Reading, Writing, and Resting

I just came off of a seven-week run on the road, seven weeks of horse fairs and expos, clinics and book signings. I met people everywhere from Montgomery, Alabama to Fargo, North Dakota, and it seems like most of the 62,000 people who attended the Midwest Horse Fair in Madison, Wisconsin. Whew!

Of course I came home with pneumonia, first in the right lung, and several weeks later in the left. That will teach me to do too much. :-) Between bouts of pneumonia, I was able to take part in a really fun video for Colby’s Army, a nonprofit that provides therapeutic riding and other equine assisted activities and therapies in Ashland City, Tennessee. I hope you’ll take time to watch the video, as it was a ton of fun to make.

With strict instructions from my doctor to rest, I have been planning the fourth book in the Cat Enright equestrian mystery series. Her voice is becoming more insistent in my head as I think of possibilities. All I can say at this point is that it will involve a racetrack, and that a number of Cat’s relationships will evolve to new levels. We are looking at a Fall 2017 pub date, so Cat and I need to get writing! After six awards and a film/tv option, the pressure is definitely on to deliver an amazing story. I have no doubt that Cat will come through with flying colors.

I’m off to another nap. Read and ride well. Until next month.

Lisa

––Lisa Wysocky is an award-winning author and clinician who teaches people about the horse. Find her online at lisawysocky.com

Collaboration

Collaboration. We do it all the time, whether we realize it or not. A family might collaborate to get dinner on the table. Co-workers collaborate on projects, and we horse people collaborate with our horses every time we interact with each other. When it comes to writing collaborations, however, the word escalates to a new level.

I live in Nashville, Tennessee, home of Music City. In the thirty-plus years I have lived here I have come to realize that most of the songs that are heard on the radio are written by more than one person. Collaboration. Many books are also a collaborative process. In his later years, my favorite author, Dick Francis, collaborated with his son Felix, to turn out several excellent horse-based mysteries. After Dick's passing, Felix took up the reins and continued on in an almost seamless transition.

I have co-authored several books, one being Front of the Class, the true story of Brad Cohen, an inspiring teacher with Tourette syndrome. We were thrilled when Hallmark picked it up for a Hallmark Hall of Fame television movie. Each of my writing collaborations have been unique, especially my most recent one: Eight Mystery Writers You Should Be Reading Now.

 

This project features eight writers within the genre of mystery. Some, like me, write fun cozy mysteries, while others write hard-boiled thrillers. The book introduces each writer with a bio, chapter from one of his or her books, a short story, and an interview. I am so proud to be grouped with such incredible authors as Lisa Alber, Jessie Bishop, Kathleen Cosgrove, Michael Guillebeau, Chris Knopf, Larissa Reinhart, and Jaden Terrell. Plus, our foreword was written by none other than bestselling author Hank Phillippi Ryan.

While we each wrote or provided our own content, the decisions about cover, sales, marketing, and many other things have been a true collaboration. What happens when you throw eight people who don't know each other well, if at all, together to make such decisions? Cooperation, encouragement, excellent ideas, and joy. This unusual grouping of people could easily have turned antagonistic and ego-driven, but that is the definitely not the case.

As authors, we all need to promote our own books, but what a refreshing thrill it has been to also plug other authors and books that I love. If you are searching for new reads, I hope you will consider these authors and their books. Even though most of the stories are non-horsey, they are good. Very good. It also includes a new short adventure from my own protagonist, horse trainer Cat Enright, as she searches for Bubba, a run-away child. Of course Sally Blue, the (possibly) psychic mare chimes in with clues. I hope you enjoy it, as well as all of the stories and chapter samples in the book.

The book is available as a kindle download on Amazon.com, but will be FREE on Feb. 20-21. Happy reading!

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Lisa Wysocky is an author, speaker, and clinician who teaches people about the horse. She is a registered PATH instructor who also consults with therapeutic riding programs about their horse herds. Find her at LisaWysocky.com

Writing it Right, by Lisa Wysocky

As equine authors, we all want to get not only the story right, but also the horse part of it right, too. Everyone here is an experienced horse person, and has a broad base of knowledge that we incorporate into our books to share with our readers. However, it is amazing the number of little facts that creep into the story line that need to be researched, not once, but several times. We need to be thorough on our research because, if we get it wrong, at least one reader will step up to call us on it.

I think we’ve all read a book where the author gets a basic fact wrong and it takes us out of the story. That should never happen. Even in fiction, there are facts: a horse is measured in hands, a hand is four inches, there is no palomino color in the Thoroughbred breed. If we as authors get it wrong, we have done our readers a huge disservice.

I showed Appaloosa horses for many years, and the question of their point system came up in my newest Cat Enright cozy mystery, The Fame Equation. I knew how it worked. Or did I? After reviewing the current rulebook and a number of websites, I finally went to the source and called the person at the Appaloosa Horse Club who was in charge of their points system. Yes, I was right. But if I had not been, I would have alienated a lot of readers, and worse, my readers would have lost trust in me.

Quincy is a solid colored registered Appaloosa, but he looks so much like a

Thoroughbred that even his vet and farrier worked with him for

three years without realizing his actual breed.

Authors can never assume.

That is the real concern. If a reader cannot trust an author to get a basic fact correct, what about everything else the author writes? How many other mistakes, factual errors, or misconceptions are there in a given book? I write both equestrian fiction and nonfiction and am sure to find at least two credible sources for every fact I am not 1000 percent sure of. That is maybe a little over the top, but I have written a number of horse books and no reader has yet called me on a fact. I’m sure that day will someday come, and when it does, I will welcome it, for readers are truly the final authority.

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Lisa Wysocky is an author, clinician, and registered PATH instructor who helps people learn about themselves through horses. Find her at LisaWysocky.com.