Tarantula and Black Maggie!

I spent a good part of yesterday telling tall tales at Mission San Antonio de Padua.  It was Mission Days – time for music, food, stories, remembrance and laughter!  If that sounds like a fiesta to you, then you’re absolutely in tune with what was going on.  If you weren’t there, you missed a great time, but there’s always next year! My bit was to tell Native American and early settler stories.  I had a good audience (even if I dragooned a couple of them, though without the help of the dragoon re-enactors outside) and worked a new story into the mix. Catch me sometime for a rendition of “Tarantula”. It’s not what you think, but it’s okay if you think it anyway.

P.S. Phyllis and I were married in this wonderful room exactly 43 years ago.

According to Adam

I first wrote Joaquin’s Gold more than thirty years ago.  I used it in my classes and revised it many times.  I later wrote half a dozen other stories featuring Joaquin Murrieta as my protagonist.  Five of these stories have been published in print and on line.  Now, Joaquin’s Gold has found a home in According to Adam, the Writers’ Drawer website’s just published anthology.  I’m most appreciative that editor Beryl Belsky included it in this fine collection.  For you teacher types, I’ll mention that my complete Common Core lesson plans for teaching this story are available on TPT.  Pertinent links are below:

Here’s the Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/According-Adam-Stories-Writers-Drawer/dp/1502972204/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417671295&sr=1-1&keywords=According+to+adam

Here’s the TPT link:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Joaquins-Gold-a-common-core-short-story-unit-for-substitutes-1211123

 

Ghosts at San Lorenzo Park

The MCARLM campfire and story-telling event down at San Lorenzo Park on October 25th  was great fun. Thanks to Raye Ann and Motoko for helping me present Amanda Miller’s spooky poem! I also got to share “Black Maggie’s Secret” around the campfire – the best home for any ghost story! Joaquin Murrieta rides again!

Joaquin’s Gold is on TPT

“Joaquin’s Gold” is a western adventure set in 19^th Century California. Its main character is Joaquin Murrieta, the famous bandit. It’s based on Central California legends and is set in Pinnacles National Park. I wrote it for my 8th grade students thirty years ago and have rewritten it many times since.  Beryl Belsky kindly published the story on her Writer’s Drawer website, but the link is no longer available

I’ve made both the story’s text and a common core short story unit for “Joaquin” available on the TPT site:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Joaquins-Gold-story-text-for-short-story-unit-1212090

Joaquin has become one of my favorite characters.  I’ve written eight stories for him and for California long before freeways.  I hope to make them all available for teachers in the next few years!

Joaquin Murrieta Rides Again

As you folks know by now, I have an abiding interest in historical fiction.  One of my ongoing projects (just entering its fourth decade!) centers on Joaquin Murrieta.  The legendary bandit is one of my favorite characters and I’ve put him back in the saddle three times this year.  One of those stories, “The Wreck of the Annabelle Lee”, was awarded second place in Moonlight Mesa’s annual Cowboy Up western fiction contest.  Becky Coffield is the editor and publisher of Moonlight Mesa and I very much appreciate her work in organizing this contest.  It affords me a yearly opportunity to send Joaquin back into the California night.  Of course, I’ve hoped for more than thirty years now that I can interest someone in publishing a collection of his adventures.  I’ve written a quite respectable number of them and I even enjoy reading them myself!  That’s not something a writer can always say.