It is day 150 of my horsenapping.
I have finally managed to gain access to the human’s blog and shall endeavor to instruct other captives on how to make the best of their time with humans. I am currently training mine, and when I have gained her trust, I shall make a bid for escape.
So here is my story:

After being taken from my birthplace and hurtled to a place I’d never been to before, I truly believed I was to be set free.
I was tricked.
There were suspicious activities right after I arrived, but I didn't pay enough attention. I thought she's showing me the area so I would know where to go once I got past the fence.
I was wrong.
On a cold January morning I was once again abducted in a big metal box and ended up somewhere else. I think they are trying to confuse me. That night I was imprisoned in a wooden shelter and it dawned on me that my freedom had been taken from me. For good. I also began to suspect the human means to keep me close so she can observe me.
Humans are weird.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't all bad.

There are some positive aspects to captivity, like treats and food. I even get a blanket so I won't be cold. I really like my blanket. It's a cozy, warm and comfortable fleece and I can tuck my feet under it when I lie down.

She made my bed every day, but we really have to work on this. It took me all night to get it just right, and then she comes along and puts it back as it was. To be fair, it was clean afterward, but I don’t get her obsession with my poop. She even came into the field with a wheely contraption and collected it from there. I checked. Mine was in there. What’s with this human and stealing poop? Is that normal?
She seems to really enjoy digging it out of my prison and I figure I best train her how to do it properly. This means I’m up all night, churning it. But hey, it keeps both of us fit.

We still have a lot of work to do in other aspects. This picking up of feet has to stop. I humor her, but what’s the point of teetering on three feet, when you have four? It’s not natural.
I drew the line recently, when she had another human nail metal to my feet. I strenuously objected, but they took no notice. I ended up with four metal bits stuck on my feet, and now every time she picks my feet up, she uses a hammer on them.
I admit walking is a lot more comfortable now.

The place she took me to…I was a day-release-prisoner, along with the other horses.
I met new horses — although some were nasty to me and I kept my distance. When I was taken to my prison one evening, the White Bastard went for me, and to my utter surprise, the human fought him off, keeping me safe. That was nice. I made sure she's between me and White Bastard from then on.
I even got out one day and thought I'd be free, but the White Bastard went the wrong way and we ended up caught again. He’s really quite stupid, because then they put up a nasty electric fence. I sniffed it and it zapped me. Nearly made me pass out! I didn't like that fence. At all. It hurt me. It's not the human's fault. She doesn't like it either.
Then one evening she comes along and shoves a horrible tube in my mouth, and I have to stay in all night — and all day! — while the others were allowed to go out. Ohh…I didn't like it and I made sure she knew.

The human showed up in the morning and instead of taking me to the field, they pushed me into a strange box again. The male human there suggested to use a whip on me, and oh boy…my human nearly ripped his head off.
How many times must I be moved around? I had to leave my girlfriend Tao behind!
She’s a leggy redhead, and I really like leggy redheads.
We got to the new prison, and when I came out of the box my human wasn’t there! I worried I’d have to train a new one, but then my human arrived. I breathed a sigh of relief. At least I hadn't worked on her for nothing. It would have been such a waste.
Really, that's the only reason I worried. Nothing else.

Once more I was trapped in a wooden enclosure every night, but my neighbors were very friendly and I had straw to munch, instead of wood chips. Tons of hay, too, and an automatic water tray!
Everything was strange. The smells… There were other animals there, not the goats and chickens (I really hate chickens) I had to get used to at the old place, but big hairy things with horns. I will keep my distance from those. They keep licking their lips… One day they will lunge and eat me my human. I just know.

I wasn't sure about the place, but she said at the old place they stole my food and weren't nice to her, or their animals. That they hurt one of them really badly, and she was afraid for me.
I have to admit, I get a lot more food here than I did at the old place. She makes certain I get it, and that I have enough hay to eat all night. It's nice. Much quieter and when the other human took me to the field in the morning, my head collar was on properly. Not like the old place, where they just kind of hooked it on me.

The first twenty days I was on my own in a big field during the day, right next to other horses. It was nice, but sometimes a little lonely. Then one day they put a big gelding into my field! His name is Toby and he's 5, but he's very nice. Doesn't bite or kick me, and we get on very well.

When the human came to see me, I was so excited, I said hello and then ran over to introduce her to Toby. I think she likes him too. We both got carrots.

For weeks I was locked into my prison every night. She came every day and I made sure she had things to do other than annoying me by picking my feet.

I like going out. She shows me a lot of the area and isn't mean when I get scared. I’m not scared for me, of course. I'm very brave, but I worry about the human, you know? If I don't look out for stump monsters and sinkholes and crocodiles she'd never notice them until it's too late, and it's so tedious to train a new one.
A couple of weeks ago I was allowed to stay out at night. Oh the bliss! Lots of grass, company in the field next to me, and best of all — no prison!

