Ryan P. Freeman's Blog, page 7
January 13, 2017
Follow Your Dreams, Baby
This is My Story:
When I was young, art was my passion.I was in high school;I took every art class that I was allowedto take. My Dad was my biggest fan. One day he started feeling sick and was soon diagnosed withMultiple Sclerosis. After several agonizing years he passed away. I put my paints away and never looked back.
I graduated from college,met and married the love of my life, pursued a career and started a family. Life was good. One morning, at age 33, I woke up blind in one eye; soon I to...
When I was young, art was my passion.I was in high school;I took every art class that I was allowedto take. My Dad was my biggest fan. One day he started feeling sick and was soon diagnosed withMultiple Sclerosis. After several agonizing years he passed away. I put my paints away and never looked back.I graduated from college,met and married the love of my life, pursued a career and started a family. Life was good. One morning, at age 33, I woke up blind in one eye; soon I to...
January 5, 2017
Read On! (Seriously!)
"How do you come up with it all?" - Pat Thomas (aka 'Miss Pat')
I envy fans - I really do.She had just devoured both my current books,The Grey Isle Tale, andRienspelover the course of New Year's Weekend. While I'm ecstatic she burned through both - I also wilted a bit inside!Why?Writing IS HAARRRRD.Sure, anybody with some fingers, a brain, and some time can write...butfinishingsomething coherent and even the least bit entertaining takes dedication and a healthy imagination. I mean, did you kno...
I envy fans - I really do.She had just devoured both my current books,The Grey Isle Tale, andRienspelover the course of New Year's Weekend. While I'm ecstatic she burned through both - I also wilted a bit inside!Why?Writing IS HAARRRRD.Sure, anybody with some fingers, a brain, and some time can write...butfinishingsomething coherent and even the least bit entertaining takes dedication and a healthy imagination. I mean, did you kno...
December 31, 2016
"I see things that never were and say, why not?"
Hi everyone, Ryan let me take over his site for the moment and…*laughs manically while stroking my beard*
Ryan asked me why I write and how I got started.The answer is simple, yet complex, inspiring, and at the same time just like everyone else… but the answer is the same for both questions.I see things that never were and say, “Why not?”It’s my mantra, or my personal life-quote.If I had a shield with a family crest emblazoned in the center, this would be the motto.
It’s my take on a quote byRo...
Ryan asked me why I write and how I got started.The answer is simple, yet complex, inspiring, and at the same time just like everyone else… but the answer is the same for both questions.I see things that never were and say, “Why not?”It’s my mantra, or my personal life-quote.If I had a shield with a family crest emblazoned in the center, this would be the motto.It’s my take on a quote byRo...
December 16, 2016
This Week on #WriFri: You've Got to See the (Zoo) Baby!
I have a special place in my heart for all animals.If I wasn't shooting for a living I think I would be pursuing a career working with animals. Last AugustAssiniboine Zoohad me over to see the fresh new faces. I met the baby pronghorn antelope, Eurasian tundra reindeer and snow leopards. I was in my glory! As a kid (and now;)) I watched far more nature shows than cartoons. I find animal behavior extremely fascinating. I actually got into shooting because of theseNational GeographicandDiscover...
December 2, 2016
Samantha Ortiz On Writing With Balance, Discipline, & Passion
Greetings fellow writers and readers!
I was excitedto get the opportunity to write to you all today. I am a fledgling amateur writer who -- for the first time in her life – can take the time to make her writing more than just a hobby.Writing has always beenin the background of my life. Growing up, I was an avid reader, and around ten years old, I decided “Hey, I can write something of my own!” So over the next two years, from ages 10-12 I wrote my first novel. It was something like 300 pages l...
I was excitedto get the opportunity to write to you all today. I am a fledgling amateur writer who -- for the first time in her life – can take the time to make her writing more than just a hobby.Writing has always beenin the background of my life. Growing up, I was an avid reader, and around ten years old, I decided “Hey, I can write something of my own!” So over the next two years, from ages 10-12 I wrote my first novel. It was something like 300 pages l...
