Writing A Life With Horses certainly was a trip. At first I wasn't sure I would remember many events of my childhood but, as I wrote, a funny thing happened - the words opened up my mind. I not only remembered, I was there! All my senses came alive. I could smell the caragana blossoms my brother and I rode through; I could feel my horses's back round as she slid down the butte; I could taste the fresh clear water of a mountain creek. As the words poured out, one memory led to another, events I had long forgotten.
For several months, on my limited writing schedule, I wrote only as the stories came to mind. At that point, I had not even decided to write a book - I was only documenting memories. As the words turned into paragraphs and into possible chapters, a book plan slowly formulated. I would thread the horse stories through my life story. It made perfect sense because, although many things changed in my life, my love of horses did not.
In December of 2006, I moved to my present home in the Chilcotin region of British Columbia. Since I was able to take only three of my horses with me, I had a little more time in the winter, time to work on A Life With Horses. During the next three months, the book took shape. I knew how I would start the book and, eventually, how I would end it.
In the spring of 2007, with a new property to develop, the book was on the back burner again, but I made sure to touch base with it at least once a week. I also thought about it a lot when I was riding or doing other jobs around the property. Ideas would pop into my head and many times I wished I had a recorder or a piece of paper. Slowly, but steadily, A Life With Horses was taking shape, but a very long way from being finished! I was not in a hurry, though. I had no deadline.
No comments:
Post a Comment