Rodney V. Earle's Blog, page 4
June 12, 2012
Book Blog: Antolick (Day 7)
Continued From Day 6…
Daisy understood Jeff, perhaps even better than any of the guys. She lowered her ears and raised her paw as if to say, “That’s okay, buddy!” Jeff shook Daisy’s paw and then turned his attention back to his paint cans.
John finished up his work on Biscuit and stepped out into the warm Kansas summer sun. “Gonna be a dusty one today,” he said aloud as he removed his hat and wiped his brow. He heard the paint mixer in the machine shed and knew that, as usual, Jeff would work his heart out all day without much in the way of complaint. “That boy,” he said under his breath. “Gotta do something special for him one of these days.”
In the distance, a long, slow plume of dust rose from the gravel road leading up to the entrance of Big Sky Ranch. Jeff glanced at his watch. “Right on time,” he said. The old Chevy pickup belonging to long-time family friend and home health care nurse Callie Woodruff turned up the drive and headed for the house. Callie waved hello out the window as the Chevy’s power steering pump whined in protest to her sharp turn toward the house. Jeff returned the greeting by waving his hat in the air before he replaced it atop his head. He began humming a chorus of Blue Shadows on the Trail to himself as he returned to his tools and began organizing them in anticipation of the first of many clients scheduled for the day.
To Be Continued…
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June 11, 2012
Book Blog: Antolick (Day 6)
Continued From Day 5…
It was getting harder and harder to bring a smile to Christine’s face as the summer went on, but Jeffrey put everything he had into trying. He continued to read aloud to her, even if she fell asleep. “I can hear you while I rest with my eyes closed,” she said, so Jeffrey continued until he could barely keep his eyes open himself. Many times John found his son asleep in his mother’s rocking chair with an open book still in his lap. John would carefully set the book on the nightstand and cover Jeff with a quilt that Christine had made years ago.
Saturdays were supposed to be “free days” for Jeff during the summer, but ever since Christine was diagnosed with her affliction, the work of three people had to be completed by two. Of all of the work that needed to be done on a working ranch, Jeff hated painting most of all. Something on the ranch always needed painting, and the barn was his current project. “That barn can’t paint itself, boy,” John would say with a wink and a smile.
Jeff gathered his brushes and sighed heavily as two cans of red paint shook noisily on the mixer. Daisy, Jeff’s faithful Vizsla puppy suddenly rushed through the open door of the machine shed, wagging her tail as violently as the paint mixer. “Where you been, girl?” Jeff said as Daisy sat excitedly in front of him with a dirty tennis ball her mouth. Jeff smiled and said, “I can’t play today. Too much to do.” Daisy dropped the saliva-soaked tennis ball at Jeff’s feet and let out a muffled bark that sounded more like “moof!” She raised her floppy ears in anticipation, waiting impatiently. “Awww,” Jeff said. “I’m sorry girl. Maybe later.”
To Be Continued…
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June 7, 2012
Book Blog: Antolick (Day 5)
Continued From Day 4…
Christine’s disease was the kind that was named after a legendary baseball player from 1939. His name was Lou Gehrig. The scientific name for the disease is a long one, but it is commonly called “Lou Gehrig’s Disease,” or ALS, for which there is no cure. The McCoy’s refused to talk about just how much time on earth Christine had left. Instead they made a pact to enjoy the time they did have together, to the fullest extent that Christine’s affliction would allow.
One of the things Christine enjoyed the most was when her son read to her, which was every night before he went to bed. Sometimes it was late at night, and she knew Jeff was exhausted after a long day, but every night, without fail, he read her favorite books to her. She encouraged him to read things that were beyond the reading level of a soon-to-be eighth grader, and he did very well. Jeff didn’t fully understand the old English of Shakespeare’s plays, but he knew that his mother really enjoyed them, so he read them to the best of his ability.
Christine smiled constantly as her son changed his voice with the different characters and “acted” out the parts. Her favorite was A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She reeled with laughter at the way Jeffrey portrayed the different characters, especially Robin Goodfellow, otherwise known as “Puck.” How she laughed as her son intentionally “overacted” some of Puck’s lines! Jeffrey was getting quite good at actually remembering the lines. He would often bookmark his place, set the book on the nightstand, and act out the different parts.
