WeWriWa - July 26, 2015 - Katie's Journey - Old Amarillo

Welcome back y'all! Last week, we met Michaela Dawson and saw her impact on our timid yet adventuresome Katie Knepp as Katie leaves the Gasthof settlement and heads to Texas  . . .  alone Katie just admitted to flinging her dinner on the trail. Let's see if we can find us a seat on the log and get a helping of gritty beans and see what happens next!

Michaela cocked her head, sending the shadows from the firelight bouncing across her angled features. “Really?”

Katie helped herself to another heaping bite. “When those coyotes surrounded me, right before I saw your camp, I figured they smelled the venison my sister packed for my dinner. So I gave the steaks a fling into the brush and ran.”

Slapping her leg, Michaela let loose with a whoop. “You fed the coyotes? My dear girl, you’re lucky they didn’t eat you alive!”

Katie pondered this and cleaned her plate of the gritty beans. “But they’d already had my steaks, what would they want with me?”

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Don't forget to stop by the Prairie Rose Publications Fandango and help celebrate Christmas in July. Sign up for the Facebook event here. All 26 books are .99 cents or just 1.99 if they are a duet! Look for my .99 contribution -- The Bank Robber's Lament! 

WeWriWa -COVER REVEAL - Katie's Journey in Old Amarillo

Welcome to this week's snippet from OLD AMARILLO and surprise! Here's the brand spankin' new cover! <3 

Now, without further ado, where were we last week . . . oh yes, in Michaela Dawson's camp on the trail, complete with coyotes, impending darkness, and gritty beans. 

Michaela couldn’t have been much older than her own mother and she had an inviting air about her. With her long almond colored hair tied back in plaits beneath a straw hat and a denim skirt that reached her ankles, Michaela looked the part of an English cattle woman.

Another popping shot, closer this time, sent Katie’s plate of gritty beans into the dirt at her feet. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” she stammered, scrambling to pick up what she could salvage, hear heart pounding in her ears. “I would offer to share my dinner with you to make up for my dropping yours, but I haven’t any left that aren’t crumbs.”

“It’s alright Katie, I’ll get you more,” Michaela said, ladling another helping of beans onto a clean plate. “You seemed mighty hungry, did you drop your dinner on the trail?”

Katie dug into the heap of gritty beans. “No ma’am,” she managed through the mouthful of beans. “I threw it.”

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Old Amarillo, coming September 3!

WeWriWa - Old Amarillo - Katie's Journey 7/12/15

Welcome back to Katie's journey in my forthcoming release, Old Amarillo (Amish Journeys #1).  Last week, Katie had burst into Michaela Dawson's camp and enjoyed a pan of gritty beans while politely declining a ride back to her quaint Amish village. Let's see what happens next . . .

Michaela’s eyebrows arched skyward. “Well, best of luck to you, there's a mess of problems down south. If the bank robbers don’t get you, the grippe will.” She chugged a drink from a silver cup. “We’re headed even farther north, to Montana, ourselves . . . we inherited a cattle ranch.” She drained her drink and let the cup dangle between her knees. “We have until the end of the month to claim it, otherwise it goes to the next of kin and that rich old goat wouldn’t know what to do with a cow other than fart around and get himself stepped on.” Shaking her head, Michaela continued. “He’d wind up getting mad at his own incompetence and selling off the whole ranch before he even realized what he had.” She smiled, breaking her tanned face into a freckled mess of weathered wrinkles.

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WeWriWa - Old Amarillo - July 5, 2015 - Katie's Journey

Hello everyone and thanks for stopping by! Finally settled in Oklahoma, with the cancer doc appointment out of the way, and with reliable internet FINALLY hooked up, I think we are ready to carry on with our eight to ten sentence snippets of Old Amarillo, which will be comin' atcha from 5 Prince Publishing on September 3 of this year.

Now to find out why Katie is out on the trail all alone, at night.

Tears burned the back of Katie’s throat. “I’m Katie Knepp, my family lives back up the road a bit in Gasthof Village.”

Michaela nodded, filling her plate with a ladle of beans. “Ah yes, the Amish settlement.” Plucking up a fork, she sat down on a long log and motioned for Katie to join her. “Do you need a ride home, Katie Knepp?”

Taking the proffered seat, Katie shoveled in a forkful of beans, suddenly feeling the effects of her trip in her growling stomach. The beans were gritty, as though they’d been cooked beneath the Dawson family’s covered wagon as they traveled throughout the day. Forcing the bite past the lump in her throat, Katie struggled to remember her manners. “No ma’am, but thank you . . . I’m headed south,” her voice cracked a bit, “to Texas.”

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If you'd like to check out my debut Amish novel, Rebekah's Quilt, which started Katie's story, you can go here. 

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Thank you for stopping by and spending part of your Sunday with me!

MD Anderson, Baby Sharks, and Tiny Goats

Well, I failed again on my eight sentences for Sunday. Part of the reason is I was too dog-tired to even open my computer while the other part is I got off track on my days and forgot it was Sunday! My scheduler for posts has never worked on here, thus rendering me gone another week. However, I have interesting stories to share with you as a result as my most recent MD Anderson visit.

As many of you know, I have to be seen at MD Anderson in Houston every three months as the result of a cancer diagnosis that shook my world just under a year ago -- it shook my world alright, and saved my life. Sound strange? It does to me, too, which is why I had to write about it, just to make it make sense. That book is almost done :-)

Well, check out some of our adventures while there . . .

We braved the beaches at the end of a jetty in Galveston . . .  this picture was taken just before my daughter's foot was stung by a jellyfish (we still don't know what kind) and we had our first encounter with a fin in the water . . .

This baby Bonnethead shark flopped up on the beach right behind the kids and me, at my husband and son's feet. I immediately snatched him up for a photo op. He was so sweet and precious!! I wondered how anyone could ever be scared of them. Then again, he was just a baby. I put him back in the water, he swam back to my feet . . . several times. The surf was so rough. Finally, I think he made it back out to the sea. I watched and watched for that sweet little fin.

Before my appointment, we made our pilgrimage to the Rain Forest Cafe. Not for the food, but for the river ride in the back! We had just come out of the ocean and were soaking wet and shivering in this picture!

After my appointment, and a good report (of only some changes, but none cancerous . . . back in three months) we lit out for Dallas where these beautiful kids were waiting for us! We named them Banana and Carrot. We are set to get two more in August. <3 

And that brings us to an end :-) Hopefully -- now that I have reliable internet, the appointment out of the way, and a desk to work from, I will see you here Sunday for eight sentences :-)