Mark David Gerson's Blog, page 8

Who's Who in Q'ntana: A Guide to the People, Places & Creatures of The Q'ntana Trilogy

I always insist that the unusual people, place and creature names in The MoonQuest, The StarQuest and The SunQuest are pronounced exactly as they look....but no one ever believes me! So, for the unbelievers and terminally confused, here's Who's Who & Pronunciation Guide to the world of Q'ntana.


The Place Much of trilogy is set in the mythical land of Q'ntana [kin-TAH-nah], a land where two suns shine in the sky. The larger sun, Aygra, rises in the east and sets in the west. The smaller sun, B'na [bih-NA], rises in the west and sets in the east. They meet at noon in what's known as "suns-merge." The moon is called M'nor [mih-NOR]. 

In The StarQuest, there is only one sun (Aygra), and land is knowns as M'ranna [mer-AN-ah].
The MoonQuesters  • Toshar [TOE-shar] ~ Reluctant hero of The MoonQuest and, in his late teens, the youngest surviving bard (storyteller) in Q'ntana.• Yhoshi [YOE-shee] ~ One of TosharOne of Tosharʼs three MoonQuest companions, along with Fynda and Garan. In his late teens.• Fynda [FIN-da] ~ One of Tosharʼs three MoonQuest companions, along with Yhoshi and Garan. In her late teens. • Garan [ GA-rren,  rhymes with Darren] ~ One of Tosharʼs three MoonQuest companions, along with Fynda and Yhoshi. His full name is Ryolan Ó Garan [RY-o-lin o GA-rren].
The StarQuesters & The SunQuesters • Q'nta [KIN-tah] ~ Toshar's daughter• Ben ~ A young man in his late teens when we first meet him in The StarQuest• Tom Dirqs [Tom Durks] ~ A humanoid of indeterminate age but childlike energy. One of Q'nta's companions on The StarQuest.• Mariah [ma-RY-ah] ~ A country girl in her early teens. One of Q'nta's companions on The StarQuest. • Panesh [pa-NESH] ~ An "angarusha," one who walks between the dream and waking worlds. One of Ben's companions in The SunQuest.• Janq'a [JAN-ka] ~ A dwarf-like man and one of Ben's companions in The SunQuest.• My'leen [my-LEEN] ~ A woman in her early 20s and one of Ben's companions in The SunQuest.
Other Principal Q'ntana Characters • BoʼRaʼKʼn [bo-RAH-kin] ~ The evil force behind all three stories in The Q'ntana Trilogy.• Eulisha [ you-LEE-sha] ~  Toshar's grandmother and Elderbard, one of the most honored positions in the land before the present tyranny.    
• Na'an [NAWN, rhymes with "fawn] ~ A Tikkan Dreamwalker. She weaves dreams and sometimes appears in them. Itʼs rare for her to appear to someone who is awake.• O'ric [OH-rick] ~ An oracle, old yet ageless.• Reesa Kam'ana [REE-sa ka-MAN-ah] ~ The Star Chantress.• S'kryssna S'kyaga [sk-RISS-na skee-YA-ga] ~ Evil sorceress.
Everyone Else in Q'ntana (listed alphabetically)• Ama'ray [AHM-ah-ray] ~ Villager in The SunQuest.• Ana [AH-nah] ~ Ethereal being in The SunQuest.• An'Coro [an-CO-ro] ~ Kyri's general.• Artos [AR-tos] ~ Court page.• Bonda'ar [BONN-dar] ~ Character in one of Ben's stories and king of Hana Mar O Q'inaya [HA-na mar oh ki-NAY-ah].• Co'anra [ko-AN-rah] ~ Twin brother to Co'anri.• Co'anri [ko-AN-re] ~ Twin sister to Co'anri.• Coriann [CO-ree-un] ~ Appears in one of Toshar's stories.• Cormal [COR-mal] ~ One of S'kryssna S'kyaga's guardsmen (aka Ka-Rey: kah-RAY).• Crozon [CRO-zun] ~ Innkeeper. Fynda's father. Mean, slovenly and abusive.• Dadu [da-DU] - Garan's father.• Dafna [DAF-na] ~ Kyri's younger sister.• Fara [FA-rah] ~ Tough warrior queen of the Vilda'aa [vil-DAH] people.• Forq'ad [FOR'kad] ~ One of the King's Men in The SunQuest (see Holgg).• Fvorag [FOR-ag] ~ Cruel king of Q'ntana.
• Gorkat [GOR-kat] ~ One of S'kryssna S'kyaga's guardsmen (aka Ka-Tika: kah-TEE-kah). See also Holgg.
• Grandmother Dirqs (The Grandmother) [ Durks ] ~ Tom Dirqs's grandmother.• Gravel [gra-VEL] ~ King of Q'ntana in The SunQuest.• Grizz'm [GRIZ-em] ~ Gravel's first minister. • Gwil'm [GWILL-im] ~ Leader of the Tena'aa [ten-AH], a diminutive people with a reputation for fierceness, who give Eulisha and her bards sanctuary.• Gwna [guin-AH] ~ Ethereal being who appears to Toshar, Yoshi, Fynda and Garan in the Table of Prophecy, also known as Kol Kolai [kohl ko-LYE].• Holgg [WHOLG, rhyme it with “bold,” but as though it had a “g” at the end] ~ Captain of the King's Men, the brutal army whose soldiers ride black stallions and dress identically in black shirts, pants, boots and masks.• Kor'da [KOR-dah-] ~ Villager in The SunQuest.• Kronan [KRO-nun] ~ Retired soldier.• Kyri [KEE-ree] ~ Crown prince and, later, King of Alanda [ah-LAHN-da], Q'ntana's ancient and never-conquered capital.• Leq [LECK] ~ One of Micah M'renna's farmhands.• Lanaya [la-NYE-ah] ~ A female scribe.

