Writing to introduce myself : )

HorsebackWriter · Jun 3, 2008

Hello everyone!

I stumbled across this wonderful site while researching agents online. (Thank you, Mac, for manually approving my membership!)

I can write most everything -- poetry, fiction, non-fiction, articles and short stories, although poetry and fiction are my loves. (I've been writing all my life, since I could pick up a pencil, so in the writer nurture/nature debate, I'd have to circle nature) but I am new to the query and submission process. (God help us all, really, and what a shock.)

I just finished my novel after six years of writing, rewriting, editing, rewriting, re-editing, rewriting the re-editing, and I think you get the picture!

While I love-love-love what some writers bemoan -- the solitude and solitariness of writing -- this hermit is riding down from the mountaintop to commisserate, gain knowledge, and network. I've been reading posts for over a week while working out membership kinks, unable to post. Now that I can, here I am!

Lastly, to those in the midst of the endless query/rejection process such as I am, do hang in there and Cowboy up! It only takes one yes! I hope to hear the same on those dark, rejection days of the soul.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, "the greatest number of publishers' rejections for a manuscript is 106 for World Government Crusade by Gilbert Young." I'm sure that number could be surpassed by agent rejections, and I'm working on it, so, bring on the lemons!

Lemonade, anyone?

Em

Perks · Jun 3, 2008

Welcome! Your screenname makes me hope you're not trying to do it longhand. It would be worse than doctors' prescription scribblings.

Have fun here and good luck in your writing.

slcboston · Jun 3, 2008

only 106? amateurs...

welcome aboard!

HorsebackWriter · Jun 3, 2008

Thanks for the welcome, Perks!

Definitely not longhand on horseback, lol! Just my laptop : P Thank God for wireless internet, <wink>.

Em

alleycat · Jun 3, 2008

Welcome to AW.

Just keep in mind the number of publishers who passed on Harry Potter. Oops.

HorsebackWriter · Jun 3, 2008

Thanks for the welcome, slcboston!

I thought the same -- only 106? Then I thought, that poor man, and THEN I thought, A+ for perseverance -- he could probably bottle and sell that stuff. : )

Em

HorsebackWriter · Jun 3, 2008

Thanks for the welcome, alleycat!

Yup, J.K. Rowling was rejected so many times, and the Harry Potter books are wonderful. What a weird world, Planet Publishing. I'm just off the turnip truck, for sure!

Em

Mumut · Jun 3, 2008

Do you have the name of the 107th publisher? Could save a lot of rejections to go straight to the top.

And another question. How far could a horse go, with rider, before it could go no further? I think I might need to know this for my third book. I like to have facts in my work rather than guesses.

Thanks and welcome.

CACTUSWENDY · Jun 3, 2008

Welcome to AW. Hope you enjoy your stay with us.

How do you like your popcorn?

HorsebackWriter · Jun 3, 2008

Hello, and thank you for the welcome!

It depends on the horse. You'd probably want to make the horse an Arabian (my absolute favorite notwithstanding) because, as one of the oldest breeds alive, they are bred for strength and endurance, and due to their dish-shaped heads and therefore the shape of their nasal passages, they make quite efficient use of oxygen.

Another sturdy horse is the Quarter Horse, the working horse of the west.

Usually one doesn't ride a horse at a gallop, not for extended periods, and usually you stop and rest a horse after a few hours of straight riding, about twenty minutes or so. But just like with raising children, there are lots of differing opinions on the topic.

I guess some more questions for your character -- do they care how far the horse can go, or do they push it to get where they're going? Are they running from the law, or taking an exhilirating Navajo-guided horseback ride down Spider Rock?

Shod or barefoot?

Tom Thumb bit or Full Cheek Snaffle?

As for Arab horses -- I've found them to be the most people-oriented of the breeds. Legend says the bond with man is in an Arabian's genes due to hundreds of generations of horse and master traversing the Middle Eastern desert for months, alone, together. Supposedly the horse even slept in the traveler's tent, as companion and warmth.

You could do some tender writing on the bond between Arabian horse and rider.

Em

Mumut said:
Do you have the name of the 107th publisher? Could save a lot of rejections to go straight to the top.

And another question. How far could a horse go, with rider, before it could go no further? I think I might need to know this for my third book. I like to have facts in my work rather than guesses.

Thanks and welcome.

HorsebackWriter · Jun 3, 2008

Thanks for the welcome, CactusWendy!

Hmmmm, popcorn -- butter and salt, please, being a traditional gal, and hopefully at the movie theater! : )

Em

ima_brat93 · Jun 3, 2008

'Ello, HorsebackWriter. I'm another newb. ;P I hope to read some of your work!

-Sam

Nickie · Jun 3, 2008

Hi there, and welcome to the Cooler!

Nickie

HorsebackWriter · Jun 3, 2008

Thanks for the welcome, Sam, and welcome to the group! : )

I look forward to reading your work, too.

