BLUE Sue ~ riding and writing, and writing about riding: August 2007

Shop.HollyLisle.com ~

Holly's non-fiction including her fantastic writer's workshop series, and fiction by her and other select authors.

Holly now offers "How to Think Sideways," (it's not a book, it's an entire course) an intense, hands on, six month writer's course that includes weekly course work and supportive groups and forums. I'm going through it now and loving every minute of it. It's not just about how to write, there are a million courses that teach that. Her's is different in that it helps you learn to think like a writer and be a writer instead of just dreaming about it.

If this is what you want to do, she offers you the skills to help you to really live your dream.

"*Click HERE to register now*,"

For want of a what?

Regardless of genre, from contemporary to historical to western to fantasy, if you're going to write a horse, you need to get it right. For an author that hasn't spent much time in the barn it can be problematic, not because information is hard to find, but because there is so much available, it can be hard to sift through. Google is good for fact-finding, but sometimes it's hard to figure out the range of problems, potentials and what-ifs that you need to help or hinder your hero. And googling only tends to emphasize the common misconceptions that drive riders nuts when they read.

I hope these posts are enjoyable, but more than that, I hope they give writers ideas and perspective they can put to use in their writing.

I'm available to speak on writing horses at conferences or club meetings, and hands-on workshops can be scheduled for local groups. If you have specific questions or just want to talk horses, please email me at BLUESue22 at gmail dot com.

My Reading ~ more of a jumble than a stack ~ old favorites as well as current reads and re-reads

Blood Magic - Matthew Cook
Dragon's Wild - Robert Asprin
The Rose Sea - Holly Lisle
Lilith's Brood
Mind Fuck
Last Girl Dancing
Fire in the Mist
When Demons Walk
High Seas Cthulhu
Every Inch a King
The Sense of Honor
John Carter of Mars
Stranger in a Strange Land
The Silmarillion
Arafel's Saga
Sails and Sorcery
Logan's Redemption
Love, Texas Style
Wind Follower
Worms in my Tea
Ruins
The Cat Who Walks through Walls
There Will be Dragons
A Pilgrimage to Nejd
Call of the Wild
Kildar
Worlds of Wonder
The Medieval Warhorse
Bull from the Sea
Vazkor, Son of Vazkor
Tarzan of the Apes
Dragon Bones
The Hobbit
How Fiction Works
The Writer's Journey
The Black Tents of Arabia
Cloaked in Shadow
Warrior Women
Iron Kissed
The Faded Sun - Trilogy
For Edgar
Blood Bound
The Treason of Isengard
The Odyssey
Tales of Fantasy and Horror - Modern Magic
We Few
Hypoglycemia for Dummies
The Hob's Bargain
When Demons Walk
Dead Aim
Talyn - Holly Lisle
The War of the Jewels
Drinkers of the Wind
Women Warriors
The Children of Hurin
The Lord of the Rings

I can't believe how fast the month of August has flown by. I never intended to be a prolific blogger, but I did intend to be regular. I could claim that I've been on vacation!?, but the truth simply is that I've been pulling in a lot of different directions with all that we've had going on here, both good and bad.

First, I have to brag. My brother took this shot of my foals while he was playing around with some new filters on his 'toy'. I thought it very well captured my Bedouin Horses in Texas in a wonderfully surreal kind of way.

Otherwise, in short order - a new truck to pull the trailer I got last year. This is quite a step up for me as I've been driving an '83 Chevy, which I love, BUT, it's done more than it's share and while it's still strong, it's ready for a retirement home with someone who will baby it instead of running it all over the state.

We lost our beloved, snuggly, old-man rat, Loki, (who was so warm and wonderful to take a rat nap with) and so ...
Tiri, and now also,

Elizabeth, have joined our family.

Ratties are one of those things that are a little hard to explain to people who haven't experienced them. They're incredibly sweet and loving and always willing to help out around the house. They're especially good with paperwork and like to help with the schoolwork and the filing, although I have to admit that while Tiri is very efficient at getting the desk cleared, it's a little hard to find anything again since alphabetizing isn't her strong point!

We have a pipeline going in along our back fence, (no pictures of that, it's just ugly. Imagine a dirt highway where there used to be native cover.) complicated, of course, by the crossfencing and horses. AND have started building our new house. I had some cute pics of the kids driving the heavy machinery, but I didn't find them easily.

Horses ~ of course, lots going on, as usual.

Glamdrings brown recluse bite: YUCK! This is about six or eight weeks old, after it was healing nicely and after he ripped his stitches out three times and then ripped out the staples. It was closing up and healing, but he won't quit rubbing it on the fence and he's ripped it in new and improved ways, so it's back to the vet for him, where he's spending another week or so in a comfy stall with the vet techs ooo'ing and ahh'ing over him several times a day and giving him the pampering and scritches he so dearly loves. I've tried to cuss him in a gentler tone during the twice daily treatments he was getting at home, but I'm not very good at pampering when he has the medication rubbed on the fence before I can get out the gate. grrrrr..... Of course, he's for sale *head in hands* and this bite comes at the worst possible moment, he's been with an eventer for dressage and jumping and has been coming along really well - and we were just about to get some video and update his listings and - I know, I know ... it's back to Ye Olde Booke Of Horsekheepers, (transcribed, of course, by the Ignoble Gertrudick c. 1429 from the ramblings of an aged captain of the guard) :: Chapter XXII Yea, It Be that Badde, section VIVALaXIII On Other Matters of Weaknesses of the Flesh and Selling...//snipped//Yea, though thee train and toil and scramble for success in the arena and on the trail, and Yea, though thee seem to have that success within thy grasp - it is but the light of the train barreling headlong through the darkness of the tunnel toward you. Knowest thou that the horse that thoust toilest most with, with dreams of fortune, shall be the one that shall suffer untold bizarre and inane trauma and set thyst dreams back of their furry-coated asses and send them screaming into the night.

*ahem* ... moving along.

AAS SHAHIN SHAHIL has been picked up and is out on a breeding lease and ASF VANIAH was picked in the same week, going as a second family horse and possibly to be bred.

The weanlings, AELFLEAH 'Yoda' and Little 'Blue' have gone home, as well as the black TB mare, Shadow (also for sale, and, I might add, unhurt!) that I was riding in exchange for GLAMDRING's training, so my barn is feeling a little empty right now - which is sad, because I really love playing with the babies, kinda nice each evening at feeding time.

and ... um... LOL! ...isn't that enough!?! I'll save the rest for another post! That's not cheating is it?
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