New Calves, Dairy Queen & Multiple Lives

As I waited for our Dairy Queen order, I checked my iPhone calendar. Today, Monday, deliver lunch to my husband who was caking cows as our ranch foreman had taken a much deserved day off. I’ll hop a ride with my husband while he makes his afternoon rounds keeping watch for photo opportunities.

Tomorrow it’s back to the office day job to pay a few bills and put out fires. I’ll be dressed in my best speaker suit and heels for a lunch at a dinner club in downtown Amarillo, to give a talk about writing for a group of retired educators. I am looking forward to what I feel sure will be a lively discussion.

What a contrast. Today, watching a newborn calf on wobbly legs take his first taste of warm milk. Tomorrow, peering down at the streets of Amarillo from the 30th floor of a high rise office building.

The Many Lives of Writers

A dear friend and author of over 50 books, Jodi Thomas, warned me early on in my career that a writer exists in several realms. I realize now that she wasn’t just talking about the fictional stories inside my head.

The writing part of being an Indie Author is nothing like the living part of life.  For most of us who write, families and day jobs are detached from prose and publishing. There’s the real life, real people, real obligations, and then there are fascinating characters, places and obstacles that exists inside our heads. On some days I feel like the stories choose me and I am powerless to control the process. It really is a chaotic, hot mess inside a writer’s brain.

Live in the Moment

As I jotted notes for this blog on a crumpled piece of paper I found in the pickup glove box, I paused to watch a jumble of calves run away at the sound of the “cookie wagon”. They bumped and tottered across the pasture, stopping to catch their breath only to realize their mommas were nowhere close. They suddenly turned and made a beeline back towards the herd. We laughed at their shaky legs and cute faces. Today, a mild winter afternoon in the Texas Panhandle full of greasy burgers and overcast skies and endless pastures.

New life running full tilt.

“They’re thinking it’s a great day to be in the world,” my husband said.

Sometimes you have to pause and take a breath and tell yourself, yes, it is a great day. Live in the moment and offer a prayer of thanks.  It is a great day to juggle being a Indie Author, mother, wife, ranch and business owner. It’s a great day to discover new passions, try new things, and face new obstacles, because you never know where your experiences might take you. We can learn a lot from a newborn calf: here’s to living life at full tilt.

Think a little less, live a little more.

Natalie Cline Bright is a blogger and author of women’s fiction, the fun historical western TROUBLE IN TEXAS series for middle grades, and the RESCUE ANIMAL series about horses and second chance. Read about Natalie’s grandmother and her cherry salad recipe, selected for “THE WESTERN WRITERS OF AMERICA COOKBOOK: Favorite Recipes, Cooking Tips, and Writing Wisdom” (TwoDot Publishing, June 2017). Click on the BOOKS tab at the top of the page to learn more about her published works.