The Farm Detective

The everyday running of a horse farm is both exciting and challenging. From the lawn tractor that won’t start (yet again) to the mare who is mysteriously losing hair on her face, to the odd looking weed that has suddenly sprouted in the center of the pasture, there is always at least one ongoing mystery on the farm.

From creative thought to research to problem-solving, writing is much like farm management. First, a problem, conflict, or potential threat has to be identified. On the farm it might be swarming bees, a lame horse, or a leaky barn roof. In writing, it could be a murder, a romantic triangle, or even the loss of a job.

The research phase involves the writer understanding the problem enough to explain it to readers, and offering a plausible resolution. It also involves the characters taking steps to manage the problem, or methodically gather information toward resolving the conflict. In the barn, research might take the form of different sprays to get rid of the bees, an internet search or a call to a local county extension agent to identify the unusual weed, or palpation of a horse’s leg to identify the source of the lameness.

Finally, the character or the horse owner has enough information to make a decision that will solve the problem. The decision might involve some trial and error, but eventually a resolution is found. The weed turns out to belong to an innocuous branch of the mint family, the lameness stems from a sore hip, and the bees, well, spraying a mixture of vinegar and water around the barn seems to deter them.

Unlike mystery books, however, farm-based mysteries usually do not involve a murder. But the thinking process that goes into each really is very similar, and I have found that creative problem-solving on the farm also allows me to then create some interesting plot lines. 

One recent challenge was how to secure the barrels for our new horse obstacle so they did not tip over. After much research about safety, and a few trial and error attempts, we ended up packing tires around the barrels to create a stable obstacle for our Colby's Army horses and riders to navigate.

Farm challenges can be frustrating, but if you begin to think of them as a way to develop a book idea or a story line, maybe some of the frustration will turn into creativity. This week I have dealt with the non-starting mower, a mare’s facial hair loss, unwanted bees, a leaning barn support beam, an electric fence that does not want to turn off, and a few other odds and ends. What have your farm or writing challenges been recently?

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Lisa Wysocky is a bestselling and award-winning author of fiction and nonfiction, including the Cat Enright equestrian mystery series, now optioned for film and television. She is also a therapeutic riding instructor who consults with PATH and other centers about their horse herds. Find her at lisawysocky.com

What I Wish I'd Known When I was Eleven

When I was young, all I could think about was horses. From the time I stole a tiny, plastic horse from the farm set at my nursery school (I was two), horses were my thing. After years of raking yards and many summers of lemonade stands I finally saved up enough to buy a pony when I was eleven. From there I moved up to an Appaloosa mare and began to compete. Since then I have trained, instructed, and shown successfully on a national level, although I sometimes feel my journey with horses is just beginning.

I have learned a few things over the years, however, so I thought this might be a good time to share what I wish I’d known when I was eleven. And, in reviewing this list, I found that it applies to books and writing, just as much as it does to a journey with horses.

1. It’s okay to ask questions. In fact, never miss an opportunity to ask. It is the very best way to learn something that is important to you. Ask more than one person, then compare answers to develop your own opinion.

2. Set a goal, one that is doable. Your goal should not be winning a class or writing a best seller, but more along the lines of improving your performance. You might not reach your goal, but you will have learned something along the way. When you do reach a goal, celebrate!

3. Prepare, then prepare some more. Think of every possible scenario regarding your goal and walk yourself through all of them, as best you can. Then do it again, and again.

4. As much as you can, read. Then read again, and discuss the ooks with others. There is always something to learn.

5. Watch your horse and the people around you as he or she interacts with others. That is probably how the horse or human will try to interact with you. Then adjust your demeanor accordingly. Some horses and people respond best to a soft voice, others need firm, business-like directives. Make sure your horse and your friends are a good match for you.

6. Always wear a helmet when you ride. Always. I have seen far too many accidents, many at the walk and trot, to feel it is safe for anyone to ride without one. (Okay, not much in common with books here, but it is important.)

7. Follow  basic safety guidelines in all that you do. Most injuries happen out of carelessness. Keep your lead rope from dragging on the ground, check your girth or cinch often, make sure your equipment is in good condition. Constantly think the equine mantra: is this safe?

8. Have fun, and try new things, such as a Dressage or barrel racing lesson, or reading a SciFi  novel or a biography. It is important to expand your horizons in all that you do.

9. Make friends and encourage others. Then, your new friends will encourage you, too. Remember that you do not compete against others, but against your own best self.

