On The Wrong Track

Posted on December 9, 2011 by robinofrockridge

Here’s a book review I wrote back in 2010. A most amusing must read!

Product Details

On The Wrong Track by Steve Hockensmith finds Big Red and Old Red Amlingmeyer working as professionals “detectifying” for the Southern Pacific Railroad in the year 1893.

Instead of horseback, the cowboys-turned-detectives find themselves trapped on a thousand tons of steam-driven steel barreling down the Sierras en route to San Francisco. Train robbers have other plans for the ill fated run over the mountains. Deep secrets are hidden in the baggage car and Big Red and Old Red have to find a killer hidden among the colorful passengers. Old Red is befuddled by pretty Miss Caveo who is somewhat of a detective in her own right. Luckily, his brother Big Red has no problem with the gift of gab. But will he talk too much? On board the train, the brothers take on the assumed last name of Holmes. They take the name claiming to be cousins of the great Sherlock Holmes. Will they be found out? Throughout the story Big Red’s cowboy humor puts a unique twist on this steam-driven journey. What a ride.—Robin Moore

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Patsy and the Permanents

Posted on December 6, 2011 by robinofrockridge

Here’s a guest post from our good friend Phillis Ballew in Oklahoma. I asked her a while ago to tell me about her photo (above). Knowing she has stick-straight hair, like me, I wondered about the permanents. Below is Phillis’s explanation:

Patsy was our big black horse.  I don’t remember where she came from but we’d had her as long as I could remember at that young age.  Anyway, this picture came about because mother found a little extra money and took my sister and I to town to the beauty shop and we had our first permanents.  One reason I wanted a permanent was that the coach’s daughter, Jane, who was in my class had beautiful long curls…and my hair was extremely straight.  Now I could be as beautiful as Jane, or so I thought.   And dear old Patsy was right by the fence to greet us when we returned with our new crowning beauty!

 

Posted in authors, farming, ghosts, Horses, Kids' stories, Ponies | 4 Comments

Hewey Learns About Gratitude

Posted on November 24, 2011 by robinofrockridge

Here’s a book review I wrote last year.

Hewey  Calloway learns to appreciate the strength of family.

Don't have a photo of Hewey and Biscuit, but here's one of Gracie and me. I am grateful to own her.

The Good Old Boys by Elmer Kelton

Author Elmer Kelton started writing The Good Old Boys while his father was still able to retell the stories from his former ranching and cowboy days. Those stories inspired Kelton to write The Good Old Boys. He created the character Hewey Calloway who epitomizes the wandering happy-go-lucky cowboy who’s out looking for the next round-up. Hewey owns nothing but his horse, Biscuit, and his saddle. He calls in at his brother Walter’s ranch, and as usual the welcome from his sister-in-law Eve is chilly. She thinks Hewey ought to be settling down and starting his own spread. Eve goes so far as to try to set him up with the local school teacher. Through an ill-timed accident Walter’s leg is broken. Hewey feels responsible, so he stays around to work Walter’s farming & ranching spread so that the bank can’t call in the mortgage in the fall. One of Walter’s sons adores Hewey and his tales; the other son doesn’t have much use for him, as he’s come to realize so many of Hewey’s stories are blown up ‘bull-oney.’  Well, I won’t tell you any more of the plot. I will tell you though there’s no murder, serious violence or gun battles. The Good Old Boys is the tale of cowboys feeling the cinch being tightened as the wild west Hewey & Walter find, has been roped & corralled. Through it all a passel of humor helps them through the trials.

There’s a movie version of The Good Old Boys staring Tommy Lee Jones as Hewey. You’ll enjoy it if you’re lucky enough to find a copy on DVD or video. –Robin Moore

Posted in authors, California Writers Club, farming, great stories, Horses, Jack London, pony, Writers | 6 Comments

Thank you, Arletta

Posted on November 16, 2011 by robinofrockridge

Check out Arletta’s blog: http://arlettawrites.wordpress.com/2011/11/14/from-the-land-of-sky-blue-pink/#comment-369

I’m glad she liked my reading of part of Nugget’s story at the Redwood Writers meeting 11/13/11. He’s real, but of course his story will be fiction as I write it for NaNoWriMo this year. It is fantastic that several writers have written such positive comments regarding my Nugget story. Stay tuned!

