Lizzi Tremayne's Blog, page 17
May 20, 2016
The Pony Express Rides Again!
It was fantastic, the Pony Express, wasn’t it? 400 horses, 120 riders, nearly two hundred stations and several hundred station keepers, water /feed carters and the like, through hostile territory, alkali deserts, and high mountains, to get mail across the continental USA in TEN DAYS! Unheard of!
The mochila, that piece of leather with the big (locked) pockets, slipped over the express pony’s saddle.
It would leave San Francisco and be transferred from the saddle of one horse to another, across two thousand miles of the Old West, through to St. Jo, Missouri! (They went the reverse direction, too, of course!)
But it only lasted eighteen months, I hear you say! Yes, you’re right!
But now, it’s baaaaaccckkkkk…….
And it’s run every year, by a crazy bunch of historical horse nuts. There’s plenty of info here from the National Pony Express Association about the Pony Express, the trails, the stops, you name it, they’ve got it! There are even classroom lessons!
If you want to join them, they’re always mad keen to have more people get involved to keep ‘The Pony’, as they call it, alive!
And I’m riding! Woo hoo!!!!!!
So who’s with me?
I’m riding through ____________, the section of the trail in Utah where Aleksandra, my heroine, has her most ‘exciting’ ride!
(Fill in the answer correctly to go into the draw for a specially autographed copy of A Long Trail Rolling. Click on the Leave a comment button below!)
First, I plan to speak and sign books in Salt Lake City before the event, details forthcoming. If you can make it, keep your eyes on this blog!
BUT…
If you can’t make it, I’ll be wearing a Go-Pro! Luckily my portion of the trail is during the daylight hours, so you can see it too!
A herd of mustangs out of Dugway… Utah Pony Express Trail.
Here are some of the Mustangs I saw and photographed on my last trip over the trail!
Anyone recognise this photo? Hint, I took it… It’s in several places on this website!
Clifton Flat, on the Utah portion of the trail. That little bit of trail you see there is probably the piece of trail that looks most like the original trail back in the day!
Patrick Hearty and Lizzi at Rush Valley (Faust’s) Pony Express Station monument, out of Grantsville, Utah.
This is Patrick, the man who’s helped me so much with A Long Trail, and even written the Foreword. He’s a Past President of the NPEA and he and his family keep the history alive every year. He’s written several books about ‘the pony’ with Dr. Joe Hatch.
I’ll be posting highlights and vlogs from the trail after my ride, so keep your eyes open between the 19th (USA time) and 21st of June! Sorry I can’t live-stream, but I suspect internet and phone reception’s not the best out there!
Best wishes from NZ to you from all of us, we’ll be up in the Northern Hemisphere soon!
Love from NZ, here’s a pic of me and my equine boys… One is no longer with us, but he lives on through his brother…
XX
Lizzi
Filed under: Book promotion A Long Trail Rolling, Exploring new places, The Long Trail Quadrilogy Tagged: 1860, California, historical, horses, Lizzi Tremayne, National Pony Express Association, New Zealand, New Zealand; north island; writing; care; short story;, novel, Patrick Hearty, pony, Pony Express, pony express stations in Utah, romance, romantic suspense, saga, Salt Lake City, suspense, writing, XPHome
May 18, 2016
Learn Something New Every Day!
I’ve learned something new in the past few days… so it can’t all be bad.[image error]
TAKE-HOME LESSON NUMBER ONE: Use only ONE year for all ‘first’ copyrights for a book. (helps to not do all this in December and January, LOL).
TAKE-HOME LESSON NUMBER TWO: If you have any queries, ASK. I usually do, but must not have, as have no email record of it.
TAKE-HOME LESSON NUMBER THREE: When you lose, be nice about it. I did, and it made all the difference to their committee and I over the last 24 hours.
A little bad news for me today (but fantastic news for another lucky finalist!)
There have been copyright date issues regarding my entry in the Virginia Romance Writers HOLT Contest, where I was a finalist in both the Best New Book and the Best Romantic Suspense categories.
I entered it by the USA copyright date (2015), which was correct for the competition, but it was listed online still with the original NZ copyright date (2014), which was correct at the time they were posted. A further challenge was the fact that I’d won the 2015 Koru Award Best First Novel, which required a 2014 copyright date (NZ contest, NZ copyright). I believed the NZ copyright date had no bearing upon international rights with respect to this contest.
My mistake.
A not insignificant one, it turns out.
