THE GREAT GIVE AND TAKE ON LIFE'S JOURNEY
by Lady C. E. Miller
Please welcome Lady C. E. Miller to the Writers Journey Blog with a story most of us have known in some manner in our own lives.
I am happy to be asked to do another feature for the Writers Journey Blog! I just got my Journeys Anthology this week and I love it! I mention it because one of the stories I wrote is about healing … my healing, and compromise, which is the subject of my article today.
When I was young, I just wanted to be outdoors and passed most of my time on horseback or dragging home sick animals. Training horses and eventually breaking them for area ranches. I hated school and cleaning my room, cooking, dishes ... dressing up or dances, yuck! I hated sports that required hand to eye coordination … I did not possess. I spent a lot of my young life frustrated and in anticipation of the day I would be old enough to own my own farm and fill it with every kind of animal I loved.
I rode in horse competitions and rodeos. That was my specialty growing up. Not baseball but barrels, and not pageants or beauty contests (although I did win a few) but conformation trials and breeding merit. It eventually made me different from my siblings, but I learned to compromise and excelled in my own little corner of life.
My mother’s favored memory of me is when I attempted to sneak my (14.2hh) horse into my bedroom because the horse was feeling ill. I had a picture of her lying quietly by my bed, like my dog. That did not happen! Of course, the clopping of her shoes on my mother’s carefully tended, antique, oak wood flooring gave up the jig. That didn’t go over well, as I remember.
Once, when I was twelve, I drug home a furious (and dangerous) full grown barn owl, wounded and afraid, tightly wrapped in my brand-new winter coat. (Her talons made short work of it.) I came in the back door yelling for my mother and she scooted us out the front door just as quickly. Loaded all four of us in the car and drove to the forestry where I turned the wounded creature over to more capable hands, winter coat and all. There are a million other stories, of course, but you get the general picture by now.
I have a severe form of dyslexia which, with the help of observant and dedicated teachers and a mother who trained me with constant loving discipline, I overcame the worst effects by Junior School age. I have never been able to compensate for numbers, and I had problems determining over and under, depth perception and even left from right until my mother pointed out two beauty marks on my right wrist which I have used from that time till now. In other words, again, I learned to compromise, it was part of my daily life.
Many times, in my life, I have used that skill. Today, I live on that little farm I used to dream about with a husband who loves this life as much as I do, and a I have a need to tell my stories and share my experiences.
So, I drafted a novel and then it grew and grew. I fell in love with the fictional journey of an Arabian horse mistress and Avalon, time travel and the secret place behind the veil …
I released a portion of the book in 2018 with very few sales. I cried, bitterly dissapointed. I sulked for a while, and then I did what I always do ... compromised and went back to my writing. We took it down in 2020 and will be re-releasing Forget Me Not … The Epic, in 2022.
Three stand-alone volumes will tell the fictional story of young Princess Aameera and future Queen Tamuz … sisters of the heart from the fertile crescent Empires in ancient Mesopotamia. From carefree young girls to womanhood in battle against nomads, desert raiders, and treachery in the great Wadi horserace. You will journey with them through the legendary breeding programs of the great Arabian desert horses, caravans, enchantment, magic, love and childbirth and even death … a type of death and a resurrection.
You can read an excerpt in the Journeys Anthology linked below.
My writing journey as well as my life journey has been spent in a constant state of flux. Winning, losing and compromising to reach the stars I so eagerly claim as my own.
The journey is not always easy, but it is always worthwhile!
Lady C. E. Miller holds the honorary title; Lady of Dunans Castle, Argyll, Scotland, for work and donations in her ancestorial homeland. She is an artist, sculptor, poet, writer, trainer and animal lover. Author of Forget Me Not … the Epic Series that will be re-released in 2022. She is featured in many online and print venues, and is the recipient of several local artistic awards and grants. She lives with her husband, Steven, and her Fluffy horse amidst many two- and four-legged feather and fur babies on their small farm in South Texas.
I admire your perseverance and determination to overcome obstacles! It's paid off well. Best of luck when the new book is launched!
Love this!