Cowboy Eyes by Patricia Leavy

Patricia Leavy, PhD is novelist, sociologist, and arts advocate (formerly Associate Professor of Sociology, Founding Director of Gender Studies and Chairperson of Sociology & Criminology at Stonehill College). She is widely considered the world's most visible proponent of arts-based research, which merges the arts and sciences. Patricia has published over 50 books, nonfiction and fiction, and her work has been translated into numerous languages. She has received over 100 book awards. She has also received career awards from the New England Sociological Association, the American Creativity Association, the American Educational Research Association, the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, and the National Art Education Association. In 2016 Mogul, a global women’s empowerment network, named her an “Influencer.” In 2018, she was honored by the National Women’s Hall of Fame and the State University of New York at New Paltz established the “Patricia Leavy Award for Art and Social Justice.” In 2024, the London Arts-Based Research Centre established "The Patricia Leavy Award for Arts-Based Research." In recent years, her passion has turned to penning romance novels.

You wrote Cowboy Eyes to honor the memory of your friend Joey. How does the book keep his spirit alive?

Joey died unexpectedly last summer. We were very close friends for over 35 years, and I always thought he’d be in my life. The loss is enormous and hard to process. When we were young, we spent a night walking from town to town just talking about our dreams. Some of mine came true and sadly, his did not. Cowboy Eyes opens when Cassy and Colt meet and end up on a golf course talking about their dreams. While the characters in the novel are purely fictional, Colt embodies things I loved about Joey. He was always hustling to get something more than what he had, coming up with ideas and plans, skirting the line, but he had a code, and honor. He was deeply likable, the life of the party. He was also irreverent and didn’t care what anyone thought. That was a kind of freedom I never felt I had, so I admired it. He was also a protector and very much a hero in my story, so it was easy to infuse that spirit into the book. Novels always need heroes. People do too. 

Cassy and Colt are both chasing identity as much as success. Do you believe we become who we’re trying to be, or do we lose something along the way?

As both a sociologist and a novelist, I’m endlessly fascinated by identity. How do we become who we are? What is the gap between how we see ourselves and how others see us? What is the gap between our life as it is and our life as we wish it to be? So often we spend our lives chasing some version of success, whatever we think that is—some status like money, fame, or professional reputation. But there’s no there there. Identity is a process not a destination. We’re always becoming, evolving, changing. As we evolve, we let things go. Sometimes that’s a good thing, like letting go of old ideas that no longer serve us or no longer feeling beholden to the opinions of others. Sometimes we lose things we should fight to hold onto, like hope and optimism. 

There’s a raw tension in the book between dreaming big and surviving reality. At what point does ambition become self-betrayal?

Dreaming big is wonderful. Disappointment is easier than regret. Some people don’t dream big enough because they fear disappointment, rejection, and critique. As an artist, I understand this. Putting yourself, your work, and your dreams out there is hard. There’s so much rejection and critique that it can be brutal at times. So, it’s brave to dream big and go for it. That said, it’s also important to be pragmatic. Everyone has to pay the bills. On top of that, if you’re always striving you may not be enjoying the process. That’s when we lose the very thing we love. Ambition becomes self-betrayal when we’re willing to sacrifice anything to “make it” and we start to lose ourselves and our joy.

Both characters start as outsiders looking in. What do you think it does to a person, psychologically and emotionally, to constantly feel “not chosen”?

Feeling like you’re on the outside looking in takes a toll. It hurts. It can cause or exacerbate doubts, fears, and insecurities. It can make you feel like you’re not good enough, or like the deck is stacked. Notwithstanding the emotional toll it can take, feeling like an outsider can also be a motivator. It can push you to succeed. It can also give you a different perspective than those on the inside, and that can be a huge asset. It may push you to innovate and do something original. Often, it’s “outsiders” who end up creating something special whether in science, art, or any other field. Life isn’t fair and there are things beyond our control, but we can control how we respond. So much in life is about attitude and how we frame things. In my own career I’ve often felt like an outsider because I merged academic and literary work. Yet just about every tangible success I’ve had, book and career awards and so forth, are because I decided to carve my own path. When you do that, others follow. I’m a big believer in trying to turn challenges into opportunities and what seems like disadvantages into assets. 

Hollywood is portrayed as both seductive and brutal. What truths about the pursuit of fame did you most want to expose?

