LET’S CHOOSE CREATIVE HAPPINESS

Carmel Rowley

“The way to choose happiness is to follow what is right and real and the truth for you. You can never be happy living someone else’s dream. Live your own. And you will for sure know the meaning of happiness.”— Oprah

The happiness of creativity ebbs and flows resembling the tide of life. Here I am wondering how I’ve managed to arrive at this stage. How can I possibly be releasing my eighth book? I won’t even go on about the challenges of the last three years because most people would know all about it…  Another book finished – printed and patiently waiting to be added to my website.

People often ask, where do my ideas come from? There have been times when I pick something up and my fingers tingle. I’ve also experienced ideas that simply spring into my head. Just as I used to envision the result of a special mating of a stallion to a favourite mare.  My characters grow and change, becoming as real as the horses. The characters sneer, jostle and roll their eyes as they seep inside your consciousness. Plot twists you never knew you were capable of dreaming up become tangible. And you say, ‘Where the heck did that come from? Who would have thought?’

And then – you have to get home quick. You need a pen. A phone to tap into. Anything. You mustn’t forget. But if you lose it! Disaster! Sometimes, I’ve tried to grasp the idea by the tail and manage to hold on but often it pulls free and disappears, never to return.

I was asked often what happens if you never get anything out of breeding horses, by anything, I think these people referred to money. They asked how I would feel wasting all that time writing novels and not be successful. I end up just giving them a grin and mumbling whatever comes into my head because if they couldn’t understand the happiness, I received from (a) breeding horses and now (b) writing, how could I try and explain?

I loved the unpredictability of breeding Arabian horses just as I love the unpredictability of writing. The memories from forty years plus of breeding offer a huge gallery of recollections to write about and adapt to storylines.

The saying goes “Memories are Priceless” and indeed the priceless memories of our years of breeding Arabian horses are MANY! They are a mixture of good and bad, exciting and frightening, happy and sad, all woven together into what could be described as a large tapestry of life.

The thread that holds this tapestry together would have to be the special people in your life and the love of creating priceless memories. You learn over time how some people come into your life briefly before moving on, but many remain to support, share and enrich your life. People that are scattered around Australia and the world. All with different personalities and often new and interesting creative ideas. But the most interesting thing is how often against opposing advice, people will continue to breed, write, paint and make pleasing things for no other reason than it’s what they love to do.

Phyllis Browning of Browning Arabians USA, a very dear friend once wrote: “Breeding exquisite Egyptian Arabian horses lends artistic creativity to those who are not artistically creative; patience and humility to those who are not inclined; constant vision of the next generations to come; and lifelong friendships that support the boundaries of countries, cultures and for many of us, the test of time.”

But when it’s for love, you will always do it anyway.