I make sure the human gets enough exercise and make her run around the field on occasion. Except when it’s really wet. It’s a little cumbersome to run in a raincoat.
Well, occasionally I have to stand in the prison, but usually not for long, and there’s always food there.
I think the human knows I like those leggy redheads, because strangely…I get to go into a prison next to a leggy redhead now. It's around the corner from the old one, and I can see everyone all the time. I tried to visit the redhead and introduce myself, but the human wouldn’t let me.

These days I’m quite content. The other horses moved into my field, and now there’s quite a crowd around me. No one hurts me and my friend Toby is still there too.
I just hope I don’t get moved again.

I will report how the training of the human goes. Now that we are here, I can start properly. I also have to continue with the weight loss regime for her.
I’m sure the horses reading this will be intrigued by my training techniques and may like to try them out on their own humans.

I promise my next installments will be shorter.

Training your human – Introduction

It's weird.
I'm working on Caedir at the moment. As some of you know, I scrapped about 32k of the first version.
Well, all if it, in fact.
I'm back up to 25k and still going places.

And that first version just doesn't want to stay dead. I keep having ideas for it.
What's more, while I was having ideas for the first version…a THIRD one popped into my head.

I think I might write both of them, and see what my publisher thinks about expanding the Gatekeeper series lol.

Why write one when you can write two?

This is for readers, authors — anyone who sends or receives mass emails.
It's about your right to privacy, your right to have your data protected.

I recently decided to do more promo and get my blog more active, and signed on with a company doing blog tours.
Now, that's all very well.
However, I've sat there, watching emails coming in to my main email address…and I got irked. I got irked some more when it happened again. And again. And again.

What am I talking about?

People who mass email everyone on their list without taking ANY care with their data. i.e. the email address.

These people simply stuck everyone into the "To" field (Some 50 or more people) and thus revealed everyone's email address to everyone on the email.
Not only is this highly unprofessional, negligent and dangerous — it also happens to violate the European Data Protection Act, since I'm in the UK. I did not give permission to share my email address with strangers, and therefore the company BROKE THE LAW.
(And let me tell you, the European courts don't take that lightly.)

You might not care about who has your email address, but you should. Especially if you use it to log in to some places that may be sensitive.

How happy would you be if an email landed in your inbox, with the following: "Oh, btw, we've sent this email to 50 people. Here are their email addresses *insert long list of names and addresses*. And we've sent those 50 strangers your email address as well."

You'd be livid, I expect.

That's in essence what they've done. Not only that, if only one person on that list fails to protect their inbox, or downloads a spambot which seeks out email addresses in your mail and contacts…you can say goodbye to that email address.

So here is my warning:

If you send out newsletters, or any other form of mass email — make sure you don't reveal your subscribers email addresses. Instead of "To", use "BCC" or use a service like MailChimp.

If you receive newsletters, and you find the sender reveals your email address, then email them and tell them off for it.

None of us like spam, so fight back when you get an email where you can see the email addresses of other people — because if you can see theirs, then they can see yours.

Exercise Caution When Emailing Groups Of People

Today my beautiful Paso Fino turned 10 years old.

Hard to believe that a year ago I didn't even know he existed, and now…now he's an integral part not only of my life, but of Paul's too.

Oscuro is a handful, for sure. He has his own mind. He can be more stubborn than a mule, or so sweet you just want to hug him.

When we go out, people tend to stop and look at him. He has an enormous presence. So much so, everyone thinks he's bigger than he actually is.

I've only had him a little over four months, and he has changed my life completely. I don't mind getting up early. I don't mind going out when it's cold, and wet and the wind is trying to strip your coat off — because I get to see him, look after him, ride him, and schmooze him. He searches my pockets, nudges me on the shoulder on the way out of the field, and seeks reassurance with a quick nudge when something scares him.

So… Happy Birthday, Oscuro Del Gavilan

Happy Birthday, Oscuro!

Yeah, you've heard that one before.

"Write what you know."

That's all very well, but what I know is generally boring.
So I'll change this a little, because I think really…this is more important:

"Know what you write."

