Writers and Spring Time by Rhonda R. Eichman

I signed my name to my first traditional book contract a few weeks ago, marking the beginning of spring and a new beginning for me.  Before retiring at the end of last year, I worked for over 48 years in offices doing clerical and bookkeeping and squeezing in writing time on breaks and lunch hours.  I have written and published a few poems and even an article for a local magazine.  They all had one theme, the Kansas prairie and how it looks, smells, and feels.  I have lived on this prairie my whole life and love to explore it.  It blossoms in the spring with wildflowers and dries up to brittle plants that crack under your feet my summer’s end.  The area in the southwest where I live is suffering drought and has been for the last few years.  We cherish each drop of rain.  If you want to plant and nurture a garden, one must have an irrigation or sprinkler system for the garden plot.  I plant each year and each year I have better results.  The first time I planted, it died out half way through the season.  Nowas each year progresses through the seasons, I have harvested vegetables and collected flowers for bouquets for myself and others.

It works that way with writing too.  You jot down a few seeds of ideas and then work with them to create a poem or an article and finally one finds a theme that begs for water and fertilizer to bloom into a book.  I found one of my seeds from a short story I wrote that just did not want to end.  My first historical fiction novel,Bargain on the Prairie, is coming out in October of this year from DWB Publishing.  I am working on the second book, Horsethief Canyon, a sequel because the story will just not stop.  Hopefully it will see the light of day also.  My contract for the first novel has a right of first refusal for a sequel.  I plan, or should I say, plant to harvest again.  I am also nurturing seedlings on the window sill in preparation for the garden plot out on the farm which led me to my folder of poetry seeds.  I water my seedlings on the window sill and sit down to edit and dust off enough of my poetry for a poetry collection that I hope will be of interest to an editor.  This year will be the bounty of harvest for garden produce and for my writing.

Whatever you write, water it everyday with your time and energy.  The plant will produce for you, then you can decide how to use it.  Whatever you do, do not leave it in a drawer where it will never see the light of day and will just whither and be tossed out when you finally clean out your desk.  Give yourself the fertilizer of rest, healthy exercise, and clean foods so you can produce and flower with words that others will enjoy and find a useful place for in their lives.   Offer all you have in every bouquet and do not be afraid to trim and edit your stems, so they are just the right height for a reader to enjoy.

About the book 

Bargain on the Prairie

 Annette DeSelvaine flees her mother’s boarding house and leaves New Orleans behind with the man she thinks she loves, Tony DuBois. They set out to make their way to California in a covered wagon. But fate awaits Tony when his past and a sudden illness catch up with him near the homestead of Cole Waldren. Annette begins a journey of faith and learns self-reliance, promising herself that she will leave in the spring when the weather allows. Annette only finds one enemy among the group of hearty pioneers, Ellie Wilks. She soon realizes that Ellie views her as a threat and makes no efforts to conceal her hatred for Annette.

Cole battles his own fears and confronts two new threats to his home and the safety of all he loves. Mountain lions return to the plains coming down from the mountains on the far west side of the territory. During the annual spring round-up to Abilene, Annette finds a new friend in a former enemy and finally understands what God has in store for her when the truth about Tony's death comes out in an Abilene Sheriff’s office.

Biographical Sketch:

Hi!  My name is Rhonda Eichman and I’d like to tell you a little about myself and my life.  As a retired office worker, I now get to do what I love best everyday and that is write.  I spent 48 years working as a secretary, bookkeeper, or office manager and served in public office as the first female commissioner ever elected in Seward County.  I wrote successful grants and technical manuals and am well satisfied with the work I did; but now it’s time for something new.

 I spent the first year of my retirement writing my first novel, Bargain on the Prairie, and am working on the second one,Horsethief Canyon.  My writing experience has been with technical materials and grants and one article in a local magazine, Kansas Country, and a few poems.  I am a lifetime resident of Kansas and was educated at St. Mary of the Plains College in Dodge City. I can offer an authentic view of life here.  As a history buff, I can relate our unique historical culture to create fiction that’s entertaining and features life’s lessons through my character’s actions.I have one theme that runs through all I write and that is the prairie.

My greatest achievements include two daughters and six grandchildren.  Both of my daughters and their spouses are dedicated to their families and are high achievers.  I spend whatever time I can pull out of my now busy retirement schedule to be with them and enjoy their busy lives with full time jobs and teenagers to guide. 

My husband Ray and I have farmland here in Seward County and I love spending time on our piece of the prairie.  I garden there in the summer months and hunt or do metal detecting in the fall and spring.  We both enjoy being outdoors and spend countless hours four wheeling and walking on the prairie.  Some places on the land are untouched where there are no poles or wires and no structures.  I imagine what it was like back in the 1800’s, only sand plum bushes, buffalo grass, birds, snakes, deer, and coyotes.  I have a great love for this prairie that I get to be part of.