Extreme Hobbies Archives - Laurie Wood Author

Extreme Hobbies with Author Terri Reed

Laurie Wood — Tue, 06 Apr 2021 08:00:19 +0000

I write romantic suspense books where dogs have a prominent role. I’ve written over a dozen books featuring K-9 working dogs both for the police and the military. The specialized training that goes into these highly intelligent dogs takes time, money and dedication. Doing the research for K-9 dogs has been extremely interesting and really sparked a passion in me to train a dog. Of course, joining the police department or the military and training a K-9 dog wasn’t a viable option.

But training an agility dog certainly was. In 2016, I brought home an Australian shepherd puppy. We named her Aubrey, as a variant of Auburn, because her coat is red and white. At eight months old, we started agility training. At first it was very basic obedience work and bonding exercises. So much of agility is the bond between the dog and handler, just as it is between a police officer and his K-9.

I have to confess, learning the sport of agility was a huge learning curve for me. Remembering the cues, the timing of the cues and staying mentally connected with my dog all were a challenge. I tend to be a bit scatter brained unless I’m knee deep in writing a book, but agility has really taught me to focus.

And the training never stops. We train even when we’re not at the arena. Going on walks is a lesson to be used in the arena. Learning the command to sit and wait until released is a daily exercise done at feeding time. She has a beautiful start line stay.

This month, after nearly four years of training, I finally worked up the courage to enter agility trials. I’m not going to lie, the first trial was overwhelming. I didn’t know how a trial ran, wasn’t sure I liked the idea of competing or that she’d listen to me in a strange environment. Our first run was terrifying. She didn’t listen well, there were too many distractions-strange people and barking dogs. We didn’t make it through the first course. Our second run was better, but she had three faults (faults are a dropped bar, a refusal to take an obstacle, a late cue or going off exploring).

The following week we went back for our second trial. Now better prepared, we made it through the first run with a couple of faults, but she stayed with me and ignored the distractions. And the second run, we did great! She was attentive, I gave cues on time, no dropped bars and we finished the course. I was happy. And then I discovered we placed first in our grouping and we received our first qualifying ribbon. Apparently, we can move up to the next level after three qualifying ribbons. I think I’m hooked.

For me, agility with my dog is my hobby, my passion and my stress reliever. And has helped me in my writing in was I hadn’t expected. Now, when I have my handler giving commands to their K-9, I have a feel for what it’s like to work with a dog and can add realism to my scenes.

I have an April release, Alaskan Rescue, book 1 of Alaskan K-9 Unit, a new continuity from Love Inspired Suspense. There are eight books and two novellas in this series. I hope you’ll enjoy our books.

Alaskan Rescue by Terri Reed, April 2021 https://amzn.to/3umsdni

Wilderness Defender by Maggie K. Black, May 2021

Undercover Mission by Sharon Dunn, June 2021

Tracking Stolen Secrets by Laura Scott, July 2021

Deadly Cargo by Jodie Bailey, August 2021

Arctic Witness by Heather Woodhaven, September 2021

Yukon Justice by Dana Mentink, October 2021

Blizzard Showdown by Shirlee McCoy, November 2021

Christmas K-9 Protectors by Lenora Worth and Maggie K. Black, December 2021

Terri Reed’s romance and romantic suspense novels have appeared on Publisher’s Weekly top twenty-five, Nielsen’s Bookscan top hundred, Amazon Bestseller and featured in USA Today. Her books have been finalists in Romance Writers of America RITA contest, National Readers’ Choice Award, Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award and finalists three times in American Christian Fiction Writers The Carol Award contest. Contact Terri @ P.O. Box 19555 Portland, OR 97224

http://www.terrireed.com https://www.instagram.com/authorterrireed/

https://www.facebook.com/terrireedauthorpage/

Thanks for stopping by! If you have any questions for Terri about agility dog training, or about any of her books with great dog characters, or this wonderful upcoming K-9 series from Love Inspired Suspense, leave it in the comments for her and she’ll be by today.

The post Extreme Hobbies with Author Terri Reed appeared first on Laurie Wood Author.