Posted in authors, California Writers Club, ghosts, great stories, Jack London, Kids' stories, Sonoma County, Writers | Leave a comment

Trail Ride at Jack London Park

Posted on November 11, 2011 by robinofrockridge

JACK LONDON PARK RIDE

At Jack London State Historical Park

Redwood Empire Trail Riders
had a fall fantastic ride at Jack London State Historic Park on Sunday, October 30th. Jack London named his property in Glen Ellen the Beauty Ranch, and it’s true the location and the day couldn’t have been more beautiful. The temperatures couldn’t have been better—it was a clear, bright day in the 70’s. Twelve of us rode just a few of the many trails in this historic CA. State Park.  We had four guests along including prospective member Carole  H. from Healdsburg. Karin invited three guests from Mendocino County, Dell, Marge and Doris.(Sorry, I don’t have their last names.) Our RETR members who rode at Jack London included Karin, Debra, Angie, Barb, Paul, Dave & Carol R. and me.

A trail view through Barb's Joe's ears. Thank you Barb P. for all these photos.

Luckily, Debra had a complete trails map of the Jack London Park, which Barb (with volunteer advisors) used to plot out a circle loop of trails for us. We took off from the summit road onto Quarry Trail, made a few more turns onto some “fruit” named trails bordering old orchards. (Hmmm, should we call that the Fruit Loop? Ha!) We went past the SDC campgrounds, skirted some rural-residential areas (which may or may not have been part of the SDC properties), but were marked as part of the trails system. We then went past some minor road construction onto a newly graveled road, and looped back past another pond. At one point we ended up on the Broken Bridge trail, and yes, the bridge was broken! But it’s easy to ride or hike around it.

Barb took a group photo of us, at one of the ponds, although Dave & Carol missed the photo. Unfortunately, they had had to turn back as their palomino, Chester, had turned up lame.  After about two hours of riding we passed the “Ancient Redwood” (or maybe it’s called the “Ancient Tree”), which is beautiful & yet very spooky looking
(perfect for Halloween!) then we went about 100 yards farther. There we found
hitching racks where our horses enjoyed a rest while we ate our saddlebag
lunches at thick-planked redwood picnic tables. Friendly hikers came by while
we ate—we directed them to the “Ancient Tree” as a “must see”.  

A ghost-like view of the Ancient Tree.

We also passed other hikers at various times during the day. At one point hikers on a trail parallel to us were so quiet, I wondered if they were part of the ghostly rumors about the park. (Don’t think they realized it’s best to just keep talking in normal voices when near
horses.)  A few kids and their parents enjoyed petting Barb’s Joe and Angie’s Surfer Joe.

After lunch we ventured towards the vineyard trail, onto another “fruity” trail or two & then back onto Quarry Trail until we came to the summit road again. At that point, those out in the lead headed us back toward the trailers. On the way back we saw the bat houses, the Wolf House ruins a short distance away, (no horses allowed there!) and  old silos for the London ranch.  In all, we had a great day. (If you’re
interested in the complete map of Jack London park, Debra said she bought a
copy at the Sonoma Outfitters near downtown Santa Rosa. A minor copy is
available online from the CA. State park services.)

The bat houses at Jack London Park

Now, on a more serious note:  I suppose you’ve already heard the news that
Jack London State Historic Park, Annadel and Sugar Loaf State Parks are all on
the chopping block to be permanently closed next July 1st, due to
budget cuts by the State of California. Some funding raising efforts through the Valley of the Moon Historical Society are underway to save at least Jack London park. I believe there are also efforts in the works to also save Annadel & maybe Sugar Loaf. (I don’t have concrete information on those two parks.) So, if you can, crack open your wallet open and make a donation. This link may help you find more information:
http://www.jacklondonpark.com/VMNHA%20Page.htm.   Or, contact me to make a donation through the Redwood Writers, a nonprofit branch of the California Writers Club.
Thanks! —Robin Moore

Posted in authors, California Writers Club, ghosts, Horses, Jack London, Ponies, riding, Sonoma County, State Parks, travel | 6 Comments

Ghosts at Jack London Park

Posted on October 31, 2011 by robinofrockridge

Ghostly looking tree?

