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Thursday, March 20, 2014

BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--GUEST AUTHOR AUTHOR KATE WYLAND

Kate Wyland is a life-long horse nut who started riding at three years old. A few years ago, she exchanged her tech writing “bug” hat for a fiction writing Stetson. Suspense, romance, horses and sometimes the paranormal are the themes she likes to explore in her books. Learn more about Kate and her books at her website and blog.

Daydreaming
When I was a kid, I spent a lot of my time daydreaming. I was a very late child with much older siblings, so effectively I was an “only” with two sets of parents. My folks moved to California when I was nine, and coming from a small Midwestern town, they weren’t terribly comfortable with the relaxed mores and behavior of our new home. They were also the age of my friends’ grandparents. Add the fact I was shy and introverted, and I ended up feeling like an outsider who didn’t quite fit in.

As a result, I retreated into my horses, my books and my daydreams. While I loved stories set in another time and place, my fantasies took place in the “real” world. I constructed elaborate pictures of where I would live and what I would do. Unlike most of my friends, my future did not revolve around getting married and having a family. I didn’t plan elaborate weddings or design my dream house or fantasize about whom I would marry and how many kids we would have.

I was going to DO something—many times something heroic. In contrast to how I actually saw myself, my dreamer self would be brave and active. She would live on a big ranch in the mountains, raise horses and fly planes. Somehow (there were lots of scenarios) she would save someone’s life or perform some other feat of derring-do. I never told anyone about these fantasies and never wrote them down, either. I didn’t dare reveal that part of myself.

Of course these daydreams never really came true. I did marry and have a family. I lived in suburbia and carpooled instead of flying a plane. BUT I have done some flying. AND eventually we did move to a small acreage that allowed horses. While I have dealt with some emergency situations, I’ve never saved anyone’s life or done anything requiring physical bravery. But I have learned to face my fears over the years and even took on my terror of high places by zip lining down a mountain in South Africa.

Now I write my fantasies instead of daydreaming about them. Forewarning is set on a horse ranch in the Oregon Cascades. Kasey, the heroine, saves a man’s life and ends up facing down bad guys. I never realized before how much she fits my long ago dream self. Wyoming Escape is set on a Wyoming dude ranch, loosely based on one I’ve visited. The heroine, Mikela, must face her fears in order to survive and take down the killer who is after her. Another familiar scenario.

How about you? What did you daydream about as a kid? Have any of your fantasies come true? What do you dream about now?

FOREWARNING
Healing is her life. Will it be her death?

Grieving and guilt-stricken after her husband’s suicide, Kasey Martin closes her energetic healing practice and retreats to her Oregon horse ranch. One night, she rescues a badly injured man, and against her better judgment, uses her neglected skills to save his life. This starts her on an unexpected journey of healing and danger.

Complicating her life is Jim Bradley, an old friend who has long been in love with her and wants her to return to her work. When criminals looking for her patient invade the serenity of her world, she must use her skills to save all three of their lives.

10 comments:

Patti Brooks said...

Hi Kate--

So pleased to meet another equestrian/author! It sounds like horses established a hold on your life as a girl, and haven't budged!

I, too, was plunked on a horse when about 3yrs old. I got a pony when I was 9 and immediately went to work giving 10cent pony rides.

I married a horse trainer and we ran a training stable for Morgan Horse breeders in CT and also had a +/-60 horse breeding farm of our own.

I sold my first article to a horse mag when I was 16 for all of $4 and have been writing professionally ever since.

Currently I'm finishing the 3rd book in the Ike Cherny trilogy of mysteries set in the New England horse world.

As soon as I send this email off, I'm going to take a look at your website. And I invite you to do the same.

I'd like to put a link on my site to yours. Us horse writers need to support one another.

Patricia said...

Yay! I love to read Kate's blog posts. They're always entertaining and always have something horsey - pulling me right in! I never dreamed of getting married and having children or anything like that. And here I am - married with two kids! I love being a mom but not just to humans. I am also a mommy to two chocolate labs and a Friesian horse. It makes my life more fulfilling and fun. I don't know why but I don't have your books on my Kindle. I'm going to have to remedy that right away.

Anonymous said...

Hi Patti Brooks. Nice to meet you too. I plan to look up your website too. And certainly, you can link to mine.

I wasn't just plunked on a horse at 3. I DEMANDED to ride. Slept with a herd that left little room for me in the bed.

My "best friend" as a kid was a sweet little, do-everything Morgan mare named Star.

Thanks for stopping and commenting.

Anonymous said...

Hi Patricia,
You don't have any of my books!! I'm shocked. :-)

Thanks for dropping in. I still need to meet Max someday.

Unknown said...

Fun post, Kate! I was a daydreamer too--still am sometimes. I didn't have horses growing up, but relatives and friends did, so I got do some riding.

Unknown said...

Enjoyed your blog post, Kate. I like the suspense element. I'm adding your book to my e-TBR pile. Good luck with it!

Anonymous said...

Stephani, I think sometimes we forget to dream as we get older--and that is sad. Need to remember our childhood daydreams. And horses are always great for taking us out of ourselves.

Thanks for stopping.

Anonymous said...

Gemma, hope you enjoy the book. I love combining horses and mystery.

Thanks for commenting.

Angela Adams said...

Enjoyed the post, Kate!

Anonymous said...

Thanks fof stopping Angela.