To Be Continued…
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June 6, 2012
Book Blog: Antolick (Day 4)
Continued From Day 3…
Christine knew that deep down John was hurting, and hurting quite badly at that. She struggled with a kind of guilt for a time, as if she had done something wrong or that somehow it was her fault that she could not have more children. John did everything he could to put her at ease, but sometimes there are no words that can heal a broken heart completely.
For most of Jeffrey’s life, John and Christine did well with what they had, which was little more than each other. Once Jeffrey was old enough to help with the work, life for the McCoy’s got easier. Jeff was a strong boy compared to most his age, and had far more responsibility than his friends, most of whom lived in town. Many times over the years, John would come to the house long about sundown, and he and Christine would stand on the porch and watch their boy still working hard at one project or another. “He’s one in a million,” John would say as he slipped his arm around Christine’s waist.
Christine would always say, “No, John. He’s one of a kind. There’s no other like him anywhere.” That always made John smile even wider and his heart swell with pride for his son. Christine had not been well enough the last few months to make it as far as the porch, but she was able to see everything from her second-story bedroom window. John made a rocking chair for her that was high enough to see out the window, and comfortable enough to sleep in when she needed rest, which was quite often. As the Kansas summer drew to a close, what little strength Christine had, diminished to nearly nothing.
To Be Continued…
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June 5, 2012
Book Blog: Antolick (Day 3)
Continued From Day 2…
John felt a kind of guilt for the extra burden his son had to take on at such a young age. He regretted that Jeff had to grow up faster in some ways than other boys his same age. John knew his son well. He saw much of himself in the boy. “Two parts John, and one part Christine,” he used to say when he introduced him to clients. They chuckled and usually said something like, “He looks like you, but has his mother’s eyes,” and then they would ask how Christine was getting along.
Christine McCoy was a healthy little thing in her younger years. She was a sprinter in High School, as well as a volleyball player. She was even invited to the University of Kansas on a basketball scholarship, but she passed it up to marry her High School sweetheart and raise her son. When Jeff was born, Christine and John brought him home to Big Sky Ranch, the forty-acre spread they had purchased six months earlier.
They had plans for a large family with lots of brothers and sisters for little Jeffrey, but their plans changed the following year. Christine’s doctor told her that she would be unable to have more children. Christine was devastated with the news. She had a difficult time telling John, because she knew he would take the news even harder than she did. She said, “Doc says that Jeffrey is just as healthy as can be and he’ll grow to be big and strong, just like his father.”
John knew that she had more to say, and he knew that it wasn’t going to be good. He could tell by the tears welling in the corners of her eyes. When she told him she was unable to have more children, he fought off tears of his own, wrapped his wife and son in his strong arms, and said, “God gave us this wonderful boy, and I couldn’t be happier.”
To Be Continued…
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June 3, 2012
Book Blog: Antolick (Day 2)
Before I reveal the next 300 words or so, I thought I would start by re-posting the pic of the Friesian. Gorgeous horses, to be sure! Enjoy!
Here are the next 300 words. Don’t forget, if you take a look at the “Recent Posts” links to the right, you can jump in on Day 1, and then come to this one. Have a fantastic day, friends!
Continued From Day 1…
Jeff shot through the barn door, nearly fell over his own feet, and skidded to a halt behind the big mare his dad was working on.
“Hey, Sport!” Mr. McCoy scolded. “You should know better than to come rushing up to a back of a horse like that!”
“Yes, sir,” said Jeff, his face turning red with embarrassment. “No, sir,” he stuttered. “I mean… I’m sorry, sir.”
John McCoy looked up at his son’s apologetic face and said, “Just be careful, son. I know it was an accident, but you know what can happen. Old Tea Biscuit here won’t do anything, but any of the others will give you a kick to remember if you rush up on ‘em like that.”
“Yes, sir,” Jeff said and looked down at his feet.