• Magritta [ma-GREET-ah] ~ Micah M'renna's housekeeper.• Manu [ma-NOO] ~ Appears in one of Toshar's stories.• Marq'o [MARK-oh] ~ Villager in The SunQuest.• Maysha [MAY-sha] ~ Villager in The SunQuest and wife of Rolo'en [ROH-low-en].• Micah M'renna [MI-cah mer-REYN-na] ~ Mariah's uncle in The StarQuest.• Miknos [MEEK-nos] ~ Court page
• M'naben [mi-NAH-bin] ~ A female scribe.

• Myrrym [MEER-im] ~ Zakk's wife.

• No'An'o [no-AHN-no] ~ guardian of the Do'Am portal in The StarQuest.

• Prak'ka [pra-KAH] ~ Captain of the King's Guard under Gravel (see Holgg).

• Ra'ina ~ [ra'EE-nah] ~ Friend of Panesh and wife of Yeer'ga [YEAR-gah].

• Rolo'en  [ROH-low-en]  ~ Villager in The SunQuest and husband of Maysha [MAY-sha].

• Ro'an [ROW-un] ~ Toshar's cousin.

• Simeon [SIM-ee-an] ~ Court page in Q'nta's Castle Rose.

• Tyanna [TEE-ya-nah] ~ Toshar's mother.

• Yeer'ga [YEAR-gah] ~  Friend of Panesh and husband of Ra'ina [ra-EE-nah].

• Yzythq'a [iz-ITH-kah] ~ Otherworldy oracle in The SunQuest.

• Zakk [ZACH] ~ Toshar's uncle and Eulisha's younger son, a sly, mean and abusive man who took over Tosharʼs schooling when Garan went missing.
Q'ntana's Creatures • Arukka [a-roo-KAH] ~ A tartaruca [tar-TAR-u-kah].• Da'nay [dah-NAY] ~ Large, leopard-like creature.• Freya [FRAY-ah] ~ A whale-like baleya [bah-LAY-ah].• Fynn'Qya [fin-KEY-ah] ~ A giant, fish-like thor'qya [thor-KEY-ah].• Kep'cha [KEP-cha] ~ A giant, black bird-like creature piloted by a thorag [THOH-rag].• Meya [MAY-ah] ~ A whale-like baleya [bah-LAY-ah].• Mishak [MEE-shahk] ~ A kyrrel [KEE-rul]. Appears in one of Toshar's stories.• Nayla [NAY-lah] ~ A black, menacing coyote/wolf-like creature with a bloodcurdling howl.• Parika [pa-REE-kah] ~ A multicolored bird.• Pryma [PREE-mah] ~ A tartaruca [tar-TAR-u-kah].• Rykka [REE-kah] ~ One of Oric's magical horses, the pale blue of the dawn sky.• S'kala [sih-KA-la] ~ A two-headed serpent.• Ta'ar [TAR] ~ One of Oric's magical horses, the smoky plum of dusk.• Tashek [TAH-shek] ~ A creature that morphs between bird of fire and lion.• The Q'ophar [KO-far] ~ Half man, half dragon.• Thorag [THO-rag] ~ A one-eye, troll-like drone that pilots a kep'cha [KEP-cha].• Treya [TRAY-ah] ~ A whale-like baleya [bah-LAY-ah].

