A Story Inside You —Bringing Your Thoughts to Paper By Didi Arias
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lizabeth Gilbert, author of the bestseller Big Magic, writes about the transcendent world of ideas and how we should respond to them. She feels that ideas are energy life forms that live on the planet here with us, along with the plants, animals and other living beings. These bodyless ideas sort of swirl around through eternity, waiting to be taken in by someone to act upon them. The trouble is that once we meet up with an idea and if we don’t bring it to fruit, then it will go back out in to the atmosphere searching for another person to make it happen. When I read this concept it really struck a chord with me, making sense out of the sudden drives I’ve had to do things in life such as paint, dance and write. Being that I have no better thought on where ideas come from, I’ll go with with Ms. Gilbert’s. There was a moment when one of these ideas chose to thwack me; luckily I was consciously alert that day and the result was that I started writing horse riding magazine articles. There was no Big Plan or dream to write, neither do I have an academic background in the subject. Out of the blue, I felt a brain flash and so sat down and started typing away. It was so random, so sudden, that it just had to be one of those floating life forms taking up residence in my head. Maybe this is sounding a bit woo woo, but I have no other explanation. Now, after
nearly two decades at the keyboard and two awards to boast, writing has been a very rewarding, personal success. People tell me they’d love to write, but have no idea where to begin, nor do they know what to write about. My advice is simple in that you just start at the beginning and write what you know. In my mind, everyone can become a storyteller because everyone has at least one story to tell: their own. Observations, experiences, views, learned wisdoms and lessons are all things that make up the files in our personal
storytelling archives. Just living our life’s ten thousand joys, ten thousand sorrows gives us all the material we would ever need for a lifetime of writing. If you want to write, but are unsure what to write about, remember a key factor: Everyday Things Matter. If you’ve gotten this far, there is a good chance that you might actually be thinking about writing, so following are some personal thoughts on how to get started. Write daily. Not writing will not make you a writer; only writing will make you a writer, so you will need to practice it just like anything else you want to excel at. If you have ever been a diary keeper, you’ve already got a head start, otherwise start jotting down your thoughts and ideas in a journal. Be disciplined and “show up” for it—it’s kind of a date with yourself and your thoughts. Use non-writing moments to support your writing time. I usually carry a little notebook with me, or at least have my phone handy so I can write things down the moment they pop in to my head. All of my students know that I’ll suddenly exclaim “oh, that was great!”, and take a note midlesson (a place where I get so much writing fodder). They get a kick out of the fact that a concept in one of my articles may have taken root during their class. My students are also my “Idea Sparkers.” List making works well for me, so I keep a list in my computer of things I may one day write about. The notes therein may seem random and odd, but “cones”, “what if” and “underwear” all flourished in to themes for entire articles. Words and short phrases act as my fire starters, just like those little tablets you put in to the BBQ to get the flames going. As you write, your style will begin to develop. Certain topics and interests will appear and strengthen, as well as a signature use of words and vocabulary. Your written voice will come out, be it chatty, humorous, teacherly, or fact-filled reporting. Sometimes you may not recognize the sound as being your own, but let it happen as that’s the creative in you taking over the ➢
riding-instructor.com | Winter 2019–20
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