"He stopped driftin’, found friends worth lookin’ up to, an’ a young
woman that was right admirable."
Joining us today from the Missouri outback is author David R. Lewis as we talk about his book, On the Deer Run Trail. Welcome David!
Did you plan to be a writer or did it just happen?
I was working on a
cattle ranch that also sold a particular brand of feed. The owner of the ranch
wanted a commercial for the feed to run on a local radio station and asked me
to voice the spot. When we got to the station, the copy was so bad I re-wrote
it and did the recording. Two days later the station offered me a job as a
writer/announcer. I spent twenty-five years working with radio, television, and
ad agencies while grinding out over thirty thousand pieces of copy. That type
of labor either sharpens your craft, or drives you crazy. The jury is still out
on me, I think.
What is your favorite non-writing pastime?
Hanging
out with my bride of 42 years, the coveted Laura.
What has been your greatest challenge as a writer? Have
you been able to overcome it?
Self-editing and throwing out the “trash”
so the work remains clean and uncluttered. I have been able to do it reasonably
well, but I don’t believe it will ever be overcome. It requires constant
effort...and it should.
Is writing a full-time career for you? If not, how else
do you spend your work day?
Writing is my job. When it is combined with
research, editing, working on the website, stomping around to ease my back and
wishing I had a better office chair, it takes up most of my time.
What inspired the idea behind your book?
I was raised by my
grandfather, a man born in the 1800’s. He knew men who were there during the
timeline of this book and told me stories about their uncomplicated views of
right, wrong, duty, and responsibility. The stories of those men and the
headfirst way they went at life always fascinated me, and it is from them the
characters in this book evolved.
Tell us about your favorite character in this book!
My favorite
character is a member of the hero’s (Ruben Beeler) supporting cast. U.S.
Marshal Marion Daniels is a man of experience, will, and determination who
would be irritated if he were called brave. He recognizes undeveloped potential
in Ruben and becomes the young man’s mentor, although Marion would have no idea
what that word means. The only thing I don’t like about him is his mustache.
It’s significantly manlier than mine.
What message do you hope readers take away from the
book?
I’m a storyteller
and I depend on my characters to relate to the reader. Perhaps some of them may
have a message, but I don’t. I do believe, however, that if a message is
somehow required, it will show up. Is that vague enough? If not, perhaps I can
re-write it.
Is anything in your
book based on real life experiences or purely all imagination?
When
I was young, I carried a gun and a badge for a living. Later, I worked for two
years on a cattle ranch, most of that time on horseback. Combine those life
experiences, knock off 130 years, do the research, and saddle up.
Do you have to be alone or have quiet to write?
I prefer it.
Actually my favorite time to write is during the night, with a lighted
keyboard, in near total darkness. The phone doesn’t ring, the dogs don’t want
to go out, my bride is asleep, and only Grizz the wonder cat hassles me.
What has been your greatest pleasure in writing this
book?
Getting to know the characters and watching
them interact with one another.
I would read these books simply because of the covers –
all in the series are beautiful! Did you have a part in their design?
With the exception of a glaring error by my
insistent publisher on my first book, all of the covers are of my design and
construction.
As a multi-genre author, how do you juggle going back
and forth between the different genres? Do you have a preferred genre?
I don’t go back and
forth between genres. I fixate on one and stick with it until I realize that
the book I’m working on will not be as good as, or better than, the first of
the bunch. At that point I scrap it and move on to something else. I don’t
believe I have a preferred genre, although I must admit that writing these
westerns is a lot of fun and very rewarding.
Do you have plans
for a new book? Is this book part of a series?
I almost always have plans for a new book.
It’s a curse or a sickness, I haven’t decided which. This book is the first in
what has evolved into a series. I’m currently working on the fourth one.
What has been your greatest pleasure or personal
success as an author?
Finding out that
someone enjoys what I write. In the days when I was doing book signings and such,
I liked the personal contact with readers. All of us appreciate that kind of
validation, I suppose. But now, just hearing of someone’s pleasure through
another source is most rewarding. Indirect compliments are most believable.
If you had a chance to rewrite, is there anything about
your book you would change?
Many things,
probably. Books are like paintings, I think. They’re never really finished,
just abandoned.
What is the best piece of writing advice you’ve
received?
If you’re going to
write fiction, get your facts straight.
Are there certain
characters you would like to go back to, or is there a theme or idea you’d love
to work with?
I’m thinking about writing a book entitled Fifty
Shade of Puce, but I can’t come up with a plot...or characters...or
enthusiasm.
Laptop,
desktop or notebook and pen for writing?
You forgot pencils. I’ve used them all, but now laptop.
Do you
believe in writer’s block? Has it ever happened to you?
I believe in writer’s fatigue. It’s easy for me to get
caught up with my characters and simply write so much that I become emotionally
and physically worn out. The fatigue that comes from that is very frustrating
and can be perceived as a block of some type. I think it is really a
self-defense mechanism that stops me writing for a while so I can catch my
creative breath. Or I’m just loafing. It’s hard to tell the two apart.
Is there a
book you’ve ever read more than five times? Which book and what drew you back
to it?
Several, actually, but my two
favorites are Lonesome Dove and Shogun. Both are true epics with
masterful plots and sub-plots, but what draws me back to them is the strength
of their characters.
Have you ever
literally deleted or thrown away a book you’ve written?
Not an entire book, but nearly 50,000 words. It was a sequel
for sequel’s sake. Sequels should be as good or better than the original work.
If not, they need to be trashed. It wasn’t and it was
.
