Writers Who Ride Or the pen is mightier than the crop.
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here is perhaps nothing more daunting than an author signing a contract which was accompanied by a substantial publisher’s advance check, and then sitting before a blank computer screen. Stark reality comes home when that author faces the reality that he/she must fill that blank screen with about 500 pages of hopefully compelling prose, all within a seemingly impossible deadline. I can speak from experience. I write books. By Steven Long
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hree bestselling authors Horseback interviewed have faced that intimidating reality again and again with considerable success. Their books catalog an impressive lineup of New York Times bestsellers and smash hit e-books on the web. Somehow, in their spare time they have been able horsewomen, actively riding, caring for their horses and families, and even winning the gold on the back of their steed. What could be more romantic than that? The most famous of them is author and dressage champion Tami Hoag. Her just released, The 9th Girl, follows 15 consecutive New York Times bestsellers that have thus far topped sales of more than 35 million books in 20 languages. As if that’s not enough she’s had a long, successful career in the dressage arena, including numerous US Dressage Federation year end championships at Grand Prix, Intermediare 1 and 2, and Prix St Georges, and championships at individual shows, the California Dressage Society championships and regional California events. A couple of her more
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TAMI HOAG prestigious wins at top shows are the Grand Prix Sweepstakes at the Del Mar National in the Golden State, High Score Grand Prix of the Palm Beach Dressage Derby, and winning the $10,000 Dressage Under The Stars Freestyle championship at the Player’s Club in Wellington, FL. Whew! Hoag began writing at the age of nine. By 1988, she had her first pub-
lished novel, and the pace hasn’t slackened since. Hoag began her career writing for Bantam’s “Loveswept” line of romance novels, penning sixteen titles in five years. Then Tami abruptly left romance writing, refusing to be pigeon holed in the genre and moved to the suspense/thriller category. She is a versatile storyteller who easily moves from suspense to romantic comedy. Changing genres from romance to suspense/thrillers “was a natural progression for me. ”I experimented with a whole lot of different things. I wrote comedy, I threw a little suspense in there, and I just kept playing with a lot of different things. I was then ready to step up to a bigger kind of book and suspense was what I felt comfortable with.” Hoag is one of America’s most prolific authors with more than 100 titles under her belt. She is now at book 18 in the suspense category. “I’ve quit counting.” Hoag writes big fat manuscripts. For example, my own books generally run 300-400 pages before typesetting. www.horsebackmagazine.com