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Hired as the town’s
school teacher, Maria O’Donnell and her sister Abigail arrive in the Colorado
Territory in 1875, only to find the uncle they were to stay with has been
murdered.
Rancher Tye Ashmore
is content with life until he meets quiet and beautiful Maria. He falls in love
at first sight, but her reluctance to jeopardize her teaching position by
accepting his marriage proposal only makes him more determined to make her part
of his life.
When their lives are
threatened by gunshots and a gunnysack of dangerous wildlife, Tye believes he
is the target of an unknown enemy. Not until Maria receives written
threats urging her to leave does she realize she might be the target instead of
the handsome rancher.
With the help of Tye,
Abigail, and a wily Indian called Two Bears, Maria works to uncover her
uncle’s killer and put aside her fears. But will she discover happiness and
true love under Colorado’s starry skies?
Someone said not to sweat the
small stuff. But as a writer, I think we have an obligation to sweat the small
stuff. I believe all the little things we do—from editing a chapter for the
fifteenth time to standing at the kitchen sink and thinking to ourselves that a
conversation we’ve already created won’t work for a particular character—is
part of our desire to strive for excellence and perfection in our work. We owe
it to our audience.
Everyone is aware the ease of
self-publishing has caused an explosion of poorly written fiction being dumped
into the marketplace. We’ve all downloaded a digital book to our Kindle, Nook,
phone, or tablet that was filled with bad grammar, misspellings, incorrect
punctuation, and was horrendously embarrassing and painful to read. And we’ve all hit the “remove from device” link
and sent these books to a junkyard in cyberspace far, far away.
But recently, I’ve been amazed
with the amount of poorly written copy coming from not only fiction writers,
but also writers in newspapers and magazines and (oh, my) writers on the
internet. Put aside the fact that
they are not checking facts, more and
more people are just content to spit out their opinion or construct lazy gibberish
on websites and in comment boxes with little regard to how they are shredding the
English language.
“So what?” you ask. “Everyone
makes mistakes, right?”
Do you want your accountant to
make a mistake by a few decimal points or a few hundred dollars? How about if
your doctor wrote (heaven forbid) a prescription for the wrong drug—or maybe
the right drug, but the wrong dosage? Or what if your lawyer sent out a letter on
your behalf filled with spelling errors? Even better yet, your plumber decided
the joint he connected and sealed in one of your drain pipes is just good
enough. Would you be pleased with any of these behaviors?
I believe writers have the same
obligation as any other worker in any other occupation. It’s time we take the time to strive for excellence
as we string words together for our readers. It’s time we take the time to find the correct word, use a thesaurus and
dictionary, double check punctuation, remove wordy dialogue, rewrite poorly
constructed descriptions, remove anything that doesn’t propel the plot forward,
and enlist the help of beta readers and good editors. My list could go on and
on, but you get the idea.
James Michener said, “I’m not a
very good writer, but I’m an excellent rewriter.” And that’s the secret of good
writing. So, I am going to sweat the
small stuff. I’m going to take the time to do the best job I can even if it I
have to write and rewrite, and rewrite again and again—even if it takes longer than
I planned or hoped.
Now tell me, what bugs you as a
writer reading the written word in print or digital?
EXCERPT:
“And a sorry hide
yours is, Tye Ashmore. You are getting careless. You leave woman with hair the
color of mink all alone. You lose horse, rifle, donuts, and water. And you do
not take dog with you.”
“If you keep
insulting me, Two Bears, I’m going to take my rifle and wrap it around your
greasy neck. Why didn’t you bring my horse?”
“Why didn’t you?” Two
Bears asked. His mouth was tight and grim. “If I had moved the horse, anyone
watching would know to follow me back to you or your woman.”
Tye nodded. “I
figured the same. I decided we’d walk down to get it when it gets dark.”
Maria rose and
stepped between them. She was weary, and she wanted to get home, take a bath,
and soak her skinned arm and injured knee. “Why can’t we just start now?”
“Your woman is not
happy.” Two Bears grunted. “An angry squaw can make sunny days seem like rainy
ones.”
Maria glared at him.
“I am not his woman,” she snapped. “I am not a piece of property. Stop
saying that!”
Two Bears jumped
back, away from her. “If you say so.” He looked at Tye with wide eyes. “Hair
like a mink. Temper like a badger.”
AUTHOR BIO:
Judy Ann Davis writes both historical and contemporary
romantic suspense as well as short stories. She began her career in writing as
a copy and continuity writer for radio and television and has worked for
education and industry. Many of her short stories have appeared in various
literary and small magazines, and anthologies, and have received numerous
awards.
UNDER STARRY SKIES is her stand-alone sequel to RED FOX
WOMAN. She also has a contemporary romance, KEY TO LOVE, as well as a
collection of short stories, UP ON THE ROOF AND OTHER STORIES in both print and
digital.
She is a member of Pennwriters, Inc. and Romance Writers
of America.
AUTHOR LINKS:
EMAIL judy@judyanndavis.com
TWITTER @JudyAnnDavis4
