Pantser or Plotter? Rhonda Lee Carver

 

I have a new pre-order! Check below for a blurb. And if you want an unedited excerpt, read September's newsletter. It'll give you an up close and personal view of how I write. It gets messy.

I'm often asked if I'm a pantser or plotter.

Well, I'm a total pantser. I never know where my characters are going to lead me. This can be good. This can be bad. I love to jump in and write that first line. It's as important as the last line. 

Here are some other authors who claim (claimed) they are pantsers:

Stephen King

Dean Koontz

Margaret Atwood

Mark Twain

Ernest Hemingway

Lee Child

The closest I get to plotting is writing the blurb before I begin a book. This can be tedious when I've changed the outline. Sometimes I'll have to tweak a blurb two-three times to match the storyline. You may have notice :0

The Fractured Texas Ranger (Book 2. Texas Heat: The Heart of a Texas Ranger)

 This beauty is no cowgirl, but she’s about to rope in a Texas Ranger.

Margo Deveraux lives a comfortable life as a romance author, but things are about to get bad—very bad. Her ex-boyfriend is fatally shot in front of her, and the cowboy who comes to her rescue is about as irritating as a bed of nails. From the moment he walks into her life and gives her the shirt off his back—literally—she has no choice but to trust that he can keep her safe. But from who? From her viewpoint, he’s about as dangerous as the men who killed her ex and want her dead too. This could be a story right out of one of her novels, but this was real life, and she was out of her comfort zone.

The last thing Dean “Hawkeye” Hawk needs is to babysit some princess writer but finding out who orchestrated the ambush on the Texas Heat Recon unit is top priority—and the lady has valuable information. He’ll need to earn her trust—and work on his charm—if he wants to find out everything she knows.

Back on Creed’s Creek Ranch, Margo is bound and determined to prove to Hawkeye that she can pull calves, feed livestock, and handle backbreaking chores. And, the words flow like water. This could be the best book she’s ever written, and it’s a love story. The rough and cocky cowboy isn’t about all work and no horseplay. The nights are heating up, and it isn’t just the danger lurking in the small town.

Hawkeye is full of mystery, and he has secrets. Can he share with her that he’s a Texas Ranger? He might want to earn her trust, but can he trust her?

Pre-Order here!

I'm looking to grow my share team. I give out monthly Amazon GCs. Interested? Send an email to rhondaleecarver.author@gmail.com with the subject line reading "Share Team" OR become a member of my street team and send me a message. Here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/471259293018665/

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Meet Annie: The Ridge Ranch Series

 

Meet Annie: An Interview with the Woman Who Lost—and Found—Her Heart

As we bring the Ridge Ranch series full circle with Loving Annie, it’s only right we hear from the woman at the center of Isaac McGrath’s story. Annie has carried the weight of love, loss, and second chances—and she’s finally ready to share her side.

Q: Annie, why didn’t things work out the first time with Isaac?
Annie: Because I was scared—and I made mistakes. Isaac was everything steady and good. He deserved better than the broken pieces I could offer, so when he pulled away, I let him go. But deep down, I knew I’d just lost the one person who truly saw me.

Q: What was it like seeing him again after all those years?
Annie: Like having the wind knocked out of me. His presence still steadied me, but it also unearthed every regret I’d buried. I wanted to run. Instead, I stayed—because it wasn’t just about me anymore.

Q: What does Ridge Ranch mean to you?
Annie: Belonging. Safety. Proof that family doesn’t always mean the one you’re born into, but the one that refuses to give up on you. With Isaac by my side, it finally feels like home.

Q: What can readers expect from Loving Annie?
Annie: Hope. Forgiveness. The kind of love that takes root even in the hardest ground. Isaac and I aren’t perfect—but what we’re building now is real. And sometimes, that’s enough to change everything.

The Dime Novel Author ~ D. K. Deters

I recently read a bit of history about Prentiss Ingraham (1843–1904). He was a dime novel author and is best remembered for his novels about William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody. Ingraham claimed to have written more than 600 novels during his 34-year career. Clearly, this author was no slacker—and he had my attention. I had to find out more.

