you start writing toward publication?

I was in my 30’s and a stay-at-home mom to my four rugrats I’ve already mentioned. My mind was turning to mush, so I decided to try writing a novel. That book, THE WREN, was published by a small press. It was a wonderful opportunity, but in hindsight I think I was published too soon. I didn’t really have a good grasp of the craft. I promise it’s better now!

Do you have any words of inspiration for aspiring authors?

Keep going. It sounds cliché, but you truly learn by doing. It doesn’t seem like writing should be that hard, but it takes skill to work with words and imagery. I’m constantly learning new things. I really love it. You’ll know if you’re not meant to be a writer because the tediousness of it will easily drive you away. But if it doesn’t, then you’ve found your passion and your tribe.

Now Available

Amazon or read for FREE in Kindle Unlimited.

99 cents for a limited time.

Can be read as a stand-alone novel.

Molly Rose Simms departs the Arizona Territory, eager for adventure, and travels to Colorado to visit her brother. Robert left two years ago to make his fortune in the booming silver town of Creede, and now Molly Rose hopes to convince him to accompany her to San Francisco, New York City, or even Europe. But Robert is nowhere to be found. All Molly Rose finds is his partner, a mysterious man known as The Jackal.

Jake McKenna has traveled the bustling streets of Istanbul, exotic ports in China, and the deserts of Morocco. His restless desire to explore has been the only constant in his life. When his search for the elusive and mythical Bluebird mining claim lands him a new partner, he must decide how far he’ll go to protect the stunning young woman who’s clearly in over her head. A home and hearth has never been on The Jackal’s agenda, but Molly Rose Simms is about to change his world in every conceivable way.

Please note: Contains mild violence and a sensuous love scene.

Excerpt

“What do you want?” she (Molly Rose) whispered.

“Someone’s following you.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I believe you’re right, and I’m guessing it’s not the first time you’ve done it.”

“Not me. Well, not exactly.” Jake glanced side to side and checked the hallway. “Can I come in?”

“How will my reputation survive it?” she groused, but she stood back and let him enter, shutting the door behind him. “Do you have news about Robert?”

She’d changed from her dark sneaking-around attire and now wore a wrap over what he presumed was her sleeping gown.

“No,” he replied. “But I’m guessing you do.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Look, I know you don’t entirely trust me, but I know you went to Robert’s room tonight.” He held up his hand when anger flashed in her eyes and she opened her mouth to speak. “Yes, I was watching you, but I’m the least of your worries right now. Someone else was following you.”

“Who?”

“A man who works for Shep Lannigan, and Robert’s mixed up with the lot of ’em.”

“Then maybe I should speak with them.”

Jake shook his head. “No, you shouldn’t. At least not until we can find your brother and learn what he’s gotten himself into.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Listen, we should get out of town.”

Incredulous, she laughed. “Now?”

“Yes, now. I have a place we can go.”

“You’re deranged. We’ve only just met. For all I know, you could be the one against Robert, if that’s what’s truly going on.”

Jake paused, watching the tigress before him. Why hadn’t Robert ever told him his beautiful sister was full of spit and vinegar? “I can assure you, I won’t hurt you. Robert is like a brother to me, and while we’ve had our ups and downs, I consider it my duty to look out for his sister. And right now, if you stay in town, I’ve a feeling you’ll—at the very least—be harassed, but more likely, you’ll get roughed up.”

“By who? This Shep person?”

“He might think you know where your brother is.” Jake lifted his hat and ran a hand through his hair. “Let’s change your location and throw them off your scent.”

He didn’t really expect her to agree wholeheartedly with him, so he was taken aback when she nodded her compliance.

“Be ready in one hour and meet me behind the hotel,” he said. “Pack light.”

He left before she could change her mind.

Copyright © 2016 K. McCaffrey LLC

Bio

Kristy McCaffrey has been writing since she was very young, but it wasn’t until she was a stay-at-home mom that she considered becoming published. She’s the author of several historical western romances, all set in the American southwest. She lives in the Arizona desert with her husband, two chocolate labs, and whichever of their four teenaged children happen to be in residence. She loves to travel and frequently blogs about her adventures.

