The Making of Cowboy McKennon Kelly

‪It was a journal entry that started it all ... 

Cowboy McKennon Kelly came to me (like lightning) in the form of a poem. I vividly remember the day I furiously scrawled him in my journal. I didn’t want to miss a thing, a thought, a moment of his inception. Thank goodness I always have a journal with me because that poem ended up being the intro to the book. This picture shows the transition from my journal entry to text. ‪​Seeing it in print in the opening pages of '‪In The Reins'‬ always makes my spurs jingle. 

​I'm often asked who inspired McKennon Kelly ...

McKennon Kelly comes from the part of me that is in love with love.  

As I turned my words into a man, I took the best from the ones I once knew (and those I still know), the ones I’ve read about in my favorite books, all the ones I’ve imagined, and mixed those qualities with all the things I wish men could be then sprinkled in a little of what I imagined a cowboy who can make the eight on the back of a raging bull would be like …  so the long and the short of it is that no single person inspired his character. McKennon Kelly and In The Reins are products of my imagination. 
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McKennon is the best little pieces of everything and everyone I’ve experienced in life.  My heart was a flutter as I created him.  I am proud of McKennon Kelly.  I hope he sparks a smile across readers’ lips as they turn the pages of In The Reins.  He certainly makes me smile as I continue to write his story.

Want more McKennon?

Check out my guest blog post called McKennon Kelly's Cowboy Songs over at Heather and Horses Book Reviews where you can get in the running for a free autographed copy of In The Reins!  Or just listen to all of McKennon’s tunes on my YouTube channel!

​Here’s —–> McKennon’s Playlist

My cowboy love story soundtrack ...

Did you know that you can gallop over to my YouTube channel & visit the unofficial soundtrack to McKennon & Devon's story? The songs compiled in the 'Songs that Inspired In The Reins' playlist were my close companions while writing the book. 

Which tune do you think best represents their story? 'Cowboys And Angels' by Dustin Lynch? 'I Run To You' by Lady Antebellum? Let me know in the comments! ​