Leigh Goodison's Blog, page 2

WILD ONES

As I mentioned in my last post, this blog is to update the readers about how Wild Ones, my soon-to-be-released young adult novel came to be written. Today’s post will talk about the inspiration for the Double-T Ranch where Breeze Jordan, the 16-year-old protagonist, is sent to live.

About eight years ago my partner David and I took possession of a retired cow horse named Sunny. Sunny was a very large, big-boned Quarter Horse/Morgan cross. He was a character in the true sense of the word. The kind of horse anyone could jump on and ride. The only negative side was that he had extremely high withers, which not only made saddle fitting difficult, it also meant that bareback riding was best left to female riders, if you get my drift.

If you chose not to use a bridle Sunny would just amble off at a walk and if that direction was where you wanted to go, great. If it wasn’t, eventually he’d wander back to where you wanted to be or you could bale. It didn’t matter to Sunny.

Sunny’s previous owner was told that he came from somewhere in the southwest and was a working cattle horse. She never investigated any further, but I was intrigued by the brand on his near-side (left haunch): a diamond with a bar underneath. Unfortunately, the picture below is of Sunny’s off-side. If I find a pic of his brand I will post it.

Sadly we had to put Sunny down last winter due to advanced age (26 or 27) and the fact that he was going blind. But he will always be remembered with love and smiles. From my research I’m pretty sure Sunny was one of the last horses off the Diamond Bar Ranch in New Mexico, a place with a lot of ‘story’ in itself, and the inspiration for the Double-T.

And now I’m going to stop on this thread or there will be plot spoilers. In my next post I will talk about the inspiration for the character Emily Thompson, Breeze’s new foster mom.

WILD ONES

The paperback version of my young adult novel, Wild Ones, will be released in April.   It is already available for Kindle. Over the next few weeks I am going to share insights about what inspired me to write Wild Ones, as well as details on the back story. I hope you’ll come along for the journey.

A few years ago I read a magazine article about several teenaged girls in the foster care system, who had committed suicide while staying at a school for troubled teens. It haunted me that these girls had led such a wretched life in foster care that they felt suicide was their only way out.

I started writing the novel from the perspective of one girl, Breeze Jordan, who had been shuffled through a series of foster homes after her mother died. I posited, ‘But what if the school was actually a sanctuary where the girls felt safe and a place they belonged?’ And so Wild Ones was begun.

I wrote about ten pages, got involved in another project, and set Wild Ones aside. Then in 2007 I was looking for a project to work on for NaNoWriMo and finished the novel. A few more years, much research, and many rewrites later, it has finally been published.

The opening chapter sets the stage with Breeze’s mother taking her to a BLM (Bureau of Land Management) wild horse roundup in Oregon, just before her death. The photos shown here are from a BLM roundup fifteen years ago where I took my own daughter.

Next week I’ll share the inspiration for the Double-T Ranch. If you wish to read the opening chapters, visit the Amazon link at: http://tinyurl.com/mg6bbbf

They���re Just Not That Into You(r Writing)

I���ve never been one of those wimpy writers who mope for days after their latest rejection. I���m kind of a ���fuck-it-move-on��� sort of gal. Still, there ARE rejections that hurt more than others.

Why is that?

Well, they hurt because they���re the ones you actually thought you had a chance with.

There are new renditions of an old feeling going around these days: the crush. Over many years of writing I���ve had my share of publisher and agent crushes. They usually start with a wildly enthusiastic interest: ���I���d LOVE to read your first 50 pages!��� ���I don���t know why that intrigues me, but it does!��� ���Have you thought about who you���d like to see cast in the movie version?���

You can understand why my pulse races and my heart pounds the moment I see an email from them���it���s like being on Match.com. Someone is interested in me! They think I have something worthwhile to say!

Then you open your soul to them. You let them see what even your loved ones have not seen. Those words that you bled over for hours, days, years: rewriting, cutting, pasting, and following a path of synonyms in Roget���s Thesaurus the way a chicken will follow corn.

