Tag: Meeting of the Mustangs

A Few Quick Questions With…Cathy Kennedy

I just posted my thoughts on Cathy Kennedy’s Meeting of the Mustangs, and now I’m glad to present her first interview-ish thing. Hope you enjoy — I probably chuckled more at these answers than I have any of the other Q&A’s I’ve done.

What initially prompted this story (if you can recall, that is)? Why did you come back to it years later?
My dad gave me an Olivetti electric typewriter and a ream of nice, thick paper. I rolled a piece of paper into the typewriter and just started typing. After moving away from that house in the country where we owned horses, the story was abandoned. That was about a hundred years ago and I still have that old manuscript.

Coming back to it was very difficult. I was dealing with a nasty case of writer’s block. Even though for years I knew in my head (mostly) how the story would end, I just couldn’t get it into words. I eventually moved back to the country and now have horses for neighbors. That helped tremendously, and once I got going again, I was okay.

I suppose I should also give some credit to my sister, who never left it alone ~
“Are you working on your book?”
“Are you working on your book?”
“Are you working on your book?”
etc., etc., etc…

What kinds, if any, of specific research did you do?
There wasn’t much research involved, really. The one thing that sticks out to me was looking at a map of the United States. I wanted to have the horses traveling through more than one state and tried keep the original manuscript as intact as possible. I had to look at the map to find where several states were in close proximity so the horses wouldn’t get too tired.
What’s the one (or two) book/movie/show in the last 5 years that made you say, “I wish I’d written that.”?
Oh, no. I’m kind of an old soul. I don’t watch or read much of anything new.

Do commercials count? I like the Neosporin commercial where the little girl is telling her friends about how she jumped the rapids on her bike. That’s really cute writing.

What was the biggest surprise about the writing itself? Either, “I can’t believe X is so easy!” or “If I had known Y was going to be so hard, I’d have skipped this and watched more TV”.
Okay, that one’s easy. If I had known marketing was going to be so hard, I’d have skipped this and watched more TV. Ugh. Let’s just say I have a new respect for successful salespeople that I’ve never had before this. Getting an unknown author’s story into the hands of readers is an ongoing struggle. /td>
What’s next for Cathy Kennedy, Author?
Well, I’ve had more than one person tell me they’d like to see a sequel. Please don’t tell my sister.

Meeting of the Mustangs by Cathy Kennedy

Meeting of the MustangsMeeting of the Mustangs

by Cathy Kennedy

Kindle Edition, 80 pg.
Cathy Kennedy, 2015

Read: August 1, 2016


It’s been forever since I’ve read an animal book, particularly one focused on a horse. I remember reading The Black Stallion and Black Beauty, some Jack London stuff, and whatnot as a kid, but nothing really since. As I recall, most horse stories are about a horse moving from owner to owner, some good, some bad. Most wild animal stories are just a series of mini-crises where the animal bounces along from event to event and occasionally (by coincidence) runs into an animal he knows. Meeting of the Mustangs is a hybrid, doing both.

We meet our central character when he’s a few months old and follow him for a couple of years — he’s on his own a lot, and then falls into the hands of some humans — bounces around a little and eventually comes into his own. Pretty straight-forward animal story, but told with a lot of heart.

Amazon’s description puts this at 10-12 year old level — I think it’s probably 7-9, but what do I know about stuff like that? Most of what I was reading when I was 12 wasn’t on anyone’s age-appropriate list. The writing was crisp and clear, things moved along a a good clip and never dragged on. Kennedy is better at writing animals than people, but it wouldn’t take much to fix that (and since the book like something like 80%+ animals, who cares?).

I am absolutely, positively not the audience for this book — but it wasn’t bad, and I enjoyed it. If I was a younger kid who was into animal stories? I’d have really had a great time with it. It’s charming, solid and I have no problem seeing it as someone’s favorite.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this from the author in exchange for this post.

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3 Stars
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