• Get all three Q'ntana books in the Kindle, Nook, Kobo or iBook/iTunes stores, readable on your e-reader, tablet, computer and smart phone. A limited number of copies of the legacy paperback edition of The MoonQuest are available at Amazon.com.


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It's Time To Live the Dream

“You just have to keep your dream. If you lose it and get cynical, you die.”
~ Meryl Streep
"Where there is no vision, the people perish."
~ Proverbs 29:18
What's your dream for your writing? For your life?
Know that whatever it is, however improbable it may seem in this moment, it's not impossible. Nearly every success story begins with an "impossible" dream. Nearly every "overnight success" was years in the making.
Have you begun the book or screenplay you've always dreamt of writing? Now is the time to put your dream into action. It doesn't matter whether you can give it five minutes a day or five hours. It doesn't even matter if you know what it's about.
Every journey begins with a single step. Every piece of writing begins with a single word. Any word.
Write it. Now.
What about your dreams for your life? Have you abandoned them? Stuffed them in the back of a drawer because they seem so unreachable?
Open that drawer. Reach your hand in. Gently. Touch it. Reconnect with it. Reconnect with yourself.
Open your heart again. Open your heart to the vision. Open your heart to your life.
• Adapted from my book Writer's Block Unblocked: 7 Surefire Ways to Free Up Your Writing & Creative Flow
Get your copy today in in the Kindle, Nook, iBook and Kobo stores for your e-reader, tablet, computer and smartphone.

Meryl Streep quote from Inside Inside by James Lipton.


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"Oh, My God! It's a Girl!" -- A Happier 9/11 Story

While much of America will mark September 11 with sadness, I carry a happier memory of that date, as I share in this excerpt from Acts of Surrender: A Writer's Memoir...

"It was just past 11pm on September 10, 1999. My wife and I were asleep. The night outside our rainforest home in Captain Cook was still. Inside, too. Even the giant flying cockroaches, ubiquitous on the Big Island and seemingly unextinguishable, were, unusually, not rattling around our front room, itself now dominated by a large, circular birthing tank. In our bedroom, jammed between our bed and the window was a crib outfitted with baby-boy blue fittings — blue because, with no evidence to the contrary, we were convinced that we were having a boy.

"Suddenly, Q’nta jostled me awake. 'I think my water just broke.'

"I leapt out of bed, called our midwife, Roxanne, began to fill the birthing tank and banged on our neighbor Kathy Sue's door. Q’nta went into labor, while Kathy Sue fussed and attended to both of us. She mopped the sweat from Q’nta’s forehead and poured over-sweetened black coffee into me. Initially out of reach on another birth, Roxanne and her assistant showed up near dawn and, soon after, directed us both into the birthing tank. Q’nta leaned back against me, breathing and pushing according to Roxanne’s direction, and I held her, too high on caffeine, sugar, adrenalin and wonder to do anything else. Fortunately, there was nothing else for me to do. As much as we always did most things together, only Q’nta could do this one.

"When the final push came and Roxanne held up the new baby for us to see, I was astounded, and not only by the miracle of birth. 'Oh, my God!' I exclaimed. 'It’s a girl!'

"The baby boy of all our intuitive sensings was not a boy after all.

"I quickly glanced up at the clock. It was 9:11am on September 11. Our daughter had arrived with Virgo-like punctuality, right on her due date. A tsunami of emotion washed through me, a supercharged blend of awe, humility and love. I had never expected to be a father, never thought I wanted to be a father. And now... Now this tiny creature was my child. Forever."

• Find out why “forever did not play out as expected" for me in my Acts of Surrender memoir. Get your copy today in the Kindle, iBook, Nook or Kobo store for your e-reader, tablet, computer and smartphone.

Photo: Father and daughter in 2005




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A Miscellany of Updates

There's been lots going on that I have wanted to share with you over the past weeks. But it's been too much for me to write into individual posts and too much for you to read as individual posts. So, instead, I've created this digest of capsule updates that will answer some of the questions you've been asking me and bring you up-to-date with some of the cool things going on over here...


