The Birth of My Baby

In April 2010, A Life with Horses was released. Although essentially happy to see it, at last, in print, I am also at loose ends. For the past few years, when I had a few minutes away from my real business, Wildwood Reining Horses, I was creating it.

I should have started this blog when I started writing A Life With Horses, but 1) I'm not sure blogs existed then, 2) I didn't know about them and 3) I didn't really have time to write a book, let alone keep up with a blog. So I'm starting now and starting at the beginning.

For several years, friends encouraged me to write a book, to put my horse stories in print. My answer was always the same: "I don't have time." Then circumstances motivated me to start. My husband moved out.

Alone, I certainly didn't have more time for writing, but I needed to believe in myself, to believe I could do something on my own, even if no one knew about it - maybe especially if no one knew! I sat down at the computer for at least an hour every day after morning feeding to write.

At first I didn't have a plan - I just wrote anything that came into my head - but soon it became obvious that all my stories had a horse in it somewhere. I had no desire to write about my failed relationship or the heartbreak of it (there are plenty of books on that subject) so naturally I wrote about what I knew best - horses. Ideas multiplied as I typed. One story led to another - horses I had almost forgotten, horses I would never forget. That's what my book would be about - my life with horses.

I agonized a little over the title. I should use something catchy? My mind went blank. Or simple - My Life With Horses. In the end, I replaced "MY" with "A". I thought it said it better and had all the elements of the book in a short, simple phrase - life and horses. For anyone who knows me it kind of said it all.

I did not want to categorize the book as a memoir (too many of those!), but I had no choice. It is indeed a memoir, but only a memoir of the "horsey" part of my life. Of course I would have to include pertinent facts as the story unfolded, but only as structure for what was most important - my horses!

So for more than four years, I have been writing and re-writing chapters for A Life With Horses. Many times, I wanted to write all day but could not. Several times, my hour turned into two until I reluctantly left the computer to ride my horses (my real job)but I persevered. After a year of this kind of sporadic writing, I had an outline and a few chapters roughed out.

The book was far from finished...