Help me welcome author Barbara Fox as she compares similarities between riding horses and writing books. Read on through for details on how to enter a random drawing to win a copy of her book.

It wasn’t until I wrote fiction that I realized how much riding horses and writing books have in common.

Both riding and writing require perseverance. You cannot ride a horse well without spending hours in the saddle training your muscles and mind. The more you practice, the more you improve.

To become an excellent writer, you must spend hours glued to your chair, writing, revising, and digging deeper. The more you write, the sooner you develop your voice and your writing style.

Writing and riding are ongoing educations, providing we keep a teachable spirit. Even if riding or writing is a person’s gift, no one is born knowing how to ride a horse or write a book. And no one has all the answers.

Riders improve their skills through lessons, clinics, and observing successful riders. Writers improve their skill by taking classes, going to conferences, learning from successful authors.

The best riders read books on riding theory to deepen their knowledge, the same way writers learn by reading books on writing craft.

And you cannot succeed at riding horses or writing books without passion.

Gimmicks, tricks, and shortcuts ruin horses, and they cheat riders out of becoming their best. Learning multiple methods for training adds depth to talent. Character development, tension, making every word count, and adding story layers take time to learn. There are no shortcuts to learning how to ride a horse or write a good story.

The rider’s critique partner is called a ground person. A ground person watches the rider’s performance and tells them what he or she sees. They help the rider develop refinement; the same way critique partners help writers refine their words.

A smart horseman learns from every horse he rides. Every critique you receive, whether from a critique group, a contest judge, or an editor, holds a kernel of wisdom, even when the feedback is negative. Riders and writers learn from success and failure. How much they learn depends on the individual.

Riders and writers who rest on their laurels are asking to be passed by. Unless you do something totally unheard of, like training two Triple Crown winners, or you write Harry Potter, this week’s champion is merely next week’s competition. Bob Baffert and J. K. Rowling can afford to bask in their achievements and not worry about improvement. The rest of us cannot.

And finally, both riding and writing are use-it-or-lose-it skills. To continue to ride or write at your best level, you must practice. And while you may always be a good rider or writer if you slack off, you’ll miss out on working at your full potential.

It surprised me to learn a lifetime of training horses prepared me to write fiction.

Question to enter random drawing:

Along with a horse, you’ll find adventure in almost everything I write. After all, I don’t know a horse lover whose life hasn’t taken some twists and turns. Do you love horses? Have you ever ridden one? Comment below and you’ll be in a drawing for an e-book copy of REMEMBER NOT. And please note: Amazon says you must live in the U.S. to be a recipient of this e-book. Include your cleverly disguised email address so we can reach you but the 'bots won't.

About Barbara:

Barbara Ellin Fox writes clean, contemporary romance for horse lovers. She weaves her extensive background with horses and their people into exciting stories about happily ever after for men, women, and horses. Barbara enjoys playing with her wild horse, Reno. She lives in the Midwest with her husband and close to her two daughters and granddaughters. Click https://barbaraellinfox.com/newsletter-signup/ to join Barbara’s newsletter.

Connecting online:

Website: https://barbaraellinfox.com

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/barbarafoxauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BarbaraEllinFox

Amazon Author Page: https://bit.ly/3Qv7hrW

About Remember Not

She believes her rehabilitated show jumper is the ticket to the top for financial stability for herself and her daughter, but someone is out to kill the horse. 

Single mom, Rylie Davis believes Eskador, her formerly abused show jumper, is her ticket to the top. Winning the $40,000 Pandora Grand Prix is not only the culmination of six years of rehab for the horse, but it proves Rylie’s ability as a horse trainer, which will provide badly needed stability and financial security for herself and her daughter. What she doesn’t know is the publicity Eskador receives for the big win puts him in the sights of a killer.
 
Jason Hughes has finally found the horse trainer he needs to take his breeding program to the next level, only he sees Rylie as more than a potential employee. Poor judgement on his part ruins his credibility with Rylie. He’ll do whatever it takes to gain her trust, including protecting Eskador, the horse that humiliated him.
 
When someone rips what she cherishes most from her hands, will Rylie trust Jason to help her?

Click here https://amzn.to/44ZYS4E to learn more or buy REMEMBER NOT on Amazon.

First chapter sneak peek...

The last thing she needed was a cowboy on his horse following them through the parking lot. Eskador snorted and rose on his hind legs, black mane trailing his neck. Rylie Davis released the pressure on the horse’s lead. She focused on reaching the pen at the edge of the asphalt.

“It’s okay, buddy. Keep it together a little longer, then you can burn off this stress.” The energetic show jumper stamped his hooves to the pavement and curled his neck, ready to explode.

The cowboy tracking them had better back off soon. Why did he follow them, anyway? Most competitors were in the show ring or getting ready for competition. This should have been the perfect time to exercise Eskador before tonight’s final event.

The horse excelled at competing under the spotlight, but being crowded by a stranger stirred his abused past. Anger and nervous energy radiated through him. Sweat ran down the sides of Rylie’s face and dribbled into her collar. Her pulse raced. She murmured to the gelding towering at her side, then let out a slow breath. Stay calm. Ignore the stranger. If Eskador sensed her fear, the horse would go berserk.

No one wanted fourteen hundred pounds of angry hooves and teeth loose on the showgrounds.

Rylie glanced over her shoulder checking to see if the man followed. Yup. Still there. Watching like I’m iron and he’s a magnet. He sat tall in the saddle, gray cowboy hat perfectly straight, rein hand resting on the saddle horn. She eased Eskador around a horse trailer, then between two trucks.

The cowboy moved his horse forward.

Eskador plunged. An aggravated rumble worked from deep inside the knot of nerves and muscle, more grunts than a groan. A sound he only made under duress.

“Easy big guy. He’s just a fancy wannabe on his little cow pony. Nothing to worry about.” If only she felt as confident as her words.

This guy didn’t back off, proving he enjoyed messing with a lone woman’s horse.

Eskador grunted and jerked his head, slinging globs of saliva into the air. The odor of nervous sweat rolled off his slick black coat in steamy waves. Rivulets of white foam streaked his chest.

She’d expected extra stress at the Oklahoma horse show, especially on the day of her biggest competition, but the cowboy’s pressure surpassed extra. Now the stress verged on dangerous. What made this man ride so close? She didn’t have time to explain Eskador’s distrust of men to a stranger. What if he followed her? Shoot, she hoped not. She’d had her fill of that in college. Memories of another man’s undivided attention churned her stomach like a pit filled with snakes. She sure didn’t want the cowboy’s attention. Eskador would come unglued if he didn’t back away.

Only a hundred feet left to the pen.

Her horse’s shod hooves exploded against the asphalt like the end of a fireworks display. She’d yell over her shoulder for the man to clear out, but her shouts would wind Eskador’s rubber band tighter. Choosing the least of two evils, she focused on the pen.

Relief whooshed through her as she wrapped her free hand around the gate lever and jerked. Eskador lunged through the opening and swung around long enough for her to unclip his lead. He made a giant leap then bolted around the circle.