And while you wait you fantasize, imagining breathtaking scenarios. A bidding war for your next three books. The Nobel prize for Literature. A permanent address in Hawaii. Being on Oprah.

Weeks later, you are still waiting. No emails. No calls. Not even the dreaded SASE returning home like a broke college student. You���re torn between making a nuisance of yourself with the forbidden follow up. But you heed the dire warnings because you feel that if you breach those instructions it will taint the unlikely possibility of them EVER wanting to read your material. ���Don���t call us to check on the status of your manuscript.��� ���We will respond only if interested.��� And though you wait all you get is cold, dead silence.

Then one day there���s an email with the title of your book in the subject line.Your heart beats erratically with hope, then almost stops as you read those death knoll words, ���This is a subjective business. I���m sure another agent/publisher will feel differently��� ���I���m taking on very few new clients��� or ���It���s just not for me.���

So you, and your hopes for your manuscript, are dashed. How dare they lead me on! Did they even read it? And while some of your crushes will elicit bitter disappoint, others with linger with poignant daydreams of what might have been if they had represented or published you. But deep in your heart you know it wasn���t personal, not about you or your manuscript. You just have to keep writing and believe that one day the crush will be mutual.

They’re Just Not That Into You(r Writing)

I’ve never been one of those wimpy writers who mope for days after their latest rejection. I’m kind of a ‘fuck-it-move-on’ sort of gal. Still, there ARE rejections that hurt more than others.

Why is that?

Well, they hurt because they’re the ones you actually thought you had a chance with.

There are new renditions of an old feeling going around these days: the crush. Over many years of writing I’ve had my share of publisher and agent crushes. They usually start with a wildly enthusiastic interest: “I’d LOVE to read your first 50 pages!” “I don’t know why that intrigues me, but it does!” “Have you thought about who you’d like to see cast in the movie version?”

You can understand why my pulse races and my heart pounds the moment I see an email from them—it’s like being on Match.com. Someone is interested in me! They think I have something worthwhile to say!

Then you open your soul to them. You let them see what even your loved ones have not seen. Those words that you bled over for hours, days, years: rewriting, cutting, pasting, and following a path of synonyms in Roget’s Thesaurus the way a chicken will follow corn.

And while you wait you fantasize, imagining breathtaking scenarios. A bidding war for your next three books. The Nobel prize for Literature. A permanent address in Hawaii. Being on Oprah.

Weeks later, you are still waiting. No emails. No calls. Not even the dreaded SASE returning home like a broke college student. You’re torn between making a nuisance of yourself with the forbidden follow up. But you heed the dire warnings because you feel that if you breach those instructions it will taint the unlikely possibility of them EVER wanting to read your material. “Don’t call us to check on the status of your manuscript.” “We will respond only if interested.” And though you wait all you get is cold, dead silence.

Then one day there’s an email with the title of your book in the subject line.Your heart beats erratically with hope, then almost stops as you read those death knoll words, “This is a subjective business. I’m sure another agent/publisher will feel differently” “I’m taking on very few new clients” or “It’s just not for me.”

So you, and your hopes for your manuscript, are dashed. How dare they lead me on! Did they even read it? And while some of your crushes will elicit bitter disappoint, others with linger with poignant daydreams of what might have been if they had represented or published you. But deep in your heart you know it wasn’t personal, not about you or your manuscript. You just have to keep writing and believe that one day the crush will be mutual.

The Importance of Checking Your Tires

Last night around midnight, while driving through a torrential downpour on a major highway, I felt a tire blow out. Though my first thought was to pull over, immediately to my right was an on-ramp. After that a short stretch with virtually no shoulder or space to change a tire, then an exit ramp. I knew that if I pulled off too close to either  I would stand a pretty good chance of getting whacked from behind, so I pulled over just after the exit, as far away from the main road as I safely could without getting onto the wet grass. Then I turned on my 4-way flashers, which also illuminated the large exit sign, further warning motorists approaching from behind.

