Lizzi Tremayne's Blog, page 11

The New Year’s Here! Do you have a good method of organisation to help you reach your 2018 goals?

Good morning!

Thanks to a long line of people into whom I've come into contact while trying to build my website, I have finally found a magnificent method of organisation for myself: Asana.

Asana lets me organise myself and any others involved by Project (i.e. Blue Mist Equine Veterinary Centre, Equi-Still Portable Stocks, Lizzi Tremayne Author, Personal, Liz & Matt, etc. etc., you get the picture.) and by task, plus subtasks, assigning different ones to the correct people, and deadlines for each one.

Asana even lets me organise my whole organisation periodically, if that suits the task… like my new blogging schedule… three times per week. The way I've set up  my website, I should be able to figure out three topics a week to interest you!

All this organisation is essential because I have added another series to my writing list… I have The Long Trails series, with another book, Tatiana, due this year, and now the Once Upon a Vet School series… and a veterinary book for horse owners I've promised to write this year as well.

I need to be ultra-organised… that word again… because I've had more than one email asking me where they can source the other books in the Once Upon a Vet School series! And I need to write them… LOL.

 

If you haven't yet read Once Upon a Vet School  #7: Lena Takes a Foal, here's an excerpt! Unlike the rest of the story, the animal in this part isn't a horse, it's a….

Thanks to http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/lop-eared... for the great Lop pic!

 

 

Excerpt:

❧

The jingle of the ice cream truck pulled me out of whatever internal medicine doctorate-dissertation trance I was in, typing myself stupid. I’d been stuck in bed with Sarah’s Previously Unknown E. coli in a Dog for nearly a week and I had a desperate urge to catch that truck — and snag me a chocolate gelato.

Never mind I could barely make it to the toilet.

With a frown at Tamarah’s makeshift desk sitting over my reclining body, topped by 35 pounds of IBM Selectric correcting typewriter, I bit my lip, held my breath and heaved. My sore ribs shrieked, but the typewriter barely budged. I tried again and managed to tip it off my lap, then swung my legs across and dived for the door… but my leg was trapped in the sheets, wasn’t it?

I hit the floor with a grunt and a scream, then dragged myself to the door frame and climbed up its slippery surface.

That ice cream had better be good.

I staggered down the hallway, leaning against the wall as I went. If I’d gone to the doctor, I’d no doubt have a crutch, but my stupidity might cost me that gelato. I could almost taste it and I hurried, nearly falling over Tamarah’s golden Labrador as she rushed up to me, leash in mouth and a hopeful look in her big brown eyes.

“Watch out, Susie, not now,” I mumbled, then stumbled down the porch steps. I was limping across the lawn at a great rate of knots when the brightly painted van, playing its merry tune, drove away in a cloud of diesel smoke.

I growled beneath my breath at the universe for denying me the chance to add inches to my waistline, then took a deep breath. The mailbox stood just yards away. I might as well check it, now I was out here. As I reached into the box, a movement to my right caught my eye.

“Susie, what have you got?” I called out to the dog. She looked at me, all big, innocent Labrador eyes, a half-grown bunny draped through her mouth.

“Gently, gently,” I whispered, as I picked up her forgotten leash and followed her into the bushes, dragging my screaming leg. A domestic rabbit like this baby Belgian Lop running around in the middle of town must be someone’s pet. It was still alive, its little chest heaving in triple time, but that could change in a heartbeat.

“Come on, Susie, give it here,” I cajoled, and waved the leash at her.

With a joyous look, she spat the rabbit at me and lunged for the leash. I dove for the bunny like a wide receiver making the final play in the end zone, quite forgetting for one brief moment that I only had one functional leg.

This time, I’m sure the whole neighborhood heard me swear.

Lucky Susie. She got her walk after all. We returned to the house to put the little hopper in a box with some water and lettuce to calm down while I fashioned a rough — operative word, rough — crutch. With the Labrador helping, against my wishes and better judgement, I loaded the bunny into a backpack. It snuggled down and never moved as we set off to tour the neighborhood. I’m not sure if Susie’s enthusiasm helped, but I hobbled from house to house, muttering a fairly constant stream of imprecations under my breath. It took over an hour to canvass the neighborhood, but we finally found a little old lady whose eyes watered up when I mentioned the rabbit. Her granddaughter brought it over to show it off last week — and forgot about it while it grazed on granny’s back lawn. When they returned, of course it had gone walkabout. They thought they’d never see it again.

Made my day.