10. It’s okay have a bad day. If you’re smart you will learn something important, so smile and take time to digest what went wrong so you can come back better and stronger the next day.

Just like you, I have learned so much more during my journey with horses and books than just this. But I really, really wish I’d known all of these things when I was eleven. 

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Lisa Wysocky is a bestselling and award-winning author of fiction and nonfiction, including the Cat Enright equestrian mystery series, now optioned for film and television. She is also a therapeutic riding instructor who consults with PATH and other centers about their horse herds. Find her at lisawysocky.com

Excellence in Editing and Formatting

I confess that I have a number of pet peeves when it comes to the editing and formatting of books. As someone who edits for several small presses as well as independent authors, I understand the positive impact the good brain and eye of an experienced editor can have on the finished product. Wearing an author hat, we all read or see what we expect to see on the page, rather than what is actually there. If we expect to see, "The horse ran across the road," what might really be there is "The horse tan across the roas." We don't see what is obvious to another, because our author brain knows what is supposed to be there.

A recent labor of love.

 As an editor, I want to see . . . rather than the annoying ............... I like to see long dashes––rather than - this. A lack of consistent spelling of names and products drives me nuts, as do spaces between paragraphs. The Chicago Manual of Style is my writing and editorial bible. I also do book the occasional book design, so paragraphs that have indents of more than a third of an inch bother me, as does ragged left text in a printed book.  

The proliferation of self-published authors who do not have the funds or take the time to hire an independent editor to catch these and other mistakes adds to the problem. When I as a reader am distracted enough by poor formatting, typos, and plot inconsistencies. I put down the book. And that's a shame, because most times, the story is worth reading. Lest you think I am too hard on authors, I include myself as one who has made the mistake of self-publishing a book that was not independently edited, a book that was not ready for publication. Lesson learned. 

The fact remains that an author who publishes with a small independent press, or who self-publishes, has to deliver a product that is equally as well-edited and well-formatted as a book that has landed on a major bestseller list. That is hard to do, but the extra effort will be worth it. I also believe that this attention to detail in writing and producing books carries through to other areas of our lives. It translates to a spotless tack room, diligence in developing a good canter departure, and delivering a well-turned out horse. It's taking time to do the best you can and in taking pride in going the extra mile to make your product that much better.

Even with as many as seven edits, each of my books that were published by a major publisher has a typo or two. Those are seemingly inevitable. But I use well-edited books, expert grooming of horses, and beautiful riders to motivate myself to reach deeper, father, and higher in all that I do. What motivates you to do better?

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Lisa Wysocky is a bestselling and award-winning author of fiction and nonfiction, including the Cat Enright equestrian mystery series, now optioned for film and television. She is also a therapeutic riding instructor who consults with PATH and other centers about their horse herds. Find her at lisawysocky.com

Summertime

Summer seems to be here in full swing in the South. It was as if the weather went last week from a nice, cool, wet Spring to muggy, miserable, energy-draining, 90-degree humidity in the blink of an eye. As a Minnesota native, I struggled in the heat for many years until I finally figured out a while back that it was okay to slow down on hot summer afternoons. Rather than ride in the afternoon, I could write. Rather than muck stalls at noon, I could do that in the evening.  I’ll even admit to the occasional summer afternoon nap.

Acknowledging and respecting the heat should be obvious to many, especially people who grew up in warmer climates, but to a hard-working upper mid-westerner, that lesson only came after years of letting the heat beat me up day after day. Of course, when I finally decided to work with the heat, rather than against it, a horse was involved.

I have long been an advocate of humans studying the horse to learn about him- or herself. It’s what I teach in my clinics and it is a theme that runs through many of my books. Horses study people all the time. It is part of their safety system, and over time, horses have developed an innate ability to tell if a human is mad, sad, tired, sick, angry, or joyful––all from a hundred or more feet away. Why, then, could I not understand that if my horse was hot, then I might be, too?

Then one hot Tennessee day a draft mare that I was caring for became overheated while standing in her paddock under the shade of a lovely, old tree, and something inside me clicked. Just maybe, it was too hot for me, too. I brought the mare in, hosed her off and dried her, then put her in a stall under a fan. Then I did the first smart thing I’d done in a while and went inside.

Many people love the heat. Not me, but I have learned to use it to my advantage. I write all year long, but I am far more productive in the summer, when high temperatures force me inside. The afternoon heat removes all temptation for me to perform yard work, mow the pasture, clean stalls, ride, fix the fence, haul hay, and all the other outdoor activities people with horses regularly do.

