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It's been a month since I sadly lost my beautiful Dalmatian, Lucy, suddenly and unexpectedly. It was, and still is, heartbreaking to lose a member of the family and it's inspired me to write a story in her memory. It's called 'The Dalmatian That Lost its Spots' and is a story of loss, hope and finding friendship in unexpected places. Speaking of finding new friends, I've got a new friend in the form of my new Dalmatian puppy, Lady Bluebell (Bella) who has just joined the family. Here begins a new chapter.
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Today I would have been at Badminton Horse Trials for the first time, and as well as enjoying watching the sport in this beautiful weather, I'd also have been launching 'Trusting Molly' with Equestrian Bookfair.
So sad that this couldn't go ahead, but there's good news relating to the fourth Amber's Pony Tales story. This book features the Pony Club sport of tetrathlon. I decided to ask the Tetrathlon Chairman, Tim Vestey, if he'd read the story to check the content relating to tetrathlon, since it's over 20 years since I last did one myself. Not only did he agree, he contacted me to say he'd enjoyed the story! So that's made me pretty happy! This week I saw a Twitter based writing competition from CBC - Curtis Brown Creative. This is a creative writing school led by Curtis Brown Literary Agency. The task was to start with the line 'It happened on 29th February...' and write a mini-scene that created intrigue. I decided to enter as I thought it would be interesting to see what on earth I could come up that would create intrigue in the limited number of characters allowed in a Tweet.
It was difficult! It's surprising how writing with limited words is so much more difficult that without a word limit! It's a great task as it really forces you to choose words carefully, while still thinking about the effect you want to create. I couldn't believe it when I discovered that my entry had been chosen as the winner, and my prize is a place on one of Curtis Brown's writing courses. I'm delighted to be able to announce that the third 'Amber's Pony Tales' book will be launched at Badminton Horse Trials this May. All of the books, including the new one, will be available from Equestrian Bookfair's trade stand. I'll also be attending on Sat 9th May to do signing sessions at 10.30am and 3pm. I can't wait!
What a year it’s been! I could never have predicted how things would turn out, even just 12 months ago.
In 2018, I discovered two floppy discs with the manuscripts for two pony books I’d written in 2004 / 2005. At the end of the year, after lots of editing, I was writing to agents and publishers in the hope of getting the books into print. Now, as 2019 draws to a close, the first two books are published and out in the world, the third is complete and will be released in 2020 and book 4 is fully formed and ready to start being put onto paper in the New Year too. Here are my first-year-as-an-author highlights:
Thank you to anyone who's read the books, reviewed them, contacted me personally about them, entered the competitions, joined my mailing list, been a beta reader, and any other way you’ve been involved in this wonderful, exciting adventure with me. I wish you all the best for 2020 and remember to keep your eyes open for the third book! After a difficult few years with Charlie's behaviour - becoming so strong to the point of bolting - and discovering that this wasn't due to badness or naughtiness (he was diagnosed with bone spavin - arthritis - in his hocks) things seem to be getting better at last. After 18 months of very light work, he's been back to the vet and his arthritis has settled. He is now happy in his work and back to his old self - slightly opinionated but safe as houses. He's been to a few Eventer Derbies this summer as he loves cross country and is a careful show jumper too. This weekend we tried some Arena Eventing and he was amazing. I'll have to take care with him, compete at a lower level than we were before and listen carefully to how he's telling me he's feeling, but it feels so good to be able to go out and have fun together again. He's only 12 so I was devastated when I thought he may never be able to compete again. He's so brave, bold, careful but also safe, he's my horse of a lifetime!
In November 2019, PONY magazine featured Amber's Pony Tales stories as their Facebook competition.
School visits for the new academic year kicked off on Friday 4th October with a visit to Hunter Hall school in Penrith to launch their book week which was starting the following Monday. They were the first school to see The Second Best Pony and to take part in a new reading session connected to this book. There was some fantastic creative writing talent in the editing task - authors of the future!
'The Second Best Pony' had an official launch party on Friday 4th October at The New Bookshop in Cockermouth. Attendees enjoyed the free raffle and got to hear a sneak preview from the book in the form of a reading from it. The Q&A section involved a variety of questions, such as; "which is your favourite horse from all those you've had?", "what is your writing routine?" and "do you think you might ever write a book for adults?" It was a great evening and thank you to all who came out to support me and a local bookshop.
Today it was very exciting to get a call from my publisher to say the boxes of 'TSBPs' had arrived. I'm really pleased with how they look - both front and back covers are gorgeous (in my opinion!!) and even have a lovely glossy finish. I can't wait to see it in book shops. If you'd like a copy now, contact me for a signed copy.
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