This tree and more will be no than ghosts from our memories if the Jack London State Historic Park in Glen Ellen is closed next July. Please see my blog titled

Spirit of Jack London to fade away?

Thanks, Robin

Photo by Barbara Petersen 10/30/2011

Posted in authors, California Writers Club, ghosts, Jack London, Kids' stories, Sonoma County, State Parks, travel, Writers | 3 Comments

Spirit of Jack London to fade away?

Posted on October 14, 2011 by robinofrockridge

Will the spirit or ghost of author Jack London fade from our sight next year? Whether or not you believe in such things, isn’t the question. It is true that Jack London State Park in Glen Ellen is on the list of California state parks to be permanently closed next year. Here’s a link from the Redwood Writers branch of the California Writers Club explaining further. Thank you to Lynn Millar,  Web Editor for Redwood Writers for providing this connection to part of our writing heritage:   http://redwoodwriters.org/jacklondon/  (NOTE: Jack London was one of the founding members of the California Writers Club over 100 years ago.) Lynn has posted a slide show of photos from the park on the Redwood website.

I wrote a blog last April about our Tuesday mornings writers critique group and our experience of meeting at the Old Grist Mill in Glen Ellen. We viewed Jack London’s upstairs office and enjoyed the flowing spirit, or serenity if you please, of the creekside setting. If you missed the article last spring, here it is again: https://robinofrockridge.wordpress.com/2011/04/29/jack-londons-shadow/

Whether or not you are willing or able to make a donation to help keep the park open, perhaps you may find time to go enjoy the park this fall.

 Arletta Dawdy and I posed below the upstairs office of Jack London at the Grist Mill.
Posted in authors, California Writers Club, ghosts, great stories, Horses, Jack London, Kids' stories, poets, Ponies, Sonoma County, State Parks, Writers, writing | 9 Comments

Promo Ideas for Your Book

Posted on October 7, 2011 by robinofrockridge

Here are some ideas from Robert Digitale about promoting your book. Thanks for sharing these thoughts, Robert, with the Redwood Writers members.

Fellow Writers,

Snowfall Press, a custom printer for micro publishers, has posted on its Facebook site a
guest article I wrote on my efforts to market my new fantasy novel. You can see
it at:

https://www.facebook.com/SnowfallPress

For those of you who already have been down this road, I’d love to get some feedback on what marketing strategies have worked for you. (for example, I found Charles Markee’s recent note quite helpful.)

Posted in authors, California Writers Club, ghosts, great stories, Horses, Kids' stories, riding, Writers, writing | Leave a comment

Go NaNoWriMo!

Posted on September 30, 2011 by robinofrockridge

Here’s a great blog post from Erica Johnson regarding November as National Novel Writers Month. Check it out!

http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2011/09/30/prepare-for-national-novel-writing-month-with-the-post-a-day-challenge/#respond

Posted in authors, California Writers Club, great stories, Jack London, Kids' stories, Uncategorized, Writers, writing | 9 Comments

How Do You Promote Your Book?

Posted on September 20, 2011 by robinofrockridge

I’ve heard of a few interesting ways authors here in Northern California are promoting their books. For example Robert Digitale made arrangements with our “local” bookstores where he donates $1 from each sale of his first book in The Horse Stalker series to a local school program and that $1 is matched by the bookstore. A doubled up donation for the kids when his book is purchased!

Ezra Barany is doing a “today only” promotion of his book The Torah Codes for only $0.99

in celebration of his birthday today. Here’s his promo:

Check out my friend Ezra’s
award-winning bestseller “The Torah Codes,” a fun thriller. For his birthday (Tues. Sept. 20th) he’s reducing the e-book price from $3.99 to $0.99. Today only! Send your
receipt to Ezra[at]TheTorahCodes[dot]com and you’ll be entered in a raffle to
win a $50 gift card to Amazon or Barnes & Noble, winner’s choice.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Torah-Codes-ebook/dp/B005H7U970

Sandy Baker gives away a pack of flower seeds with her Mrs. Feeny and The Grubby Garden picture book for kids. While it is written as fiction, there is a great deal of factual advice on gardening with kids. Here’s her link: http://www.sandybakerwriter.com/Home.html

What are your innovative ways to promote your books?

Posted in authors, California Writers Club, great stories, Horses, Kids' stories, Writers, writing | 2 Comments