RIDING VICARIOUSLY THROUGH WRITING

My new book BORN TO BE WILD from Entangled Publishing’s Dead Sexy line is something of a horse book. I love writing horse books. Whether they’re rounding up cows, being raced or being bred, I’m in.

Back in the day, I rode at least once a week for nine years. Some of you may ride every day, but if you do, chances are you own your own horse and may have your own barn.

I’m a city girl.

My first experience riding was visiting relatives in Brooklyn, NY, when my Uncle George took me riding through Prospect Park. I was (maybe) twelve. I was in love. The next time I went riding, it was in Mexico. My cousin and I rented horses on the beach. Then we and my mother took a long ride into the back hills and across a river. I was hooked.

I was so excited about riding, that I decided I was finally going to do it – take lessons in the far, far suburbs, even though I had moved to the city proper, an hour’s drive each way. Unfortunately, just after I started, I had an accident and needed major knee surgery. A month later, I asked the doc how soon I could start riding again and he said...well, he didn’t want to know about it, and if I did ride with my knee, I was crazy.

I was crazy.

And when I went back to see him six months later, he couldn’t figure out why I was not limping. That’s how bad the injury had been and how nasty the surgery. This was just before they started doing arthroscopic, and they took half my meniscus which set me up for a much later knee replacement.

But in the meantime, I rode. I took group lessons in English equitation and learned to post. I learned to ride Western. Rode through the forest preserves, then switched barns and took private hunt seat lessons, shared board on a horse and rode three times a week. I started driving up to Michigan where there was an adult only ranch with horseback riding twice a day. (Btw, Suicide Hill in BORN TO BE WILD was inspired by the ‘real’ Suicide Hill at the Michigan resort – and yes, I rode it). I learned to jump. The thrill of jumping is something like that big dip on the rollercoaster. I got the same sensation in my stomach every time.

So though I don’t ride now because of my bionic knee, I’ve been reading about people who do after replacement, and I am sorely tempted to take a chance that this time I won't do anything that gets me thrown. :) 

In the meantime, I let writing about horses give me the thrill that I so miss. For now...

BORN TO BE WILD is a digital book available at Entangled Publishing and at the usual books sites.

What gives you a thrill? Something out of your comfort zone? Leave a comment for a chance to win one of my backlist books -- TOUCH ME IN THE DARK (McKenna Legacy 3)--  in any digital format you choose from Smashwords.com