Thanksgiving and Writing

Signing with Peggy Fielding and Warren Bull

by Jackie King

Most people love Thanksgiving. You don’t have to buy anyone a gift and sometimes one gets invited a fabulous dinner with family and friends. Grandchildren and football are an added bonus. And those of us who live in a free country have much to be thankful for.

These are only a few reasons why, back in 2009 when asked to pick a holiday for the anthology TWO FOXY HOLIDAY HENS AND ONE BIG ROOSTER, that I chose Thanksgiving. The other writer’s choices: Dusty Richards, winner of two Spur Awards, picked Independence Day; and Peggy Fielding decided on Christmas.

My novella, THANKSGIVING WITH A MYSTERIOUS STRANGER, is set in 1889 Guthrie, Oklahoma Territory, and features an evil Rooster named Henry, a mean-spirited mail-order husband who is gunned down in the first chapter, and, of course, a handsome stranger named Josh Savage.

After killing her husband, the villain tries to rape Hannah Smith, and while fighting him off she vows two things: if she lives, she will prove up her land and she will never marry.

Advice from Nancy Picard

While working on this story I attended a mystery conference in Manhattan, Kansas, where the above picture was taken. The keynote speaker, Nancy Picard, said that she liked to start books with food. Being a person who loves food and drink (especially coffee) I decided to take her advice. This is the way I began THANKSGIVING WITH A MYSTERIOUS STRANGER:

All Hannah Smith ever wanted was a house with yellow curtains, a small garden and a good cup of coffee. Right now she’d settle for the coffee, but she had only enough grounds for one final pot and she was saving that treat for Thanksgiving Day.

Hannah is ruminating her dilemma while sitting on a breezy seat in the outhouse of the claim that she and her mail-order husband George (he punishes her by not buying coffee) have filed. She’s holding a broom to fight off Henry the rooster, when someone rides onto the property and shoots George.

And her problems have only just started.

If you want a good Thanksgiving read you can download this anthology from Amazon for $2.99. There is also a hard copy for sale.



Halloween-GMMC 2008 where Nancy Picard spoke, and yes, I'm the witch!

Here’s wishing you a blessed Thanksgiving Holiday.