My Rocket Ship: She Got It Right!

Friday May 2 2014

So says one of the 5-star Amazon reviews for my book, Soul Deep in Horses: Memoir of an Equestrian Vagabond. "She Got It Right!" This review just happens to come from Paul Thoresen in Egypt, whose 2 fabulous horses, Borcan and Raad, are featured in two of the chapters in my book.

I recently posted a snippet of My King: Borcan. (Paul says Borcan "is now the old man of the club, trying to show a little more dignity in public.")

Here is a snippet from My Rocketship - starring Paul's other stallion, Raad (who, Paul reports, is producing offspring just like him!):

Paul turned Raad loose and let him run through the Egyptian desert, heading toward the distant speck. I let Prince do as he wished, which was a hand gallop. He was no longer interested in trying to catch that gray lightning bolt, probably because it was a lost cause. Prince was quick on his feet, but he wasn’t that fast. Where once I’d been afraid to gallop, I felt quite safe on Prince. What Prince was doing with me seemed so . . . tame compared to Raad. Watching Raad shoot away put a whole new perspective on galloping a horse.
Eventually Prince and I caught up with Jeannie and Katir, who had slowed to a walk, and together we watched Raad and Paul continue running, bearing off to the right, still at a dead run, making a huge arc out in the wide open desert, eventually coming back around full circle to join up with us again.
Raad slowed down as he approached us. I thought Paul’s trajectory had been for fun, but in fact, he hadn’t been arcing on a whim.
“This! (pant!) . . .” “Horse! (pant!) . . .” “Is! (pant!) . . .” “SO STRONG!” Paul gasped. “I couldn’t steer him!”
I thought he was kidding. Paul was a good rider, and he rode his horses on a light rein, whomever he was riding or however fast he was going. He’d given me some pointers on how to ride “light” - but it usually didn’t work for me. I still had a lot to learn about riding, although I was delighting in the fact that, finally, I loved, loved to gallop out here in the Egyptian desert because I wasn’t afraid to do it anymore.
Paul shook his head in utter bliss, his eyes gleaming. “That’s the Akhal-teke in him. They are so strong - and strong minded - they don’t bloody listen!” he said with unmistakable pride in his voice. But then, Paul so loved all his horses, anything they did just tickled him.
I was glad I wasn’t riding Raad; if Paul couldn’t control him, I’d have had no chance in holding him back.
Paul turned to me. “You want to try him?”
My eyes widened. Too strong for Paul? Can’t steer him? Can’t pull him up?
“Yeah!”
We hopped off our horses, adjusted the stirrups, and I climbed on the big gray powerful tank of horseflesh.
We gathered our reins, Paul said, “Hah, Prince!” and Prince leaped to a canter. And I was—
GONE. . .

"My Rocketship" is a wild ride in my book Soul Deep in Horses. I'll be featuring tidbits from my book on this blog from time to time. You can get the book as soft cover or ebook on Amazon.com here, or autographed copies are available on my website: www.TheEquestrianVagabond.com.

My King: Borcan

Saturday April 19 2014

I couldn't wait for our ride among the Pyramids in Egypt… until I learned I'd be riding Borcan:

Borcan, the blustery, formidable, woman-hating, breast-biting ("He's bitten three breasts so far," owner Paul declared adoringly) white stallion, who lunged at anybody, mouth wide open and teeth bared, who walked by his paddock. 

The Breast Biter himself was already tacked up and standing at his paddock fence, with his lips peeled back to expose his enormous nine-year-old teeth, which were grabbing one of his reins and clamping down tightly, grinding the rubber till it squeaked in protest, exhibiting what he'd do to me if he managed to get a hold of my breast.
  

Was it too late to back out of riding? Surely, I reasoned, Paul would not put me on a horse that would hurt me. And I really wanted to ride in the desert... 

Once I had mounted, how silly it was of me to think that Borcan would stand still and wait for the others - that was far beneath his Great White Dignity. Oh, no, it was time for the Great White Peacock Parade down the long drive. Neck bowed, white mane billowing, Borcan consented to a walk, but only so everybody could get a very long look at his magnificence. He strutted, he waltzed, he erupted with absolute equine masculinity. 

And there you have it - against my better judgement, I had already fallen for him. He was such a blustery show off, but he was simply magnificently breathtaking...

"My King" is one of my favorite chapters in my book Soul Deep in Horses. I'll be featuring tidbits from my book on this blog from time to time.