When I figured it was safe to exit the vehicle I took the LED strobe flashlight out of my purse and had a look. My rear driver’s side tire had blown out to such a degree that the last few feet I traveled was on the rim. Not much I could do about that. I knew I had a good spare, but I also have AAA, a service I have not gone without since I joined when I first started driving. I got back in and fastened my seat belt. If someone were to rear end me, which is always a possibility no matter how well lit up you are, I didn’t want to put my face through the windshield. As I called the AAA operator I noticed that my cell phone was nearly dead. Normally I carry a phone charger but as this was a borrowed vehicle, I had to make it last at least until help arrived. When the dispatcher contacted me back to tell me a tow truck was on its way, we did it by text to make the phone battery last longer.

Because I was a woman stranded on a major highway, the call was expedited, and it was only a half hour between when I’d called and when the tow truck arrived. As I shone the flashlight on to the wheel for the tow truck driver while he changed the tire I remarked, “I’m thinking the tire has exceeded its life span.”

“You still got a good 20,000 miles on this tire,” he said.

Technically, he should have been correct. There was plenty of tread on that tire. In fact, it would have easily passed the so-called ‘penny’ test. However, this was an older vehicle, new to me, and the maintenance on it had been sketchy at best. Just before I left home I’d made sure all four tires had 35lbs of air (the manufacturer’s recommended psi).

Once I got home I took a look at the date code, which is usually a recessed stamp right after the DOT, and found out that the tires were 9 years old. They were also made in China.

Now, not everything made in China is garbage, but their tires are not great. The tires have less rubber, which makes them harder and slicker, so they don’t stick to the pavement as well as tires with a higher rubber concentration. And of course, the tires were older than 5 years, which is considered past their life span and time to be replaced.

The moral of this story is that you can never be too well prepared. Although I did air them up properly, I know better than to be blasé about tire wear. I can’t stress enough how important it is to be knowledgeable about your tires. Good quality tires can be expensive, but they’re worth it. But be cautious of tires on sale because tires will often sit in warehouses for a long time before they’re sold. Not only does this use up part of their life expectancy, but tires that sit ‘stacked’ and unmounted will lose their shape over time and can leak around the rim when mounted.

Still, if you find yourself stranded on the road, you should always carry essential safety items with you. Some people might consider me obsessive, but here’s what I usually carry in my car:

A cell phone and a battery charger
My AAA membership card
A can of Fix-a-Flat (used for slow leaks, not blow outs)
Reflective triangles
Rain gear with reflective tape
Work gloves………
…………………..and there’s a whole long list of other stuff, including spare parts like replacement belts, hoses, fuses, etc., should your tow truck driver not have the right parts, and an even longer list if you’re towing a trailer. These lists are at the back of my book The Horse Trailer Owner’s Manual, and the information in there applies to other trailers as well, such as travel, utility, cargo and livestock. These are things we talk about when we give our safety, maintenance and repair seminars.

So, before you head out on the road again, go out and check your tires’ date of manufacture, tread, signs of wear or cracks, and inflation (all should be evenly inflated to manufacturer’s recommendations). And don’t forget to check your spare. It could save your life.

A Little Valentine’s Story

In the early 1970′s, my second job, when I was 17 years old, was in a department store called the Mainline Cooperative, or as the locals called it, ‘the Co-op.’ My boss and co-workers were all women, and all were old enough to be my mother. I worked in the dry goods department, which had everything from sewing supplies to men’s boots. When business was slow we would refold clothes and stock shelves.

A few days before Valentine’s Day I made a shocking discovery: In one of the drawers underneath the panty shelf, I found several dozen pairs of crotchless panties. Now, this was a family store and as I mentioned, my co-workers were not only much older than me, they were very ‘tightlaced.’ Who would have ordered those panties and why they were still hidden in the draw made me curious.

