Day one (utterly clueless)

I didn't start writing because of a lifelong dream. I was bored. I admit it. One afternoon, there was nothing on TV and I was out of books, so I decided to write my own. I had a typewriter (for anyone too young to know what that is, check Google) collecting dust, and always loved cowboy books, so I decided to write the great American cowboy romance. Not the best idea for someone who worships spell check and can't type without looking at the keys. But we did have pre-spellcheck back then to save me. It was called Whiteout.

 I started this book about 20 years ago. I knew absolutely nothing about writing novels, manuscript formatting, word counts. Zero. Word for word, funky punctuation and all, here is how it all began:

(Yes, this book starts from a horse's point of view)

Something was not right. Was it a smell or a whispered word that sent his nose twitching and his ears seeking out the source. He did not know. Almost as quickly as it came it was gone. He could not voice his growing fear or question the reason for it, yet generations of careful breeding told him something was not right on the wind. He sniffed the air for something that was no longer there. Perhaps it was nothing at all.


It would ultimately take me 5 years, writing part time, to finish this book. More tomorrow!