You can get the book as soft cover or ebook on Amazon.com here, or autographed copies will be available starting Monday on my website: www.TheEquestrianVagabond.com.

New Release! Soul Deep in Horses: Memoir of an Equestrian Vagabond

Tuesday April 1 2014

It's here!

Clinging to a four-legged rocket ship among the Pyramids in Egypt. Riding a racehorse on the Curragh in Ireland. Winning a first endurance ride in Texas. Flipping a packhorse down a cliff in California. Flying on a Lord of the Rings horse in New Zealand. Cowgirling it in Idaho.

All of these serendipitous equine adventures, and more, are disparate pieces of a puzzle that have merged to create the eclectic, nomadic lifestyle that Merri Melde lives every day with horses. And none of them might have happened if she had not first met the racehorse Fred, who taught her how to fail spectacularly at her dream job.

It's not the destination of new dreams but the journeys toward them that allow Melde, by chance or by divine intervention, to experience such diverse escapades and to come to know and love such magnificent horses as Harry—a fire-breathing dragon who gives her a great gift; Zayante—one of the country's best endurance horses; Jose—an Avatar and Kindred Spirit; and Stormy—The Most Beautiful Horse On The Planet.

In Soul Deep in Horses: Memoir of an Equestrian Vagabond, Merri Melde paints a vivid portrait with her moving words of a unique life irrevocably entangled with horses—the beauty, the humor, the thrills, the fun, the fear, and above all, the love that goes deep down into the soul.

Part memoir, part travel and horse-riding adventure book, this heartfelt narrative packed with excitement and emotion will appeal not just to horse lovers, but to anybody who has ever experienced failure and success in following their dreams, and anyone who has ever lost their courage and rediscovered it once again.

Available now on Amazon.com! - click here.

If you're wanting an autographed copy, you will be able to order directly from my website around April 15 (then allow a couple of weeks for delivery). I'll announce this option when it's available.

I hope you enjoy the ride!

And sign up here for The Equestrian Vagabond Dispatch for publishing exclusives.

Soul Deep in Horses: Vote on a Cover!

Thursday February 13 2014

Help me choose a cover for my book - win a copy of my book!

It's time to choose a cover for my upcoming memoir, Soul Deep in Horses: Memoir of an Equestrian Vagabond, due to be published April 1. 

Most of you know I'm also a horse photographer, and one of my photos will be the cover shot. 

I have narrowed the choices down somewhat to those pictured above and below. I have my own reasons for preferring certain covers, but it's often hard for a photographer to step back and view their own work objectively or artistically.

Which photo do you readers prefer on the book cover, and why? Which one grabs you? Which one works best with the title? Which one makes you want to yank the book off a shelf (or off Amazon), and plunge headfirst into the stories?

Please leave comments below, or you can email me privately with your comments to souldeepinhorses@gmail.com.

Results of this survey and how the photos ranked will be posted after March 1. From the pool of people who chose the photo that ultimately ends up on the cover, I'll randomly select a winner, to whom I'll send an autographed copy of my book. (I've asked the featured horses not to campaign on their own behalf.)

And sign up for The Equestrian Vagabond Dispatch, the twice-monthly newsletter from The Equestrian Vagabond for exclusive publishing updates and general brouhahas (who doesn't like a good brouhaha?):
http://eepurl.com/NbjPz

Doobie:


Dusting I


Gold Dust


Harry


Stormy Herd


Stormy Water I


Stormy Water V

My Memoir: I Snagged a Foreword Writer!

Saturday January 18 2014

Most exciting (next) step in the progression of publishing my book, Soul Deep in Horses: Memoir of an Equestrian Vagabond ... I snagged a writer for the Foreward for my book: Julie Suhr!

As pretty much all of you endurance riders know, Julie is the 'First Lady of Endurance', a 22-time Tevis Cup finisher (and 3-time Haggin Cup winner!), a 30,000+ mile AERC rider, and not the least, a terrific writer. Her Ten Feet Tall, Still autobiography is one of my Top Twenty books ever. While my memoir is not just about endurance, but about a number of other horse disciplines and adventures around the world, if you've read Julie's book (and if you haven't, I highly recommend it!), you'll understand why I wanted Julie to write my Foreward.

I am thrilled, gobsmacked and honored beyond measure that she most graciously agreed to do this, and that she will be a part of my Soul-Deep adventure into the author-publishing world.

In my next memoir-progress post, I will appreciate you readers' input in a poll on a choice of several of my photographs as covers for my book - stay tuned!