Instead, I get to write. I get to put down words that help someone forge a better relationship with his or her horse, and words that hopefully engage people as they help Cat Enright, my protagonist, solve a horse-based who-dun-it.

Summer heat? It will never be my favorite thing, but I’ve learned to make it work for me. How about you? Heat or cold. Which do you prefer?

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Lisa Wysocky is an award-winning, bestselling author and clinician. She is also a registered PATH instructor. Find her online at LisaWysocky.com, or on Facebook or Twitter.

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

Fiction Versus Nonfiction

I recently finished reading two books. One was a nonfiction book about horses, and I came away with the thought of “Really? What kind of tale is this author spinning?” The fiction title was a mystery and the protagonist was a Realtor. From what little I know about buying and selling real estate, that part of the fiction book was completely based in fact.

It is obvious that the line between fiction and nonfiction can be, and often is, blurred. But as an author who writes both, I sometimes wonder just where that line is. Every author has a unique writing process, but certainly a nonfiction book needs to be steeped in fact. Even if the author knows the subject like the back of her hand, research should be done to confirm lesser known facts. For the reader’s benefit, the ideas need to be presented logically, with a little entertainment, such as a good story that is relevant to the facts, thrown in for good measure.

While the writing process for nonfiction can be methodical, with the author checking off each of the points he or she wants to make, fiction can be a wilder ride. From the invention of characters, scenarios, sometimes even the invention of entire towns, the process can be challenging, but a lot of fun. The inventions, however, need to have enough fact in them that the reader is not taken out of the story in disbelief.

In these ways, nonfiction can have an element of fiction, if the author is telling a story to illustrate a point, and fiction must have enough fact to make the story believable. That can be a thin line that is hard to follow, and I applaud every author who gets it right.

I have written many books, and looking back, I have done better weaving all of this together with some books than with others. I am thrilled to report, however, that I seem to have gotten it right in my newest equestrian mystery, The Fame Equation, which has been selected as one of three finalists in the mystery category for the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Book Awards. 

In a few days I will head to Salt Lake City in a day or so to see if this book, the third in the series, has been selected for a gold medal, or a silver one. In either case, I am so honored by this recognition. This is the sixth award for the series, which has also been optioned for film and television. After so many, many long months of mixing horse facts with the lives of my fictional characters, it is a wonderful feeling to know that in the end, the balance was right.

In a final note, I will be at the Midwest Horse Fair in Madison, Wisconsin April 15-17 teaching people about ground driving and riding in balance. Hope to see many of you there!

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Lisa Wysocky is an award-winning and bestselling author and horsewoman who educates people about the horse. She also is a registered PATH instructor who consults with therapeutic riding centers across the country about their hoses and horse herds. Find her online at LisaWysocky.com

Moving

Moving. Does anyone actually look forward to it? I have spent the last month moving a therapeutic riding center forty miles. It seemed, at times, like 400 miles. Volunteers and I packed up girths, saddles, hay, horses, poles, barrels, storage sheds, water troughs, desks, filing cabinets, tires, grain, supplements, bits, polo wraps, longe lines, and much more. Then we had to unpack, inventory, put up fencing, and organize it all. Whew.

We are still a long way from being finished, but we are functional. Well, almost. We need a mounting block and a wheelbarrow, an electrician and a few more volunteers. I have no doubt that they will all eventually arrive. The best part is that we are now in a large, 54-acre facility with three creeks, a waterfall, riding and hiking trails––even a stage and dance floor.

While the move was exhausting, I also found the new location caused my creative juices to stir. As a mystery author, I always look for fun ways to involve horses, interesting people, and unique settings into my stories. This location has all that and more. I began to have so many story ideas, that I started to jot them down into the notes section of my phone. Now I am intrigued to find out which of these ideas will turn into a book or a short story. Pieces of other ideas, I am sure, will wend their way into a chapter or two, as well. 

Oddly enough, the farm is just a stone's throw away from where Cat Enright, the protagonist in my equestrian mysteries lives. When I started the series a number of years ago, I never dreamed I'd be involved with a therapeutic riding center that was so close to her fictional home.

As a writer, sometimes all it takes is a change of scenery to kick start a project, or get a book to the finish line. As you can see, I now have scenery galore! Feel free to follow the progress of the new farm on Facebook. I think we have a lifetime of projects, and ideas, waiting.

If you are ever in Ashland City, Tennessee, stop by Colby's Army for a visit.  I will probably be in a shady spot near the creek, writing.

