
Perhaps you saw it earlier this week, maybe when you scrolled to the WIP section of the homepage. Yeah, maybe not.
Anyways, it’s a pretty good cover, I think. It follows the same trend as the first two books, which is to have an historical painting for the cover image. The fonts and typefaces are all pretty well matched too, even though different designers made these.
What might be most obvious to those of you who’ve been reading the site awhile is the title. Yep, I changed it from “Miners and Magnates,” which I think I might still use for Book 4.
“Braves and Businessmen” was what I chose for this picture. I couldn’t find any good mining paintings, and I was also talking a lot more about Indians than miners. It just kind of made sense to change the name, so this is what you get.
So I guess the big question is, when will this book be finished?
It’s a good question. I keep coming across things I need to write about, like Ella Knowles.
Who was Ella Knowles? I never really heard of her much growing up in Montana, but boy, she sounds like quite the woman. Obviously she played an important part in the more progressive 1890s in Montana, becoming the first lawyer in Montana and the first elected state official that was a woman. So she needs to be in the book, and I might have to write a novel about this woman’s life as well at a future date.
Right now the book’s about 90% done, if I stop at 35,000 words, which doesn’t seem likely. That means it’ll be the largest of the three volumes, perhaps pushing 50,000 words.
I guess it really just depends on how much detail I want to get into in some parts. Like I said last month, I might do well just skimming over the Custer battle and some of the Clark/Daly points. Like what?
- Politics already makes up a good portion of the book, and I’m working on a lot of that now.
- I need to get the Nez Pearce Wars taken care of, which I’ve already done for the Sioux Wars.
- Some of the leading businessmen and politicians still need to be touched upon, such as Hauser and Broadwater.
- And then there’s the winter of 1886-7, which I haven’t really gotten to at all yet.
Yep, there’s a lot of stuff to do still, so I better get back at it.