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Born in Young County in 1965, James Wayland Long and was raised in Decatur, Texas, a sleepy town 30 minutes from Fort Worth. Back in the 1800s, Decatur was famous for being the headquarters of the famed Waggoner Ranches. The county seat of Wise County, Decatur is the beginning of Texas' wide-open prairies that sweep west towards Amarillo, and is the jumping off point for some of Texas' largest cattle ranches, and some of the state's richest oil and gas fields back in the day which only add to the romance of a bevy of larger-than-life characters that Long grew up around. Involved in 4-H and competing in livestock and horse shows as a kid, Long eventually graduating into the world of cutting horses, the most disciplined of any equine event. A former National Cutting Horse Association Two-Time World Champion Rider and member of the coveted NCHA Hall of Fame, Long was the youngest ever to achieve both honors. He traveled the country extensively showing horses in the 1980s becoming the consummate asphalt junkie, and parlayed his contacts when he retired from the sport to start his own business.
A "closet historian" and wanna-be author, Wayland has always been hooked on all things Texan. When he finally decided to pull the trigger, he drew from his small-town upbringing and created 4 Counties... The Story of The Last King of Texas. The book was pre-sold in hardback form on his website www.waylandlong.com over the summer and has recently experienced a meteoric rise thru social media sharing. While oblivious to "literary mechanics" Long displays an uncanny ability at the art of "western storytelling", his "throwback" lifestyle and rustic surroundings fueling his ability at vividly describing surroundings and events, as well as a satirical approach at historical humor. Making his home just outside of Weatherford, Texas, another hotbed of Texas and Lone Star folklore over the last 150 years, Wayland lives and breathes everyday in the epicenter of equine professionalism and huge cattle operations, and thankfully around a whole new generation of Texas personalities.
"There is just something about the privacy of the country. I could not live in a city. We live so damned far out in the sticks we have to go back towards town just to hunt. I think about the folks that settled Texas before us and realize they were either very tough or very crazy. Or both. Texas is a big place, with big stories, that are screaming to be shared. Everybody either loves Texas, or they love to hate Texas. No in between. I have had US military veterans tell me they could draw an outline of Texas in the sand, and Iraqi children would point, smile, and say 'Texas'. General Santa Anna's unforgivable atrocities at the Alamo, before Sam Houston whipped his ass at San Jacinto, forged a mindset in Texas that will always be the navigational tool of pride in the hearts of anybody who was bred, born, and raised here. I honestly think it is a DNA kind of thing. Texans don't even know how to quit. Even when they lose. Hell, I'd rather be a fencepost in Texas, than the Mayor of New York City and I want what I write to reflect that. I either want you to be proud you are from here, or be mad at your momma and daddy cause you ain't from here."
Wayland has several works in process and works exclusively with Michael Campbell Creative Writing out of Omaha, Nebraska for his proofreading and formatting.
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