 

Lisa Wysocky is an award-winning author, clinician, trainer, and riding instructor.

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

If Horses Could Thank Us

by Lisa Wysocky

Every day I am thankful for horses, but as this year comes to an end, I know our horses are thankful for us. If they could, they would thank us for the food and shelter that we provide, because the reality is that unless a horse is born in the wild, they cannot provide this for themselves.

Our horses would thank us for the companionship of other horses. Since horses are herd animals, the safety and friendship that other horses provide is of utmost importance. They would also thank us for the veterinarian and farrier care that we give through our trusted equine medical professionals, as this is another thing that a horse cannot do for him- or herself.

I am sure our horses would also thank us for the many groomings we give them throughout the year, the care we take to be sure their saddles and other tack fit correctly, and the trail rides we take them on.

If a horse could thank us. This is not a bizarre thought, as the realty is that they thank us every day. Equine body language is subtle and complex, and their vocal tones offer distinctions that most human ears cannot detect, but from the blink of an eye, to a low whicker, to the flick of a tail, yes, they thank us.

 This "laughing horse" is actually relieving stress and tension.

It our job as equine authors to relay these complexities of horse language, thought, and behavior to the reader in an educational, engaging, and entertaining way. It is our job to also do this in a manner that drives the story (whether fiction or nonfiction) forward in words that makes sense to the reader. All of the authors here at Horse Crossings write about horses because we love them. We want our readers to care, too.

I had an editor who once questioned my use of the term “round pen.” “What is that?” she asked. When I explained how a sixty-foot round pen was used to develop leadership in the human side of the horse/human partnership she asked, “Why is it sixty feet?” I then explained that thirty feet was the average outside boundary of a horse’s personal space, so a person standing in the center of the round pen would be roughly thirty feet away from the horse. “That,” she said. “Is fascinating. You need to let your readers know.”

So I did, and with my equestrian mysteries I get just as many positive comments about the details of the equine mind as I do about the story line, or my characters. Subtly, equine authors must educate readers about the horse. If our horses knew, I am sure they would thank us because all of us, horse or human, just want to be understood.

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Lisa Wysocky is the author of the award-winning Cat Enright equestrian mystery series, which has been optioned for film and television. Find Lisa online at Lisa Wysocky.com, Facebook.com/ThePowerofaWhisper, Twitter.com/LisaWysocky

Being Real

by Lisa Wysocky

I was at the barn the other day scratching Tessie, our lead mare, in the pasture. She loves to be scratched. When one of the other horses approached, however, she pinned her ears, made an ugly face, and the other horse moved away. In that moment I wished that I could be as transparent in my life as Tessie was in hers.

That’s the thing about horses. They wear their emotions all over their bodies. Once you understand equine language, you know without a doubt which emotion your horse is feeing. From a swished tail to the tilt of an ear, horses tell us exactly what is going through their minds.

People . . . not so much. Most people hide their emotions and true feelings so deeply that we get caught up in what we think a friend, co-worker, or loved one felt or meant. Usually we are wrong. Then, after a long delicate dance of convoluted proportions where each person tiptoes around the other, one party’s true feelings might possibly come out. Or not. 

Tessie

The upshot is that our complicated human ritual of hiding our feelings is a writer’s dream. We can attach a series of facial expressions and body movements to a fictional character that is sure to confound the reader and keep him or her guessing. Our complex social rules dictate that we suck up anger, disappointment, fear and many other emotions when we are in public. I have sometimes wondered how different our lives might be if we just expressed our feelings in the moment. On one hand our close relationships might become much stronger, as we would have cut through all the red tape that keeps us from being real. On the other hand, our casual and workplace relationships would most likely deteriorate. Who wants to be around Debbie Downer after work, or eat lunch with a person who expresses all of her anger as you’re trying to enjoy a club sandwich?

For now, I will continue to be polite, even on the rare occasions I do not feel like it. I will keep making conversation and smiling, even during those few times when I’d rather be someplace else. One day, though, I’m going to do it. One day when I don’t want to talk to a person who annoys or intimidates me I am going to pin my ears and make an ugly face. I will turn around and walk away from them and if they follow, I will kick them. After that, if I manage not to get arrested for assault, I might even feel good enough to prick my ears and trot toward home. 

Lisa is the author of My Horse My Partner and Horse Country, among many other books, and the award-winning Cat Enright cozy equestrian mystery series, now optioned for film and television. When not writing, Lisa is a therapeutic riding instructor who consults with PATH and other centers about their horse herds.

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.