July 2021 - a new book out!

 It took longer than I expected, but the sequel to "MUTED" is now out - 'RESCUED: Saving the Lost Horses" puts the Muted characters in another mystery. I wrote Muted as a stand-alone, but so many readers wanted another book with these characters, I came up with more plots so it will be a series called 'The Dimity Horse Mysteries'. I was worried readers might not like Rescued after all the effort I went to in creating my 'great Australian horse book' with Muted, but the first 37 reviews/ratings have been 90% five-star with a couple of four-stars - that is a HUGE relief for me.

I'm now working on the third book in this series. There are no cliffhangers between books - the same people plus some new characters face international horse mysteries/crimes, and I have quite a few plots in my head.You don't spend a life-time in the horse industry without having endless 'what if' scenarious playing out in your mind, so I'm putting some of those to work.

I hope you, your family, and friends have been doing OK during the pandemic. I know how lucky I am to live on a farm at this time. I don't know if anyone ever reads this, but just in case someone does, I'll put some photos of the views from various sides of our house. It is a beautiful place to live. We moved here over 30 years ago after leaving the station in the outback.

This is looking east over our main dam.

Looking out the front door across our paddocks to the south west - a morning mist and the peak of Mt Beau Brummel.

Looking north out my back door, through part of the orchard.

A glimpse of the bush through the orchard - the farm goes up into the hills.

Some of my regular garden visitors. Hundreds of crested pigeons, diamond wing doves, double bar finches, bronzewing pigeons, and other birds visit the garden every day.

We worked hard for our farm - we almost never had holidays, drove older cars, never smoked, rarely ate out, and I rarely drink anything stronger than tea and coffee. It's been worth living a 'small life' in order to have our beautiful farm. 

Keep laughing - remember, your body can't tell the difference between fake laughter and real laughter, so even when life lacks humour, do a big fake laugh at least five times a day and your body will produce the 'feel good' hormones in response. It may seem odd, but it works.

Stay safe,
Leanne O.

2021 Is Underway

 We're already more than half way through January - time is flicking past like one of those calendars on old movies. I suppose it makes sense - when we are ten, a single year is a tenth of our life so is quite a large percentage. At 61, a year is less than a tiny 60th of my life so seems so much smaller than when I was young. I'm enjoying this age - I couldn't handle the stress of teenage years again, or the pressure of feeling judged by others in later decades... now, I just enjoy each day and measure myself against myself, not against others.

We've had some rain - no floods or even enough to make the creek run, but atleast we have green grass at the moment. The birds have returned to our garden and we have dozens of double-bar finches, top-knot pigeons, bronzewing pigeons, diamond wing doves, rainbow lorikeets, scaly breasted lorikeets, and other flocks in our trees. There is also a pair of Sacred Kingfishers nesting in a tree near our main shed - they drill a hole into the dried mud of a white-ant nest up in a tree. At nights, I've heard the Powerful Owls - they are big enough to take small dogs, cats, possums, and even koalas from trees - I know they've taken some of my guinea fowl from their roosts, but they are such magnificent birds that I'm glad we have them on our property.

I'm editing the sequel to Muted to try and make it as good as possible. I worry it will disappoint readers, but it will be better than some books, not as good as others.

I hope you are having a good start to the year.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

December is nearly here and three homes I've visited in the last week already have Christmas trees up - so it really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Heat waves are the go here in Australia - the prediction for the next five days in our corner of Queensland has tops of 35, 39, 40, 40, 45 Celsius (that's 95, 102, 104,104, 113 Farenheit - yep 113F predicted for December 2). Our drought continues - our big dam remains dry for the third year in a row, after thirty years of always having water. Still, it could be worse - we could always have a pandemic. Oh, that's right...

On the writing front, I am doing re-writes of the sequel to Muted to try and get it out. It is big, complicated, inspiring, and - hopefully - a real page-turner. There are a couple of other books that should be out in early 2021. I had hoped to get them out this year, but life gets in the way.

I hope 2020 hasn't been the anno horribilis for you, but I know how many lives have been disrupted, hurt, damaged, and broken by the events of this year, so chances are you've had a hard time. As 2021 approaches, I hope we have a transition into better times.

July 28, 2020 Find joy in the small things.