More Than Authors – The Extreme Hobby of Linda Street-Ely & Michael Ely

Laurie Wood — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 09:00:39 +0000

Air Racing

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: A couple of hobbies that line up well with my career in aviation are aerobatics and air racing. I love the study of aerodynamics and taking an aircraft right to the “edge of the envelope” — making an airplane do things that reach the edge of its design capabilities. Since the airplane which my husband and I own is not aerobatic, we have to rent acro planes when we participate in those events. But air racing is another story!

Born and raised in an auto racing family in Indianapolis, competition and speed were bred into me. As a kid, I would race anyone on anything. Foot, bicycle, go-kart. I ran track and ran for fun. I raced against the clock on my morning paper route, always trying to best my last record. My father put me in quarter-midget race car lessons when I was seven. It was only natural when I learned to fly that I would want to race.

Flying requires understanding of weather and aerodynamics, as well as an intimate knowledge of the airplane. My first air race was the 2009 all-women’s Air Race Classic, as it is known today. This is an annual race that commemorates when twenty women pilots were denied entry to the National Air Races in Cleveland in 1929, but proved that being male isn’t a prerequisite for flying. They set their starting line at the Santa Monica airport in California and the finish line in Cleveland, Ohio, landing at the National Air Races. The race took several days, and when they finished, the women had gained a new respect from the world.

Mt. McKinley on the right – Copyright Linda Street-Ely

Today’s Air Race Classic is approximately 2,500 nautical miles, time-limited to four days. The route changes every year, but it is generally across some portion of the United States, sometimes including Canada. These days, the race is so popular that the organizers cap entries at 50 airplanes. I’ve raced it four times, third place being my best finish in 2011. Drawbacks for me are the thick rule book, including the requirement for two pilots per race plane, and the time away from Mike. How excited I was to discover the Sport Air Racing League, which hosted numerous single-day races from March through November, very few rules, and men could participate!

Mike: We joined the League, taking the first year to learn the nuances of these types of races, quite different from Air Race Classic. From that point on, we won the Gold National Title every year until we retired from racing.

What thrills us about air racing, besides the competition, is strategy—planning our altitudes for each leg, depending on the heading and the wind at various altitudes, and the precise point at which we will enter a turn, how many degrees we will bank the airplane, and exactly where we will exit the turn. Like aerobatics, this is precision flying. Our hearts pound as hard as the engine as we listen on the radio for competitors’ turn point calls—are they gaining on us?

We hold the speed record for our class in the League, at 174 miles an hour. That’s fast for a small airplane with only 150 horsepower. We research the forecast winds at various altitudes across the length of the course, looking for the most favorable. When there’s a tailwind, we let the wind push us up gradually to the altitude where it is greatest. Other little tricks include stuffing the air vents with plugs and taping over gaps with slick and sturdy “race tape.”

After nearly 150 races, it’s not the heap of trophies we love, it’s the experience and the memories that let us relive the thrills over and over.

We began a column in our local paper almost 14 years ago. We write about aviation, but we write for the non-flying public. We aim to put a face to a world that’s unfamiliar to many, with engaging stories about people, places, and adventures. We’ve met the most amazing people in our flying lives.

As we approached the ten-year anniversary of our column, we thought it would be fun to select our favorite stories from the first decade and put them in a book. We narrowed it down to 100 stories, but it took two volumes to contain them all. In our two-volume set, “Ely Air Lines: Select Stories from 10 Years of a Weekly Column,” we offer short pieces about the world of aviation, told in entertaining, informative, and touching ways.

Our stories are for everyone, not just aviators. We hope you’ll check out our books and let us know what you think by dropping us a line and leaving a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or your favorite site.

Ely Air Lines: Select Stories from 10 Years of a Weekly Column

Volumes 1 and 2

Delightful stories of flying adventures from around the globe. Adventurous and heartwarming. Written by pilots.

Ely Air Lines is a captivating 2-volume set of 100 short stories that inspire and educate, written by pilots Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely. Step aboard to enjoy a collection of stories that explore the vast realm of the flyer’s world.

Buckle up and fly with Mike and Linda to discover amazing people, interesting places, and the conquest of flight.