Write On and Ride On!

Writing through the (sort of) winter weather.

Read.

I keep picking up older books to read. I loved Ecology of a Cracker Childhood by Janisse Ray, published in 1999. A friend recommended it to me a year or more ago as an example of a hybrid memoir, mixing essays about family history with essays about the ecology of the longleaf pine ecosystem in the Southeast. I recommend it; it is very well written.

On January 9, 2026, I was interviewed on the Page Turner Show on KYRS (Thin Air Community Radio). We chatted about my past books and publications and current projects. It was a fun chat. You can find it on the Interviews page of my website here.

Or, you can find it in the KYRS archives here. Look for it by date (January 9, 2026) or do a search for the Page Turner Show and listen to other local writers, too. I plan to do that as well.

Write.

I’m working on the sequel to my book, Riding Lessons, Things I Learned While Horsing Around. This second book is tentatively titled: The Horses Are Loose and The Weeds Are Winning, Things I Learned on a Hobby Farm. It is a collection of mostly funny stories about not just the horses, but the other animals, gardening, and maintenance on our rural property. I haven’t given myself a deadline to finish; I’m just making steady progress on it. I hope to publish it sometime this year.

Ride.

I’m continuing my winter break from horseback riding, so I can focus on other things (like writing a book). It is sad, though, because the winter has been so mild that I could have kept riding. Vali The Younger has been giving me the “I’m bored, let’s do something” look. Meanwhile, Oly The Elder has been giving me the grouchy “No, don’t make me eat that icky medicine mixed with apple sauce again!” look. It’s hard to be old and arthritic. I’m talking about the horse. Mostly.

I had a nice western saddle made and it was just delivered. The saddle was made by McCall, with assistance from Saddle Outfitters LLC. It has a high cantle and a sticky rough-out leather seat (the better to hold me in) and it’s made to fit Fjord Horses, among other short-backed breeds. It is currently sitting in the living room looking at me and whispering, “Let’s ride.” I will start to “ride on” soon, once the ice is gone. Although, I figure that about the time I’m ready to hop on, real winter will arrive again, forcing a longer break. We’ll see what the weather holds in store over the next few weeks.

In the meantime, I plan to write on.