Turning a daydream into a novel

WORLAND - A daydream on a long drive through the Arizona desert turned into a novel about second chances for cowboy, farrier and now author, Frank J. Schweighart.

Schweighart grew up working on the LU Ranch with his father Carl Schweighart. At the age of 13 his dad decided he was old enough to start shoeing the horses. "I seemed to have a knack for it," he said. It was a knack he turned into his profession as a certified journeyman farrier with his own business, Schweighart Equine Services in East Texas.

According to his website, Schweighart combines equine care through certified farrier specialties. He "is a specialist in equine hoof care, including the trimming and balancing of horses' hooves and the proper placing of shoes on their hooves, or just properly applying a therapeutic trim. As a certified journeyman farrier, Schweighart also combines blacksmith skills (fabricating, adapting, and adjusting metal shoes) with some veterinarian skills (knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the lower limb) to care for horses' feet and teeth as well."

He is a member of the American Farrier Association, president of the Texas Professional Farrier Association helping run clinics and seminars. The TPFA is the largest farrier chapter in the nation.

Along with working with horses as a farrier, Schweighart also competed in rodeo for years. He said he competed in bareback and bull riding in high school. Schweighart is a 1976 graduate of Hot Springs County High School. He then served five years in the Army, where he noted he was able to still compete in some rodeos while stationed in Fort Lewis, Washington.

He came back to the LU Ranch after the Army, moving to East Texas about 20 years ago, he said. "It's tough shoeing horses in the winter time [in Wyoming]," Schweighart added.

WRITING A NOVEL

"It was just a wild hair. I was driving down the road, daydreaming, drifting off," Schweighart said. "I was driving through Flagstaff, Arizona, and there was a sign there about high school finals rodeo."

He said that made him begin to think about when he competed in rodeo in high school. He said he went to the state finals every year but never went any further. "I just kept thinking about how cool it would have been had I made the high school national finals. From there I drifted off thinking about riding bulls for a living and it went from there."

He added, "I went and got me a laptop to work on it in my spare time and it just kind of created itself. I would kind of have an idea and start writing a little bit. There were times I would sit there all day long and do nothing but write on this thing. I probably should have been out working. Then I would go back and read what I wrote and think 'where did this come from.' It was like I was on the sidelines, watching this thing unfold and I was just writing it down. It was really a cool experience. It was one of the neatest things I've ever done," Schweighart said.

The entire process took several years. He said it took about three years to complete the novel, including a period of about six months where he suffered writer's block that ended in the middle of the night. He said he woke up and realized where the story was going next and was able to finish in two to three days.

He said about three-fourths of the way through the novel he began contacting publishers and, admittedly, got a few rejection letters.

"I'm not a good promoter of myself. I let my work speak for itself," he said.

He finished the book about 2001 and spent a few years trying to get it published and then "let it sit."

Schweighart said at the time he finished the novel, self-publishing wasn't like it is now. "The whole self-publishing industry has changed. When I first tried it was too expensive."

After the lengthy break, he said, he's not sure what prompted him to give it another try but he found a self-publishing company, Outskirts Press, to work with and finally in 2014, the first copies were printed.

"I don't expect to write another novel," Schweighart said. "Everyone says they're going to write the great American novel, well I can check that off my list."

He said some people have wondered if he would do a sequel, but he said there is no more to the story of Billy Ray Robbins, the hero in "Twice In A Lifetime."

Schweighart added a caveat to his statement about not writing another book, noting he has a few ideas tossing around his head so one never knows if the inspiration will strike like it did when he decided to write "Twice In A Lifetime."

He said he's also thought about writing a series.

"If I did it again I'd have to create a whole new cast of characters and that's a really fun thing to do. When you are writing a novel you can do anything you want, there are no rules," Schweighart said. "You can make up who you want, where you want, when you want. It's really a cool thing to do. They all create a life of their own. It was really a fun thing but I don't know if I'll ever repeat it."

TWICE IN A LIFETIME

The novel, "Twice In A Lifetime" is about young bull rider Billy Ray Robbins. According to the summary on the book jacket, "It was a meteoric ascension into the ranks of the top professional bull riders in the world for young Billy Ray Robbins. Billy Ray easily breezes through the ranks of high school and amateur bull riding and soon finds himself in the middle of a world title run during his rookie year. He teams up with his girlfriend Jennifer and Homer Lee, the obnoxious dog, and Jennifer's father, Johnny Rardon. Together, they weather all that the storms of life can throw at them, until they run into the ultimate storm, the one that challenges everything they stand for, including their right to stay alive. In the aftermath of the disaster, Billy Ray must do some serious soul-searching as he embarks upon a walk-about, desperately seeking some sign that he is still meant to ride bulls."

Schweighart said he won't give away exactly what the title means in the book, except to say, everyone wants second chances.

COWBOY POET

The novel "Twice In A Lifetime," is not the only writing Schweighart has completed, however, having been a cowboy poet for many years.

The cowboy poetry, he said, is something "I have a lot of fun with." However, he noted he hasn't been able to write as much lately, writing just two poems last year, including one for his father prior to his induction into the Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame.

Schweighart turned one of his longest cowboy poems into a CD, "Paul Bond the Cow Dog." He partnered with Mike Schikora, who provided music for the CD.

The poem itself, set in Meeteetse, took just three hours to write. He said he belongs to a songwriting group in Dallas, where he met and became friends with Schikora. He asked him about the idea of putting some songs on the CD and "he was fired up about it."

What is on tap for his next creative project? Schweighart said he is not sure, noting at this time "the creative juices are not there right now."

He added, "I have a big time doing what I get to do. I get to work on horses every day. There's nothing I'd rather do."

NOTE: Frank Schweighart is a cousin of Karla Pomeroy, editor of the Northern Wyoming Daily News.