Ray Foster on his return to writing after suffering a stroke
BACK IN THE SADDLE

Ray Foster

To achieve a childhood ambition by writing a book and getting it published is one thing.

Not knowing that I had achieved this was quite another.

In 1999 I had a stroke. Nothing major but it left me weakened down the left side along with short span concentration and some memory loss. Some? Well, when I 'woke up' I thought it was 1969. It was like being the character in H.G.Wells' novel The Sleeper Awakes. I was in a world of colour tv, CDs, DVDs, Playstations, computers and children and grandchildren. Took some getting used to.

My first venture into my local library was strange. It was automatic to go and look for those authors that I was familiar with - only someone forgot to tell me that time had moved on. There was only one place to go and that was the Western titles. There were no familiar names - just row upon row of Black Horse Westerns. I grabbed six titles at random and took them home.

I liked the style. Easy to read books that took me back to my childhood. A time of six guns drawn and imaginary bodies hitting the dust. A time of Saturday morning cinema. Gary Cooper, Joel McRae, Burt Lancaster, Audie Murphy giving a visual representation that would lead me to the books of Frank C. Robertson, Frank Gruber, Luke Short and, eventually, Louis L'Amour.

The Black Horse Western writers like Terrell L. Bowers, Brett Rey, Elliot Long and a lot more besides were, though they never knew this, were to play a large part in my rehabilitation. It was by reading these novels that I managed to increase my concentration span from about 10 minutes to a point where I could read two good chapters at a time. Nowadays, I can sit and read or watch an hour of a movie before the concentration begins to waver.

It, also, helped sort out my short term memory. At first, I had to make notes so that I could continue where I left off - I don't have to do that anymore. Though, it's something that I still use today for a different purpose.

It wasn't until I was sitting down reading a Jack Giles western that my wife, gently, explained that I had written that particular book. I thought she was joking - that was until she showed me a file that contained the original contracts and a copy biography that I had written out. I greeted this news with mixed emotions for on the one hand I was glad that I was not just a published writer but that I wrote Westerns; but saddened that I would never know the feeling of joy of seeing my first book in print.

My attitude went on a downward slide. As far as I was concerned I had achieved a goal and that was it.

Until 2007 that is.

I knew very little about the Black Horse Western writers so I decided to surf the net and see what came up. Well, it wasn't a bunch of biographies that I found but a review of Jack Giles' Coalmine by Steve M. I couldn't believe it - not at first - I thought that the site must be out of date. A couple of days later I went back to it and discovered that the review was only a couple of months old. So, I joined the group.

That was when things changed. The first three messages I received came from Ian Parnham, David Whitehead and Lance Howard - not fans of Black Horse Westerns as I had expected but writers whose books had helped me to expand my concentration.

David Whitehead mentioned that he had written a piece about Jack Giles in a book about Western Writers. So, I went down to the library and found a copy. At the end he wrote: ' More recently Giles has been conspicuous on the western scene largely by his absence.....we can only hope that this "literary silence" is a temporary one.'

On the old computer were two books - a Jack Giles that was about halfway through and a Ryker Frost that was a chapter or two behind. Spurred on by David Whitehead's words - I read the notes that I had made and had a stab at continuing one of the books. Though a valiant try I came to the conclusion that trying to complete this book was rather like trying to complete one of Louis L'Amour's unfinished manuscripts. I didn't know what was in my mind at the time the book was being written and the style was one that I couldn't just copy. I came to the conclusion that Jack Giles should stay confined to the past.

Not that easy.

Then Ian Parnham came up with the idea of an anthology of short stories by Black Horse Western writers. Now, therein lay a challenge for me for it meant that I had to start from scratch. Sandra, my wife, urged me to do it; the kids did some pushing as well and my mum nagged me all the way from Australia.

A new regime had to be put in place. I had an idea and sketched it out in about 200 words - thought about how it would work. While I was doing this my granddaughter came home and told a tale about how this boy at school was always bullying the girls. Within minutes I had an opener for a short story and, just like that the first 750 words were down.

Just doing the short story showed me something new. That when it comes down to writing there is no Jack Giles - only me.

Following the short story I began a new book that is, as I write, halfway through. It is not like the books Jack Giles wrote before. In fact, nothing like I've attempted before but it's given me an idea how to deal with those other two books.

Because of problems that still exist with memory and concentration notes are very essential. Also, concentration spans dictate how much I write. Could be as little as 500 words at a time - the best has been 800 - but then when multiplied by three sessions per day I'm happy with the progress. If I manage a book a year then I'll be content. I just enjoy the creation process - but there has to be one more book - just so that I can enjoy that moment when I open the parcel and see it in print.

Like a friend of mine once said - getting back in the saddle is one thing but learning to ride again is something else.

Well, I've got back in the saddle and been for a trot.