November 18, 2016
NaNoWriMo: Hanne's Story
After I started pursuing writing more actively, I became acutely aware of something quite peculiar:It is really hard to write.I started telling stories when I was very young.
I stillremember the stories made up for the most part starred the family dog and the eventual demise of my brother. I used to dream of one day being a poet, and living the big life as the greatest poet of my hometown. I’m not quite there…Yet.I grew up in the southwestern part of Norway,in a beautiful city shrouded by moun...
I stillremember the stories made up for the most part starred the family dog and the eventual demise of my brother. I used to dream of one day being a poet, and living the big life as the greatest poet of my hometown. I’m not quite there…Yet.I grew up in the southwestern part of Norway,in a beautiful city shrouded by moun...
October 13, 2016
Breaking NEWS!
If you haven't seen already...
I've got a brand new
Super-shiny
WEBSITE!!
Behold it in all its glory here:
http://www.ryanpfreeman.com/
(thank you, yet again, to Jennie Kelly and my various contributing concept artists!)
Also:I've started a super-cool new YouTube series called
Ryan Talks - where I blather on about what it takes to write Fantasy.
Feel free to subscribe!
(That is all.)
I've got a brand new
Super-shiny
WEBSITE!!
Behold it in all its glory here:
http://www.ryanpfreeman.com/
(thank you, yet again, to Jennie Kelly and my various contributing concept artists!)
Also:I've started a super-cool new YouTube series called
Ryan Talks - where I blather on about what it takes to write Fantasy.
Feel free to subscribe!
(That is all.)
August 31, 2016
The Great Chase
The Great ChaseWhy Friendship and Joy-Chasing are Essential forA Life Well-Lived
In lieu of the increasing fans (like you),
here's a new post!
I'm not really sure what to write. It happens more often than not, actually. What really kills me, though, is how I'll get these excellent writing moods... all the stars will align and a hallelujah chorus will shimmer down from above... and then I'll get distracted.
Seriously.
And no, before you bring it up - it's not all social media distractions, either. Life gets distracting. My mind just becomes all cluttered up sometimes. Lately, I've been without a car - which has been frustrated. I don't like always being stuck at home, and it can drive me up the walls. As a writer, and really just as a regular ol' human being, the ability to get out when the fancy takes you is essential. I'm sorry Emily Dickinson... but no... I have mad respect for you and all... but still no.
I guess what I'm trying to say is how I think really good writing is something which, barring a gift from fickle muses, comes out of life well-lived. Good-bad-ugly... but still life well-lived.
What makes for a well-lived life?
I'm no Marcus Aurelius, but I think CS Lewis was on to something when he writes about Joy-Chasing in his Surprised by Joy, and also in his Pilgrim's Regress. There are things you will find, uncovered within yourself - or introduced to you by others, which stir up a Longing inside. For me, they're things having to do with mythology, theatre, traveling, Autumn, the rain... It's funny, because a tell-tale sign that you're probably on the right track to identifying exactly what your Joy is - the harder it becomes to say exactly what IT is. - Like those who have tasted of the magical food from Faerie... after you've returned from the Perilous Land, you're always left wanting in a delightful sort of agony.
Lewis humbly suggested that what we want is not, perhaps, the Thing ITSELF, but the chase. So the next time something moves you, don't try to possess it. Merely enjoy it while it is, as it is, and then carry on. Keep IT secret - keep IT safe.
Another thing I think lends to a life well-lived are good friends. A man may be the poorest in the whole world, yet if he has genuine friends he is rich. Friendship is one of those things which lend to Life's sense of meaning and purpose. When you suddenly discover that the guy or girl over there likes the same thing you do... that same secret Joy... there is often a moment, whether spoken or not, where each thinks something like, 'What? You too?'.
- This same thing is partly how I first met my to-be wife, Steph... it's how I first met my esteemed friend (and fellow author) R.E. Dean... Friendship helps make us MORE. A Joy we may have inside remains only that one Joy, but when friendship allows people to share a Joy... its like light splitting through a prism into a million new possibilities we never could have come to on our own. Shared Joy via Friendship is like staring down from a great height... we see all the twists and turnings which could have taken us higher up and deeper in - and all the other paths which could have led us on... but our Journey would have been radically different. Thus, WE would be radically different, in turn.