Julie's book:


**Top photo: yes, Stormy is excited too!

P.S. it's FOREWORD! as Fran corrected me in the comments - thanks!

And my Memoir Title is…

January 9 2014

After some discussions and inputs and votes with family and beta readers and my editor, the title of my soon-to-be-published memoir is:

Soul Deep in Horses: Memoir of an Equestrian Vagabond




I have obtained my ISBN, and soon, I will choose one of my photographs for a cover, and I will enlist you readers' votes in which one you like best!

Stay tuned.

My Memoir: Manuscript Edited!

My completed horse-life memoir is back from my editor Pat Barnhart! This after I completed the manuscript at the end of NaNonFiWriMo challenge on November 30th.

I guess I was a non-fiction blogger before my time: as far back as I can remember, I composed true-to-life animal stories, written on paper, illustrated by drawn pictures.

I still possess one of those first animal stories I wrote around age 6, where I drew and carefully scribbled in pencil on paper the story of a little chick, which I shrewdly named "Peep-peep", that my parents gave me. (The drawing was, um, clearly done by a 6-year-old.)

Even though I was born obsessed with horses, since I never got a horse as I was growing up, the true horse stories came much later, when I could at least hang out around horses, and when I got to start working with them on the King Ranch in south Texas.

When my photography hobby started a little later, my horse photos and horse tales naturally coalesced; and since then, I've used both words and images tell my horse stories. Then came the emergence of the traveling bug obsession (I think I'm a throwback to another time and place), and with the merging of those three passions sprouted The Equestrian Vagabond. My horse memoir has long been in the making and the waiting… but now the waiting is over.

I'm not interested in traditional publishing. I like the term "Indie publishing", and I like the concept of creating everything myself. I like the challenge of learning a complete new language and a whole new set of skills, in writing, designing, e-publishing and print publishing, and marketing, by myself. It's an experience I'm enjoying… even though it's a bit intimidating!

To learn how to e-publish, I recently used Scrivener and Ed Ditto's book How to Format Your Novel for Kindle, Nook, the iBookstore, Smashwords, and CreateSpace…in One Afternoon (which took me longer than one afternoon!) to write and e-publish some short stories on Amazon (Racehorse Tales! and Traveler Tales!). The learning experience was enlightening, and the stories are quite successful, which will help a lot in formatting and publishing my memoir as an e-book. Harder will be the printed book, though I have an idea where I'm leaning there.

There's so much to read on-line about Indie publishing - so much that it's hard to filter it all down to even learn which steps to take next. Writer and publisher Joanna Penn's TheCreativePenn.com is both informative and engaging, with how-to articles and videos, and interviews with other successful authors and publishers. It gives the newbies hope and inspiration!

Meanwhile, Stormy and I will be carefully reviewing the manuscript, and gauging the reacting of the helpful horse herd.



The next big steps: getting an ISBN and revealing the title!

Completed! NaNonFiWriMo!

Saturday November 30 2013

November is the month of NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month - and NaNonFiWriMo - National Non-Fiction Writing Month - and on November 1st I committed to finishing my horse-life memoir.

I not only finished it but I sent it off to my editor today!

So far Stormy, a main character in my book, is quite pleased with what he's heard, particularly the chapters about him. So far my editor Pat Barnhart peeked at only the Prologue and…(heart in throat)… she loved it! (Actually the words she used were "LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!")

The Owyhee herd is excited and can't wait to sit around a campfire this winter and hear some of the stories.

Stay tuned… I will have updates here on my blog, including title, cover photo, inside excerpts, and publishing progress!

Committed: NaNonFiWriMo

Friday November 1 2013

NaNonFiWriMo - for non-fiction writers - developed as a response to fiction writers' NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month.

I can't fiction-write my way out of a tube sock. So, non-fiction it is. I've gone and done it: committed to NaNonFiWriMo - finishing my memoir by the end of November. Parts of it have just been sitting there and ...aging (like a fine wine, perhaps words get better with age?) for …months… years… but now I'm committed to finishing this work of nonfiction in 30 days.

Stormy, The Most Beautiful Horse On The Planet, has been waiting for this commitment for quite some time (for about 20 years). Since he's featured in my memoir, he wants his story out there, "and hurry up already," he added.

And what better time of year but fall, when it's cool and inspirational and most beautiful, with Stormy looking over my shoulder, prodding me along. He'll be monitoring my weekly progress.

I'm sending this blog link to my editor, Pat Barnhart!