Connect with Kristy

Website: http://www.kristymccaffrey.com

Blog ~ Pathways:  http://www.kristymccaffrey.blogspot.com/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/AuthorKristyMcCaffrey

Twitter:  https://www.twitter.com/McCaffreyKristy

Newsletter: http://kristymccaffrey.com/Newsletter.html

Amazon Author Page: http://amzn.to/2erVsze

It's Everybody Reads YA Sunday - Ride of a Lifetime

21 century bully meets 18 century female Paul Revere

Ride of a Lifetime

Jim Abernathy is the new kid at Langdon Middle School - and a bully.  With the death of his mother, and his father having to work two jobs, Jim has been on his own for the last year.  In that year, Jim has become a bitter and brooding young man. A new job in Phoenix is just what Jim and his dad need for a new start. 

Miss Wickware, and all the students in her history class, get a dose of Jim’s surly attitude the second he walks through the door. Everyone holds their breaths when their teacher and Jim go nose to nose.  Miss Wickware wins the first round.

The class must draw historical subjects out of a box and present oral reports on whom or what they have drawn. Jim draws Sybil Ludington.  “Great, a woman” His words are dripping with sarcasm.  “Real exciting!”

Jim’s ideas about women in history take a whole new turn when he walks out of class and into the Eighteenth Century and the life of Sybil Ludington.

Excerpt

“These aren’t my clothes. Where are my clothes?” His voice grew louder with each word.

The girl stood and took a few steps back. Her eyes were wary but there was concern in her voice. “Please, you may have hurt yourself when you fainted. Maybe you shouldn’t be dancing around.”

“I’m not dancing around. What the heck is happening…?” He stopped talking and his head snapped back around to her. “Faint! I didn’t faint! Only sissies faint!”

http://www.amazon.com/Ride-Lifetime-Wickware-Sagas-ebook/dp/B00D91Z1JM

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ride-of-a-lifetime-penny-estelle/1115530815?ean=2940016766348

http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore/index.php/our-authors/55-our-authors/authors-e/146-author-19

I write for all ages, from the early reader to adults.  My books range from pictures books for the little ones, to fantasy, time-travel adventures for ages 9 to 13. I also write adult stories, including a family drama and contemporary, paranormal and historical westerns romances, under P. A. Estelle.

I was a school secretary for 21 years.  My husband and I moved to our retirement home in Kingman, AZ, on very rural 54 acres, living on solar and wind only.  

More about my books can be found in the following links:

www.pennystales.com

www.pennyestelle.blogspot.com

http://www.amazon.com/Penny-Estelle/e/B006S62XBY

https://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=146&Itemid=82

www.facebook.com/pennystales

www.pinterest.com/pennyestelle

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5820078.Penny_Estelle - Goodreads

http://www.twitter.com/pennystales

Talented Jack Strandburg talks about Showing Character by Being Specific!

Show Character by Being Specific

There are arguably three basic ingredients to a work of fiction – Characters, Plot, and Setting.

You’ll find more information than you’ll ever need on all three. Since this blog addresses characters, at the time of this writing, I googled ‘Characterization,’ and returned 77,600,000 results.

Whether you believe characters, plot, or even setting is most important, I believe you cannot have one without the other two to write an interesting story.

You can profile the most interesting characters, but if nothing happens to them, you have no story. You also want something to happen in an interesting location. For example, the apparition of a Civil War soldier in a public mall would not create the same dramatic effect as if he appeared in a graveyard.

I went through a phase where I believed characters were the most critical component. (In my early days of writing, I was naïve and easily brainwashed). I developed a character profile consisting of over 250 rows in an Excel spreadsheet. Believing I had to know my main characters backwards and forwards before I could even consider writing a draft, I’d spend weeks determining how a character walked, sat, drank, ate, where he or she was from, in short, all the character’s sociological, psychological, geographical, and physical traits.

I eventually settled on a more basic and much shorter list, knowing if my story had no scene where my character dined, there was no reason to show how or even what, they liked to eat.

This brings me to the point of the blog.

One method I find effective is to be specific as to his or her actions and movements.

Specificity adds to the story without appearing as “fluff,” or “padding” for the sake of increasing word count, and is an effective way to fight writer’s block.

Consider this seven-word sentence. Tom Jones left home to go to college.

That sentence tells us little more about Tom other than he’s (we assume) at least 18 years old and (probably) graduated from high school.

Forgetting for the moment a physical description, you can tell the reader a lot about Tom just by filling in the blanks, and asking questions, starting with Who, What, When, Where, Why, How.

1. Did Tom go with anyone? (Who)
2. What did he take with him?
3. When did he leave? (month, day, year, time, etc)
4. Where did he leave from and where did he go?
5. Why did he leave?
6. How did he get to his destination?

