Janet Wolanin Alexander Interview Published on: 23, Feb 2024

I miss having the energy I had then! I also miss the simplicity of life, having less responsibility, being less dependent on technology, and enjoying more time to read.

My first book, At Home on a Horse in the Woods, started as a pile of stories I’d written over the years about my horse dream and its pursuit. During my teaching career colleagues encouraged and edited my writing (as did members of the writing club I joined toward the end of it). The book was first published as a memoir. It was republished after I’d been challenged to include how it serves my readers. I had never considered that question. But, once a teacher, always a teacher. Helping others is in our DNA. I finally realized that my real-life example offers inspiration and encouragement to readers in pursuit of their dreams.

My second book, Braiding Horsehair Bracelets: Your Beginner’s Guide, is a comprehensive, step-by-step, color-illustrated, craft book. Upon my discovery of braided jewelry, I vowed to create a bracelet from my horse Highlander’s hair. But I had a hard time learning how. After finally learning and mastered the basics, I wrote the book that I wished was out when I was looking for an instructional guide. I concluded that, because I had written a lot of lesson plans and At Home on a Horse in the Woods, it fell to me to write that book! Again, my goal was to pave the way for others.

I wrote my third book, Finally…HORSES!, upon realizing that children could also benefit from the inspiration offered to teens and adults in At Home on a Horse in the Woods. I wrote a simplified version and hired Lesley Baumann, the illustrator of the lovely cover of Braiding Horsehair Bracelets, to illustrate the cover and the pages inside. I view Finally…HORSES and At Home on a Horse in the Woods as companion pieces that adults and children can pair up to read, frequently pausing to share and discuss their thoughts and experiences, and in the process, deepen their relationship.

When my husband and I were house-hunting, moving from Louisville to Southern Indiana was not my idea. But a friend who lived there was selling her home. It was in great condition and we discovered realty in Indiana to be less expensive than in Kentucky. So, although I really didn’t want to move to an unfamiliar area, my husband and decided to be practical and we moved across the river. As I reveal in At Home on a Horse in the Woods, a miracle happened soon afterward that included the very important discovery of a nearby state forest.

I confess that I do not maintain the balance very well. Promoting my first three books takes up a considerable amount of time and energy. Plus, I am working on my fourth book and starting to consider a fifth. Since horses are my muses, a top New Year’s resolution is to build more riding time into my schedule.

When I was young, my direct access to horses consisted of the occasional spotting of a police horse, a few hourlong trail rides in a city park, and a few ring lessons at a camp and a farm. I didn’t get my first horse (Geronimo) until I’d graduated from college. A few years later I sold him to pursue further education in another state. Then came a long, mostly horseless void. It took me until middle age (and moving to Indiana) to get back into horses permanently.

Doing so involved boarding at two rural, non-teaching barns where I was the only one who rode and there was little access to further instruction. There was only one place to ride as I had neither a truck nor a trailer. Thus, I was limited to riding the same trails year after year, more often than not without a human companion. Eventually, however, I had quite an epiphany -- the horses I rode were wonderful companions who took great care of me and with whom I could communicate silently! And God was with us every step of the way.

Also, “our” wooded trails were 80 miles long and of ever-varying landscapes due to the changing seasons, time of day, weather, the routes I put together, and the direction I rode them in. Whereas horse people with wheels could ride farther, I could ride deeper by concentrating on the local flora and fauna and meditating over my thoughts and feelings. And, because I wasn’t competitive in any formal discipline (dressage, barrel racing, showing, jumping, etc.) and only rode one horse for years at time, I was free to focus on the development of our relationship and to totally enjoy riding.

Interestingly, Dancer is one of three horses who had retired from their first careers when I met them. She and I are now enjoying our retirement years together, proving that members of both species are only as old as they feel!

Dancer is another miracle. The privilege of riding her was offered to me! My beloved Highlander, who had carried me through the woods for 21 years, died at the age of 27. At the time, a fellow boarder with two retired horses had stopped riding. The veterinarian said that one of them, a retired show and school horse, was still in excellent condition and needed exercise to maintain it. I was asked if I would be interested in introducing Dancer to trail riding!

My fourth book will be the continuation of At Home on a Horse in the Woods, a compilation of my trail riding stories since Fall, 2017. Highlander and Dancer will both star in it.

