Tonight I begin my next novel. Having just finished MURDER IN MULESHOE, a mystery, I’m moving back to a Western this time and writing the second in my Texas Ranger Chronicles. The first, finished in 2013, was GUNS ALONG THE RIO — in which my main character, a 17 year old young man, joins the Rangers in what became the very first time the Texas Rangers were used in a law enforcement capacity. This was 1858 in the Lower Rio Grande Valley — that part of Texas along the Rio Grande River and the Texas-Mexican border.
My hero, young Trace LaFon, was the son of a immigrant anglo family from Louisiana. He was partnered with Xavier Falcon, the second son of a large and wealthy Hispanic family who had lived in Texas for generations. The young men learn all about the ins and outs of being Rangers along with the process of growing up in the wide open spaces of young Texas.
Now, two years later, I’m back around to picking up the story and moving it ahead as the Rangers take on a new role during the Civil War. One of the chief reasons Texas left the Union in those years was because the Federal government pulled out all the troops assigned to guarding the settlers on the Texas frontier. To fill the gap, the Rangers evolved into the Texas Mounted Rifles, and this dedicated force made a tremendous difference in the lives of families trying to grow and make new lives in Texas.
As I begin, I’ve moved my information from the first novel in the series written in M.S. Word into Scrivener, my program of choice now. I have my title, WEST OF THE FRIO, and I’ve imported my characters list from Guns Along The Rio and I’ve started my outline. I have a few chapters listed with titles that tell me what’s going to happen here.
My goals are to up my daily output to 2,000 words a day and write an exciting, fun Western which will dovetail into the series — and hopefully make my readers want to have more in the future.
What I already have are several books I’ve gathered on my topic from used book stores for background and a couple of three-hole binders filled with research. I even have my first couple of sentences — Experience can either teach you something or get you killed. My Pa used to say, “Make sure your last words aren’t, ‘Well that was stupid! Wish I hadn’t done that!’”
Now all that’s left is to write the novel.
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