While I have been disqualified, the Virginia Romance Writers and their Contests Committee have been kind enough to refund my entry fee and I plan to enter their competitions in future, with other books. They have given me their blessing on this.[image error]
Still smiling.
Plus, I still have the comfort of knowing A Long Trail Rolling was one of only four finalists in two categories of a contest with over 400 entries.
That’s nice.[image error]
Thankfully, Australia’s RUBY contest entry conditions are based upon publication date. My fingers are firmly crossed.
Thanks for the kind words, all,
PS, my new FB pages are:
Lizzi Tremayne Author Facebook page
This is attached to my Elizabeth Anne Thompson Facebook page
My previous Lizzi Tremayne Facebook page will be deleted soon…Tidy-up time!
Take care, I smell my chutney burning…. speaking of which, will post on that soon!
xxx
Lizzi
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: 1860, A Long Trail Rolling, contests, copyrights, HOLT medallion, learning, learning every day, learning something new, Writing competition
May 15, 2016
USA and UK visit Coming Up!
Putting the word out now…..I’ll be in the USA and UK in June and July.
If any of you would like me to speak, please private message me via
Facebook on my Lizzi Tremayne Facebook page or
Twitter on my Lizzi Tremayne Twitter page
I’ll be in
Utah: Salt Lake City (Riding in the Pony Express Re-Ride!)
Patrick Hearty, below, is providing me with a horse to ride over Lookout!
Patrick Hearty The Pony Express Stations in Utah
Pat and his lovely wife Linda! at Simpson’s Springs!
I so loved just being able to touch the old station… even if it was rebuilt!
You can see the Re-Ride go past if you are somewhere along the trail! Here’s the page for more info!
From there, I’ll take a train through Utah, Nevada and down to California, via Truckee Meadows, where Aleksandra and Xavier will ride Dzien, Charro and Rogan en route to California in The Hills of Gold Unchanging, coming soon…
I’ll be visiting Sacramento,
then north to Eureka, then back south to the SF Bay Area–La Honda, where I grew up!
I have a few talks booked, but have room for more!
From there, will fly to
UK: London, south coast, and then north to the Scottish Highlands.[image error]
MAYBE Virginia. Not sure if can make that one work.
Please let me know if you’d like to see if I can fit you in!
Thanks, and have a great month!
Lizzi
Filed under: A Bold Country Evolving, Book promotion A Long Trail Rolling, Book Promotion A Sea of Green Unfolding, Book Promotion The Hills of Gold Unchanging, Exploring new places, The Long Trail Quadrilogy, Uncategorized, Writing Award, Writing Competition results Tagged: 1860, California, character arcs, historical, horses, immigrant, Lizzi Tremayne, New Zealand, Patrick Hearty, Pony Express, romance, Utah, writing 
Finalist!!!
Opened email today to find this!
and the lovely note attached:
Dear Lizzi Tremayne
It‘s my pleasure to let you know that your novel, A Long Trail Rolling, has been selected by our reader judges as a finalist in the HOLT Medallion contest in the Romantic Suspense AND Best First Book categories. Congratulations!
On June 11th, Virginia Romance Writers will host an awards luncheon to announce the HOLT Medallion Winners and Award of Merit Finalists. Please see the attached invitation for more information.
Etc…..
Woo HOOOOOOoooooooo…..
[image error]
Thanks, everyone, who helped me get this far!
xxx
Lizzi
Filed under: Book promotion A Long Trail Rolling, The Long Trails series, Writing Award, Writing Competition results Tagged: 1860, A Long Trail Rolling, Faust's, historical, horses, La Honda, Nevada, New Zealand; north island; writing; care; short story;, novel, Patrick Hearty, Poland, pony, Pony Express, romance, romantic, Salt Lake City, suspense, writing
May 10, 2016
Hamilton Zinefest this Saturday!
Lizzi Tremayne and Blue Mist Publishing will have a presence there, not sure if we’ll have the big red and blue gazebo or not, but we’ll be there with bells on!
It’s at Creative Waikato, Alexandra Street (next door to Mr Milton’s Canteen)
Click here for more info.
Take care, all, and hope to see you there!
Kindest regards,
Lizzi Tremayne
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: 1860, A Long Trail Rolling, A Sea of Green Unfolding, Cossack, Faust's, historical, horse, horses, Lizzi Tremayne, New Zealand, novella, Patrick Hearty, Pony Express, pony express station, romance, Russia, Salt Lake City, suspense, The Hills of Gold Unchanging, writing
March 23, 2016
Blogging at Ada Soto’s Page!
