Ashley Lyn Olson always had a passion for writing. Long before a horrible car wreck paralyzed her and took the life of her father, she was espousing about the world around her through the written word.
“Words are just constantly coming to me. The words that really shine or stick to me . . . I’ll save them, put them in my notebook, and maybe there will be more words that flow after them.”
Her love affair with the written word started around second grade with the creation of her first poem, Rappin’ Roger Winkle Worm as part of a school assignment (He was a rapper/singer LOL). It was not until fifth grade that she earnestly took up the practice. “It was during that time I started writing poetry. I remember doing short stories. I was inspired by people that I knew in school and whatnot and would build characters from those experiences.”
Writing is not her only creative outlet. Olson realized at a young age she also had a knack for painting and drawing. She often created artwork to accompany her stories.
“In terms of painting, I’ve always absolutely loved art,” she said. “I remember being in Kindergarten and just loved getting lost in drawing time. I always wanted it to last so much longer but they would only give us 30 to 45 minutes. It never seemed long enough.”
During freshman year of High School, she took water coloring classes, and later in college, her sister bought her some acrylic paints one year for Christmas to encourage her to paint again. She enjoyed painting but found using acrylics challenging. (Acrylics challenging were not challenging. I painted with acrylics at least starting in middle school, but likely sooner.)
When possible, she would take as many arts and writing electives as she could in her school schedule to fulfill her need to create. She continued to pursue her love of both the written word and artistic designs through summer schools and special sessions. “I would definitely pursue as many art classes as I could get my hands on.”
She continued to create and pursue her creative nature until high school when she suffered a tragedy that would help shape her future path.
“The beauty is the journey.
-Ashley Lyn Olson
It’s OK just to wait on it without obsessing over it.”
Transforming her world
When Olson was 14 years old, her world changed forever. Her family was involved in a serious car crash. “That one moment transformed my entire world,” she said. Her father was killed in the accident and her mother and younger sister were seriously injured; her older sister was working and not in the car. Her mother continues to live with disability from her injuries. Olson also sustained permanent injuries from the crash which left her a paraplegic.
While the moment does not define who she is, it did propel her toward a new lease on life. It provided future inspiration for her writing, her artwork, and her desire to make travel accessible for all.
In the short term following the accident, Olson had to reshape many of her expectations to fit into her new reality. “I had to regroup and focus. I was set on getting a basketball scholarship, but then I was like, ‘OK, what am I going to do with my life?’”
She refocused on her academics, knowing that without her basketball skills, she would need them to pursue higher education. With her newfound focus on academics, she also pushed her artistic desires aside. It was a tough decision, but one Olson resolved herself to make at the time. “I loved art and everything, but I knew there was no way I could make a living from it and that I definitely needed some other skills. So, I kind of pushed it aside, but kept writing poems. No matter how tired I was, I’d find moments to get them down on paper. It was like taking medicine or detoxing; what I was doing wasn’t sunshine and rainbows but knew I’d feel better after. Whatever was inside of me had to come out.”
Refocusing on the arts
It was a gift from her sister while she was in college that eventually got Olson refocused on her hunger for the visual arts. “She got me my digital camera and I had a lot of fun with that,” she said. “I would just have fun photographing different angles of things and textures and the beautiful aesthetics of everyday life.”
It reminded her how much she loved creating art of her own. Still, she knew she could not support herself solely on her talent as an artist, so she continued her academic path while dabbling a bit in photography to satisfy her urge to create. She graduated with honors and started a career as an executive marketing and production assistant at Wente Vineyards.
In 2009, she left that job to pursue one of her current passions: accessible travel. Travel always was something Olson enjoyed. It became a bit more challenging after her accident because not every destination and mode of travel is wheelchair friendly. Olson created a website called wheelchairtraveling.com in 2006 that provides tips and resources for people with limited mobility to experience the world of adventure and leisure travel. She was only working part-time on the project until she decided to quit her job at Wente Vineyards to focus on the effort full-time.