❧

A few days later, despite the hydrotherapy, massage, and loving care by Tamarah, the leg actually looked worse. Not content to stay a nice blue color, it had morphed to a purple, black and yellow camo pattern. Understanding the medical significance of the color changes was all very nice, but it sure didn’t make the bruises resolve any faster.

“Do you want to see that blasted horse of yours?” Tamarah said the next day, out of the blue.

“Really? You’ll take me?”

“I go there every day to take care of him, anyway.” She scowled at me. “You might as well come along… on one condition.”

“What is it?” I said, rather ungraciously, under the circumstances. She’d been caring for me, too, since my fall. I peered sideways at her.

“We go by student health on the way back. I don’t want to come home from walking the dog to find you seizuring from a blood clot in your brain.”

Susie jumped to her feet at the W-word and spat her slimy tennis ball at me. I sidestepped, with a yelp, but offered the dog a twisted grin. After the bunny incident, I had a new appreciation for her ability to hurl things with her mouth.

“My father would shoot me,” Tamarah continued smoothly, “if he knew I’d let you stay away from the doctor.”

That got me.

Tamarah’s daddy, a lovely man, was also a professor… at our veterinary school. I bit my cheek. He wouldn’t be impressed by my irresponsible behavior. Now was not the time to annoy his daughter.

❧

Get your copy now at https://lizzitremayne.com/OnceUponVet7

Hope you love it!

Have a great week back at work!

xx

Lizzi

The post The New Year’s Here! Do you have a good method of organisation to help you reach your 2018 goals? appeared first on Horses & Vets, Fact & Fiction, Then & Now.

Our Christmas Tree, or A New Tradition for a New Life

This year, with my boys grown and moved away, my partner and I decided to simply decorate our living room for the holidays with a ficus tree, a veer away from tradition.

Rather than purchase a cut-your-own pine Christmas tree, for the first time we chose to honour our own tree—the one which lives with us every day in our home.

My partner, a native of the UK, has a history of disappointment and sadness at our New Zealand Christmas. I, too, was transplanted to New Zealand (by choice, of course…).

Getting used to a summertime Christmas hasn’t always been easy for me, either.

Credit to NZ Post, with thanks, at https://stamps.nzpost.co.nz/

Seasonally-inverted southern hemisphere Kiwis (New Zealanders) have imported the northern hemisphere holiday traditions—but someone forgot to change the dates.

In doing so, we’ve essentially lost the fundamental reason for celebration of the midwinter festival: the anticipated return of life after the still-to-come times of hardship—the release from darkness and want, toward the time of renewal and plenty.

©Photo. R.M.N. / R.-G. OjŽda

Early on, I realized this concept was more deeply ingrained in me than I’d dreamed. Moving to New Zealand was a big change in more ways than one.

Whether we move away from our childhood home or relocate a long way from our families and close friends later in life, we may find the need to create our own holiday traditions.

As children, and now grandchildren, enter our lives, our roles may change even further, necessitating further adjustments.

Those living far from their birth homes often confirm that being away from family and close friends can be daunting.

Tell me about it.

My first December 25th in New Zealand had to rate as my most depressing Christmas up until that date.

I had a wonderful boss, but no real friends outside of work, as I had spent every weekend with my boyfriend out on the coast, an hour away from home—and he ended our relationship over the phone, out of the blue, on 23 December.

Thanks to https://awakened2torah.com/2017/07/19... for the use of the photo.

New Release! Once Upon a Vet School #7: Lena Takes a Foal!

Happy Holidays from my family to yours, and a new release too!

I hope you're enjoying good health, good friends, and your favourite foods… and some new release books!

We've just had a lovely and sunny Christmas down under in our little green spot of New Zealand.

Plenty to do, with the farm, writing and vetting!

My latest interesting dentistry patient is a nearly 2000 Kg White Rhino at the Auckland Zoo! He'll hopefully soon be right as rain!

Have a look at one of the pages within my Blue Mist Equine Vet Centre pages about a recent visit to the Auckland Zoo to perform some dentistry on Itika, the zebra! Just go here.

Speaking of vetting, I've just begun a new series… (and yes, I'm still continuing The Long Trails series!)

Did you ever want to be a veterinarian?

Once Upon a Vet School is a new series of contemporary vet fiction.

Share Lena’s escapades from the time she decides to become a veterinarian, through her education and practice time in the USA, to her career as a rural equine and sometimes zoo-dentistry veterinarian in New Zealand.

This novel is the seventh in this series, comprising tales of a girl who dreamed of becoming a vet… her life on the way and beyond. And yes, it's semi-autobiographical. I'm not telling which parts are and which aren't! I'll leave that up to you to guess!