Hi All,
Blogging over at Ada Soto’s page, about food, Aleksandra and some bits of her Polish ancestry!
Come on by!
Click HERE to go straight to it!
Enjoy!
It’s just the weather to make some Zurek!
Filed under: Uncategorized
January 31, 2016
The Comstock Lode
Hello All!
It’s been some time since I’ve been blogging, been so busy finishing The Hills of Gold Unchanging and A Sea of Green Unfolding !
A few months ago I completed the research and wrote the sections about Virginia City and the Comstock Lode,
and am transcribing them from my … scribbles to Scrivener, and I’m in the chapters about the Comstock Lode, in Virginia City and Gold Hill areas of what was then Utah Territory, and is now the state of Nevada.
The Comstock had a unique problem, for the West. Unlike gold lying in veins of quartz between solid rock, as is found in the California mines, in Virginia City, copious silver existed in the mix of loose quartz and clay making up the rich lode. Unfortunately, the composition made the lode highly unstable, as repeated dehydration and re-wetting of the rock mix made it alternately swell and shrink. The timbering methods used up until the advent of Philipp’s invention were unable to hold back the loose rock and keep the tunnels open, resulting in frequent and fatal cave-ins.
Philipp was brought from California to try to solve the problem the miners in the Comstock Lode were experiencing. He made it work, and his square-set timbering was to become the gold standard in mining for the next fifty years.
Well done, Philipp!
Here is square-set timbering!
(this and following from:Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
www.nbmg.unr.edu)
I really liked this one, because it shows the miners in it…
…and how it was made in situ. (From the Nevada State MuseumPhotograph Collection)
This from the Eureka Miner’s Report, photo is of a mine in the Dakotas:
(from: http://eurekaminer.blogspot.co.nz/201...)
(From: http://www.onlinenevada.org/articles/...)
And the man himself, who started it all, at the Ophir Mine in Virginia City, Mr. Philipp Deidesheimer. One can only assume that is his lady wife.
I came across a reference to an episode on the old Western serial Bonanza and looked it up. Just finished watching it! While the show varies a bit from what I’ve read in the research, it’s a good little watch, and will give you a good idea of how the square-set timbering method described in Hills of Gold works!
Here’s the link for it!
Enjoy!
Back to writing!
XX
Lizzi
NB: A big thank you to all of those people who have placed such wonderful photos and drawings on their websites!
XX
L
Filed under: Book Promotion A Sea of Green Unfolding, Book Promotion The Hills of Gold Unchanging, Exploring new places, The Long Trail Quadrilogy Tagged: 1860, California, Comstock, comstock lode, historical, horses, Lizzi Tremayne, Nevada, philip deiderscheimer, Pony Express, romance, silver mining, square set timbering, Utah, writing
October 29, 2015
Straight from the Horse’s Mouth Radio Show Interview is LIVE!
It’s today!
It’s TODAY!!!
Okay, backtrack, sorry.
Paula Slater of Straight from the Horse’s Mouth, in Canada, interviewed me last week for her Radio Show!
See three blogs down for the article I wrote for her to post on her site along with it!
Anyway, the interview is live on their website NOW at
http://www.straightfromthehorsesmouthradioshow.com/
Hmmm. Two days ago, Paula asked me for some horseback archery photos…
Right…
Which of course, I didn’t have…
And right now, I have a mangled shoulder…
And a horse who’s been ridden three times in the past four and a half years…
Okay…
Elliot? Can you please take some pics for me before school for ten minutes?
:)
Okay…now, hmmm.
Can’t draw bow with mangled right shoulder, but can hold it with right and draw with left…and let go of the reins…
All I can say is… Maya was pretty awesome. Me in my silk reenactment dress all over his bum as well…
He wasn’t highly impressed to have to canter around in the green grass, when he would’ve been happier eating it…
But he was pretty amazing.
Paula will be doing more interviews with me in future, one on equine dentistry (this goes to my veterinary website) and one on laminitis, for those horsey people out there!
Anyway, here are some other links where you can hear the podcast!
My post page on SFHM Radio Show:
iTunes
SoundCloud
Stitcher
Tunein
Player FM
Two Thumbs Up
It’s on now!
Come on by and take a listen!
(Matthew says it’s not blurry, it’s just soft focus. LOL. Need a new camera that focuses properly :) )Please pass it around?