What does any of this have to do with writing, though?
It has exactly, precisely to do with writing because when we finally do sit down and write, we are not just putting words on a page, but little pieces of us. This is not ink, nor mere pixels which you now read - but the confluence of hundreds of thousands of interlinking friendships formed over shared Joy-chasing. Each word is not only my own - but also immaculately blended bits and pieces of people I've known and loved from all over the world - living and departed.
And it's the same when you create something, too.
Whenever someone pours their heart and soul, time and energy - blood, sweat, and tears - into something beautiful - we see Life as Art. (Tolkien would call it 'Sub-creation')
In all your Joy-chasing - happy hunting. Write on! Read on!
- Ryan
In lieu of the increasing fans (like you),
here's a new post!
I'm not really sure what to write. It happens more often than not, actually. What really kills me, though, is how I'll get these excellent writing moods... all the stars will align and a hallelujah chorus will shimmer down from above... and then I'll get distracted.
Seriously.
And no, before you bring it up - it's not all social media distractions, either. Life gets distracting. My mind just becomes all cluttered up sometimes. Lately, I've been without a car - which has been frustrated. I don't like always being stuck at home, and it can drive me up the walls. As a writer, and really just as a regular ol' human being, the ability to get out when the fancy takes you is essential. I'm sorry Emily Dickinson... but no... I have mad respect for you and all... but still no.
I guess what I'm trying to say is how I think really good writing is something which, barring a gift from fickle muses, comes out of life well-lived. Good-bad-ugly... but still life well-lived.
What makes for a well-lived life?
I'm no Marcus Aurelius, but I think CS Lewis was on to something when he writes about Joy-Chasing in his Surprised by Joy, and also in his Pilgrim's Regress. There are things you will find, uncovered within yourself - or introduced to you by others, which stir up a Longing inside. For me, they're things having to do with mythology, theatre, traveling, Autumn, the rain... It's funny, because a tell-tale sign that you're probably on the right track to identifying exactly what your Joy is - the harder it becomes to say exactly what IT is. - Like those who have tasted of the magical food from Faerie... after you've returned from the Perilous Land, you're always left wanting in a delightful sort of agony.
Lewis humbly suggested that what we want is not, perhaps, the Thing ITSELF, but the chase. So the next time something moves you, don't try to possess it. Merely enjoy it while it is, as it is, and then carry on. Keep IT secret - keep IT safe.
Another thing I think lends to a life well-lived are good friends. A man may be the poorest in the whole world, yet if he has genuine friends he is rich. Friendship is one of those things which lend to Life's sense of meaning and purpose. When you suddenly discover that the guy or girl over there likes the same thing you do... that same secret Joy... there is often a moment, whether spoken or not, where each thinks something like, 'What? You too?'.
- This same thing is partly how I first met my to-be wife, Steph... it's how I first met my esteemed friend (and fellow author) R.E. Dean... Friendship helps make us MORE. A Joy we may have inside remains only that one Joy, but when friendship allows people to share a Joy... its like light splitting through a prism into a million new possibilities we never could have come to on our own. Shared Joy via Friendship is like staring down from a great height... we see all the twists and turnings which could have taken us higher up and deeper in - and all the other paths which could have led us on... but our Journey would have been radically different. Thus, WE would be radically different, in turn.
What does any of this have to do with writing, though?
It has exactly, precisely to do with writing because when we finally do sit down and write, we are not just putting words on a page, but little pieces of us. This is not ink, nor mere pixels which you now read - but the confluence of hundreds of thousands of interlinking friendships formed over shared Joy-chasing. Each word is not only my own - but also immaculately blended bits and pieces of people I've known and loved from all over the world - living and departed.
And it's the same when you create something, too.
Whenever someone pours their heart and soul, time and energy - blood, sweat, and tears - into something beautiful - we see Life as Art. (Tolkien would call it 'Sub-creation')
In all your Joy-chasing - happy hunting. Write on! Read on!