Your seven-word sentence might become:

On the morning of August 21, 2015, Tom Jones stuffed three suitcases of clothes and personal items into the trunk of his 2002 Ford Civic, said goodbye to his parent’s home in Phoenix, Arizona, and began his three-day scheduled trip to Los Angeles, to study mechanical engineering at UCLA.

From the paragraph above, it sounds like Tom is planning to stay in Los Angeles for an extended period. We know he lived in Phoenix, Arizona, perhaps with his parents, and since the drive from Phoenix to Los Angeles is between five and six hours, depending on traffic, we know Tom is not planning to drive straight through. We also know what college he plans to attend, and has an interest in mechanical engineering.

The rewrite adds 42 words, but also provides potential for brainstorming, and can help avoid writers block.

1. How does Tom plan to pay for tuition and books?
2. Did he leave by choice or did his parents coerce him, or kick him out?
3. Is Tom traveling alone? If not, with whom? Male or female?
4. What will Tom do for money during the trip, and while in California?
5. Since Tom is planning three days for the trip, what other plans does he have? Is he meeting someone? If so, who? Is he going sightseeing? If so, where? Do his plans work out as desired?
6. What does he plan to do for a living?

I’m sure you can come up with many more questions, but depending on the answers to the above six, Tom’s character, the plot, and the setting can be worked in a number of ways, including change the genre of the story.

Hustle Henry and the Cue-Ball Kid (A Solstice Western)

Clarence Flannery was luckier than most men his age to discover his life’s ambition, particularly in the unpredictable years just following the Civil War. Born with an unmatched skill to play pool, he left his home in Kansas when he turned twenty-six and traveled throughout the Southwestern United States to make his mark as a legendary pool hustler, with every intention of amassing a fortune in the process.

Clarence needed help for both support and protection, and recruited James Skinner as his partner, along with nine other highly-skilled pool players to assist him in his quest.

Wanting to be included in the same sentence as Attila the Hun and Alexander the Great, Clarence changed his name to Hustle Henry, Skinner became the Cue-Ball Kid, and the eleven men would go down in history as The Hole-in-the-Table-Bunch, known far and wide for hustling wannabe pool sharks out of their life savings.

All goes to plan and life has a rosy and profitable outlook, but Henry and his men want more than what pool halls and saloons offer, so they decide to challenge the more affluent clientele on a riverboat.

Initially, the venture proves profitable, but the millionaire tycoon and owner of the fleet of riverboats, takes exception, and intends to bring down the Bunch and thrust Henry and The Kid into a life of destitution.

Taking along the Kid’s girlfriend, Penelope Henderson, the Kid and Henry flee to South America – where there will be a final showdown.

Hustle Henry and the Cue-Ball Kid is a fiction work of Western humor with an interesting and amusing cast of characters.

Buy Links

http://solsticepublishing.com/hustle-henry-and-the-cue-ball-kid/

http://www.amazon.com/Hustle-Henry-Cue-Ball-Jack-Strandburg-ebook/dp/B00BJ83O5K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1461339661&sr=8-1&keywords=hustle+henry+and+the+cue-ball+kid

The Monogram Killer (A Solstice Mystery)

When Julia Ballard meets Kelly Nichols, she believed he was the man of her dreams. Julia’s best friend has doubts, and her investigation into Nichols’s life encourages her suspicions. Despite Jessica’s warnings, Julia is convinced he is sincere and cares for her.  Nichols is hiding secrets from a legacy he cannot escape, and Julia is the key to a sinister plan. When two homicide detectives combine forces to search for a serial killer, it becomes a race to see who accomplishes their goal first.

Buy Links

https://www.amazon.com/Monogram-Killer-Jack-Strandburg-ebook/dp/B01G2B7IIC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1471791612&sr=8-1&keywords=the+monogram+killer#nav-subnav

http://solsticepublishing.com/the-monogram-killer/

A Head in the Game (A Solstice Mystery - coming soon)

Chicago Homicide Inspector Aaron Randall faces his toughest case while dealing with doubts about his career and the potential of a romantic relationship.

Jared Prescott, a Heisman Trophy winner and Vice President of a large and respected pharmaceutical company, is found murdered at a seedy motel. The investigation uncovers multiple suspects with multiple motives. When the body of his close friend and informant is found stabbed to death in a deserted alley, followed by the murders of two women, Randall suspects a conspiracy.

Randall is hamstrung during the investigation by pressure from the commissioner down the chain of command because the president of the pharmaceutical company, anxious for resolution to Jared Prescott’s murder, is a close friend with a Senator whose sights are set on the Oval Office.