Save Yourself. Write a Novel, Part Three

Jingles and a String: January 22, 2026

Welcome Back to Adventures in Writing! My fourth post of my new project

Left, Outrider Kenny Richardson supervising morning gallops at Hialeah Park; right, SP4 Thomas Kazo and MP Sentry Dog Rhett 39X2, Pleiku, Vietnam

It still surprises me that not only did I start writing a novel based upon a string and a jingle, but I’ve published it on Amazon. Wish I could say Ride the Tide has taken off, but there’s a ton of competition out there, especially in the Romance category. Amazon is mysterious in how they use the keywords and categories you choose. So the algorithm might not be showing my book to the people who are most in need of reading it to escape the woes and worries of today’s chaotic world.

However, it’s a well-known fact that Amazon does love it when the author has produced a series, which is one reason I’m deeply into the sequel to Ride the Tide, called Safe Harbor, because my main characters find safe harbor within each other. Both books have certainly given me safe harbor and preserved my mental health.

If you’re wondering how the above photos have anything to do with each other, I don’t blame you. On the right, the tall, young, solemn soldier is my late husband SP4 Tom Kazo with his MP Sentry Dog, Rhett 39X2, early in 1967, ten years before I met him. On the right is a photo of Hialeah Park in 1978, the beautiful racetrack just down the street from where I lived in my twenties. You can tell it’s a chilly morning by the jackets on the riders. Hialeah Park was open to racing only in South Florida’s coldest months.

The man on the left in the denim jacket, sitting on the light-colored horse with a Western saddle, is supervising the morning exercise session of the flighty young Thoroughbreds. He’s the outrider, whose job is very much like a lifeguard in that if a horse tosses its rider, the outrider is the one to catch it before tragedy strikes. Overstimulated Thoroughbreds, most of them only two to four years old, often do not know what to do when their jockey or exercise rider falls off.

There are maybe three sets of “morning gallops” and in between, tractors smooth the surface. But the first exercise session will likely begin before the sun is up. Meaning the outrider’s shift might start as early as 4:30 in the morning. If you’re thinking it’s hard to keep an eye on everyone on the track in the dark, you’d be right. But that’s basically what happens at racetracks everywhere. Cooler morning temperatures help the horses to breathe more efficiently as they’re “breezed” or galloped or otherwise exercised.

The outrider is also considered the racetrack cop, who as a licensed racetrack official, is required to keep an eye on the afternoon races as well, not just catching loose horses but to be ready to testify if jockeys call foul on each other.

This particular outrider’s name is Kenny Richardson, and he and I were platonic pals all those years ago. As I was just a few years into my professional art career, Kenny kindly snuck me into the backstretch, along with my husband and a friend, to take photos of the barns and horses for me to use in my paintings. He was from Texas and had worked on ranches and been a rodeo cowboy. He was a bit of a rogue with a devilish sense of humor and definitely made a good “seed” for my main character. Of course, I often wonder what Kenny would think of my main guy, Jerry! Flattered, I bet.

You can’t see them in this photo, which unfortunately had that fancy finish from the late 1970s that makes scanning them in 2025 a nightmare, but Kenny is wearing spurs on his cowboy boots, and I think chaps over his blue jeans as well. Probably because it’s cold, and he does look cold, doesn’t he? Poor guy. His body language makes him look grumpy, but he was always so sweet to me.

In 1978, a movie production company swept into Hialeah Park and filmed many scenes from the movie, “The Champ,” with Jon Voight and Faye Dunaway. Kenny smuggled the three of us into the barn area to watch a scene from the movie being shot, one with both Jon Voight and a blacksmith I knew of from the ranches where I got many of my horse portrait clients. That farrier’s name was Ernie and he sang opera to the horses as he fitted them for their shoes. Take after take of that scene was shot, and poor Mr. Voight was exhausted. I caught his eye as he staggered, all sweaty, off the set and tried to look sympathetic and supportive.

If you ever happen to catch the flick, the very first scene is of Kenny on his horse, Yellow, silhouetted against the sunrise. Kenny had owned so many horses in his 37 years that he’d run out of good names for them. He seemed almost apologetic about this horse’s name. Something else I used for my outrider character, Jerry.

The three of us trespassers even got to eat from the copious breakfast bar set up for cast and crew. While we were nervously loading our plates, I heard it: Jingle, jingle, jingle. Coming into the building, Kenny’s musical spurs were ringing like small bells, announcing his approach down the hall. A sound that stuck with me all these years later. A sound that I put to good use in Ride the Tide. No spoilers here. You’ll have to buy the book to find out!

The sound of Kenny’s spurs became an important seed for my novel, that sprouted into a robust plant of many branches, along with other details about my old pal that I shall share in future posts about the novel-writing process.

The other photo is far more personal, as it’s of my soulmate and a dog he mourned until his own passing, about forty years after this photo was taken on the plains of Pleiku, Vietnam, within the Central Highlands.

I must confess I was blown away when Tom first showed me this photo of his 6’5” 20-year-old self on night patrol. The physical photo is not large, but it enlarges well. Tom kept a camera with him throughout his tour in Vietnam. I did not realize at the time he was wearing specially-tailored “tiger stripe” combat fatigues favored by Special Forces soldiers at that time. Only when I was doing research for my small book which I wrote mainly to honor Rhett, Tom Kazo and Rhett: MP Sentry Dog in Vietnam did I learn about this type of uniform. Tom didn’t mention it to me at the time. Wish he would have, along with a whole lot of other things.

But he proudly pointed out the small string tied around his right wrist, the powerful hand that’s holding his M-16 rifle. That was a type of friendship bracelet, he said, that allowed him safe passage into the territory inhabited by the Montagnard tribespeople in the Central Highlands. He told me that he had helped them with their animals, especially their cattle. Before the draft snatched him out of his happy, busy life, Tom had been in junior college, and while I’m unsure of his course load, I do know he was interested in veterinary medicine. I could see the memory brought him happiness. And trust me, it was one of the very few good memories of his service in Vietnam.

Within the inset focused on Tom’s wrist, not only can you clearly see this tiny but significant piece of string, but behind it, Tom’s Bowie knife hung conveniently for hand-to-hand combat. He and Rhett fought the enemy side by side, he told me. Tom also told me Rhett saved his life many times over. One of the few times this powerful man allowed his emotions to show.

This type of knife also figures prominently in Ride the Tide. Again, no spoilers, but it’s not what you think.

A little research for my book confirmed that yes, men of Fifth Special Forces had indeed worked with the Montagnards extensively, to include teaching them how to fight the Viet Cong with modern weapons instead of Stone-Age type bows and arrows. This knowledge became another important seed which grew into a robust tree that supported my novel. As a matter of fact, it even brought closure to my book which I could not have foreseen when I set out on my novelistic adventure!

During the months in which I was working hard on Ride the Tide, I often was overcome with emotion. It came to me that with this novel, that not only was I saving myself from a chaotic world, but I was also preserving memories of dear old friends now lost to me. Remembering their behaviors and unique quirks and extrapolating from them became a joyous, even sacred activity.

So, my friends, keep an eye out, cherish and take note of the unique behaviors of the people in your life. For you never know if you’re also saving a seed for the future. A seed that you’ll nurture into a robust and well branched tree that will keep their memory alive for the enjoyment of others for many years to come.

Link to purchase Ride the Tide as a paperback, a hardcover, and a Kindle ebook. Read it for free it you belong to Kindle Unlimited.