Being an artist is incredibly difficult, whether you’re an entertainer, novelist, playwright, or something else. In the novel, the focus is on Hollywood, but all the same challenges exist in the publishing industry, the art world, Broadway, and so forth. It’s always uphill and there’s a lot of rejection and critique. You have to love the work itself more than anything for it to be worth it. Being an artist is a worthwhile goal; fame isn’t. Sometimes fame is a byproduct of doing the thing you love, but it’s not a thing to love or chase in and of itself. Fame won’t fill you up on the inside, but doing work that’s engaging and meaningful will. 

The connection between Cassy and Colt begins in a fleeting, almost cinematic moment. Do you believe certain people are meant to cross our paths at exactly the right time? Or do we create that meaning after the fact?

There are some people that come into our lives at a time when we really need them. When that happens, it is very special. We don’t always recognize it at the time. Sometimes only in hindsight. Of course, we do also create meaning after the fact and the way we see certain people and relationships changes over time, but I do think there are some inexplicable special things that were meant to happen. Recently, I made a sort of wild discovery myself. The past year and half was an incredibly difficult time for me, partly due to the deaths of three loved ones over an eight-month period. My high school English teacher, Mr. Shuman, died in late December 2024. He was one of the most important people in my life, there for me during a challenging time, and he remained my mentor and friend. In August 2025, my dear friend Joey died. He was one of the most important people in my life and his death was, and remains, shocking. I did not realize until Joey died that I met both him and Mr. Shuman on the same day when I was fourteen years old. It was unremarkable at the time. I had no idea they would become two of the most important people in my life. And they died months apart. So, there is real magic in the moments when things happen in our lives, but sometimes we only see it in retrospect.

Your dedication is incredibly moving—especially the line about making Joey the hero of your story. What does it mean to give someone a narrative they never got to live?

Thank you. For me, the greatest privilege and responsibility of being a novelist is honoring those I have loved. I love writing more than anything else, and I write seven days a week no matter what—weekends, holidays, vacations. It’s not because I necessarily think something I have to say is so important, but rather because I know through my novels, I’m able to share the wisdom and lessons I’ve learned from many others. All the people who have touched my life walk across the pages, although cleverly disguised. They’re never characters. My novels are fiction. The characters and stories are created in my imagination. But the people that have been significant in my life, for better or worse, are there in other ways—through spirit, tone, and feelings. The things they have taught me find their way onto the pages. That’s why my novels mean so much to me. Others live on through them, and someday I will too. In Cowboy Eyes, Colt chases his dreams and gets them. That isn’t how Joey’s story went, but it gives me some peace that I can make something right in fiction that didn’t work out in life. I know he would love that. 

This novel asks a quiet but powerful question: If you spend your life trying to be someone else, who are you when you finally “arrive”?

That’s a lesson we all need to learn, sometimes over and over again. Carl Jung said, “The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.” I agree. You can’t betray yourself and expect to find happiness. For artists, you can’t betray your art either. There is no long-term happiness without authenticity. You can only be yourself. Trying to be someone you are not, is a fool’s errand. 

 There’s a sense of innocence in the early dreams of Cassy and Colt that evolves over time. 
Do you think losing that innocence is necessary for growth or something we should fight to hold onto?

It’s really hard to balance a sense of possibilities with pragmatism, but I think that’s the trick. We need to be hopeful to continue to go after the things we want, but at the same time, it’s important to be realistic. The sad truth is that disillusionment happens. Life can be disappointing. If you’re an artist, there will be things you need to navigate in the industry you’re in that can feel soul crushing. It’s good to hold onto some optimism, if you can. 

At its heart, Cowboy Eyes is about being seen—truly seen. What does it mean to you, personally, to be seen for who you really are, beyond success or status?

Being able to be who you truly are is everything. Being seen as you really are feels so good. To me, it’s the sign of truly authentic, intimate relationships. Nothing feels more hollow than pretending. Faking it is exhausting. When people really know and accept you on a deep level, understand what’s important to you and respect your feelings, it makes you feel good. This is true with friends and romantic partners. To me when someone shows you “I see you” it is the ultimate act of love. 

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Link to purchase the book: 
https://www.amazon.com/Cowboy-Eyes-Novel-Love-Art-ebook/dp/B0GX32SRS2/​