Page 95 - The Westerner Magazine Halloween 2018
P. 95
I was hooked. After that time, I read about decided to start writing books, though. I
every book Louis L’Amour wrote. just sat down, had an idea for a story, and I
Somewhere along the line I decided that, penned my first manuscript. The third and
you know, Louis L’Amour isn’t gonna live fourth ones are actually books I had
forever; who’s gonna write books like this published. Now, come to think of it, I just
when he’s gone? I guess that’s the point I published recently my second manuscript.
said: why don’t I try it? And that’s kinda My first one—I wouldn’t let anybody see it
how it got started. I was probably close to even if I knew where it was.
my—I was in my upper twenties, close to
Interviewer: It can’t have been that bad. I
thirty years old when this all happened,
mean, readers like the second one.
when I started trying to write.
[laughter]
Interviewer: Interesting. So you were really
R.G. Yoho: It was awful though. I mean,
influenced by Louis L’Amour?
actually the second manuscript I ever wrote
R.G. Yoho: Yeah, more so than anybody is my book “Boot Hill Valley.”
else. I will say this: My dad was reading
Interviewer: Really?
these books for a long time and I was
making fun of him, which ought to show R.G. Yoho: Yes.
you who the real smart one was between
the two of us. Interviewer: Readers like that one.
Interviewer: [laughter] It’s true. It’s R.G. Yoho: Yeah, that book, there’s not
amazing how the things we grew up much about it really that resembles the
around influence what we’re going to do. It original book I wrote… a little bit. I mean,
really is. the basic skeleton of the story’s still there
but it got a whole lot fatter after that, you
R.G. Yoho: Yeah. know.
Interviewer: So how did you get started? Interviewer: Interesting. So you took it and
What was the first step? Did you have an reworked it a few years later?
idea in mind, or did you play at it a little
bit? How did you get started? R.G. Yoho: Yes. I didn’t even know—what’s
interesting about it, I didn’t even know that
R.G. Yoho: When first started, I just had an manuscript still existed, or that I had it
idea for writing a book. The truth is, anywhere. See, a lot of these, when I wrote
sometime before that I had actually started them, we’re talking thirty years ago. And at
writing other things. And I started going to that time this was pretty well before the PC
a couple of writers’ conferences and things. was really big and we were still getting by
But I just decided. That was really after I on 5 and 1/2 inch floppy disks, or 3 and a
