random spout

There is something to say about being free within your soul. I think when you're creative, there is something profound about your way of viewing life. You can either live in darkness or beam with hope. I choose the latter. It's true, we all have darkness within. We all have fears and worries but there is something even greater than that - having hope, having dreams. Living well. It's easy to sit back and wonder where your life went, especially when you're creative. I used to think my life would lead me to winning an Oscar for make up and instead I went in an entirely different direction and chose to put my pen to good use. I had been writing all of my life and though many encouraged me to put it into the world, I wasn't ready. But one spring day in Napa, I decided to take a different route. I met a man that inspired me - he had been through it all and still was true to himself in spite of Hollywood: Francis Ford Coppola. And so ... I wrote a short story, encouraged by him and I entered a contest for his magazine. The winners chosen would go to Belize for an 8-day workshop. I took a chance and I submitted a story called "Tortured Souls" and lone-behold, I was chosen. At that moment I decided to open up my soul to the world and start writing, really writing. That week in Belize changed my life and began my journey. It wasn't so much to workshops, though that helped tremendously. It was meeting other writers with similar struggles and incredibly different styles. It just showed me that every writer has a unique voice and when you're called to do it, you have to expose that voice and share with willing eyes (and sometimes, if you're lucky, unwilling eyes). Every artist's journey is unique to them. The destination changes, as with most things creative but the journey ... it is truly freeing. I am going to get back to mine - I had taken a long vacation but my mind and soul are about to burst and so to honor my soul's desire to be freed I am opening the well of imagination.