New Blog Site

Thanks to everyone who has viewed this blog! I am moving to Wordpress, so anyone who is interested can find me there. Still trying to get comfortable with the idea of blogging, but it's a great way to get to know people out there! :)

My new blog address is: https://cathymcgreevy.wordpress.com/

Hope to see you there!  - Cathy

Writing Down the West

Do you have any idea how hard it is writing a western novel? I haven't read a Louis L'Amour book since I was a teenager, and my plots for historicals are usually set in England like the gothic stories I used to love by Phyllis Whitney and Victoria Holt.

On the other hand my interest in pioneers stems from my ancestors who crossed the plains in handcarts and covered wagons. And I love stories about children surviving on their own, like the ones in Seven Alone, Island of the Blue Dolphins, and Hatchet. During family hikes and car drives through the Rockies, I started to imagine a story about an orphaned brother and sister who were forced to take up adult responsibilities. How would they manage? How would it change them?

Next, the research started. It entailed much more than watching old episodes of Bonanza and Rawhide. Many readers are sticklers about what kind of weapons and ammunition were used at what time, how buffalo really react when shot, and so on, so preparing to write the novel took months of work, but it was fascinating as one topic led to another. I hope the final version of the novel recaptures the flavor of a tumultuous chapter in America's history, a time when the West was changed forever.

Colorful California Town Names

One of the things I love about living in Northern California is the colorful names of so many old Gold Rush towns. Yesterday I drove by Missouri Flats and Hangtown, also known as Dry Diggings and now officially named Placerville. Last week, I happened to pass by French Camp and Calaveras, the latter made famous by Mark Twain for its jumping frog contest, which just happens to be taking place this weekend.

Near Folsom lies what is left of Mormon Island (now buried under Folsom Lake), site of the first and richest diggings of the Gold Rush, and Negro Bar—a name that makes passers-by flinch, but by which it was historically known. Calistoga and its mud baths bring back memories of  Sam Brannan, the brash, flamboyantly ambitious first millionaire of the Gold Rush, drunkenly sputtering to his companions that the town would be "the Calistoga of Sarifornia!" (The Saratoga of California.) Wherever you drive in this part of the state, memories of the Gold Rush surround you.