The first-written book in the series, Once Upon a Vet School #7, is now out! I figure if George Lucas of Star Wars fame can do it, so can I!

The blurb:

She needs help…he needs to stay away.

Lena has a problem—one that could keep her from graduating from veterinary school. There’s one person who can help her, but will he?

After a messy divorce, Kit returns to his first loves—horses and his old veterinary school alma mater, as a resident. Becoming involved with his talented and beautiful equine track student Lena isn't on the cards.

Luckily, she's sworn off relationships after her last romantic disaster. Besides, if there's one thing a veterinary school faculty frowns upon, it's a relationship between a resident and a student. Like oil and water, they just don't mix.

It's available as a standalone in paperback in New Zealand HERE and everywhere else via Amazon in paperback and digital HERE.

Take this month's quiz!

Once Upon a Vet School is available on its own or as part of a a nine-story anthology called Christmas Babies on Main Street... and can you guess what sort of a baby is in my story?

The first person to respond with the correct answer via email wins a paper copy of

Once Upon a Vet School #7: Lena Takes a Foal!

Message me with the answer here:

[contact-form]
In case you hadn't heard, I had another new release earlier in the year: Book 3 in The Long Trails series, A Sea of Green Unfolding!

This is the story of my heart about my adopted green, green country of New Zealand.

It follows my characters Aleksandra and Xavier from the area of California where I grew up in the Santa Cruz Mountain redwoods and follows them through some pretty big challenges and their decisions to emigrate far to the south to a new land in New Zealand.

Learning the many facets of the history of New Zealand has changed the way I think about the social structure here… considerably. I've met some wonderful people while researching the history of the areas near where I currently live and made some friends I'll keep for a long time. The acknowledgement section is considerable.

Authors of Main Street Featured!

Kristy Tate of Authors of Main Street is blogging about our Christmas Boxed Set today here!

Come on by and hear how it was formed!

xx

Lizzi

 

The post Authors of Main Street Featured! appeared first on Horses & Vets, Fact & Fiction, Then & Now.

Finally! How to Determine Font Sizes!

One of my jobs this weekend is to get Once Upon a Vet School 7 loaded to Amazon to be printed and was trying, once again, to determine the font size in some books I have to hand…and I found this!

Photo credit for typographic scale to ©vanseodesign.com

Today I'm observing Armistice or Veteran's Day, and I hope you get the chance as well, wherever you are in the world. My most profound appreciation to all those who have given so much for us. You are not forgotten.

Photo credits to nzhistory.govt.nz

Back at home, we have a few things on this weekend, as we're getting close to heading for San Antonio with our Equi-Still Portable Equine Stocks to AAEP 2017! Thankfully, we've been blessed with a team of wonderful full-time farm-sitters so we can trot off in peace!

Here's the gist of an article I just found…

How to Find Font Size of Text in Points
1. Measure the size of your text in millimeters.
2. Divide the total number of millimeters by 4.217 — the equivalent of a pica. For instance, if you measured 21.085 millimeters, divide by 4.217 to get 5.
3. Multiply the answer you got by 12 to get your point size. For instance, if your answer was 5, multiplying by 12 would give you an answer and point size of 60.

Thanks, Techwalla, for your great tip!

Hope this can help some of you self-pubbers out there!

Off to work again,

xx

Lizzi

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Ever Thought of Riding the Pony Express?

I sure did…probably obsessed on riding the Pony Express, too, when I was a little girl riding out in the hills around La Honda, California.

Maybe that’s why my first novel, A Long Trail Rolling, ended up being about the Pony Express…and a girl rider.

Many have asked why I wrote about this for my first novel. For those of you who don’t know my history, suffice it to say I grew up on Highway 84 in La Honda, California, where the Younger Brothers used to hang out after big heists, the Stage ran through, and the Peek-a Boo Inn (yes, it is what it sounds like…), the eleven bars and three churches and one store were the standard, back in the day.

I went away to university and finally finished veterinary school. I had to be a hoss-doc, didn’t I? I moved on to Placerville, of Gold Country fame, on the Pony Express Trail.  You might say I was rather steeped in the Old West.

Things led to things and I found myself in New Zealand, where I’ve lived for the past 22 years. I’ve now finished my third historical fiction (with romantic elements, of course) and my first contemporary vet girl story, Once Upon a Vet School #7: Lena Takes a Foal.

It’s actually included in our Christmas boxed set, Christmas Babies on Main Street! You’ll see it in the right sidebar, all dressed in midnight blue!

Back to History and the Pony Express!

I discovered some pretty cool things can happen when you’re researching a story. 

