Have a picture of the latest addition to my world. Marker, an eight-year-old bay gelding whose ancestry is unknown but likely to be Arab x Quarter Horse. He’s young, has some foundations on him, but really just needs a lot of wet saddle blankets and mindful schooling. Part of my evil plan to keep myself in shape through horses…and he’s a good prospect for spending a few years in training, then moving on to a young rider once he’s good and solid. Biggest issue is that he has been allowed to have his own way for a few years, so he has to be educated out of that. But he really wants to be a Good Boi, and, well, we’ll get there.
I find that the schooling mindset really interfaces nicely with writing. Even when I’m focused on training a horse, the back brain is working. I think I’m also going to be keeping a training record which may provide writing fodder. Plus, his thinking process is different from Mocha’s, so there will be NEW horse behaviors to insert into my writing! One thing he does when frustrated is snatch up a foreleg and stomp, or toss his head and throw out a foreleg. That said, he’s learned not to aim said foreleg in my direction. Useful things to keep in mind as I start moving into Goddess’s Vision and have the daranvelii to write about. He’s not a Mira, but he is an example of another daranval–Daro, perhaps.
(Note: daranval and daranvelii–plural form–are magic-gifted horses with the ability to mindspeak to their bonded humans and to each other)
In spite of the horse excitement and helping the spouse run a garage sale, things got done this week. I didn’t journal every evening, but often enough to be satisfied. I’m almost done with planning out Book Two of The Cost of Power trilogy. This is the first time I’ve done this extensive of a chapter-by-chapter synopsis, but it’s kinda necessary so I know what’s happening in the third book of the trilogy. It’s taking a lot longer than I thought it would, but on the other hand, this is the first time I’ve done this extensive a plan. I had a much rougher idea of how things were going to happen in the main Martiniere Legacy books, and, well…
It’s probably a good thing I haven’t planned a lot of writing for this month. Because I’m going to do the same thing for the Goddess’s Vision series as well. I’m hoping to manage the continuity issues better. At least that’s the plan. It appears that the magic word for August is “planning.” I also have horse training to plan as well, so….
Meanwhile, I’m slowly gearing up for promoting the upcoming release of Fabulist and Fantastical Worlds. I’ve managed to schedule a cover reveal, and have mentions in a couple of newsletters, so…better than nothing, I suppose.
Really, what my obstacles seem to be right now are time and energy management. One hope with the horse is that because I need to think and focus more with this boy, plus he just plain needs a lot of riding work, I’ll get myself into somewhat better shape. Which does appear to be happening at the moment, because I noticed a piece of clothing was hanging slightly different. Well, I rode five days last week. And with two horses, I’m going to be getting mileage just handwalking, because Marker will need a slow introduction to solo road work. Mocha also needs to get out of the pasture once in a while, though we’ll see what getting her very own gelding does for her. With increased activity will hopefully come better sleep, and perhaps clearer thinking. Hey, it seems to have helped this week.
The other thing is doing this planning and accountability work at the end of the day, rather than the beginning. For one thing, I have a regular podcast time on the first Sunday of the month, so that week is always a little off, timing-wise. This is the second time I’ve tried it, and it might work. Monday morning might be better. The problem is that if I want to do outdoor activities other than horses (and horses, as we progress to shorter days), they need to happen in the morning. So, overall, it’s really better to see if I can make this work in the evenings. Worth a try.
Anyway, that’s it for this week. We’ll see if I decide to run a regular public horse training blog with Marker. I somewhat did with Mocha. Might be fun to do again.