- Ryan
August 15, 2016
On Chronological Snobbery
On Chronological Snobbery(A Rant)
When researching through mythology and history for my fantasy works, I think it's an important point to remember the dangers of Chronological Snobbery.
What is Chronological Snobbery?
Roughly, it is a term coined by Professor CS Lewis used to describe people who assume their time and culture are right and how others which came before are obviously wrong.
A good example of this is the general idea of Modern Progress, which has its distant roots grounded in The Renaissance and its nearer roots embedded with the Industrial Revolution.
Are we living in the greatest moment in all of Time? Isn't that a bit conceited to assume we are? What about other times and places?
Now, it could possibly be an easy route to take, in trying to say that oh, well since we don't live in 1548 or some such era, we can't very well say, either way, which has it better.As my good friend, fellow author, and budding Medieval Historian, R.E. Dean would say (probably),"PREPOSTEROUS!"
When you read old works, try and understand what the authors mean - not what you assume they might mean. One of the wonderful qualities of History is how it can tell us exactly what WAS witnessed, believed, and considered important. Professor Lewis, while remembered mainly for his outspokenly Christian-based fantasy and lay-man theological works, also wrote other things, too. (As a British Professor, he was sort of expected to, you know...)
In one of the other excellent books he wrote, On Words, Lewis explores the importance of how words are used through the ages, by following a few of them. By doing so, one can learn just how easily passages from Shakespeare to Caesar can be misread because linguistical context is misunderstood.
Will we always only read things 'correctly'? Is reading and understanding 'rightly' all there is to enjoying a good book?
(*rolls eyes) What do you think?
But the ideas and sentiments behind what is being recorded through History and Myth - the storied voices and mirrored Truths which other eyes witnessed and other hands now long turned to dust touched come to life. They rise like long shadows cast down through the years to illuminate our own modern history and everyday lives. When we read intelligently, we are not reading books. We are peering through another's eyes.
Good History does that. - It is not merely the analytical recording of tedious events, but second-life. When you pick up the Illiad, it's not assigned reading or something you're finally getting around to... You see the world as it was thousands of years ago. You're not learning dates, you're re-experiencing other people's lives, passed down through countless oral stories and translations, because what they saw and felt is important. Primal, even. And we're not too different from them, on a human level, either.
But only, if we continue to learn - and also think critically, with intelligence and an open mind.To remain ignorant is to live in the Dark.
...
Other excellent reads relating to this rant include the following:
- Lies My Teacher Told Me- The Book That Made Your World- From Homer to Harry Potter- The Discarded Image- The Greek Way- On Faerie Stories
Read On!- Ryan
PS, my up-and-coming fantasy novel, Rienspel, releases THIS Halloween!!(Don't worry, I'll keep you posted)
When researching through mythology and history for my fantasy works, I think it's an important point to remember the dangers of Chronological Snobbery.What is Chronological Snobbery?
Roughly, it is a term coined by Professor CS Lewis used to describe people who assume their time and culture are right and how others which came before are obviously wrong.
A good example of this is the general idea of Modern Progress, which has its distant roots grounded in The Renaissance and its nearer roots embedded with the Industrial Revolution.
Are we living in the greatest moment in all of Time? Isn't that a bit conceited to assume we are? What about other times and places?
Now, it could possibly be an easy route to take, in trying to say that oh, well since we don't live in 1548 or some such era, we can't very well say, either way, which has it better.As my good friend, fellow author, and budding Medieval Historian, R.E. Dean would say (probably),"PREPOSTEROUS!"
When you read old works, try and understand what the authors mean - not what you assume they might mean. One of the wonderful qualities of History is how it can tell us exactly what WAS witnessed, believed, and considered important. Professor Lewis, while remembered mainly for his outspokenly Christian-based fantasy and lay-man theological works, also wrote other things, too. (As a British Professor, he was sort of expected to, you know...)
In one of the other excellent books he wrote, On Words, Lewis explores the importance of how words are used through the ages, by following a few of them. By doing so, one can learn just how easily passages from Shakespeare to Caesar can be misread because linguistical context is misunderstood.