Thanks to Pony Express History –

The Pony Express Re-Ride runs every year, all the way from St. Jo, Missouri, to Sacramento, California. Patrick Hearty, past president of the National Pony Express Association (NPEA), wrote the Foreword of A Long Trail Rolling for me. He and his wife, Linda, hosted my son Elliot and I a few years ago, and again last year, when they invited me to ride in the re-ride and lent me their horses for the famed ride. It was awe-inspiring to ride over the same trail as all those young men, so many years ago. It is strange to realize that the portion I rode over is less populated than it was back in the day!

The  Pony Express Re-Ride continues!

This rider is putting the “mochila,” (the leather pad with the mail pockets, below) over his horse’s saddle. It’s transferred from horse to horse all the way from St. Joseph to Old Sacramento for the western run, and another one is transferred at the same time, in the reverse direction…all the way from Old Sac to St. Joseph for the eastward run.  Members of the NPEA and others may insert a commemorative letter at one end and have them delivered to the other.

Credit to Ryan Long, Deseret News

Patrick has put a commemorative letter in for me every year since we met and I cherish the growing stack of letters, knowing how many miles those letters have gone, carried by horse after horse in their locked “cantinas”, over 2000 miles of hot summer sweat and dust, prairies, rivers, and the Sierra Nevada Ranges.

Map of the Pony Express Route

Thanks to Union Pacific and http://bit.ly/11K21Oh

To join the NPEA or follow the mochilas on their yearly trip, you can visit the XPHome Site

Thanks to Tom Crews!

This is Patee House, the eastward terminus of the  Pony Express, or “Pony”, as it was called.

Thanks to Kathy Weiser, owner/editor, Legends of America

 

Patrick Hearty and Dr. Joseph Hatch of Utah speaking on the Pony Express

 

Patrick Hearty The Pony Express Stations in Utah

Photo above: Patrick and Joseph’s book. Photo to right: Joseph L. Hatch, left, and Patrick Hearty talk about the history of the Pony Express. (Thanks to Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News)

Traveler’s Rest Pony Express Station, Near Salt Lake City, Utah

Here is the Traveler’s Rest (or Absalom Smith) Station, with the front torn down, but the pic shows the first part built.  Thanks to the University of Utah

 

Simpson’s Springs (Somewhere out in the Utah Salt Desert!).

Painting of Simpson’s Springs Station

Lookout Pass, Where my Heroine, Aleksandra, Finds a “Bit of Strife”

Thanks to Roger Douglass 

It’s in Lookout Pass that Aleksandra, my heroine, is ambushed by Paiute Indians and… (but that would be telling!)…. you’ll just have to read the book!

INDIAN ARROWE AND ECHO STATION PE STATION KEEPERS

“Mose Wright described the Indian arrow-poison. The rattlesnake – the copperhead and the moccasin he ignored – is caught with a forked stick planted over its neck, and is allowed to fix its fangs in an antelope’s liver. The meat, which turns green, is carried upon a skewer when wanted for use: the flint head of an arrow, made purposely to break in the wound, is thrust into the poison, and when withdrawn is covered with a thin coat of glue. Ammonia is considered a cure for it and the Indians treat snake bites with the actual cautery. . .”

Yep, it gets messy, but then, it often did.

The “Pony”, as the Pony Express was called, only actually ran for 18 months or so, a bit less because Indian attacks caused it to shut down for about a month and a half…  (Why, you say? Well, when all the stations for over 50 miles are burned down, stock stolen and station tenders killed, it’s pretty hard to maintain a route!)

Thanks to  David David Gallery / SuperStock

The opening of  the new trans-continental telegraph line sounded the death knell of the “Pony”, but it had served its purpose in keeping California in the Union, preventing its secession to the South! This is actually the main storyline of Book 2 in the series, The Hills of Gold Unchanging.  

Thanks to Trips into History 

That’s my bit of history for today, I hope you enjoyed hearing about the “Pony”.

Back to Today!

 

A Little Bit of News:

The Hills of Gold Unchanging, its sequel A Sea of Green Unfolding, and Once Upon a Vet School have all just been entered into the RITA Awards!

As you probably know, The Authors of Main Street, the group I write with, have just put out our Christmas Boxes Set!

If you haven’t  read it yet, go for it, there are nine heartwarming stories from your favorite, and new favorite, we hope, authors, all for only 99c!

