The Writing Life: What Lindsey Vonn Taught Me About the Writing Life

As a writer, I consistently listen to audiobooks on various topics. Some of these books are exceptional and teach me lessons about my own writing life. Rise, My Story from skiing champion Lindsey Vonn is one of those books. I have never been on a ski but found Rise to be filled with great storytelling and insights for every writer.

At nine years old, Lindsey Vonn and her father made a detailed plan for her to go to the Olympics in skiing for 2002, Her perseverance, commitment and grit to reach this goal made at a young age was impressive and built into the fiber of this story. Vonn’s honesty and transparency come through the pages of this book and in the stories.

Writers need to learn to face and conqauer their fears and Vonn writes about her own struggles with fear and how she overcame it to be able to fling herself off the top of a mountain and race to the bottom of the course. Also Vonn talks about her mindset and the importance of being in the right frame of mind before a race. It was another connection that I made with my own writing life. It's important to be in the right mindset as you write.

Vonn tells her readers that she is an introvert and how she's learned to support and encourage her teammates. The majority of writers (including me) are introverts and needed to learn these lessons as well with their writing life. Other topics that Vonn covers in her book arer how to handle criticism and gossip from others. It was another area where I could identify from my own writing life. Through stories, Vonn wrotes about the sacrifices that she has made to achieve her dreams. As I heard these stories, I could identify with some of the sacrifices I have made for my own writing life.

Built into the fiber of Rise was the reality of hard work as an athlete and how she has overcome injury and depression and much more. Also Vonn details the importance of working with the right people at the right time such as trainers, coaches, physical therapists and others. I've learned similar lessons during my journey in publishing. I need to note Rise is not a Christian book and has some profanity sprinkled into the stories but I found the insights far outweighed these few words. I recommend and enjoyed listening to Rise from cover to cover.

Do you listen to or read books in an entirely different topic which provide insights about your own writing life? Let me know in the comments below.

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As I've mentioned in these entries, I regularly write for some other publications. Here are some of those articles. It's a practice that I encourage you to do with your own writing.