Meet Fran Severn | Writer, Rider, & Adventure-Seeker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Fran Severn and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Fran, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?

Writing and publishing a book is very exciting and fulfilling, but unless you are a big name with a loyal following, you can’t make a living that way. You need to expand yourself into a brand. There are many older women involved in riding and horses but there is no ‘authority’ who can provide information or inspiration. Positioning myself as that ‘authority’ creates more economic possibilities as well as providing a service to my readers and followers. It also creates an existing audience for future books regardless of the subject.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’ve always written. I grew up in a neighborhood where there were no other kids, so I created friends for myself. I spent hours looking at maps and imagining what life would be like in those places. When I finished college, I worked at radio and TV stations in Ohio and Kentucky, including the then-legendary WHAS-Lousiville where I got to cover the Kentucky Derby.

When my Air Force husband was transferred to England, I started a freelance writing career. It took 18 months before I made my first sale! That was before the internet and email. Each query was sent by postal mail and checking out a potential market meant finding a hard copy of the publication.

The overseas experience and hands-on understanding of travel and tourism helped me land a job as the PR Director of the Maryland Office of Tourism. Best Job Ever. Long hours, and mediocre pay, but the people I met and the experiences I had!

Leaving that and moving to a new city for my husband’s career was frustrating, and it was hard to develop a full-time freelance writing career. You are constantly marketing and spend more time doing that than actually writing. When I had the idea for my book, I was concerned because I didn’t see anything else like it on the market. I thought maybe that was because it was not a good idea. But when I approached the publisher, they said it was something new and fresh. That was satisfying.

I’ve learned to never quit trying and to always look for other opportunities and people who share my vision and appreciate me. I want to be known as the person who has answers and will find them if she does not and who deeply enjoys sharing her enthusiasm with others.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m an East Coast girl, so I don’t know Arizona well. One of my closest friends lives in Sun City, though, and visiting her is always a treat. I’m betting many people who’ve lived their entire lives in Arizona haven’t explored it as much as I have. Much like many people in my hometown of Baltimore have never visited Ft. McHenry. We are both adventurers, so we hopped into her car and found old Rt. 66 — a road trip we talked about for years. We headed east to the meteor crater and then followed as much of the original road as we could all the way to the California border.

On my next visit, we traveled to Sedona. In the Chesapeake region where I live, a lot of artwork is pictures of ‘Retriever with Duck,” or “Sailboat on the Bay.” The inspirations in the Southwest are so very different and refreshing. The jeep trek through the landscape was fun, but our favorite experience was the UFO Night Sky Experience, complete with night vision glasses and tales of alien housing developments under the mountains.

Lingering COVID concerns in the Navajo Nation prevented us from following the Tony Hillerman Trail, but we took the excursion train to the Grand Canyon. Even with the tourist crowd, the immensity of the silence and landscape was overwhelming. On the way back, we spent far too much time giggling at the antics of the juvenile bears at Bearizona. I think the parents had more fun than the kids.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There are a lot of people who’ve encouraged me in my adventures! Professionally, in my writing career, the late Skip Webster is the most important. He was a Hollywood screenwriter and producer who took me under his wing when I was a teenager. He taught me the basics of successful writing — ‘rewrite’ is not a dirty word; always keep the story moving forward; never forget your audience; and when you win an Emmy, celebrate by going out with your friends and drinking Mai Tais.

The other vital people are the editors at Trafalgar Square Books. Rebecca Didier and Martha Cook saw the potential in my idea of a book for older women who love horses and taught me how to develop it. It never would have seen print without them. The members of American Horse Publications are a closely-knit sisterhood of supportive fellow equine media types.

My riding experience has always been blessed with good instructors. In England, the late Christine Dodwell introduced me to dressage and instilled the conviction that the horse must always come first. Karen Rohlf, Linda Parelli, Aviva Nebesky, and Christine Nibblett ignored my clumsy attempts in the saddle and turned me into a halfway-decent rider.

Website: www.ridersofacertainage.com

Linkedin: Fran Severn

Facebook: group: Riders of a Certain Age

Image Credits
All images are mine