The Mississippi Encyclopedia notes:

“Ingraham was attending Mobile Medical College when the Civil War began but he left to enter the Confederate Army in Withers’s Mississippi Regiment of Light Artillery. He later transferred to Ross’s Texas Cavalry Brigade, rising to the rank of commander of scouts. He was wounded in the foot while fighting at the siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana, and the injury troubled him for the rest of his life. He was taken prisoner but escaped. He received a second wound while fighting at the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee.”

Afterward, his adventures took him to Mexico, Austria, Egypt, and London.

It's also interesting to note that “Ingraham eventually joined rebels fighting against Spain in Cuba, becoming a colonel in the Cuban rebel army as well as a captain in the navy. Captured by the Spanish while trying to smuggle arms into Cuba, Ingraham later escaped and thereafter always used the title colonel.”

In the 1870s, he began writing dime novels for the New York publisher Beadle & Adams. He based many of those novels on his own adventures. Ingraham was writing adventure fiction when he met Buffalo Bill. Cody was already a national celebrity and known for his “Buffalo Bill Combination” stage show. Ingraham traveled with Cody and sometimes acted as a press agent for the show. His experience helped him to take over the Buffalo Bill series of dime novels. He went on to write over 200 Buffalo Bill stories.

I was amazed at the pseudonyms Ingraham used. Wikipedia shows: “…Dr. Noel Dunbar, Dangerfield Burr, Major Henry B. Stoddard, Colonel Leon Lafitte, Frank Powell, Harry Dennies Perry, Midshipman Tom W. Hall, Lieut. Preston Graham. He also ghostwrote several works for Buffalo Bill Cody.”

While many readers loved Ingraham’s stories, some critics were less complimentary. The University of Mississippi Libraries’ Ingraham Exhibition states:

“While Ingraham’s novels were essentially hackwork written quickly and produced cheaply, they did attract a substantial popular audience. … Ingraham is credited with popularizing the cowboy hero and in shaping America’s popular perception of the Western frontier.”

Curious, I decided to read one of the stories myself. It’s easy to see why his stories influenced the Westerns of today. If you’re also intrigued and would like to explore some of these remarkable stories firsthand, Project Gutenberg offers 17 free eBooks by Prentiss Ingraham, including several popular Buffalo Bill stories. You can explore titles like Seventy Years on the Frontier, Buffalo Bill’s Boy Bugler; Or, The Last of the Indian Ring, and Buffalo Bill’s Weird Warning; Or, Dauntless Dell’s Rival. Enjoy.

Resources:

All photos are from the Public Domain.

The Settlers’ West by Martin F Schmitt & Dee Brown

University of Mississippi Libraries - Ingraham Exhibition

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prentiss_Ingraham

https://www.gutenberg.org/

https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/prentiss-ingraham/

Talent vs. Tenacity

I have known many extremely talented writers who were never published.

I have known writers who struggled -- who were marginally talented but kept plugging away even after being demolished by critique groups and editors.

These marginally talented (and in some cases not very talented at all) writers who stuck in there and kept at it were published.

So I ask myself: is it more important to be talented or driven? Of course, the best option is to be both. To have a fire in your belly and skills at your fingertips.

You can be as talented as all get-out, but if you don't apply your butt to the chair every day and your fingers to the keyboard, chances are very great that you will never be published.

The ones who break my heart are those who are super talented and lazy. A guy I knew in college fit this bill. What talent he possessed! But he lacked follow-through. You have to finish something and send it to a publisher or agent. No one is going to come knocking at your door asking for your manuscript. (Although that did happen to Margaret Mitchell ala Gone with the Wind!) This guy could have been published and secured an agent if he only had presented something outside his circle of friends and relatives.

Then there are those who never get around to writing. They have super ideas and even interesting plots, but they never put them on paper. "I have a great idea for a novel in my head." "Oh, I have a plot. It's all up here in my brain." Wonderful. Now how do we get it out of your brain? 