If I wrote that my hero is putting on his jacket, and then pulls on his sweater — you'd likely scream "That's not how you do it!" (aside from thinking he's a total prat and TSTL)
I get this reaction when I know a writer hasn't got a clue what they are talking about — and didn't bother to research.
We want to immerse our readers into a world we create, but one little thing (like the jacket before the sweater) can ruin it completely. It doesn't even have to be something that's obvious.
It can be as simple as the distance between two real places. I read a book where the hero's house is in Oxford, and the writer had him brought from London to his house in Oxford at 3am in the morning. Not only was our intrepid hero back in London for breakfast, but he also made a 2 hour car trip twice between 3am and around 10am.
What's the big deal?
Well, unless he owned Pegasus or Sleipnir (or their combined offspring), there is no way he'd make such a trip once in that time, let alone twice — because the story was a regency historical.
Since I live just outside London, and I know how long it takes to get from the West End to Oxford, plus I know what speeds and endurance a horse is capable of…that book hit the wall.
We can't all draw on real life facts in our stories.
I write paranormal and fantasy. There's a lot of magic involved, and some badass problems arise — and I really know not a lot about magic.
But there are texts out there which can help create a believable scenario, if not an accurate one. (But if you know how to turn someone into a toad, do tell.)

Knowing what you write is far more important than it's cousin, write what you know. I should probably mention the stepsister "Remember what you wrote" too.
That's another important one. How often have you stumbled across a book where the heroine's hair color changes — without the aid of Miss Clairol? Or maybe her name changed? How about the sister who starts out as a big brother?
I've (sadly) seen all of those.

So, do you research? Or do you hope for the best?

Write what you know?

There is all this talk about Virtual Assistants…some good, some bad.

Some say they "do everything to get your book published, from editing to publishing"
Erm. I think I'll hire an editor to edit, not a VA.
Some say they "organize stuff" for them.
Personally?
Sure, I'd love to have one who gets me organized. But then, I probably just need a serious kick up the keister.
I have no clue what a VA charges, or what they could do for me, but the idea sounds great, in theory lol.

I'm a disorganized slacker, with too many things going on at the same time.
I forget stuff, then rush around like a loony.
I lose things (like important emails!) and then scrabble around like an idiot trying to find them.
Well, not always, but it happens.

Things that tend to suffer are my blog (for those reading this regularly…well, you already know.) facebook deteriorates into personal banter (not that it's bad, but most people don't care about Oz stomping on my foot…I realize that.) and dayum…I keep meaning to do a nice useful newsletter.
I should do more marketing, and promo…and time just gets away from me and well…it doesn't get done.

So, would I love to have a VA who organizes my stuff for me? Hell yeah.
Could I afford one?
Probably not, lol.

My goal for this year is to be more organized.
I think I already half failed, and half succeeded.

*groans*

Virtual Assistants?

The second round of content edits for Watch Me are finished and sent off to my editor.
Hopefully it's line edits next and we can head down the home stretch.
No cover to share yet, blurb isn't finalized either, but I'll keep you updated.
It's funny, every time I go through the story I sit there, thinking "I wrote that? Really?"
The same happened with Howl, and Smitten.
I think it says something when you're able to read your own stuff and (just sometimes) amaze yourself. It's that old "Where'd that come from?"
Honestly, sometimes I look at my own stories and find something I don't recall writing. Well, I do…but…I kinda forget after a while.
I do have a third book in mind, but at the moment I'm working on "Caedir".
I'm back up at 15k after scrapping about 32k total.

Anyway! I shall chill a bit now that the edits are out of the door!
 

Watch Me Edits

I'm blogging at Believing is Seeing today.

Come on over and see why you need to Beware of Puddles!

Friday Fun

Got my foot stomped and am hobbling around now.
Oh joy.
It's swelling up nicely, and I doubt I can get it into a boot tomorrow.
But I guess being immobile, and practically shackled to my computer, means I get on with writing.

I've been eying all the self publishing for a long while. There are stories on my drive which I might work up for this.
It also scares me.
Not because I suck — I think I write better first drafts than many self pubbed tenth drafts (and my editor happens to agree) — but because there is a kind of safety aspect to having a publisher behind you.

It's also scary because in a self published book, anything goes.
No, I don't write erotica, I don't have taboo subjects or situations either, but I wrote a scene last night where the hero slaps the heroine. (She deserved it, but that doesn't make it right.)
I edited that out again this morning.

We'll see.
 

More injuries.

Yeah, tons of them.
Here I am, having a whole two weeks off, able to write morning, noon and night — or round the clock if the mood strikes me — and…can I?

No.

Make that a HELL no.

It's not even that I get terribly distracted (which I do), or have things (aka Oscuro) to take care of, or get disturbed by anyone. Nope. None of that.
The worst culprit for not writing?

Sleep.
Yep, you saw that right.
Sleep. Here I am, I can stay up way into the wee hours, or until dawn if I want to–and instead I can't keep my eyes open at 9:30pm.
What's up with that?
I watch a little TV (hey, I did say distractions) and I fall asleep in front of it.
I wake up at 2am and can't sleep, but if I don't, then I'll be having daytime nap sessions–so I force myself back into bed. I read–and fall asleep.
Yes, Oz can be exhausting, but dayum…that's just ridiculous.

I think I'm changing back to regular coffee!

Distractions…