I had become very friendly with a co-worker closest to my age (she was probably in her late-30′s) and asked her how those panties came to be in this family-oriented store. She told me that someone in the department had made an error in ordering them and didn’t have the nerve to send them back. So there they sat. They had never been put out on display and none had ever been sold.

I looked Joanne squarely in the eyes and said, “I will sell them. Just don’t tell anyone.” I actually didn’t need to add that last part as there was a reason they used to be called ‘unmentionables.”

I used the male-driven panic of Valentine’s Day to push the panties. But I had to be careful: crotchless panties aren’t right for every buyer. First I would get a feel for the individual and his lady’s taste in clothing, and then I would surreptitiously pull out that mystery drawer and voila! display the panties.

It took less than a week. When all the panties were sold I proudly invited Ruth, my furiously-blushing boss, to open the now empty panty drawer. There I announced that I had sold all those crotchless panties that had lingeried unsold for years. Ruth claimed she didn’t know what I was talking about. Someone else must have inadvertently purchased them and had never had the courage to tell her. I started  to describe them then saw the faces of all those women around me and knew that I’d never convince anyone of the existence of those panties. They had ceased to exist the moment they’d opened the box.

IRS and me

I suppose I should be grateful. The IRS has been nothing but kind to me. On November 22nd I mailed my tax return payment, thinking the deadline was the end of November. As I was placing the check and payment coupon into the envelope, though, I noticed the deadline was the 26th. Realizing the payment would be late by the time it was posted I wrote a short note asking them to forgive any interest or late fee that might be imposed.

A couple of weeks later I received a bill for the interest on my overdue tax payment. $1.12. I promptly paid it and forgot about it.

Another couple of weeks went by and I received a check from the IRS for $1.12. I deposited it in the bank.

Today I received a letter from the IRS saying that they had reversed the payment because of my good payment history but to not expect it again.

Now I wish I’d never written the note.

Blogging: 101 (and more)

I’d like to say that this is my first blog site, but actually it’s not as I started a blog for my dog several years ago (http://xenadogblog.blogspot.com/). I haven’t updated it for 18 months because I can’t remember how to get into it. The other blog I’ve written (with the exception of the last post, which was written by my partner, David) is the one for our Horse Trailer Restoration website (http://www.handyrider.com/blog/) but I haven’t updated that one for awhile either because I decided to put the material I was sharing there into book form. Which I did.

I have had two books published this year. The first is titled The Secret Lives of Horse Trailers: A Handbook. This is a reference and how-to manual to help educate horse trailer owners and potential buyers on the safety, repair, maintenance and purchase of trailers (here’s the trailer book trailer  http://youtu.be/8iaIwG7YOvY)

The second book is a ‘foodoir,’ created for my children to pass along their favorite recipes and share funny/poignant stories and cooking fails from my past. As I’m a misplaced/displaced Canadian, I titled it Goodies From the Great White North, Recipes for Dinners, Delicacies and Disasters. The word ‘Goodies’ is, in part, a play on my last name, but Goody was also my father’s nickname during the 17 years he served in the Canadian Army. (see http://www.sheffieldpublications.com)

Now that I’ve gotten the nonfiction out of my system, I plan to concentrate on my fiction, which I’ve actually been working on all along. For years and years. I am currently half way through a suspense novel, have recently completed a science fiction novel that is ‘maturing’ on the shelf before I begin further research and then dive into the editing process, and a young adult novel that I’m editing under the tutelage of the Acquisition Editors of a university press. The photo at the top of the page is the banner that will be on my author’s table at the Book Corral where I will be signing books for the Western States Horse Expo in Sacramento, CA, June 8-10 (http://www.horsexpo.com). Here’s the trailer I created for that event http://youtu.be/wrygXVDnUtc

So, I hope to blog fairly frequently, though whether anyone will want to read my posts remains to be seen. At the very least it will keep future and potential readers, as well as friends and family, aware of what I write when I’m not working on The Willamette Writer newsletter, which I’ve edited since 1994.