As Covid-19 continues to wreak havoc around the world, I can only hope that you are able to find joy in the small things - the perfume of a flower, the sound of a bird, the sight of clouds, the laughter of children. I also hope you have the chance to escape into books and leave the problems of the world behind.

I am trying to get four books out before Christmas - the sequel to Muted, Outback Riders #6, another romance, and an unusual story that I'm enjoying writing when I find my mind slowing on the others.

I like looking at Mt Beau Brummel from our front door (a photo below from my front door). It's only a small mountain, but I love the shape. Twenty-six years ago we made a road around this mountain so the landowner could drive around it - with binoculars, I can still see the road.

Stay safe. Grow some vegetables. Be kind. Read books.

May 26 - I hope you and yours are well in these difficult times.

Dear Reader,
I hope you are doing well in these difficult times. It is my sincere wish that you have your health, your family and friends, enough food to eat and clean water to drink, a safe place to sleep at night, your job, and positive dreams of the future. These are difficult times, but humans are made to be resilient and the 'I shall overcome' gene is in us all when we need it.
Here in my part of Australia, things are getting back to normal. Queensland's five million people haven't seen any new C-19 cases for a few days. All school children go back to school this week for the first time in about six weeks, so parents will be enjoying some time to themselves. The weather is beautiful - the cool nights and warm days of a Queensland autumn are incredible...of course, it would be nice if it wasn't so darned dry, but the bore on our farm provides water for the stock, so we manage.
On the writing front, I am well into a Muted sequel, called Rescued. The same characters as Muted, about a year after that was set, but it can be read as a stand-alone. I'm building in plenty of twists, turns, humour, surprises, and some romance, so I hope readers enjoy it when it comes out.
I'm also several chapters into the sixth Outback Riders novel. This one isn't about the Sunhaven teens, though, it covers the life of their new neighbour, Bethany Hunter, and her Olympic eventing horse, Flight. Horses of the Skies has a fantasy element covering the 'alternate world' where Flight was born - a mystical land where he had wings. When the flying horse lands himself here without wings, he learns that jumping gives him a few moments of feeling as though he can fly again, and he and Bethany take on the world. There are tears and joy, and it ends up in the outback where Bethany buys the property near Sunhaven and meets the teens as well as the Min Min.
As autumn rolls towards winter here in Australia, and spring rolls towards summer in northern parts, I really, truly hope you are well and have a positive future.
Take care and stay safe.
Leanne O.

P.S. a photo from my front door this morning.

APRIL 16 - 'Horses of the Spirit' eBook version now available

With half the world's population in lockdown or near-lockdown, these are proving to be unusual times. I hope you are safe and finding joy in the small things.

The fifth book in The Outback Riders series, 'Horses of the Spirit' is now live, but it usually takes a few days to show up as part of the series and on my author page.

Horses of the Spirit (eBook on Amazon)

From my author's point of view, it is favourite so far as I think I've come a long way since the first book in the series, but it will be up to readers to decide if they like it. There are tears, but I always like a happy ending in fiction since we don't always get them in real life, so don't fret too much.

Stay safe.
Leanne O.

Stay safe, social distancing, and FREE BOOKS.

These are certainly trying times and I hope you all remain safe, endure, and find the resilience to overcome. For those spending more time at home than usual, follow the 'social distancing' advice as that will help slow the spread of the virus. To help in some small way, I'm going to offer the entire Outback Riders series for free (the eBooks, one at a time) during March and April. The books are good reading for middle graders, teens, and adults who like clean adventure stories with excitement, tears, laughs, and happy endings.

First up, Horses Of The Sun will be free from Thursday March 19 for five days (so, for Aussies, that's Friday afternoon onwards). On Friday March 27, Horses Of The Light will be free for five days (for Aussies, that's Saturday afternoon onwards). Horses Of The Fire and Horses Of The Rain will be free in the weeks after that. I have worksheets to accompany the books if any parents want to have their children do some work related to the books - just email me at L.H.Owens@outlook.com if you want copies. Tell your friends. If you are on Kindle Unlimited, it would be great if you read them on KU as I do make money out of them that way. The series has about a 90% five star rating, so they are good reading.

Here's a photo of one of this year's storms to remind you to look for the beauty in the clouds.

Stay safe.