1. The Q'ntana Trilogy: Complete At Last...
Sort of...

I was minding my own business last week, working on a first draft of my MoonQuest Musical (see #3, below), when  The SunQuest  shouted, "Publish me!!"

Although The SunQuest, final installment in my  Q'ntana Trilogy  of fantasy novels, had been finished for some months, it had never felt time to release it into the world. After all, I had just published The StarQuest (book II) in June. I thought I might wait at least until my birthday in October. But, no. Apparently, when it's time, it's time! So Book III is now available, completing a journey that begin for me in March 1994, when the first words of the first draft of a  MoonQuest  novel I knew nothing about dropped onto my blank page.

Of course, the journey is not entirely over. There's still The Q'ntana Trilogy Movies and now, it seems, The Q'ntana Trilogy Musicals. But more about those in a moment. For now, all you need to know is that now you can discover the Q'ntana story's gripping and startling conclusion (it was even startling to me as I was writing it!).



Two Men, A Single Destiny: 

Ben, grandson of Q'ntana's greatest elderbard, and  Bo'Ra K'n, whose tyranny has ruled Q'ntana for generations. 

Whose vision will triumph?



• Get The SunQuest: The Q'ntana Trilogy, Book III today in the Kindle, Nook and Kobo stores for your e-reader, tablet, computer and smartphone. (The SunQuest will be available in the iBookstore in the next days or weeks.) Why today? Read on to find out...


2. The Q'ntana Trilogy: 
Super-Duper Labor Day Sale!

To celebrate the release of The SunQuest, all three Q'ntana Trilogy books are on sale this Labor Day weekend --  for only US$2.99 !!

Find out why these books have been so popular that some readers read them again and again. And get your copies today!! (Kindle, Nook, Kobo stores.)





While you're picking up your Q'ntana books, be sure to check out my other titles:
•  Acts of Surrender: A Writer's Memoir
• The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write (also available in paperback at Amazon.com)
•  Writer's Block Unblocked: 7 Surefire Ways to Free Up Your Writing and Creative Flow
•  The Book of Messages: Writings Inspired by Melchizedek


3. The Q'ntana Trilogy: Movies & Musicals

In brief, the film project is still moving forward! Like all epic screen productions, though, it takes time to get everything in place...but we're working on it. The good news is that not only is there lots of enthusiasm out there for the project, but there have also been some pretty amazing developments in recent months. As things progress, I'll do my best to keep you posted!

If you follow this blog regularly, you'll know that I began work on a stage-musical adaptation of The MoonQuest a few weeks back. My goal is to continue with The StarQuest and The SunQuest as well, creating a third version of the trilogy! If you missed my original post about the stage project, you'll find it here.

Meantime, revisiting a trio of stories that is so much a part of my inner story has definitely pushed buttons as I get to relive, in my own life, all three stories' major themes. It's turning out to be quite the journey! I'm sure I'll have more to say about that in the coming weeks.


4. Pulling the Plug on My "Electric Muse" Radio Show

My Electric Muse radio show is no more. The show had a great run of nine episodes through June and July, with a stellar roster of creative guests. But when the hosting network and I failed to agree on the best way to move forward, we called it quits.

The good news, though, is that you can still tune in to those great shows. You'll find links to all nine episodes in this blog post.

The even-better news is that I have now interviewed the guests I had scheduled for August and September shows, and I am turning those conversations into a series of video chats that I have dubbed One-on-One with Mark David Gerson. Three of them are already on my YouTube channel, and three more are on their way.

Here's the One-on-One conversation I had with The Secret's Bob Doyle (use this link if the embedded player doesn't show up for you)...



Here are the other One-on-One guests already featured on my YouTube Channel...
• New York Times bestselling mystery author J.A. Jance: Find out why she never outlines, how she took literary revenge on the creative writing prof who barred her from his program ("creative writing isn't for girls") and where she got the idea for her newest mystery, Second Watch, and her first book of poetry, After the Fire, both of which hit bookstores on September 10.
•  Vocal coach Sally Morgan : Find out why nearly everyone dreads public speaking and get some quick-and-easy tools to grow both your skill and confidence when speaking before a group...tools that will also help you with all your creative pursuits!

And coming up in the next weeks...
• Mystery writer Ellen Hart, whose newest release, Taken by the Wind, releases on my birthday!
• Author Susan M. Heim, who has authored  10  Chicken Soup for the Soul books, including this summer's  Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inspiration for Writers: 101 Motivational Stories for Writers - Budding or Bestselling - from Books to Blogs
• Publisher/author/filmmaker Michael Wiese, whose new memoir,  Onward and Upward: Reflections of a Joyful Life , is guaranteed to move, entertain and inspire you!
Watch for these three new videos, coming soon to www.youtube.com/markdavidgerson!


