The path of the writer.
The question I always inevitably get asked is: “What made you want to become a writer?”
This is an incredibly odd inquiry. Why not ask me why I want to walk on two legs instead of flapping around the ocean like a penguin? I am a writer. I have not become a writer, nor have I somehow learned some secret which nobody else knows.
Perhaps it would be easier explained by me calling myself a storyteller. I have, since emerging from my mother’s womb, been a storyteller. This does not mean I have lied and created stories about who I am or what I do. Reality is still firmly in place for me, and those who know me will tell you I am one of the bluntest and most honest people around. I say it how it is.
No, being a storyteller is something else completely. Imagination has constantly battled within me to break free of the confines of my mind, and it was only when I found the release of writing that I realized what my true calling was.
I remember lying awake at night, creating worlds within my mind, stories I fled into, realms no other could enter. This was my escape from things I had no control over, especially after my father was killed and I began to lose control of my external world – but that’s another story altogether.
These imaginary lands were my escape. Words weren’t my expression then, merely imagination, and I exercised it innately in ways I am astounded I was able to tap into. I was then able to turn these realms into words, another skill I have always found simple.
Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t have my head up my ass and think I know all the answers, because there’s a mountain of stuff for me yet to learn. I’m not blind to reality and know my weaknesses even more than my strengths. I work daily to learn more and more about my craft in the hopes that one day my words might rise up to sit beside those of the greats. What I am saying is that the passion was always there, for as long as I can recall.
I suppose actors might go through similar experiences, as would anyone in the arts. There is a fire inside that burns beyond the barriers that hold others back. There is no time limit, no final goal, merely the need to create more and more, hoping each one is better than the last. Because there is no going back, no quitting, no matter how hard the road seems and regardless of how many tears are shed along the way.
I am a writer. There is no other way.
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Topics: Personal, Serious, Writing | 9 Comments »
Meet a half-demon created by author Lynn Rush.
Lynn Rush is a wonderful writer from Arizona and her debut novel, WASTELAND, is now published by Crescent Moon Press. I asked Lynn to introduce us to one of her characters in an attempt to get a feel for her writing, and the result is below. I hope you enjoy it and please support this incredibly talented new author who smiles far too much.
MEET DAVID SADLER:
My name is David Sadler, and I’m a half-demon. Before you frown and cast me aside, hear me out.
I did not choose this life. My mother did. More than four centuries ago, she signed my soul away to…better her station in life.
She was a slave. Unhappy with the life Fate dealt her. And, in turn, she sealed my Fate as a soul runner for the devil.
Upon her death, which happened to be the day I was born, my demonic enslavement began. Master raised me in the ways of Lucifer, and like her, I do not like my station in life. But her blood on the contract along with Lucifer’s have indentured me for eternity.
But I will not give them all of me. No. Since my mother was human, I, too, am part human. And I cling to that half of my being with all my strength. I do not always stay in control, and I cannot refuse my Master’s orders, but I can keep from turning fully demon just to spite them.
No. Not just to spite them. To keep a part of me that the darkness cannot touch. Because I hold hope that some day, some how, I will find a way out of my contract.
Maybe that day is today…
Short Bio:
Lynn Rush began her writing career in 2008. She has both an undergraduate and graduate degree in the mental health field and has enjoyed applying that unique knowledge to developing unique characters.
A former inline speed skater and mountain biker, Lynn has been known to test the limits of her athletic endurance. So, when she’s not writing, she spends time enjoying the Arizona sunshine by road biking nearly 100 miles per week with her husband of fifteen years and going on jogs with her loveable Shetland Sheep dogs.
Catch the Rush: www.lynnrush.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/LynnRushWrites
Twitter: www.twitter.com/LynnRush
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/k6NAZa
Amazon: http://amzn.to/pavzwE
Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/pbigOg
All Romance Ebooks: http://bit.ly/nujjjp
You Tube Trailer: http://youtu.be/k-KRE1yMiNk
Book Blurb:
Bound by the blood contract his human mother signed four centuries ago, half-demon, David Sadler, must obey his demonic Master’s order to capture fifteen-year-old Jessica Hanks. But as he learns more about her, he realizes she may be the key to freedom from his demonic enslavement.
The only obstacle—Jessica’s distractingly beautiful Guardian, Rebeka Abbott. He must not give in to their steamy chemistry, or he will lose his humanity. But fresh off a quarter millennia of sensory deprivation as punishment for not retrieving his last target, he may not be able to resist temptation long enough to save what’s left of his human soul.
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Topics: Writing | 15 Comments »
Enter imagination
The universe lies within the grasp of all with the courage to reach for it; all dreams and fears lie in reach of anyone who dares let go of reality and step sideways into another realm, a realm which resides within you, a cosmos of your own creation. Anyone can tap into it, but few have the courage to travel the paths required.
Open your heart so far it hurts, look within and draw out what you find, express it to the world around you in whatever way you can, and you will know what I mean. Scribble tales in your blood upon a page, stand before an audience with the spoken spirit, paint with the essence of your soul, sing as though your heart would burst. Some might call it art, but those who know it realize it is something more: it is life.
There is true danger upon this path, however. While true enrichment lies within your grasp, so too does absolute destruction. When opening your soul for judgement by others, it is also vulnerable to attack, and each disparaging word from a peer like a knife cutting deep, every critique of your work an attack on your child.
Every artist must persevere through such pain in hopes their work reaches beyond the mediocre, taking every hurt and sting along the way and using them in such a way as to become stronger, more equipped for each battle to come. For each artist knows it is not a choice which drives them, it is not monetary reward they strive for, it is what they are, a part of their core, and to deny it would be to deny who they truly are.
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The Power of an Author
This is something I wrote a while ago but decided to repost it on here for those who may have missed it.
There are many things from my past which I remember with shame. My agent believes this is the reason for my characters’ need for redemption in my stories, I don’t know. The turning point for me was, emotionally, a very painful one. It was a tearing separation with my past self with whom I had relied upon heavily for confidence and strength through aggression and violence.
During this time I found strength within one man’s words. A man I had never met. A surrogate father, whose wisdom shone a beacon of hope through the darkness of my life. This man’s name was David Gemmell, and his writing opened a window into a type of life I had never imagined.
David Gemmell, now sadly passed away, was Britain’s foremost author in heroic fantasy whose stories often utilized flawed characters thrown into impossible situations. LEGEND, for instance, saw an aged warrior battling to protect a decrepit fortress against a veritable ocean of warriors intent on invading their land. Another set of stories was of WAYLANDER who, like Vain in THE DARK PATH, rebels against his nature in order to battle evil.
Anyway, like I said, David Gemmell’s books were like a life preserver to me during that dark time, which I clung to as though my life depended upon it. I will never forget the power his words had, and continue to have, upon me and his death struck like the loss of a close friend.
When I began writing, I remembered this effect. The power an author has to help somebody; the strength of their words moving and inspiring the most powerful thing in a human being – their spirit. I’m not saying that my books have this power, but I would like to think so.
I’d like to hope so….
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