Cowboys? Really?

Somehow in between all my sewing, I managed to write some books… Once a Champion, book one of my Montana Way series, comes out this month. When people ask me what I write, I tell them mostly cowboy stories. Cowboy appears to be a rather divisive occupation because I then usually hear one of two things:

(a) “I love cowboys!”

(b) “I don’t read cowboys.”

I write cowboys because I live in a ranching area and my neighbors are cowboys and ranchers. Many of them have day jobs out of necessity because agriculture is an iffy business. My parents raise cattle in Montana.  Their operation has been pared down as they've gotten older, but they still have a herd. 

So, what do I know about cows? 

Not a lot, because I prefer ponies.

Cowboys are often stereotyped, but my cowboys are based on the lives of people I know. Here is one of  my good friends working his cows on the weekend after a full week at his day job.

This is his daughter.

And his son.

And this is me and his wife, my best friend, doing what we do best during the breaks in the action. Talking. 

Cowboying is a lifestyle with ups and downs, heartaches and triumphs, just like most other occupations and that’s what I try to get across when I write cowboy stories, because I write about people, not occupations. So if you haven’t tried a cowboy book, you might consider giving it a go. It isn’t all hats and boots.

But hats and boots help.

Once A Champion Review

The Writing

The review for Once a Champion is now available in the June edition of RT Book Reviews: 

ONCE A CHAMPION
by Jeannie Watt

RT Rating

ONCE A CHAMPION (4) by Jeannie Watt: Physical therapist Liv Bailey is surprised when calf roper Matt Montoya arrives at her family’s ranch, looking for the horse his ex-wife sold while he was away. She can’t deny she still finds him as attractive as she did in high school, when she tutored him. But Matt’s unwilling to accept the fact that a knee injury means he’ll likely never rope competitively again, and Liv isn't sure she can have another relationship after breaking things off with a controlling ex-fiancé. Watt brings her complex, wonderful characters to life. Both Matt and Liv are likable and warm, in spite of Liv’s insecurities and Matt’s reluctance to realize he can no longer compete in rodeos.

Reviewed By: Alexandra Kay

This encourages me to soldier on with the revisions for my next book, which has yet to be assigned a title. For now it’s called Ryan’s Story. 

Titling a book is a joint effort. I send in to my editor a list of 15 to 20 possible titles.  Those titles are reviewed and used as a brainstorming springboard by several  editors and then the final title is assigned. 

My first book, A Difficult Woman, retained its working title, but that never happened again—probably because I tend to call my working manuscripts things like “Ryan’s Story”. The next book I’m contracted to write is called “Shae’s story.”   Speaking of which, the first three chapters of Shae’s Story are due mid-May, so I need to get cracking on those. Shae is the bridezilla in Once a Champion and now I have to redeem her. I think it'll be fun turning a self-centered bridezilla into a sympathetic character.  I do love a challenging character arc.

Becoming a Book

French edition of Just Desserts~
April 2013

I received  the revision notes from my editor late last week. She had excellent suggestions for the areas that needed work and actually liked one part that I thought needed tweaked.  I love a second pair of eyes. Now I have until the end of May to get this book into its almost final form.

In case you've wondered about the process that goes into shaping a book from start to finish, here it is:

1) I write the synopsis of a story that’s bouncing around in my head, along with three sample chapters, and submit them to my editor. If she likes the project, she sends it on to the senior editor and if she likes it, then I get a contact. I set the due date for the first draft. I always think I’ve factored in tons of extra time, but invariably something happens (hot water tank explodes or something of that nature) or I get hung up on one part of the book and write it and rewrite it and rewrite it, instead of moving on, and the deadline comes barreling up on me. I somehow get done.

2) My editor reads the book and then sends me notes about what revisions she thinks are necessary to strengthen the story. I’ve been through this process enough that I usually know the weak areas and work on them while I wait for my editor’s notes. Sometimes, though, something comes out of left field, such as “this character isn’t working”. This happened to my hero named Rex. My advice—don’t name a hero Rex unless he’s a dog. I renamed Rex and the new character acted differently and worked much better. Names matter.

3) I revise over the course of several weeks and send in the revisions. The editor then does a line edit,

Once a Champion hits the shelves
in June.

where she reads and edits the manuscript line by line. My manuscripts are 85K or around 375 pages, so she has some reading ahead of her. Then she sends the line edits to me and I go over the manuscript line by line reviewing the changes. I send my changes back to her.

4) Finally, I get a PDF of the book in its semi-final form to proof read. This is my last chance to change anything. After that, the book goes into production. Six months later it’s on the shelves.

30’s Dress ~ Chapter Three

The Writing
I just received the cover of my June book, a cowboy romance set in Montana. It's the first of three connected books about a roping family in the Dillon/Butte area. The guy on this cover is the half brother of the guy I'm writing about now.

Getting a cover is one of the big thrills after turning in a book and having all the edits approved. My books are generally released 6-7 months after I finish the last official proofreading and during those months there are two things to look forward to: the cover reveal and the RT Book Review review. So here's the cover reveal:

The Sewing

I chose a black and white rayon challis for this project because I thought it looked appropriate to the period. I can see someone with marcel waves in her hair wearing it. That someone will not be me, because I once marceled my hair during high school, and it's a bit more work than I want to take on. I'm really bad with the curling iron. 

I knew I’d be matching patterns when I chose the fabric, but I hadn't expected it to be such a challenge. You see, rayon challis tends to do what it wants when it wants, shifting willy-nilly whenever  it gets the chance.  I love to wear challis, kind of hate working with it. You can imagine how much I like really slippery fabrics.

I trued up the fabric and cut my first bodice front (first, mind you—good thing I bought too much fabric) on the fold as I always do, but when I unfolded the piece I found that the while the vertical lines were true, the horizontal lines angled badly in a southerly direction.  

My solution was to do what my mom had taught me years ago (a procedure I thought a complete waste of time during my teen years) and cut out half of the bodice, keeping the center line directly on the center of the diamonds, and then carefully folding the cut piece over and matching it to the print on the other side. 

I also did this for the yoke and skirt pieces.  It took longer to cut out that garment than it did to iron and trace the pattern, but the lines are straight—nothing drifting south across the front of my bodice or skirt. Thanks, Mom.

To match the pattern of the yoke to the bodice, I folded and pinned down the seam allowance on the bodice and then matched it to the pattern on the fabric and placed pins to mark the location. 

Then I placed yoke pattern on the fabric, placing the bottom seam line along the pins. 

The scissors are pointing to the line of pins under the pattern tissue. 

The skirt inserts couldn't be matched to the skirt front because they hang on the bias, so I made the center seam true and let nature take its course. I hope it's a good course.

And that is my adventure in cutting. On to construction.