“Chin up, son,” John said with a smile. “Hand me my file there, will you please?”
Jeff did as his father asked and felt instantly better. He knew that when his father said “please,” he was teaching a lesson rather than scolding. John McCoy wasn’t just Jeff’s father. He was Jeff’s hero. John was firm but fair, and never asked his son to do anything he wouldn’t do himself. John was a farrier by trade, and hoped that one day he could teach Jeff how to clip and shoe horses. He often said that as long as a man can learn a decent trade, he will never go hungry. “Even if you can learn to cook, son,” he often said, “people will always eat, and they will always pay for it.”
At the tender age of twelve, Jeffrey McCoy could grill a steak to perfection, make his mother’s award-winning meatloaf, and even make lasagna by himself. His mother taught him how to make a pie crust, and he learned that you needed to cut three slits in the top of an apple pie. “One to let the air out, the second one so the first one doesn’t get lonely, and the third one just because your mother did it that way,” his mother always said with a smile.
Jeff had learned to cook more and more that summer, not only because he enjoyed learning to create new yummy things to eat, but also because his mother wasn’t well enough to do much cooking, and lately she could do very little at all.
To Be Continued…
June 2, 2012
Book Blog: Antolick (Day 1)
Ladies and Gentlemen, here are the opening lines of my new novel. If you haven’t already seen them, please read the Book Blog RULES Page HERE. Without further delay, here’s the first couple of hundred words! Enjoy! Please leave a comment!
Chapter One
Jeff McCoy had a long day ahead of him. What he really wanted to do was go fishing with the guys. He spent two whole months growing his worm farm in the barn, and the night crawlers were fat and ready for the big fish, but they would have to wait another day. Summer was coming to an end, and eighth grade was just around the corner. Summer breaks in Kansas were far too short for Jeff’s taste, especially when there was so much work to be done on his father’s ranch.
“It’s just not fair,” Jeff said aloud to any animal that would listen. “The guys get to go to the lake whenever they want, but I’m stuck here doing chores. On a Saturday, too!”
The eight-year-old buckskin gelding nickered a low response and searched the ground for the last bits of alfalfa hay Jeff had fed him earlier.
“Aww, King,” Jeff said. “I knew you would understand,” he said as he gave the buckskin a quick pat on the withers, and then bent over to whisper in King’s ear. “Let’s get out of here. I could leave the gate open and say I forgot, and you could slip out and wait for me on the other side of the grove.”
King responded by blowing bits of alfalfa chaff across the dirt with his big nostrils.
“Traitor,” Jeff said with a smile.
“Hey, Sport!” Jeff’s dad called from inside the barn. “Let’s get busy, young man! You can waste time with King some other day!”
“Shoot!” Jeff whispered. “Gotta go, King,” he said, and then ducked between the aging log rails of the corral fence. “Coming, Dad!”
To be continued…
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June 1, 2012
Book Blog: Antolick (Prologue)
I recently read an article by Nina Amir entitled, “How a Blog Helps you Write Your Book and Promote It at the Same Time.” You’ll notice it’s linked to the original article. It’s short and worth a read for any writer. I have decided to do exactly as the blog stated, and I will begin posting 250 – 300 word posts of the book AS IT IS WRITTEN.
I have put off writing (which is my one true labor of love) far too long to let my story wilt or gather dust in the innards of my ancient PC. I have the novel all mapped out, and it comes directly from a rather complete dream I had. Those, for me, are rare. I usually have bits and pieces that I remember about my dreams (nightmares, mostly), but this one was complete, and I absolutely LOVED the story.
What’s it about? Well, without giving anything away, it’s about a young boy who lives on a ranch in Kansas called “Big Sky Ranch.” He’s a hard worker, imaginative, bright, and just LOVES horses, especially Friesians. If you’re not familiar with Friesian horse breed, please refer to the Wikipedia article on the Friesian HERE. Here’s a picture of one:
In my opinion, Friesians are absolutely beautiful. They are highly-trainable, and are used in performances around the world. Before I post the first “snippet” of text from my new novel, I want to set a ground rule or two. This material is COPYRIGHTED. Believe it. It’s mine, and mine alone. The COMPLETE STORY is also COPYRIGHTED. The intention of this book blog is to, first of all, keep me writing. Secondly, I would like to share it with you, the reader. I invite ANY comments, but will HEAVILY scrutinize them if they become offensive, SPAM, or NOT in the spirit of this blog.