I learned about the existence of braided horsehair jewelry while riding with a friend. She showed me the bracelet she had purchased out West on vacation. A new dream – braiding a bracelet from Highlander’s hair – was born! My writing and my braiding both reflect my fascination with the spiritual aspect of the horse-human relationship.

Women especially are tightly bonded to their horses. Wearing jewelry braided from their horses’ hair is quite meaningful. Horse lovers can either pay me to braid bracelets (and other items) from the hair they send me or buy copies of Braiding Horsehair Bracelets and learn to braid their own bracelets.

I get to hear such wonderful horse stories from the clients who hire me to make their jewelry. Writing them up would make a good fifth book…

Dreaming and hoping and learning are crucial for staying alive and living a meaningful life. As far as how I stay inspired…I merely remain open and receptive to inspiration from the Holy Spirit (God).

I loved to read as a child and my mother often took me to the local library. I enjoyed my language arts classes in school. As an adult my fellow educators and the members of my writing group supported me. They encouraged me to write and offered free editorial services. When I became an author, my education expanded to a global community of authors.

As a science teacher for 30 years, I included writing assessment in the grading of my students’ work -- despite complaints that I wasn’t their language arts teacher! My purpose was revealing the importance of essential writing skills in all circumstances.

As far as how my teaching background influences the story-telling in my books: I hope that writing about the things that touch me – by creating vivid scenes and providing visceral experiences – inspire them. I guess you could call it attempted teaching by example.

I do most of my writing on the computer in our basement. Two walls of the room are lined with framed photos of the five dogs and 12 cats who have lived in our home: the deceased along one wall and the living on the wall across. Often a sleepy cat is perched on the tower next to me and a dog is snoozing on the floor beside me. Sometimes they get active – the cat walks across the key board or the dog signals it has to go out. When their mates join them, I know it’s meal time.

Despite being attuned to cats and dogs, being provided with plenty of material, and frequently being asked by my husband to write it up, I feel called to write about equines and challenge him to take up the felines and the canines.

My focus is more on nature than culture (unless you consider the rural horse world a culture, which I am not totally a part of due to growing up in a big city, living in a suburb, and boarding). I love nature and write quite a bit about it. I want my readers to see the plants and the animals and the lighting that I see, to feel the awe and the weather that I do, and to open to experiencing their own epiphanies. By doing so I pray they may be motived to recreate on our public lands and preserve them for wildlife and the enjoyment of future generations. (P.S. I once even rode during a solar eclipse. I have a short video and story to prove it!)

Many memorable moments are included in At Home on a Horse in the Woods and Finally…HORSES! If I had to pick one per horse, they would be:

Geronimo: a tricolor view of a deeply snow-covered field during a winter ride: its white and one half of his Appaloosa coat; the red of the dried wildflower stems sticking up from the snow and the other half of his coat; and the beautiful blue of the sky and his eyes. (No other colors!)

Dancer’s Streak (a white horse): feeling sky bound one fall evening while cantering up a hill toward the huge setting sun perched atop. The sun’s powerful rays engulfed us. EVERYthing around us, including the ground below, was white. We were flying!

Hvighlander: our pitch-black ride through the forest one summer night. Even with my good night vision, I was unable to see any part of our bodies. Mine’s total comfort and complete trust in Highlander lent a bit of an out-of-body vibe to the experience. I felt completely protected in Mother Nature’s womb.

Dancer: the thrill of riding her reinless one fall evening as twilight set in the forest – a winding walk from a ridge down to the valley below and being welcomed there by the loud, repetitive call of a whippoorwill.

Choose what kind of life you want to live! Do you want one of adventure, dreaming, learning, and growing? Or maintenance? Or stagnation? (If you choose adventure, don’t worry, you will find people to help you.)

AllAuthor is relatively new to me and I have a lot to learn about it. My introduction was a cover contest. My writing coach suggested submitting Braiding Horsehair Bracelets: Your Beginner’s Guide in October and Finally…HORSES! in December. Braiding Horsehair Bracelets made the top 24 and Finally…HORSES! the top three!

I have used the Magic Tool to create 3D book cover mock-ups, select banners, and explore GIF Maker. These tools have been beneficial as I am new to design and promotion and need all the free or inexpensive help I can get. And there are so many more tools to explore!