As she traveled and worked on her website, Olson’s passion for the arts was reignited. She would see beautiful places and meet amazing people and was inspired to capture those moments. She writes guides and creates videos for her website to help other wheelchair travelers enjoy the same experiences. She would always take aesthetic photographs on her travels and often write poetry about what she was feeling at the time. It was a great way to combine her career with her passion for the arts.
When she began dating her current boyfriend, his grandmother taught oil painting. The medium piqued Olson’s interest enough that she once again took up a paintbrush. “She was an amazing art teacher,” she said of her boyfriend’s grandmother. “I immediately fell in love with oil painting. There was just something about the way the colors blended…and the layering and the different fades. I just fell in love with it and I haven’t really looked back since.”
Mixing and matching
With her newfound delight in oil painting, Olson began to orchestrate, and sometimes mix, her art mediums and interests. She will have an oil painting or two or three going, along with a multi-medium piece and digital media creations brewing. The colors, contrasts, light rays, shadows, and of course the people and experiences from her travels inspire her artwork and poetry. When visiting a place for wheelchairtraveling.com, she often writes a poem, and then later at home paints something “artsy” she photographed.
One of her recent favorites is a painting of Hawaii with a poem based on her experience. “It is a flashback to the first time I traveled after my accident,” she said. She recently returned to the island with her boyfriend where she enjoyed studying geology, noting the extreme contrasts between life and death happening simultaneously on the island. “There is just something about the main island. That island was so powerful. It felt like being in the womb of creation, where everything was being birthed and destroyed at once.”
“I immediately fell in love with oil painting. There was just something about the way the colors blended…and the layering and the different fades. I just fell in love with it and haven’t really looked back since.”
-Ashley Lyn Olson
Olson also is exploring new writing styles as part of her growth phase. In addition to writing a modern-day memoir, she currently is working on a screenplay that is a modern-day take on The Ugly Duckling tale. The story follows a butterfly who does not fit in and goes on a journey to discover its place in the world. By the end of the story, the butterfly has a life-changing revelation.
The screenplay was a gear-shifting for Olson, who said the idea for it kept playing in her head until she sat down with it and began a rough sketch. She quickly drafted a storyboard with her idea. The best part of this new adventure was writing the descriptions for each scene. “I could hear the music for it, too, and see a modern ballet of dancing butterflies,” she said. “I just couldn’t get the music and dance out of my head, so I had to stop working on website work stuff and sketch out a rough storyboard.”
Striking while the brush – or pen – is hot
Olson said one thing she has learned is not to ignore the muse. Whether it is an idea for a poem, short story, painting, or screenplay, she always strikes while the inspiration is hot. “I definitely capture it for what it is. I write it down, type it into my phone, put it in my journal, or whatever is handy. Writing down the ideas and any supporting information that flows with it is key.”
Like most creative people, Olson has an “ideas in waiting” file. It plays host to all her thoughts and inspirations that still are waiting to take final form. She said one thing she learned early on is to “go with the muse” even if that means stopping a project midway through to focus on a new vision. “Sometimes I know the painting is asking for something, but I don’t know what, so I have to wait. I just remind myself there is time to do what the art requires of me. I’m just one human being and with the time and space I have, I’ll keep creating with the best of my ability.”
Inspiring others to create, dream, and do
Whether she is writing, painting, or reviewing a travel destination for her website, Olson gives herself grace above all else. “With anything in life, patience,” she said. “Nothing happens immediately. The key is to be honest with yourself and your time so that when the muse comes, you can act on it.”
She encourages others to create, dream, and do, no matter how long it takes them to get there. “The beauty is the journey,” she said. “Don’t obsess about the outcome. Let artwork breathe, speak, and evolve beyond your original idea. A union between artist and the art sparks magic and the gift of communicating something beyond words.”
It is always great to come across a page where the admin take an actual effort to generate a really good article.