The writers I've come to admire are those who just didn't know how to surrender. They plugged on and on. Learning from sound criticism and shrugging off depression when their writing didn't receive the glowing reviews they expected.  Writers who read other written work and grew from it. Writers who managed to write something every day because they understood that something was better than nothing.

As for me, I suppose I've always been in love with the written word and I'm a confirmed romantic. From the time I could write a full sentence, I wrote love stories. I had notebooks full of them by the time I was in high school. Most of them were pretty awful, but I'd enjoyed writing them and I'd gotten better with each one. Yes. I was tenacious at first and, from repetition, I became talented. The spark was always there in me, but it was up to me to fan the flames. As an adult, I knew I wanted to be published someday. Sure, I could impress my mother and daddy with my writing, but I mainly wanted to impress strangers with what I'd written. I won acclaim here and there and always made good grades in English, journalism, etc. It all helped me reach my goals, but what really got me my first publisher contract was not giving up.

So, let's raise our virtual glasses to the bulldogs among us -- those inspiring individuals who grab hold of a dream and simply won't let go. Cheers!

Mosby, Higginson

Post (C) Doris McCraw

aka Angela Raines

Image (C) Doris McCraw

For this month's post, I'm sharing a portion of my reading list for the research deep dives I've undertaken this year. Reposted from another blog.

In 2024, the year was spent in Evergreen Cemetery documenting Civil War soldiers buried there, along with their wives when available. This was an eye-opening look into the past as I searched the cemetery, genealogy, and newspaper records. Each name revealed the story of people, their trials and triumphs, along with a sense of the sacrifice, heartache, and loss the conflict had on their lives. Some of these Civil War discoveries were shared on this blog.

One headstone mentioned that the person buried there had served in the 43rd Virginia Cavalry Battalion with John Singleton Mosby. This led me to the book, "The Unvanquished", by Patrick K. O'Donnell. The book was fascinating and devastating. It told the story of the 'shadow war' of units such as Mosby's Rangers, Jesse Scouts, and others, whose sole purpose was to infiltrate and disrupt the 'enemy'. Although I never read the name of the man who started me on the journey, the book deepened my understanding of the conflict in a way no other, including Ken Burns' brilliant documentary, "The Civil War," had. 

The short "Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin" was read, and while the beginning of his story was enlightening, I found myself glad to finish the second half.

For those who know me, many are aware of the years of research and performing I have done on Helen (Hunt) Jackson. It will not surprise anyone to know that upon finding the biography of Thomas Wentworth Higginson, it would be next on my list. The name was familiar as the mentor of Helen and Emily Dickinson. 

Although "A Man on Fire: The Worlds of Thomas Wentworth Higginson" is a look at a man who was so much more than what many may believe. A student at Harvard at thirteen, an author, abolitionist, Unitarian Minister, strong advocate of Women's Suffrage, and commanded the 1st South Carolina Volunteers. This unit was composed of Black soldiers freed from slavery.

What seems to make Higginson's story so fascinating is his drive and intelligence. He seemed to push himself harder than anyone else.

For those who would like to learn or read more, here are links to additional reading:

"A Man on Fire" Amazon

"The Unvanquished" Amazon

NPS - Thomas Wentworth Higginson

NPS- John Singleton Mosby

Until Next Time,

Doris

Angela Raines - Amazon

Doris A. McCraw - Amazon

Book 5 - Circuit Judges: Mail-Order Bride - Linda By Amanda A. Brooks

 

My Circuit Judges Website – circuitjudges.site123.me

My amazon Author’s Page – amazon.com/author/aab

 

My first blog entry for Cowboy Kisses coincides with the release of my new book, Book 5 – Circuit Judges: Mail-Order Bride – Linda, on August 25, 2025. Available in both Paperback and E-book.

Primary Heroine - Linda Logan is the perfect mail-order bride – thirteen times.

