Don’t Squat with Your Spurs On! By Shirley Raye Redmond

A couple of years ago, while working on my western romance, AMANDA’S BEAU, I was researching the history of the automobile in the old west and stumbled upon several amusing (and totally unrelated) tidbits that could be summed up as cowboy wisdom. I started a collection of my favorites. You may even be familiar with some of these. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Don’t worry about biting off more than you can chew. Your mouth is probably bigger than you think it is anyway.
• Good judgment comes from experience and a whole lot of that comes from bad judgment.
• If it doesn’t look like it’s worth the effort, it probably ain’t.
• The easiest way to eat crow is while it’s still warm. The colder it gets, the harder it is to swallow.
• It don’t take a genius to spot a goat in a flock of sheep.
• Telling a man to get lost and being able to make him do it are two entirely different propositions.
• If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging. 

And then being a westerner myself and also a writer, I decided to try my hand at composing a few bits of cowgirl-writer wisdom:

1. Making it as a writer is like busting broncos—you’re gonna get tossed. A lot. Get up and try again.
2. Pursue your writing dream as if it’s a critter that’s gotta be roped in a hurry before it gets away.
3. Nothing you can’t spell will ever work.
4. It is better to have steady royalty income than to be beautiful.
5. There are two theories for arguing with an editor: neither of them works.

What about you? Do you have a favorite bit of advice that might be categorized as cowboy or cowgirl wisdom?

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An award-winning writer and frequent conference speaker, Shirley Raye Redmond is the author of two inspirational historical novels, PRUDENCE PURSUED and AMANDA’S BEAU, as well as two dozen children’s books. Shirley Raye holds an M.A. in literature. She has been married to her husband Bill for forty years. They live in New Mexico and are blessed with two grown children, two adorable grandsons, and one spunky Scottish terrier. Touch bases at shirleyrayeredmond.com or Facebook and http://www.writechildrensbook.com/blog