Wednesday in Wyoming - October 23, 2024

 

How would you like to cook all your meals over an open fire for months and months? That's what the pioneers did on their journey west.

As you probably guessed, this picture came from the Historic Trails Museum in Casper, which is one of my favorite Wyoming museums.

Wednesday in Wyoming - October 16, 2024

 

One of the sadder aspects of the second World War was the internment of Japanese American citizens in camps like Heart Mountain. Can you imagine being forced to abandon your home and in many cases your business and be forced to live in cramped quarters behind barbed wire in a place vastly different from your home, even though you were a citizen of the United States? 

Wednesday in Wyoming - October 9, 2024

 

The JC Penney Mother Store that I featured in last week's post isn't a full-fledged museum, but the Fossil Country Frontier Museum, also located in Kemmerer, is.

It's a small but intriguing museum with exhibits ranging from a replica coal mine and a lamb with one head but two bodies to this button attaching machine. 

You'll note that it's only a pair of short boots that has buttons. I can't imagine how long it would have taken to put on those women's shoes if they'd had buttons rather than laces. 

Wednesday in Wyoming - October 2, 2024

 

Where do you find a store that's half store/ half museum? In Kemmerer, Wyoming, that's where. The JC Penney "mother store" still sells the merchandise you'd expect from Penney's, but it also has a number of historic items on display including old cash registers, sewing machines, lunch pails, and -- my favorite -- the pulley system that moved money from the main floor to the cashiers on the mezzanine.

 Definitely a fun place to visit!

Wednesday in Wyoming - September 25, 2024

 

Can you guess which fort this is? If you guessed Fort Laramie, you were correct. That's the fort that intrigued me so much when I first visited it that I knew it had to be the setting for a book. And it was.

A major stop on the Oregon Trail, Fort Laramie was far different from my mental image of a western fort. No stockade. No buildings constructed of logs. Instead, during its later years it resembled a New England village with sidewalks, birdbaths, and ladies carrying parasols. Not quite the Hollywood version of a western fort.

If you're ever in eastern Wyoming, I encourage you to visit Fort Laramie and the surrounding wagon trail sites, including Register Cliff and the wagon ruts. For more information about Fort Laramie, click here.

One Special Christmas - The Making of a Cover

 Do you ever wonder what's involved in creating a book cover? The answer is, it depends. My own experience has varied from having no involvement to being asked to choose costumes for the model, but rarely have I had the pleasure of watching the artist develop the cover and providing feedback each step of the way.

That's what happened with the cover for One Special Christmas. I was extremely fortunate to have gifted artist L.A. Sartor creating my cover.

It started with a brainstorming session in which we decided that rather than have my heroine in an exterior scene like the ones you see on most of my covers, since Greta was the manager of the tearoom in Sweetwater Crossing, we'd feature her in a tearoom.

At that point, all I told L.A. was that Greta was a blonde and that I thought a green gown would be good. After our discussion, I sent her this picture from the Christmas celebration at Fort Laramie, thinking she could incorporate it into her design. 

While there's nothing wrong with this picture, it's a bit shall we say bland? L.A. recognized that and took a different approach. To say that I was overwhelmed when I saw her first design is an understatement. 

I was thrilled! This was so much more detailed, so much more interesting than I'd expected. There were a few things that had to be fixed on this, but the overall design was more beautiful than I'd dared hope.

Next came the choice of fonts for the title and my name as well as positioning of both. That took a few iterations, but we finally had a finished front cover.

Next came the back cover. When L.A. asked me what I wanted, I suggested a green background with the back cover copy in a cream colored box. She probably knew that wasn't a good idea, but she let me see the flaws for myself.

There were many things wrong with this. Besides the fact that the teaser line is almost illegible, the back cover itself is too plain. There's nothing on it to make a reader want to buy the book. I'm famous for saying that back covers should be pretty. This one wasn't.

Fortunately, once again L.A. knew how to fix the problem. She created a tapestry for the background, and when we had an interactive meeting to finalize the design, we changed the spine color to rose. 

What a difference! We now had a full cover that I loved. The back cover is more than pretty. It's beautiful, just as the front cover is. 

I'm thrilled with the way it turned out and hope you agree with me that this is an outstanding cover.

If you'd like more information about One Special Christmas, you can find that as well as an excerpt on my website.

And if you enjoy cozy mysteries, you won't want to miss L.A.'s Tick Tock Dead. Yes, L.A. Sartor is not only a gifted artist, she's also an author. Here's a link to her website.

Wednesday in Wyoming - September 18, 2024

 

If you've read my books, you know that a number of my characters -- heroes, heroines, and even villains -- are involved in the medical profession. That's one of the reasons I was drawn to this exhibit at Fort Fetterman. 

I was a little surprised that there wasn't a saw. After all, doctors were often referred to as Saw Bones, even though they did much more than that. What else would you have expected to see here?