I’ve decided to take part in the Equus Education Blog Hop about your career.  My answers can be found below!

a. What is your horse related career?
Equine writer. It’s possible to make a living from writing horse informative articles, horse non fiction books and resources for teaching, and horse fiction stories.

b. Where in the world can we find you?
Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia.

c. Is your horse career able to be carried out in part online?
Definitely. It can be mostly online from writing on a computer, to publishing online and selling articles/books online.

d. Do you need a qualification to do your job?
No. It helps to have a good grasp of the language you’re writing in, including spelling and grammar. Plus a background in horses is important so that you’re not making facts up!

e. What’s the best thing about your job?
There is so much to learn about horses and so many things you can do with them, you can write about almost anything and find a way to make money from this. Whether it’s horse health, horse breeding, horse care, horse riding or horse stories, it is possible to write about and earn.

Hi everyone!  I am excited about a new novel that I’m working on and wanted to share some excerpts with you to give you a feel for it!  So I’ll post an excerpt every two weeks, following on from the one before for a little bit.

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It was a nice place where Ben worked. Good physical work, great views and accommodating bosses. He definitely couldn’t complain. And to be honest, if he could, it tended to be toward the end of the season when he’d had enough of clients, but that didn’t matter – he was moving on in a short while by that stage.
The business – Happy Trails – focused on providing just that; trail rides that customers could truly enjoy and have a good time on. It was seasonal work, running through the spring and summer months with a break in February due to the heat, then back on for the autumn months and slowing down over winter.
Generally this meant one of two things for Ben – he did maintenance odds and ends in the early mornings and late evenings of February and then went back to taking clients out over autumn, or he headed off for a break and a scene change at another job an hour down the road until spring came around again.
Ben enjoyed his work with Margaret and Peter – the owners and managers of Happy Trails – but he also enjoyed that he could go off and carry out another job for a spell before coming back to the busy but laid back environment of trail rides. He’d been working this way for the past five years and nothing had changed much over that time.
Margaret and Peter worked hard to keep any staff that they liked – encouraging them to travel and gain other skills in the off season – but always maintaining that there was accommodation, food and a job waiting for them when the riding season started again. Ben liked it that way. He knew where he stood, and he knew the people he worked with.
There was one other regular trail guide – Jake – and a handful of part timers who helped care for the horses and occasionally came out on a trail ride with clients. As much as you had to be ready for anything with horses – you never knew what the day would hold even though you could plan what you would like it to include – Ben was averse to change.
He found he could handle random events that occurred with his equine friends – a sudden lameness, a client falling or a horse running away with him – but he wasn’t the same with people. He liked them to be predictable – and more often than not – he liked them to leave him alone.
Even though he dealt with strangers six days a week, he felt no obligation toward them other than a safe and enjoyable ride. He didn’t need to build up an ongoing rapport with them or become their best friend. He could just answer questions; tell them about the horse they were riding and point out the highlights of the surrounding countryside.
That was enough for him. In fact at this point in time, it was all he wanted. He couldn’t shake the feeling that things were changing though. Ben glanced up from the girth he was tightening on Red, a trusty chestnut gelding often used in trail rides on the farm.
He’d noticed the female figure flitting between the large vegetable garden and the main farm house a few times over the past couple of days. He figured she was a relative of Margaret and Peter’s, or something equally as boring. It didn’t really matter; she was just another figure that was showing up from time to time and therefore a part of his day. Granted, she appeared to have something about her from a distance. But what appeared good from far away often had faults that were obvious up close.

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Well that’s the end of teaser one!  Stay tuned for another excerpt in two weeks!

Whenever you read a book and write a review it has an impact on more than just the writer of that story. Have you considered how writing a review can affect the author, future readers and yourself?

The Author
Of course authors benefit from reviews – they are provided with an insight from one of their readers. This could be in the form of finding out what in particular about the story was enjoyed, what could be improved or what just didn’t work for the reader.
Writers can improve their stories and make adjustments based on reviews they’ve received. In one novel I reviewed this year, I commented on the language used and the author received this feedback and adjusted their story! Reviews don’t go unnoticed.

Future Readers
If you’re looking for a good book to read, it can be great to find out what others thought of the story before purchasing it. Of course some people will like a book while others may strongly dislike it; either way, when you read other people’s reviews, you get a feel for what made it a good (or bad) story.
Future readers may find that what someone didn’t like is something that wouldn’t bother them – or they might even enjoy the idea of that aspect of the story! Writing reviews helps future readers.

The Reviewer
I love to read books; I know of a lot of people out there that do, too. More often than not, I love to read horse books. I review these on my blog, equus education. As a consistent horse book reviewer, I am often contacted by authors or publishers of horse books and asked if I would review in exchange for a copy.
As a reviewer, you can benefit greatly by offering reviews and in return, gaining free copies (paperback and electronic) to review. If an author sees that you’re enjoying their series and writing positive reviews, they will seek you out for copies of future releases to review.
If you love to read and haven’t considered reviewing in the spare time you may have, consider starting up a blog or just as easily setting up a Goodreads and/or Amazon account to review whatever you’ve read. You may also like to check out NetGalley for pre-publishing releases that need reviews.

Don’t underestimate the value of reviewing what you’ve read!

Connie Johnson Hambley, author of recently released The Troubles is joining me for a guest post. Have a look at what she says about the word grit and how it relates to the characters she writes!

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Thank you, Christine, for having me as your guest on Horse Country.

I get a kick out of folks who think riding and training horses is such a joyful, fun process that it does not qualify as work. After all, we sit on a horse, so how hard can it be? The same is true for writing. Some think we authors wake in the morning when our muse kisses our cheek and off to the keyboard we skip, dewy eyed, fresh, and filled with wondrous words.