Will we always only read things 'correctly'? Is reading and understanding 'rightly' all there is to enjoying a good book?
(*rolls eyes) What do you think?
But the ideas and sentiments behind what is being recorded through History and Myth - the storied voices and mirrored Truths which other eyes witnessed and other hands now long turned to dust touched come to life. They rise like long shadows cast down through the years to illuminate our own modern history and everyday lives. When we read intelligently, we are not reading books. We are peering through another's eyes.
Good History does that. - It is not merely the analytical recording of tedious events, but second-life. When you pick up the Illiad, it's not assigned reading or something you're finally getting around to... You see the world as it was thousands of years ago. You're not learning dates, you're re-experiencing other people's lives, passed down through countless oral stories and translations, because what they saw and felt is important. Primal, even. And we're not too different from them, on a human level, either.
But only, if we continue to learn - and also think critically, with intelligence and an open mind.To remain ignorant is to live in the Dark.
...
Other excellent reads relating to this rant include the following:
- Lies My Teacher Told Me- The Book That Made Your World- From Homer to Harry Potter- The Discarded Image- The Greek Way- On Faerie Stories
Read On!- Ryan
PS, my up-and-coming fantasy novel, Rienspel, releases THIS Halloween!!(Don't worry, I'll keep you posted)
July 26, 2016
Firehall Beckons!
The Phoenix of Redd, Volume I: RienspelComing this Halloween!
"What Rien discovers about his past will change his future…"
"Rien Sucat wiles his days away, bored-stiff in his small backwoods village. But soon gets more than he bargained for after he befriends a magical Phoenix, accidentally witnesses a secret necromantic ritual, and comes face to face with a league of racist, knife-wielding assassins out for his blood. Travel with Rien as he and the Phoenix journey from the unassuming Rillian village of Nyrgen through the enchanting depths of the Great Wood where the unquiet dead lurk, to the high north country of Firehall - elusive sanctuary of the Elves. Launch into an epic quest with consequences farther reaching than Rien could ever possibly imagine." "Rienspelis about heart. It is about family and about how the power of love played out in everyday life often carries lasting consequences. Rien’s tale transcends the dim shadows of our own world by revealing the lingering power we all carry through how we live and treat others. It is a tale about the Story we all reside in which readers both young and young-at-heart will find compelling. As C.S. Lewis once penned for his colleague and friend J.R.R. Tolkien, so it is with Rienspel, ‘here are beauties which pierce like swords or burn like cold iron. Here is a story which will break your heart”… and re-forge it anew in Phoenix-fire."- Available as ebook via Amazon and print-on-demand via Createspace Halloween, 2016. In the meantime, check out Freeman's The Grey Isle Tale , now available on Amazon!
"What Rien discovers about his past will change his future…" "Rien Sucat wiles his days away, bored-stiff in his small backwoods village. But soon gets more than he bargained for after he befriends a magical Phoenix, accidentally witnesses a secret necromantic ritual, and comes face to face with a league of racist, knife-wielding assassins out for his blood. Travel with Rien as he and the Phoenix journey from the unassuming Rillian village of Nyrgen through the enchanting depths of the Great Wood where the unquiet dead lurk, to the high north country of Firehall - elusive sanctuary of the Elves. Launch into an epic quest with consequences farther reaching than Rien could ever possibly imagine." "Rienspelis about heart. It is about family and about how the power of love played out in everyday life often carries lasting consequences. Rien’s tale transcends the dim shadows of our own world by revealing the lingering power we all carry through how we live and treat others. It is a tale about the Story we all reside in which readers both young and young-at-heart will find compelling. As C.S. Lewis once penned for his colleague and friend J.R.R. Tolkien, so it is with Rienspel, ‘here are beauties which pierce like swords or burn like cold iron. Here is a story which will break your heart”… and re-forge it anew in Phoenix-fire."- Available as ebook via Amazon and print-on-demand via Createspace Halloween, 2016. In the meantime, check out Freeman's The Grey Isle Tale , now available on Amazon!