Thanks!
Lizzi Tremayne
PS, any of you who have read A Long Trail Rolling, I’d sure appreciate it if you would post your review onto Paula’s Barnmice blog?
I believe you’d have to register for it!
It will be at:http://www.barnmice.com/profiles/blog/list… when it gets posted by Paula! :)Thanks so much, all!
XX
Lizzi
Filed under: Book promotion A Long Trail Rolling, RWNZ Romance Writers of New Zealand, The Long Trail Quadrilogy, Writing Award, Writing Competition results Tagged: 1860, 1860 Aleksandra California carriage character arcs Cossack Czar drive Express Desire Faust's gig healthy food historical horse horses immigrant Joseph Hatch La Honda lessons Lizzi Tremayne Nevada New , 1861, A Long Trail Rolling, adventure, Aleksandra, Arguello, Auckland, California, carriage, character arcs, City of Rocks, Cossack, Echo Canyon, equine dentistry, Faust's, harness, historical, horse, horse horseback archer, horses, laminitis, Paula Slater, radio show, straight from the horse's mouth
October 27, 2015
Great New Review by The Phantom Paragrapher!
A great new review for A Long Trail Rolling has come through from Paula Phillips over at The Phantom Paragrapher!
Review: A Long Trail Rolling – Lizzi Tremayne – January 2015
Unlike Most Indie books when they come into the writing world , A Long Trail Rolling has won the 2014 RWNZ Pacific Hearts Award and was a finalist in the 2013 Great Beginnings Competition. A Long Trail Rolling was not normally a book I would read as I have never really been a huge fan of the historicals but as I would read through the pages, I discovered that A Long Trail Rolling was more than just your average historical romance novel. It had something for every reader from the Western theme with the main theme being that the character Aleksandra rode the Pony Express in the 1860’s , Utah in order to escape her father’s killer which brings me to the next theme of Suspense as Alek’s dad has been murdered and now in order to survive and not succumb to the same odds as her father has , Alek must ride in order to save her life and not become listed as one of the fallen. What’s a good story without a romance entanglement as Aleks meets along the way Xavier and with romance comes clashes as Aleks and Xavier have their moments where the reader hopes they will kiss and make-up as you want them to realise that they are better off together , not only due to their amazing chemistry but the fact that two heads are better than one when it comes to the odds of survival. The story ends on a cliffie, as we learn that their will be more in the series as it follows and leads eventually to Aleks arriving in New Zealand. What I did love about this book was the research that the authoress has put in as her love and knowledge of horses and the early American years has shone through her words and you know that what you are reading has a hint of reality to it which makes it seem even more real for the reader.
Overall , in parts this book reminded me of the Westerns my Grandad used to lend me and he would read himself – authors like Louis Lamour, as my mum’s side of the family grew up in the country and were surrounded by Horses and the Western lifestyle as well as Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prarie which I loved reading and watching on TV when I was a child.
If you love Westerns, Romance, History and Adventure – not to mention the feel of an Epic Saga novel then A Long Trail Rolling is the read for you.
So What are you waiting for folks, #SaveAHorse by Reading “A Long Trail Rolling”.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: 1860, 1860 Aleksandra California carriage character arcs Cossack Czar drive Express Desire Faust's gig healthy food historical horse horses immigrant Joseph Hatch La Honda lessons Lizzi Tremayne Nevada New , 1861, A Long Trail Rolling, adventure, Aleksandra, Arguello, Auckland, California, carriage, character arcs, City of Rocks, Cossack, Echo Canyon, Faust's, harness, historical, horse, horse horseback archer, horses
October 26, 2015
Hi All!
I wrote the article in the last blog post to foll...
I wrote the article in the last blog post to follow up my Radio Show Interview with Paula Slater at
Straight from the Horse’s Mouth Radio Show!
She interviewed me last week and it’ll be live on their website this Wednesday 28th October, for those of you in the States and on Thursday 29 October, for those in NZ and Australia!
Come on by and have a listen!
Please pass it around?
Thanks!
Lizzi Tremayne
P.S. To any of you who have read A Long Trail Rolling, I’d sure appreciate it if you would post your review onto Paula’s Barnmice blog? (Just click the link!)
Thanks so much!
A Long Trail Rolling continues to do well! I’m working my way through books 2 and 3!
Take good care,
Lizzi
XX
Lizzi Tremayne
Filed under: Uncategorized
