In retrospect, maybe I shouldn’t have named the book “A Work in Progress.” Maybe that was my first clue of how long this particular book would take to write. The planting of the seed happened over a message board about 10 years ago. Remember message boards? You posted something, then other people responded, and you had a nice little conversation about a certain topic. Well, I started posting about this show that I really liked on TV at the time. Another young lady was posting as well, and we got into this big (but good-natured) argument about which guy on the show was our favorite. She liked one of the...
How my life as a rodeo queen affected my fiction…
See my guest blog at Sandra Ardoin’s blog! (And check out her post from Wednesday about her own horsey adventures!)
First Horse Horror Story: Sandy Ardoin
Nicole here: Today’s post is from Sandy Ardoin – one of my fabulous critique partners and fellow horse lover. Check out her blog to learn about her writing journey. Grace. That’s what my dad called him. When I got him, his name was Sonny, plain and simple—and dull. So I changed it to Sunny, short for Sundance. This nine-year-old, stocky white gelding with pink skin that sunburned and big feet that tended to skim the ground and trip him up was my “baby” for almost eighteen years. Most of the time, he was patient and plodding, content to do what I asked. Every once in a while, though, he’d get a...
Why I failed to go completely “digital”
A while back, I made some big claims, started a new revolution of sorts. I was going PAPERLESS! Using some fantastic efficiency apps and new toys, I was on my way. Going completely digital and ultra hip. It’s what the cool kids do, these days. Well, I failed. This is why: I LOVE paper. I love my pen. I love the feel of crossing something off a list. I love the smooth swipe of a cursive letter. I love my day planner with the monthly calendar view and the weekly… I made the transition to the Kindle with relative ease (though I still read many paperback books), so I thought...
First-Horse Horror Story: Here’s mine…
If you didn’t catch PR/Social Media guru extraordinaire, Mandee Widrick’s story, check it out! For me, my first horse inspired a lot of my current horse characters and taught me more about life than perhaps any other horse I’ve owned. If you don’t have horses, I’m sure you’ve had a pet that had a particular character that just stuck with you. Whiskey Rose, a.k.a. LL Naseem, was a purebred Arabian mare with three white stockings, a thick white blaze, and a temper to boot. I was twelve. We’d searched for a horse for months after moving onto property and erecting a shaky electric fence. I went away for two weeks...