Em

HorsebackWriter · Jun 3, 2008

Hi! Thanks for the welcome, Nickie!

Em

Mumut · Jun 4, 2008

HorsebackWriter said:
Usually one doesn't ride a horse at a gallop, not for extended periods, and usually you stop and rest a horse after a few hours of straight riding, about twenty minutes or so.
Em

The horse would be the squat carthorse-style beast of the middle ages, ridden by knights in England. The distance is about thirty miles (1760 yards each - I believe American miles are different) as the fly cows. The terraine is moreland. I want to know how long it would take to ride there, under horse-caring conditions.

Many thanks

Mumut

Round John Virgin · Jun 4, 2008

Howdy, HorsebackWriter! Welcome down from the mountaintop!

melaniehoo · Jun 4, 2008

Welcome to AW & good luck! You'll find a lot of encouragement here.

HorsebackWriter · Jun 4, 2008

Well, a question like that horse-wise I can't answer off the top of my head, so I'll have to use the "r" word -- research. : )

I am not a horse eventer or show-er, I rescue horses from the kill buyer/meat man (horses in the slaughter pipeline) and those horses are usually wormy, ringwormy, sometimes have strangles and are 400 to 600 lbs underweight. And those kinds of horses aren't running anywhere any time soon, let alone pulling anything, either.

Try searching out online horse groups -- horse people are usually pretty helpful and knowledgable and love to talk horse.

Em

Mumut said:
The horse would be the squat carthorse-style beast of the middle ages, ridden by knights in England. The distance is about thirty miles (1760 yards each - I believe American miles are different) as the fly cows. The terraine is moreland. I want to know how long it would take to ride there, under horse-caring conditions.

Many thanks

Mumut

HorsebackWriter · Jun 4, 2008

Thank you, Melanie! The query process is brutal, to say the least ...

Em : )

melaniehoo said:
Welcome to AW & good luck! You'll find a lot of encouragement here.

HorsebackWriter · Jun 4, 2008

Howdy back atcha! You sound like you're from my neck of the woods. : )

Em

Round John Virgin said:
Howdy, HorsebackWriter! Welcome down from the mountaintop!

chopper · Jun 4, 2008

and howdo from the grim satanic mills of the north!

we have a horse - a White Horse. serves good real ale.

HorsebackWriter · Jun 4, 2008

Thanks for the welcome, Chopper! Wow, England! I hope to visit your country one day.

I have internet friends in England, Scotland, and Italy, and imagine making the rounds.

A book sale would sure help that dream. : )

Em

dayne-jen · Jun 4, 2008

Howdy from another newbie!
Wow, your horse stands still while you use your laptop?! My mare starts getting snotty after awhile!

Good to see another horse-person on the forums! Hope you write about horses, too!

HorsebackWriter · Jun 4, 2008

Howdy Dayne-Jen!

Welcome to you, too. And I have to say, I love your icon! : )

Are your wilds in AZ the desert wilds?

Lol, to the laptop on horseback, y'all have given me a good laugh on that one. : )

I definitely write about horses, especially slaughter horses. I can't believe I lived in this world as long as I did without knowing about the dirty secret of horse slaughter. I want to raise awareness, so I did include it in my novel.

I have all geldings here, three horses (an Arab from the kill buyer feedlot, a once-wild Mustang from the feedlot, and a PMU Draft-cross -- 1/2 Percheron, 1/4 Clydesdale and 1/4 Standardbred from a pee farm in Canada. He's a *giant* boy.)

I also have a donkey -- Don Quixote, or, Donkey-Oatie (he's nuts about oats!) a.k.a Donkey. He was starved and beaten, is doing great now, but is ornery about riding. I want to get him started on Parrelli methods and see what we can do.

To say I'm pretty busy around here, as I do all the upkeep personally, is an understatement. But I never have to worry about forgetting feeding time while I hammer away on the computer because Donkey will make sure I know, (along with the whole county). I love my equine babies!

Do you event with your mare? Do you have any other equines? I just trail ride with my Arab in the washes, as my mustang and draft are just getting ready for breaking.

Em

dayne-jen said:
Howdy from another newbie!
Wow, your horse stands still while you use your laptop?! My mare starts getting snotty after awhile!

Good to see another horse-person on the forums! Hope you write about horses, too!

Writing to introduce myself : )

Dream at a gallop!

delicate #!&@*#! flower

Pasture-ized

Dream at a gallop!

Still around

Dream at a gallop!

Dream at a gallop!

Well begun is half done...

An old, sappy, and happy one.

Dream at a gallop!

Dream at a gallop!

In a World of her Own

Not too old to learn

Dream at a gallop!

Dream at a gallop!

Well begun is half done...

And thus we begin the edits

Dream at a gallop!

Dream at a gallop!

Dream at a gallop!

Steven Poore

Dream at a gallop!

Dream at a gallop!