Secondary Heroine/Narrator - When Historian Kelly Carson fights tooth and nail to save the ghost town of Green Valley, Arizona from becoming condos and a shopping mall, she does not expect to fall in love with the circuit judge who is behind destroying Green Valley.

Linda Rosa Logan was born on January 23, 1856 in Tucson, Arizona. Since I like to model my characters after actors so that I know what they look like, my model inspiration for Linda is Tiffani Thiessen. I named Linda after Singer/Actress Linda Ronstadt – hence why I made my heroine Linda from Tucson. Her story is set in Tucson, Arizona and Green Valley, Arizona in 1872 and 1882.

Kelly Katherine Carson was born on November 17, 1989 in Prescott Valley, Arizona. My model inspiration for Kelly is Rachel McAdams. Her story is set in Green Valley, Arizona in 2019.

                                                         

Primary Hero – Circuit Judge Adam Stone. My model inspiration for Adam is Paul Greene.

Secondary Hero – Circuit Judge William Tyler. My model inspiration for William is Bradley Cooper.                                                        

                                                                

My Music Inspirations for this Book are Stone Poneys With Linda Ronstadt's DIFFERENT DRUM and Sixpence None The Richer's KISS ME.

1887-1961 Hesperia Hotel: Locomotives, Candlelit Nights, and Western Charm

 

Imagine rolling into the high desert of California on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. You step off the train and there it is: a three-story, red adobe beauty—the brand-new Hesperia Hotel. With 28 rooms, running water (a serious luxury at the time), and desert views for miles, it must have seemed like an oasis in the middle of nowhere.

The hotel sat on the west side of the railroad tracks, surrounded by 35,000 acres of land that speculators were eager to sell. Newspapers went so far as to call Hesperia “The Denver of California.” Bold claim, right?

A Desert Dream—or Desert Scheme?

The masterminds were Judge Robert Widney and his brother Dr. Joseph Widney, along with Ontario developers George and William Chaffey. They bought up land, gave the settlement a poetic name (Hesperia meaning “western land”), and launched a massive promotion campaign.

The sales pitch promised a desert utopia: broad tree-lined boulevards, shady parks, fine schools, grand churches, healthy air that could cure whatever ailed you, and even riches from mining in the nearby mountains.

The reality? Well… let’s just say some of it was more illusion than fact.

Trickery in the Desert

One of the most famous “sales tactics” involved tricking eager easterners who couldn’t tell a yucca from an orange tree. The promoters literally trimmed up Joshua trees and stuck oranges on the ends of their bayonet-like spikes to give the illusion of flourishing citrus groves.

Still, the developers grand idea did put Hesperia on the map—and today, more than 100,000 people call it home.

The Hotel’s Heyday

Back in its prime, the Hesperia Hotel was more than just a place to sleep. Guests enjoyed modern marvels like hot water, flushing toilets, and speaking tubes for communication. The hotel boasted a spacious dining room complete with a bandstand, a piano bar, and fancy balls in middle of the Mojave.

Once the California Southern Railroad line pushed through the Cajon Pass in 1885, many settlers and tourists came by rail. Victor (later Victorville) became the major stop, but Hesperia snagged its own small depot, drawing curious travelers. By the way, this platform actually could be moved.

The Beginning of the End

For a time, the hotel thrived. But when Route 66 rerouted travelers away from Hesperia, the once-bustling stop faded. The hotel closed its doors in 1926 and, after decades of decline, was torn down in 1974.

Today, nearby Los Flores Ranch lands are filled with tract homes, and the once-grand hotel exists only in photographs and stories.

Why This Hotel Caught My Eye

As a local, I couldn’t resist bringing the Hesperia Hotel back to life in my western time travel novel, Time to Save a Cowboy. It struck me as the perfect meeting place for my time-traveling lovers, Mia and Dusty, before they headed off for the Los Flores Ranch.

For more information click here: https://www.amazon.com/Time-Cowboy-Western-Travel-Romance-ebook/dp/B07K62JGP7