You’re
spending one year living on a desert island – which three authors do you want
with you?
Four writers trapped on a desert island for a year? My God,
we’d kill each other!
Did the plot
of the book turn out the way you planned or did something change during the
process of writing it?
All kinds of things change for me. I have written sixteen
books so far and, as with life, not one has ever gone to plan. Maybe I should
stop planning.
Favorite place?
Home
Best Christmas present?
Snow
Favorite smell?
Campfire
Favorite quote?
“I
wanna make it real slow until I die, beloved. Then I want to taper off.”
–Brother Dave Gardner
Your best trait?
I’m a writer.
Your worst trait?
I’m
a writer.
The
Book
The year was 1881, an’ young
Ruben Beeler was makin’ his way along near the Missouri River, findin’ work
when he could an’ livin’ the only life he knew. When he come on ol’ Arliss
Hyatt, beat to hell an’ near shot to death, Rube done what he could for him. He
didn’t know that act of kindness was gonna wind up changin’ his whole life, but
it did. Green as grass, Rube was a long way from bein’ any kind of pistoleer or
shootist, but when Marshal Marion Daniels come on him an’ Arliss, an’ needed
help with the Duncan bunch for what they’d done, that tussle growed Rube up
right quick. He stopped driftin’, found friends worth lookin’ up to, an’ a young
woman that was right admirable. Then a town in trouble put him behind a badge
of his own, an’ Rube done things he never thought he’d have to do. Life got
tough. For the sake a Marion, Arliss, an’ Miss Harmony, it come time for him to
root hog or die, on the Deer Run Trail.
The Author
During the past decades, he has earned regional and international awards for writing and performing radio commercial copy. More importantly, he has learned to write concisely, visually, and with understanding for “theatre of the mind.”
David is now living on seven miles
of bad road in the Missouri outback with his wife of 42 years, where he watches
turkeys, dodges deer, listens to frogs, looks at stars, argues with two
Australian cattle dogs, and devotes his time to writing.
Where can
your readers find you?
My
website: http://www.Ironbear-ebooks.com
My Goodreads author page: http://www.goodreads.com/DavidRLewis
Is your
book in Print, eBook or both?
I have a few books in print, but this one is an
eBook. I recently went back in studio for the first time in several years and produced
Deer Run Trail as a digital audio book.
An Excerpt
The next mornin’ I went up to the
shack an’ spent two or three hours settin’ in some of the boards for my
ceilin’. I went back to Miz’ Clary’s then an’ washed up, shaved my face,
brushed my teeth with salt, put on my cleanest pair a saddle pants, the brown
striped shirt I’d never wore afore, knocked some of the dust offa my hat,
slapped on a little Bay Rum, hitched up the Schofield on my gunbelt, an’ walked
down to the livery.
I stepped inside the barn an’ there
was Willie, all saddled up, an’ Homer Poteet, puttin’ a saddle on a good
lookin’ little liver-chestnut mare that I hadn’t never seen ‘til then.
“Howdy there, Rube,” Homer said to me.
“Ya might check on your saddle an’ make sure I got it where ya want it on his withers.”
“Mornin’, Homer,” I said. “What are ya
doin’?”
“What does it look like, boy? I’m
gittin’ these horses ready for you an’ Harmony to go on your ride. Ain’t this
chestnut a purty little thing?”
“I thought we was goin’ in a buggy,” I
said.
“Reckon not,” he said, reachin’ under
the mare to collect the cinch. “She brought this mare down here a little while
ago an’ asked if I’d saddle these two up for ya.”
‘Bout that time, Miss Harmony come
walkin’ in. She was wearin’ what looked like a long skirt to me, but what
turned out to be kindly a pair a pants with big ol’ pleated legs. She was
carryin’ a canteen an’ some saddle bags.
“Hello, Ruben,” she said, smilin’ at
me. “Nice of Mister Poteet to saddle our horses for us, don’t you think?”
“Yes, it is, Miss Harmony,” I said,
sorta confused.
“We have biscuits and bacon if we get
hungry,” she said. “Shall we go?”
She led that little mare on out.
Homer, grinnin’ like a damn possum, handed me Willie’s reins an’ punched me on
the arm. “Now you two children have a good time an’ play nice,” he said.
I got out in the sunshine in time to
see Miss Harmony swing up onto her horse. That’s when I noticed that skirt was
pants. I clumb up on Willie an’ she reined her horse an’ started off. I
followed her on.
We hit a wagon trail goin’ west, an’
she put that mare in a short lope. I eased up beside her an’ we rode on that
way a little, while I watched her out of the corner of my eye.
“Miss Harmony,” I said, “I got to say
that you set a horse real comfortable like.”
She laughed, her face shinin’ in the
sun. “Are you saying that I don’t ride like a girl?” she said.
“I reckon I am,” I said. “It speaks
good for ya, I believe.”
“You think so?” she said, an’ touched
the chestnut. That little mare took off. I give Willie my heels an’ loosed him.
He laid back his ears an’ done what he liked to do.
I had to check him back a little so he
wouldn’t pass the mare, an’ we went on like that for a ways, afore Miss Harmony
started laughin’ an’ reined her horse in. We dropped into a walk to cool ‘em out
some.
“That buckskin can run a little,” she
said.
“He’s fast,” I said, “an’ quick, too.
I git a choice, I’d just as soon have a quick horse than a fast one. I’m lucky
with Willie. He’s both. Your chestnut is a purty thing. I like the color of
her.”
“She’s easy to use,” Miss Harmony
said.
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