If you share either of these perspectives, grab a hold of whatever screen you are reading this on and slap yourself over the head with it.

Both riding and writing are hard work. Admittedly, it’s work that gives great joy and satisfaction, but if writers waited for a muse to put them in the proper mood before attempting to craft a sentence, or if riders waited for a horse to arrive in the ring all tacked up and raring to go and shunned the hours of repetitive exercises needed for training, nothing would ever be accomplished. A trait I’ll bet all writers and riders share is grit.

“Grit” is defined as possessing courage, resolve, or a certain strength of character. It manifests as a “stick-to-it-ness” and perseverance that neutralizes the alternatives of giving up on, or drifting away from, a task.

One of the best discussions of the power of grit was given at a TED talk by Angela Lee Duckworth. In it, she discusses how

“innate intelligence is not enough to guarantee success, but that grit is the better predictor.”

She describes her successful math students (who already demonstrated considerable discipline) as those who actively and continuously engaged in a task until they mastered it. IQ did not matter. Sticking to it did.

In a recent conversation about completing a difficult and tedious job with a certain college-aged child who shall remain nameless, I heard myself say, “The heck with motivation! You need more than discipline. You need grit.” The sentiment was oddly familiar if the voice less so, but I looked over my shoulder to see if my dad was in the room just to be sure. The next eerily familiar statement uttered was, “If you wait until you feel like doing stuff, you’re never going to get to square one.”

So true, Dad! Motivation is a mood. Discipline is a process that we learn through repeated attempts. Grit is an extra oomph that leads to success.

I argue we need more than merely discipline and the right mood to produce creative work as writers or to make that 1800 pound animal do what we want. Discipline helps us say “no” to temptations and time sinks (like water cooler chats or vacuuming under the couch one more time). Discipline parks our ‘writerly’ butts in the chair while waiting for the muse bus to arrive.

Grit is different from discipline. Grit makes you an active participant engaged in being productive. Grit makes us put one foot in front of the other, forces words into sentences, and keeps our leg pressed hard against a horse’s side until it bends and drops its head. It makes us sideline our fears and supports us in stepping up to the task. Grit is present when we take a deep breath to steady ourselves before mounting an animal we know is a few degrees more challenging than we have ridden before. Grit helps us realize that we are the only ones who can make our goals happen and then empowers us to take those small steps forward.

I see examples of grit every day. I see it in the writer who stays glued in her seat until she meets her daily word count–even as she knows that day’s work won’t survive the first edit. It’s the executive who gathers her team together one more time for an ad hoc brainstorming session even as she dodges the deathray stares. It’s in the rider who sees the potential in a horse when no one else does, and wakes before dawn to get those few extra hours of training in before her ‘real’ work begins.

Grit is also something readers love seeing infused into their favorite characters. We know her as the protagonist who keeps on pushing forward despite the odds. I believe the most interesting characters are those who have every reason to quit or to believe in their failure, but continue chipping away.

We equestrians have grit by the ton.

Link to Angela Lee Duckworth’s TED talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H14bBuluwB8

The Troubles: Synopsis
Jessica Wyeth is no longer a fugitive hiding under assumed identities. Through sheer grit, she has reclaimed her life only to discover what she fought for was an illusion. She is not the child of the picture-perfect New England family, but an unwanted castaway. Her frail and reclusive aunt died without exposing the secret that she was Jessica’s mother. Jessica travels to Ireland—her mother’s home—to learn why.

When Jessica rides in a world-class steeplechase, she is unwittingly used as an accomplice in a devastating bombing in an English shopping mall. The group behind the bombing is the Charity, a generations old support network of the IRA. Michael Conant, reluctant heir to the Charity and Jessica’s lover, must choose his allegiance to his violent family legacy or the woman he loves. Meanwhile, Jessica’s fight for her life leads her to uncover her mother’s secrets and the divided soul of the Irelands.

The Troubles is a high-concept suspense novel that views the conflict in Northern Ireland through the prism of American involvement. This sweeping, multi-generational tale gives witness to the delicate and dangerous layers inside an ever-unfolding world.

Bio:
Connie Johnson Hambley grew up on a small dairy farm just north of New York City and was a child when an arsonist burned her family’s barn to the ground. Memories from that experience grew the stories that have become The Charity and The Troubles.

Hambley uses every bit of personal experience to create a story that is as believable as it is suspenseful. Leveraging her law and investment background in ways unique, creative, but not altogether logical, she has enjoyed robust professional pursuits that include writing for Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Massachusetts High Tech, and Nature Biotechnology. Proving that truth can be stranger than fiction, her experience at a major bank in Boston introduced her to the clever schemes people dream up to launder money.

Hambley writes about strong women from their perspective in situations that demand the most from them. No special powers, no gadgets, no super human abilities. Just a woman caught up or embroiled in something that she has to get out of, hopefully alive.

Interviews include: Boston’s Literati Scene TV Show; Hallie Ephron of Jungle Red Writers: Ireland, Horses and Senseless Fire; Pawling Public Radio; Blog Talk Radio; Rounded Corner of the Writing World; (Australian Author) Penny de Byl’s Five Minute Profile; and Poughkeepsie Journal In Minutes, A Generation’s Work Destroyed by Flames.

Hambley writes page-turners and The Charity is the first in a series. Its sequel, The Troubles was published May 2015. Follow her for updates and information.

Get in touch with Connie –
Website: www.conniejohnsonhambley.com
Blog: http://thecharitythriller.blogspot.com
Twitter: @conniehambley
Facebook: www.facebook.com/thecharitythriller