# I just wrote a horse book!



## Mambo (Sep 25, 2008)

Well, not so much a book about horses as about teenagers and their horses in outback Australia - I used to live there, I have horses, I have kids, I teach so I know lots of teenagers, and I have a Masters in Education so I hope I can string a few words together, so a book about kids and their horses in the outback just seemed to make sense. It's not that big, only 36,000 words/95 pages so it's more a glorified story than a big novel. I've written on and off for horse magazines for decades, and even helped write for a horse based tv series, but it's always been my dream to get a book done. It's only on Kindle at the moment, but the print version will be completed soon... then I know what all my family will be receiving for Christmas, lol. 

And I'm busy writing the second in the series but it is being changed a bit because of feedback from a few of the teenagers who did the reviews of the first one for me... ugh... some of them are NOT horsey so they demanded that I put some motorbikes into the next one, and I guess when we lived on our station, we used motorbikes as well as horses, so the horses remain but the bikes are now in.



I love the fact that my daughter designed the cover - taking a photo of our Australian Stock Horse stallion playing on a windy day...










and turning it into the cover artwork...


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## lucky2008 (Aug 17, 2010)

Can't see the cover 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Mambo (Sep 25, 2008)

I wonder why that is... it's saved the same way as the original photo of the stallion on photobucket, or can't you see either of them?


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## clairedorotik (Jan 12, 2011)

Congrats Leanne! I will definitely check out your book!

Claire Dorotik M.A., author, ON THE BACK OF A HORSE: Harnessing the Healing Power of the Human-Equine Bond
Welcome to Run With It - developed by Claire Dorotik


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## xXSerendipityXx (Jan 26, 2012)

Id love to read that


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## caseymyhorserocks (Apr 5, 2010)

Read the amazon "look inside" exert, and wow!! And, have you checked out your reviews by any chance?! 
Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: Horses Of The Sun (The Outback Riders)


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## Mambo (Sep 25, 2008)

It's always such a worrying thing when I see that there's a new review... and then such a huge relief to see that someone else really likes the book and 'gets' it. Although written for younger readers, most of the reviews are written by adults who loved it - I think it sort of appeals to that child within us all that first fell in love with horses. I've nearly finished the second in the series - a lot longer and just getting through some tense scenes now where the five children have to think their way out of a hostage situation with some escaped prisoners (the four children from Sunhaven and their friend Brandon - Amy has a bit of thing for him and he's going to be a vet but will also become one of the leading cutting horse competitors in later books). When I've finished this second one, which I thought would be done by now, I'll get back to promoting Horses Of The Sun - for quite a few weeks there it was on the top five of horse books on Amazon (and out of thousands of horse books, that was pretty good). 

I've been busy with so many other things of late that writing just took a back seat for a while. And I've met some fascinating new people, including Zelie Bullen who trained the horses in the movie War Horse as well as the zebras in the movie Racing Stripes (and heaps more: the pigs and other animals in Charlotte's Web, Mask of Zorro, Beastmaster, etc. etc.) who is just the loveliest person. Then one of my very best friends from the 1970s (we haven't seen each other in over 20 years) was diagnosed with cancer and she turned to me, and I would drop everything ten times over to be there for her. Friendship does not know the bounds of time. But I shall return to writing ASAP so the second book can be out there within a few weeks.


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## lildonkey8 (Dec 12, 2010)

Read the first bit...WHAT A BOOK!
You _should_ write much more. You have a lot of Voice, and this is definetely a good book!


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## Mambo (Sep 25, 2008)

Thank you. I've written for horse magazines for years (well, on and off for over 25 years) and I have done other writing (tv, literacy book for schools, etc.) and I've only ever wanted to write books but there was never time. I'm trying to make time for it now. I also have Flame The Fire Horse and Other Horse Stories (if this link comes up) Amazon.com: Flame The Fire Horse and Other Horse Stories eBook: Leanne Owens: Kindle Store as well as a 'help' book for young teens. Now, I must try and get another few hours of writing in before doing anything else!


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## canteringhearts (Feb 18, 2012)

Oh, I am definitely checking it out! I love looking for more material to read  (If you have any other suggestions, feel free to post 'em.)


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## WesternBella (Jan 7, 2012)

I've always wanted to right a book (or atleast short story) about a teenage girl that rides and her life. Can't bring myself to do it because its sort of embarrassing (I'm not the greatest lol)
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Mambo (Sep 25, 2008)

There's the blogspot - Good Horse Books - which has free eBooks put up every day (at least four each day that have something to do with horses - all free, no strings attached... just part of the author promotions). All links take you to Amazon, so it's all safe. And there are features about great horse books (eBooks, paperbacks, hardbacks and 2nd hand books) if you look back through the past posts (list of headings on the left of the page) you'll find other features about different books.

Good Horse Books Hopefully people will share the site among their friends as the more books the authors can give away on the free promotional days, the better it is for their book - so no limits on how many can be given away on the day or days that they are free. And if people don't have a Kindle, they can download the free Kindle reading app for their computer, iPhone, iPad or Android at the top of the page (I've bought three Kindles - for me, my 75 year old Mum and 21 year old daughter and we all LOVE them!).


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