Is it luck or fate?

 First, new news:  PI Webworks has said they will add the page I want on my website, raintrueaxbooks.com (link alongside here), when they finish their model shoots, those, which give writers more character options for their book covers or videos. 

This page will mostly complete my current library of books. It is all contemporaries in a series I call Romance with an Edge. It gets the edge because most of the books have suspense or danger, frequently with villains -- the challenge has to be worthy of hero/heroines to overcome. 

Although I still want to write about my books and how I see being a writer plays out, I have something in mind for next blog that relates more to culture. I am frustrated with seeing so many expressing views, with which I can't agree. Likely, this is due to my age and how many different aspects of life that I have observed. So, the first one in June will have a view on culture and what goes wrong-- clearly, mine is the opposite of how many see it. Alas, can't please everyone. 

This pictograph is a hike from Chaco Canyon, another way people have always desired to express themselves.

Most of today's blog will be about choosing titles for our books, particularly, of course, how I try to do it. I am not sure if I've written before about the importance of the right title. Generally, for my books, I look to the theme of the book to find the right words and cover images to convey that to potential readers. I want the characters on the covers to look as much like I have described these protagonists. Not always easy. This is where Period Images comes in with their diverse cast of models. I will not use AI for covers as I don't think those images feel real. I do not use it in writing my stories either. I want my own creativity to provide that, with some checking of spelling with research.

Do titles and covers sell books, I have no idea. I look for the right words to satisfy my own creative needs. More than once, the original idea I had didn't work out and the title got changed. That is not a good thing to do, by the way.

Looking at the book I wrote about when discussing the new website, its title, Luck of the Draw, checked all the boxes for me. As I said, my first idea for a title isn't always the best or the one I will use. That was true for this romance of the rodeo. I was going to use Eight Seconds to Ride, which suits rodeo with its need; then a movie came out after the death of a famous cowboy, Lane Frost, with that title. Lane, for those who don't follow rodeo, was young and killed by a bull he had been riding. Big tragedy and led to a movie.

I still could have used it as titles get reused all the time, but my respect for what Lane Frost stood for made me want a different title. If you are not familiar with that young cowboy, the info is easy to find with a quick search.

What it ended up doing for me was to find a better title, one that applies to more than rodeo. Luck of the Draw speaks to the rodeo world but goes beyond it to life.

For the rodeo world, the luck of the draw was how rides were determined-- a draw, like a lottery where the cowboy found the number for his animal on a board. Cowboys want an animal that will buck enough to give them a high score for an exciting ride. Getting an animal though that is known as dangerous, for when the rider eventually hits the ground, hopefully at the end of the ride, that can send chills down their spines before the ride begins, as some are known as more dangerous or the rider has been bucked off before. 

But that title, luck of the draw works for more than the rodeo. Luck is not everything, but some luck,fate, coincidence, or karma can make a difference in our opportunities. There are some things that happen and not of our making. One choice leads to another, which can be down the right or wrong path. Luck can impact how we can move forward toward our dreams. Of course, is about more than luck, but some of it sure doesn't hurt. The right time can be as key as the wrong time.

The hero of this book came across the perfect woman for him, due to one choice, which he had no idea would be important. Luck dropped in his lap even though it was the wrong time for his life plan. 

She was young to meet the 'one.' Working in her parents' dry-goods store and thinking about a future in art. She had no idea how this guy would disrupt it all-- or was that make it work out. Two different worlds. Perfect for fantasy but how about for real life?

That is the fun of creating titles. Do we need villains? Well, there kind of is one but he's more the average villain, the kind most of us come across to screw up our plans-- if we let them. All I can say at this point is Luck of the Draw was the perfect title and has not had to change from the beginning. Not so for all of mine.

Acquiring a Webpage.

 One thing that has worked out amazingly well, was the offer we saw from a company that creates websites; something I have never had out of not knowing how to do it. Well, PI Webworks knows how and did a fantastic job. Some of what they did, I did not realize would be so important. Well, I believe it now. 

The link for this website is alongside here, but I wanted to say more about what has pleased  me so much with their work. At this point, it's not finished but that's not due to them. It's because I wanted new covers for my contemporary romances, which are based in the West of today. When I first brought these books out, they'd been written from the 1970s, up into the 2000s. To make the earliest ones fit modern times , took a year, 2011 to bring them up to date. You only realize how much things had changed during those years, when you edit the way we communicated.

 

I thought it'd be fun to put one of those books, written in the 1970s, here as a demonstration of how books evolve. When I first wrote this story of a rodeo romance set in Pendleton, Oregon, I typed it out with the usual corrections made with white-out. I stuffed it into a box from which paper had come, and never submitted it anywhere.

It was set in 1974, about when I wrote it, because I knew a lot about rodeo then, but practically nothing about it today. Resetting books works with many as it doesn't matter about the main stories. Where it comes to rodeo, rules change, and it changes the stories. It's the only one, aside from historicals where resetting the time would have mattered.

