I am convinced that they do. I have had several incidences with Penny and Jester that strongly suggest to me that while I thought I had rescued them, they were actually the ones doing the rescuing! Take the other day, I was standing with them in their field and Penny started to sniff me, which isn’t unusual. But then she focused on my left knee. She sniffed intently and then started likcing my knee. She would lick, then yawn, then sniff then lick again. This ritual went on for several minutes until my jods were wet through. Every so often she would sniff up my body and around my head and then go back to my knee. Finally she clearly decided her work was done, one last body scan with the sniffing and she wandered off to eat grass. Meanwhile Jester had just stood next to us, dozing and holding the space. They really are amazing creatures and we miss so much of what they have to offer us in our busy, whizzy rushing about lives.

Uhh! I hear you thinking. Why would I think about publicity before I write the book? Surely you worry about publicity when you are publishing it? Here’s the no 1 reason why you put this particular cart before the horse:

Relationship with your readers
When you start to plan your book, you also start defining and thinking about WHO you are writing it for, don’t you? Well at the same time as defining who they are, you need to think about how you will reach them. What else do they read? Which magazines and newspapers? Which online and offline communities do they inhabit? Where do they go to get information, inspiration or entertainment? When you start to gather this information before or as you write it helps you do several things:

• you get to know your reader, therefore you write more effectively for them
• you can begin a relationship with your reader by developing a blog or online community that they join and contribute to
• you can feed pieces of news or interesting information to the communities they inhabit and the other sources they read
• you can invite them to contribute ideas, thoughts, problems, questions which you can address directly in your book, now there is a powerful tool to encourage them to buy it when it comes out - the thought that they helped you write it!
• you encourage word of mouth marketing so your readers become your sales force - there is no more powerful publicity than recommendation
• you save enormous amounts of time, effort and money by targetting your relationship building specifically rather than scattering press information to the four winds on publication, most of which ends up in the bin without being read. 
• you can build your newsworthy story - i.e. the real story behind the book (who you wrote it for and why) which journalists are far more interested in than the book itself
• and most importantly you build momentum and desire for your book before it comes out 

Publicity is not just a press release; it’s the entire relationship with your reader. So start relating now, wherever you are at with your writing!

Once again I am reading The Pilgrimage. I love Coehlo’s writing. I recommend The Alchemist if you are new to his work and The Witch of Portabello is superb too. The Pilgrimage is one of those books you can read again and again, and each time something else resonates for you.  It is the story of Coehlo’s own pilgrimage along the Road to Santiago - a journey I would like to do myself one day.  If you like true adventure stories where the hero conquers his real enemies - those within himself - then you will love this book too.

It’s a strange world isn’t it, when we view time sat at our desks as ‘work’ and ‘productive’ and the time spent in other activities (in my case with the horses) as ‘play’ or downtime. Yet I achieve much greater creative thought and dream up my best strategies while I am wandering the lanes on horseback or cleaning the field of horse muck. If this is some of my best creative time, and the time therefore when I am of most use to my clients, why do I feel guilty about doing these activities in so called office hours? And should I then switch off my creative brain at weekends or take time off in lieu during the week? Even after 10 years of working for myself I find it difficult to kick the feeling that I should be at my desk between 9 and 5!

So why is it that my best ideas, insights, strategies and tactical plans come when I am with a horse? A number of reasons, I believe:
Einstein tells us that we can’t solve problems at the same level of thinking that created them. This means we have to transport ourselves into a different thinking space - both mentally and environmentally. Getting away from the office and into a field is what works for me.
Physical exercise also works for me too - the movement of the body creates a dynamic flow of energy which does not happen sitting at a desk. This flow of energy naturally enables creative energy and thoughts to flow.
I find being around horses incredibly peaceful and calming. This stilling of the mind allows the best thoughts to come to consciousness.
There are too many distractions in the office - emails demanding an answer, phone calls that could wait, paperwork shrilly singing ‘deal with me’ are just a few. You probably have your own list of distractions.

So this week I am going to try a new tack. Where possible, I am going to spend the mornings at the barn, with a notebook and voice recorder. As I poddle about I’ll record the great thoughts I have and see just how creative I can be in my strategy building. I’m sure there must be a research project in here somewhere - not to mention a book!