Thanks to those of you who have purchased and read it, it's climbing fast!  It was released in mid-October and tonight it's…

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,223 Paid in Kindle Store

#29 in Books > Romance > Anthologies

#34 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Collections & Anthologies

#36 in Books > Romance > Clean & Wholesome

Thanks, you guys n gals!  xxx

My latest novella, Once Upon a Vet School #7: Lena Takes a Foal,  is inside!  Soon it'll be out in paperback on its own!

 

If you love the stories, we’d sure appreciate your reviews on Amazon!

Take good care.

XX from NZ,

Lizzi Tremayne…summer's coming down here..complete with elderflower champagne!

The post Ever Thought of Riding the Pony Express? appeared first on Horses & Vets, Fact & Fiction, Then & Now.

Welcome to my New Website, or I SURVIVED Creating It!

I’m not sure where the past month went since I decided, probably due a total lack of sense, to do a “revamp” on my website, or websites, rather.

And combine them.

And switch from a simple WordPress.com site to a self-hosted WordPress.org site.

via GIPHY

I have plenty of education, probably a lot more than is good for me, but the last computer class I took was at Foothill Community College in…( dare I say it? ) around 1982, entitled Programming in Basic. My youngest son, a Com Sci major, looked at me sideways when I mentioned it. Clearly he hadn’t understood I was truly a dinosaur until he heard that.

DINOSAUR COMPUTERS. Photo credit and thanks to http://www.chilloutpoint.com/featured...

All that aside, I’m not quite sure I understood all the implications of a self-hosted site before I started, but now…yep. I got it. And…I kinda like it.

Something Special About Growing up in a Small Town

There’s something special about growing up in a small town, my name for a Main Street town. Like the song says, you know everybody and everybody knows you…and their parents might as well be yours, if you stepped out of line. But they were always there for you, just like your own parents, whenever you needed them.

 

My true home town…plus there are two bars and two churches not shown…used to be a gas station, but that was even before my time. The trailer at the fire station is new, though!

I live half a world away from there now, but if I wandered back tomorrow, they’d still be there for me, as I’d be for them.

 

People are there for each other in a small town. Many I know grew up in cities and never knew their neighbours. Now they’re adults, they still don’t know the people up and down their street. I don’t get it. I couldn’t live with myself—being so close to others and never even knowing them, what’s going on in their lives, if they’re okay. They look at me blankly when I ask.

My adopted High School town–where I nearly stayed.

Something Special About Growing up in a Small Town

There’s something special about growing up in a small town, my name for a Main Street town. Like the song says, you know everybody and everybody knows you…and their parents might as well be yours, if you stepped out of line. But they were always there for you, just like your own parents, whenever you needed them. In case you don’t know, I write with a group called Authors of Main Street at Christmas time!

 

My true home town…plus there are two bars and two churches not shown…used to be a gas station, but that was even before my time. The trailer at the fire station is new, though!

I live half a world away from there now, but if I wandered back tomorrow, they’d still be there for me, as I’d be for them.

 

People are there for each other in a small town. Many I know grew up in cities and never knew their neighbours. Now they’re adults, they still don’t know the people up and down their street. I don’t get it. I couldn’t live with myself—being so close to others and never even knowing them, what’s going on in their lives, if they’re okay. They look at me blankly when I ask.

My adopted High School town–where I nearly stayed.

Christmas! It's Available for Pre-Order

Many of you have been asking when my latest novella, Once Upon a Vet School #7, would be out…It’s up for preorder now, as part of the Authors of Main Street’s Christmas Boxed set!

and……

It’s only 99c (USD)

and…..

even better, it’ll be out on 12 October!

Here’s the link:

http://amzn.to/2xQ5Lsj  If that link didn’t work!

So, there you are!

Please feel free to share.

Nine individual stories from the bestselling Authors of Main Street – New for the 2017 Christmas Season!

This year, The Authors of Main Street have combined their talent to bring you stories about love, the holidays, and babies from around the world. From the small hamlet of Eastport in Canada, to the gorgeous landscapes of New Zealand, to Main Street, USA… you’ll find the Christmas spirit and warm love stories on every page. And not all of our babies have pudgy little fingers and adorable toes… one of them has hooves and a mane (Yep, that’d be mine. How’d you guess?)

Inside this year’s box set, you’ll find Christmas novellas from Kristy Tate, Carol DeVaney, Jill James, E. Ayers, Lizzi Tremayne, Jude Knight, Stephanie Queen, Susan R. Hughes, and Leigh Morgan.

Snuggle up with your favorite blanket, grab a cup of hot chocolate, and let the Authors of Main Street help you celebrate the holiday season.

The post Christmas! It's Available for Pre-Order appeared first on Horses & Vets, Fact & Fiction, Then & Now.