When I got interested in the option of being an independent writer, I dug it out from under the bed. It was all there except the last three or four pages, the climax lol. How could I have lost them? Well, I had to think long and hard what I had originally written. That was just the beginning of writing it all again, this time on a computer, and editing it multiple times in the future. 

As I said, communications have changed so much and maybe will even more. With more edits, the essence of this book stayed the same regarding young love and its pitfalls especially with the drama of rodeo, and two people coming from very different backgrounds. The last time I edited, it, I added an epilogue for how it worked out for those two and where they ended up. Were their dreams fulfilled or lost? That's the fun of writing. 

How to buy it will be in the website if I can get the contemporaries added. For now, it's on Amazon: Luck of the Draw.

Because the contemporaries came out, most of them in 2012, I had no clue how to help readers find them. They have since fallen into Amazon's black hole, to disappear to an average search. I believe in them for their characters and the reason each was written. As I have said, I don't follow popular themes for romances, which might be a mistake in terms of marketing, but I believe in it where it comes to increasing my own creativity.

So, hopefully we can get Romances with an Edge added to the webpage, leaving only the three Diablo Canyon novellas not there. And, of course, the books I have yet to write, the ones churning around in my head.

 Here is the URL for the webpage: Rain Trueax Books to see the creative collaboration that led to a place for potential readers to find the books and maybe increase their own creativity.

 And for those needing a website for many kinds of businesses, check out what  PI Webworks offers. I totally trusted them as Period Images is where I've gotten many of the images for heroes and heroines.  To me, they have always seemed honorable and trying to do a good job for writers.

when it does not work out...

 Because of showing some of my impressionistic landscapes, I also saw two paintings (of many), from when I wanted to try painting abstracts, but ended up feeling I did not have the talent for them as they always either ended up as 'something' or were like-- 'so what.'

I decided they would though be good for this topic of creativity because you try something and then find out if it's your thing. Failures aren't always bad, whether in writing or the fine arts. You won't know until you try.

More on writing next blog as I have something new for there.

In looking for images of my paintings, I came across this photo. It is Ranch Boss with his best friend from before he met me even. The friendship is not over though his friend died of the cruelest disease I can imagine, ALS. Fisherman, his nickname, is still missed, will always be missed. The photo was from one of the many times the four of us stayed at a beach house.

Earlier blog is below--

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 This week I played a little with oils as I had no subject I wanted to paint. I thought perhaps doing abstracts would loosen up my landscapes. I have a lot of small canvases (Michael's had the packages of 10 on sale). Small seemed more promising than big. At least if they didn't work, I had less invested in them.

I started the first one by covering the surface with a bright orange. As my brush seemed to suggest water, the painting took off from being an abstract to a kind of fantasy sea. Well, at least the colors are abstracted. It is really hard for me to make a painting that doesn't end up being about something.

The second one, I decided to just lay in colors and then what the heck, lay in some more-- basically whatever pleased me. Between laying in the first colors, I thought maybe I'd find some ideas online for procedures by abstract painters.

The problem was I didn't like most of what I saw. A lot of abstracts just seemed to me like wall paper designs or something bright for behind the sofa. Not exactly what I had in mind but I got another idea for this one. What if I tried different techniques besides the painting. Scratching in some shapes, the feeling grew that this was a watery cave with supernatural light and symbols...

Maybe I just am not the type of person who can do non-objective paintings. Or maybe it'll take doing more.

Both paintings are oils on 8x10 stretched canvas.

 

 

Update: When Ranch Boss was helping me with some techie aspects alongside here, he accidentally deleted the list of those I like to read and advise others to check out. Uh oh. So, if you want to be on a rebuilt list, please comment here with your blog url, Frustrating how easy it is with the computer to screw up, as I've done it many times. 

Creative Energy can take many paths

This week, because I had been asked to answer questions, plus provide a few images for an interview, I went looking for some paintings I had done back when I was painting. When I came across the blog below in a site that is no longer public, I thought it fit well with this topic of creativity.

For many creative people, they go through various ways to express their ideas. The beauty of it is how each can seep into the other venues. The experiences I had while painting and waiting for Ranch Boss as he fly fished, an art form of its own, also gave me the chance to wade creeks looking for more round rocks, a hobby of mine. Did you know that all creeks do not produce round rocks? When they do, it takes looking carefully to see how round they are.

The main experiences of creativity for me, besides always writing, were impressionistic painting and clay sculpture. Those two plein air paintings are at the farm. I remember doing both of them as I describe below. As my tremors worsened, both became less feasible. I am glad though for the times I with those modes of expression. 

One thing I hadn't mentioned in the earlier blog is that when I painted at Slough Creek in Yellowstone, we also saw and photographed a grizzly. It had been sleeping on the other side from where I painted and Ranch Boss fished. 

