Some stories flow; others come out like reluctant drops from a long unused, rusty faucet. For others, life interrupts their progress. My current work-in-progress is a combination of all three.
For the past three years, this book has filled my heart and imagination. The characters have become real to me, and I have felt every emotion of their journey so far. And yet, I sit mid-way through their story, inching them at a sloth’s pace toward The End.
It seems like a good time for me to pull back the curtain on this project I have lovingly nicknamed, “The Quiet Cowboy Novel,” and publicly share more about it.
Introducing …
Luke Bantham speaks less than he laughs, and he’s rarely had reason for mirth in his twenty-two years. When his long-time girlfriend flies off the horse he trained and she chooses to discard the animal rather than get back on his saddle, Luke leaves his hometown and homecoming queen to rescue the stallion.
His search leads him from Southeast Louisiana to South Dakota and into the atrocities of the slaughter pipeline, an inhumane system of trafficking livestock that lines pockets, breaks animals and endangers humans who intervene.
When Luke meets Cheyenne, a girl quieter than he is, he finds his voice. Together with a sage stranger, they learn to speak for those who can’t. Will their individual connections to the red roan stallion guide their paths across the Canadian border in time to save lives, or will they lose their own?
The Inspiration
In April 2021, we visited an equine rescue near our house for my birthday. Fast-forward a couple years, and my daughter started volunteering there on a regular basis. We became close with the woman who runs it, and she shared many stories with me about the horses and donkeys they had rescued … and the ones they couldn’t.
Despite a lifetime of reading everything about horses I could get my hands on, I had no idea the slaughter pipeline existed.
Between the knowledge of this real nightmare and a desire to write a “quiet cowboy” that was first sparked by the kind eyes of a stranger I passed in a Wendy’s years ago, the sparkle of a story first hit sunlight. And, what a journey it’s been!
The Writing Journey So Far
The timeline on this book has certainly been spread out.
- September 2023: Intentional written brainstorming begins on a flight to NYC to celebrate my daughter’s 16th birthday.
- November 2023: I come out of the gate strong, hitting 20,000 words by the end of the month.
- November 2025: Life hit, so I get reacquainted with my story while spending an afternoon at The Writer’s Desk at Blue Cypress Books with my new book release, Animal Vignettes: True Stories of Friendship.
- July 2026: I squeak past 25,000 words.
- August 2026: I do a lot of re-reading and finally reach 30,000 words.
The biggest barrier to completing a first draft of this book has been life: my daughter’s senior year of high school, the publication of another book, a long job search, a new job and the adjustment to remaining a homeschool mom and indie author while now working full-time in a director role.
One thing that has remained consistent, though, is a passion for this story and for the characters. Another common experience has been the flow of the words.
I am not dramatizing when I declare that writing this book has been a spiritual experience. I feel the words being gifted directly through my brain and hands and onto my computer screen. Every time I feel stuck but start to write anyway, my characters’ paths become clear to me. I hear their thoughts and dialogue; I watch their actions play out in my mind.
Most of the second half of their journey has been revealed to me, and I’m almost positive how the final scene will unfold.
A few scenes have been hard-fought, though, as I try to determine what each character should reveal of their connection to this charismatic stallion or decipher how they each sound and when—or if—they meet one another. And, I have experienced the inevitable big-picture changes, like a shift in Luke’s origin from Arizona to Louisiana and frequent changes in what each character knows—or doesn’t know—about their pasts.
My Goals
My goal for September is to add another 10,000 words to the manuscript and get Luke, Cheyenne and Chase closer to Red and to the evil trafficker who deals in more than horses’ lives.
After that, my goal is to type The End before the holidays, so I can spend some of my time off work adding in the delightful layers that come with revisions and self-edits. That is my favorite time of writing because I get to add depth to characters, explore all six senses of their experiences and incorporate the final necessary research to bring credence to the story.
This story will require extra research and interviews with expert readers because much of my characters’ existence centers around their connections to the Lakota tribe.
Beyond these two named goals, I don’t want to declare a publication date, but my desire is for it to hit shelves in 2027. I am eager to share this story of the red roan stallion with readers, and I’m also ready to write all the other stories living in my imagination. Whether that is possible, though, remains to be determined.
What questions do you have about this novel or my writing process? Drop them in the comments, and I may use them to film a Q&A for my YouTube series, From Heart to Shelf: MiniMusings of an Indie Author. For access to the full series, subscribe to my newsletter below.
