The author and publisher
Author and publisher
How I make it work: strict boundaries between horsey time and running my business
Writer Lorna Gray owns a retired dressage horse and a traditional cob. She’s also the publisher behind former champion eventer Polly Williamson’s bestselling book Where did I go? Rediscovering my identity, lost after a traumatic brain injury.
My job...
I run a small book publishing business in Gloucestershire called Crumps Barn Studio. My passions are equine and farming memoirs and poetry. I’m also an author of vintage mysteries. I’ve been working with books in one form or another for about seven years. They’re an addiction.
The ups...
The best part about publishing is the extraordinary stories people can tell. They don’t have to be famous or to have changed the world; they just have to be passionate about what they do. For me, the moment their email pops into my inbox is the moment I get the thrill that I’m about to publish another really good memoir.
The downs...
The daunting part of my job is selling myself as an author. I’ve written four historical novels now, each charting across the UK, US and beyond. I love every moment. But marketing is so much about having a good online presence and a confident self-image, and I’ve never learnt how to flaunt myself. This is where the horses come in. They are my respite from the pressures of endless deadlines. Also they are naturally beautiful, so they feature a lot in my Twitter feed and on Instagram.
My horses...
I seem to have a habit of collecting horses with big ambitions, but the handicap of health problems. I began my love affair with dressage when I rehabilitated Jack, an ex-racehorse, after he developed crippling arthritis in his neck. Dressage gave him back his mobility.
Rosie, my chestnut Thoroughbred x Welsh Cob, loves dressage too. She worries a lot, but every stress fades away when she schools. We competed on the local unaffiliated dressage circuit, but our best times were spent finding a quiet clearing in woodland and training there. She has battled navicular disease for years, though, so now she takes life easy.
Bilbo Blue is my traditional cob. I bought him as a two-year-old and backed him when he was four. He barely even noticed when
I climbed on board. I was training him and was about to find a lightweight rider to compete him when he was struck by severe equine metabolic syndrome (EMS).
These days he’s up and down even though he’s on zero grass, so he isn’t being ridden at the moment. Instead he’s relearning all of his dressage moves in-hand and is absolutely loving it. We call our training sessions his pony yoga.
“Bilbo is relearning all of his dressage moves in-hand. He’s absolutely loving it”
The dream...
Eventually I would like to train Bilbo Blue to free-school and to compete, but I would need an arena for that since there are obvious problems with turning a pony with EMS loose on a grass surface and expecting him to work.
The daily routine...
I get up at 6.30am and walk out to the field to feed the goats and horses. I’m lucky that I rent a field half a mile from my front door. Bilbo is worked in-hand most days. It keeps him happy and gives me a healthy start to the day. I start answering emails at about 10am — there are always heaps. I take a short lunch break, then work through until about 6pm when I feed the horses again and eat tea with my husband, Jeremy.
Running my own business means that it’s hard to take time off, but the evenings and weekends are reserved for my writing.
Essential inspiration...
I find that the horses are a massive commitment, particularly now that Bilbo is kept off grass. After all, if I don’t feed him on time, he’s got no hope of feeding himself. But without them I don’t think I could achieve all that I do. If I’m struggling to resolve a plot issue in one of my novels, or I’m waist-deep in editing a new memoir, their routine gives me an enforced break. Usually the answer to a puzzle pops into my head while I’m giving Bilbo a pat after we’ve done our workout.
The horses have played an even bigger role in my career too. Rosie was the inspiration behind the partnership my lead character Eleanor has with her own horse in my first novel, In the Shadow of Winter, set in the severe winter of 1947.
My support...
My husband Jeremy is endlessly generous with his help. He is the chef in our house and it’s wonderful because I would forget to stop to eat otherwise.
He also helps me with the horses and goats if I’m racing to meet a deadline, and he reminds me that sometimes it’s OK to take a little time for myself too.
My downtime...
When you work with books, there is always something more that needs to be edited or written. I love it, so it isn’t hard to give it every second I have. But when I truly take time off, I like to visit London, work in the garden, or just sit in the field with the animals and Jeremy.