This blog is NOT a serial. This material WILL be published in its entirety as a novel. This blog is also NOT intended as a means of heavy-handed critique. These pieces will be first draft, and will contain errors in grammar, punctuation, and all of those things we writers try not to obsess over the first time around. Feel free to say anything about the story, provided it’s CONSTRUCTIVE and HELPFUL. If you hate it, state WHY, or I will delete your comment, because if you render an opinion (love or hate), I expect a REASON. And if you DO hate it, do NOT hesitate to say so (provided you say why) and your comments will STAY where they are.
Lastly, I reserve the right to delete ANY comment for ANY reason. I do have a few “haters” here and there, and they will go to any lengths to “sabotage” anything I accomplish. But… those are stories for another day. When I post something new, the title will remain the same, with the exception of “Day X,” so I can maintain continuity and it will be easier to follow.
One more thing… I WILL be posting banners from friends and colleagues who have equine-related businesses. Either click on the banner to visit our friends, or don’t. It’s your choice. If you are only interested in the narrative, I will make sure that part is set apart from everything else. I may ALSO make some comments here and there about the process of writing, or just thoughts in general. You never know. I will ALSO be randomly giving away random prizes to people who comment. So PLEASE comment often and show me a little support. Every writer needs it, no matter who they are.
These “rules,” for lack of a better phrase, will be posted on a page at the top of this blog entitled, “Book Blog Rules.” If something goes awry or someone cries foul (which often happens), I will refer people to those very rules. Thank you all in advance for hanging around, and let’s have some fun with this novel!
Rodney V. Earle
May 24, 2012
Telegraph Days by Larry McMurtry
Would you like to WIN my nearly pristine copy of Larry McMurtry’s Telegraph Days? All you gotta do is leave a comment here, and I will randomly pick a winner by 11:59 PM Friday night! (Pacific Time)
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Synopsis:
I’ve come to think that in times of crisis human beings don’t have it in them to be rational. The Yazee gang was riding down upon us, six abreast. We all ran outside and confirmed that fact. The sensible thing would have been to run and hide — but did we? Not at all.
The narrator of Larry McMurtry’s newest book is spunky Nellie Courtright, twenty-two years old and already wrapping every man in the West around her little finger. When she and her teenage brother Jackson are orphaned, she sweet-talks the local sheriff into hiring Jackson as a deputy, while she takes over the vacant job of town telegrapher. When, by pure blind luck, Jackson shoots down the entire Yazee gang, Nellie is quick to capitalize on his new notoriety by selling reviews to reporters. It seems wherever Nellie is, action is sure to happen, from a love affair with Buffalo Bill to a ringside seat at the O.K. Corral gunfight. Told with charm, humor, and an unparalleled zest for life, Nellie’s story is the story of how the West was won.
WIN IT:
Remember, all you have to do for a chance to win this book from my personal library is to leave a comment below! If you can’t leave a comment for some reason, you can email me PERSONALLY at rodney@rodneyearle.com! Ready? GO!
May 23, 2012
Self-Published Book Awards Competition!
I can’t WAIT to get “Remembering August: Book One of the Triple C Ranch Saga” submitted to compete against all of the other self-published authors out there. The funny thing is, I don’t write about vampires or zombies, and I don’t write erotica, so who knows what will happen. I say that because those are the kinds of things trending these days, and I absolutely HATE those things.
But let’s be honest for a moment… it’s not ME reading… it’s me WRITING. So we’ll see what happens, and I am hoping for at least an Honorable Mention in the “Genre Fiction” category (if I am categorized as such). Even an Honorable Mention would be a shot in the arm, so to speak for our beginning novel of this Trilogy (or 4 or 5 or however many it takes). Wish us LUCK!
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