Riding and Writing, Not That Different

In Christi's post yesterday, she talked about learning as a writer at a retreat she went to (lucky girl)!

I'm going to carry her theme through here.

I grew up as the daughter of an old time cowboy, rding on dude ranches. To this day, my all time favorite activity is to ride in the mountains. I never learned leads or patterns or how to show a horse.

My daughter got into 4-H when she was eight years old. She needed to know those things to be successful. I was also her club leader. We had a whole bunch of kids who looked to me to guide them.

So I found people to teach me. I struggled to learn leads (the leg a horse reaches first with when loping). But I got it. And I learned how to teach my kids. The amount of ribbons and buckles and trophies they won is astounding.

On my trail rides, I don't have a need for lead changes, but I know them if I did.

The basics are there.

The point?

My writing career has a lot of similarities to my 4-H career. When I began, I didn't know the basics of grammar. Not the simplest things. I had a terrible education due to moving every six months until I was a sophomore in high school.

But I wanted to write. So I learned. I have taken every writing class available to me in my small town. I went to college for English-With-a-Writing-Emphasis. It didn't come easy. Like learning lead changes, I struggled. Until I got it.

Like in my 4-H years, I have the basics down now.

I know how to use grammar and other story fundamentals. I can hold my own with most other writers.

But the growing never stops. Learning never ends. I still take classes. I try to grow and learn from everyone who has knowledge I don't.

A good horseman admires all breeds of horses, respects all methods of training, learns from other horseman.

A good writer does the same.