We left that site to look for wolves and more buffalo pictures in the Lamar Valley, Returning, the grizzly had clearly waded the creek from the brush where he'd been napping and was heading out. Lucky for us, he crossed the gravel road, right in front of our vehicle. Then, he headed up the hill to a quieter area with tall trees and no fishermen. Ranch Boss said you can tell by the trail, that a bear knew it well. likely that bear.

While I was painting, a ranger asked if I had seen the grizzly. I described what we saw. He then asked if he had seemed aggressive. Absolutely not, he just wanted to get out of there. Too many people.

 

 

 

from 2010 Yellowstone -- grizzly -- second image on his trail-- Frankly, life for predators is never easy even though bears are omnivores.

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It seemed a good idea when making a trip to Montana and Yellowstone National Park that I would take several small canvases, my oil paints, and the new portable easel along. The truck had plenty of space although there was one difficulty in planning to sleep in the back while in the park. That meant packing light and I kind of thought I had... if I didn't consider the easel.

What I learned was that the easel was not needed and was in the way. It takes too long on a fast trip like that to get it out and set it up-- not to mention it was not necessary as I actually like sitting on the ground with a canvas propped against a rock and mixing my paints right on the canvas. So next trip, no easel unless I have a trailer along to carry the extra supplies and plan to spend more than one night in a location.

The other thing I learned was that wet oils are a problem to transport. The need for a small box that will hold the oils apart from each other and protect everything else from getting paint splatters is obvious.

I have to get used to the curiosity some feel when they see someone painting on location. I was asked by one man if I was a painter. How does one answer such a question? I said I want to be but thought that I need to decide if I am; or if I am not than what am I doing?

All in all I enjoyed the painting and felt good that I was able to do it in places I love very much while my traveling partner was fishing and enjoying his time also. First painting is at Rock Creek, east of Missoula, Montana. Second is Slough Creek in Yellowstone National Park.  Both are 8"x10" oils on stretched canvas.

 

Creating vs. marketing

 

Tonto Country, Arizona back country  -- our photo

In trying to put together some words regarding my writing philosophy, I realized the initial ideas that came to me, first two paragraphs below, were about encouraging someone else to be a writer. 

That led me to try to change my focus to why might someone like my books and the third paragraph below.

My blog has had the first purpose, along with loving nature, and positive ideas toward life. Marketing my books has not been here so much. The thing I am wondering is can they be blended?

Writing romances is taking what you know, have loved, experienced, dreamed, along with the losses. mistakes and failures, adding a touch of fantasy, mixing it together with fictional characters, who use it to create their happily ever after.

 For writing romances, take what you have learned about life, the positive and negative, add to it imagination and characters you get to know as if they were friends. That’s basis of my work for what I value, love, honesty, which comes first? For me it's been the writing, but many say write to th, courage, strength, friends, and family—along with happily ever after.

 The basis for my romances, whether historical, fantasy or contemporary comes from what I value—love, honesty, courage, strength, friends, and family. I use what I’ve learned and dreamed—the easy and the hard with an added touch of fantasy.

Here's a question for writers and wantabes--  Which comes first, writing or marketing? It's taught by many that you need to know what the market is and write to that, if you ever want to sell. You need to learn what tropes readers want and make sure they are there.

As for me, I've gone the other way with writing to my interests, whether that was the historicals, contemporaries, or fantasies.There are popular tropes that turn me off totally for reading. How could I write to that. 

What I have believed is that my characters work through different problems and time periods (where research comes in), taking into account what changing outside forces might be impacting them. My plots do have a similarity to them with some suspense, conflict and, of course, the happily ever after romances require. But that's me as a writer. What about the reader, those who know what kind of story they want and are unsure if what I write, in a different series, will satisfy them.

Selling books has to be part of a writer's focus. For some writers, it supports their families, but even when living frugally in retirement, it's important as writing is about sharing the writer's voice with others. Selling means that happened. 

Some might say then make the books free or 99¢. That would be undercutting writers who are supporting their families. Another reason, to keep the price higher then that, relates to some believing a low price indicates less value in the book.

Other than for a sale, mine are priced based on lengths, as I believe they have equal quality. Novellas are $2.99. Novels vary from $3.99 to $4.99 based also on length. Their prices could be higher, many writers have their eBooks at $6.99 or more. 

Marketing is frustrating to figure out what is fair to writers and readers. Currently none of mine are in KU because they are wide to sites like B&N, Kobo, etc. Well, there is an exception to that, with the contemporaries, which I have only in Amazon, but not KU. That's because of Amazon rules regarding independent writers. I can't have any book in KU unless I do not have it elsewhere. 

For now, the contemporaries are where they are because I want to do editing, before I make them wide. I know that sounds confusing. It is to me, but I need to deal with their covers and maybe titles. I tend to not have enough commas, which had been a problem in the books I did just edit (the ones in the below poster).

It is a poster I made for the contemporary paranormals. I did it for my own satisfaction as not a lot of places I can use it. I like seeing my purposes and books together. Stories were set in Idaho, Montana, and Arizona, my beloved West.