Write Wednesday Welcomes Heidi Thomas
I’m happy to have award-winning author Heidi M. Thomas back for a second time. Heidi is sharing chapter one of her latest book,
Goth-Girl to Cowgirl.
Chapter One
Nothing in her short life prepared her for this…this emptiness.
Electra Lucci leaned against the corral fence, picking at her black nail polish. The realization had hit her yesterday as she and her mom flew over the sparse, maize-colored prairie of eastern Montana. Even the endless sky was empty, not a wisp of a cloud. They had come to the end of the earth for their so-called vacation on a dude ranch.
She sneaked glances at the three other women and their young daughters getting ready for the ride. Her mom, Alberta, rubbed the face of a big brown horse and ran her fingers through its mane. She actually looked like she enjoyed this. Is she pretending, for my sake? Phht! Horses. Where did Mom get this stupid idea? Because she took a few rides in Central Park when she was a kid, she thought Electra would love it too? Not!
A soft voice broke into her loneliness. “Would you like to try getting to know Ginger? She’s a nice, gentle horse. Nothing to be afraid of.” The woman was Sam Moser, their instructor.
Electra snorted, turned away, and slouched to the barn. She heard her mother apologizing—of all things—“I’m sorry about Electra. Ever since her father…”
She huffed again and slipped into the dark interior where she slumped onto a bale of hay. Settling down, happy that it pricked her legs through her jeans she bit her lip until she tasted copper. Anything to keep from crying.
Her father. How could he abandon her? Hadn’t she always been his favorite, Daddy’s girl?
The shadowy gloom in the barn closed around her, and the night of that awful accident flooded her senses. The police bringing Dad home. Telling Mom and her that Jimmy was dead. Her mother’s screams. The immediate wish that it had been her, not her brother, her bestie. Even if he was Mom’s favorite. Then her dad leaving because he couldn’t handle the pain anymore.
She dug her nails into her arms, hard. The sharp, stabbing pain felt good. For a moment the inside hurt subsided.
Author Bio
Award-winning Heidi M. Thomas grew up on a working ranch in eastern Montana, riding and gathering cattle for branding and shipping. Her parents taught her a love of books, and her grandmother rode bucking stock in rodeos. She followed her dream of writing with a journalism degree from the University of Montana. Heidi is the author of the “Cowgirl Dreams” novel series and Cowgirl Up: A History of Rodeo Women, and has received three WILLA Literary Awards and four Will Rogers Medallion awards, among others.
Seeking the American Dream and Finding True Home are based on her mother who emigrated from Germany after WWII. Rescuing Samantha, Rescuing Hope, and Rescue Ranch Rising continue the Moser family saga, with the great-granddaughter of Nettie, the original cowgirl character. 2024 WILLA award winner Goth-girl to Cowgirl is the “Rescue” story from teen character Electra’s POV.
Heidi lives in Chino Valley, where she writes and works as a freelance editor. She is a member of Arizona Authors, Central Arizona Writers, Women’s Fiction Writers Association, and Women Writing the West.
Amazon: Amazon.com: Goth-girl to Cowgirl (Rescue Series): 9780999066362: Thomas, Heidi M: Books
NEW: Goth-girl to Cowgirl (Winner WILLA Award)
Rescue Ranch Rising (book 3) (Winner, AZ Authors Assoc., AZ/NM Awards Finalist)
Rescuing Hope (book 2) (Book Excellence, Will Rogers Medallion, WILLA Awards)
Rescuing Samantha (book 1) (Booke Excellence, Independent Press Awards)
The Secret of the Ice Castle & Other Inspirational Tales (Purple Dragonfly Award—Cover design by Susie Talbot)
1.Cowgirl Dreams (Winner EPIC Award)
2.Follow the Dream (Winner WILLA Award)
3.Dare to Dream (Finalist Book Excellence Awards
Nonfiction–Cowgirl Up: A History of Rodeo Women (Winner Global Ebook Awards)
1.Seeking the American Dream (Winner Top Female Author, The Authors Show)
2.Finding True Home (Winner Will Rogers Medallion Award)