5. And Speaking of Videos...

There are lots more inspiring new videos on my YouTube channel, in addition to the new One-on-One interviews. For example, I've added Let Judgment Go , a short meditation in the spirit of my popular You Are A Writer (now approaching 13,000 views!). Like You Are A Writer, it features an audio track drawn from my recording, The Voice of the Muse Companion: Guided Meditations for Writers, and visuals from my photography.  



Other new videos include readings from Acts of Surrender: A Writer's Memoir, tips to help you overcome writer's block, an updated book trailer for The MoonQuest and readings from both The StarQuest and The SunQuest. I hope you'll check them out!


6. And Speaking of My Photography...

As I posted here back in July, I've revived and expanded another facet of my creativity: my fine art. At the time, I had only just launched my dedicated art website. Now, barely a month later, I have posted 75 images (with more going up every day), and these photos, drawings and inspirational quotes have attracted more than 4,000 views! As well, my Instagram photography is featured at Instacanvas. 

Particularly gratifying for me is the fact that those images that blend my writing and photography are among the most popular on both sites!


Most of my images on the two sites are available as unframed prints, framed/matted prints, canvas wraps, metal prints, acrylic prints, greeting cards and iPhone cases (with other phone cases coming soon). Please drop by both sites and look around. I'm excited (after some initial resistance!) to be sharing this facet of my creativity with you!

Well, that's a wrap. Thanks for sticking around for the updates. I've got musicals to write, drawings to draw and photos to take....so I'm outta here! But before you take off, please take a minute to "like" these Facebook pages...

• Acts of Surrender book
• The Q'ntana Trilogy Books• The Q'ntana Trilogy Movies• The Voice of the Muse book + Writing Inspiration• Mark David GersonAnd please follow me on Pinterest and Google+ 

Father's Day

"I wept when I reread his shaky scrawl, not for the father I missed, but for the father I missed having."~ Acts of Surrender: A Writer's Memoir

In this excerpt from my Acts of Surrender memoir, I recall the day my father died: 45 years ago today...

By August 1968, my father had been a full-time resident of Montreal’s Grace Dart Convalescent Hospital for several years. Just about every Sunday through that time, my mother, my sister and I would make the 90-minute, three-bus trek out to the city's east end to visit him. The Sunday that would turn out to be his last, August 11, I stubbornly refused to accompany them, a surprising stance, given my generally compliant nature.

There was a rare argument, but I would not be moved. Eventually, my mother and sister left, and I walked the two blocks to my best friend Gary's house.

A few hours later, a mysterious phone call had me shuttled up the street from Gary's house to my cousin's. A few hours after that, my mother and sister pulled up in a car, one of my uncles’, their eyes puffy and red.


"Daddy died," my mother said and took me in her arms, grateful that I hadn’t been present for his fatal heart attack.

For a long time, I felt guilty that I hadn’t been there for my father. It never occurred to me to question why I would need to be present for a man who had never been present for me.

Many years later, when I was preparing to move to Nova Scotia, I found a letter that my father had written to me when I had been at summer camp. I would have been 11 or 12 at the time. The letter wasn’t signed with "love." Rather, it ended with, “Kind regards, Daddy.” I wept when I reread his shaky scrawl, not for the father I missed, but for the father I missed having.

Read more about my relationship with my father, including a 1997 "ghostly" reconciliation on another anniversary of his death, in Acts of Surrender: A Writer's Memoir. Get your copy today in the Kindle, Nook, Kobo and iBook stores for your e-reader, tablet, computer and smartphone. And watch me read "Fatherhood," an Acts of Surrender excerpt about both my fathers at http://youtu.be/MENeMJldzgA.

Photos: #1 ~ A Gerson family gathering before I was born. My father is in the lower left foreground; my mother, in the right foreground. #2 ~ The Grace Dart Hospital. #3 ~ Another Gerson family gathering, with my father on the far side of the table in the center.

Please "like" these Facebook pages...
• Acts of Surrender book
• The Q'ntana Trilogy Books• The Q'ntana Trilogy Movies• The Voice of the Muse book + Writing Inspiration• Mark David GersonPlease follow Mark David on Pinterest and Google+

The MoonQuest: The Stage Musical?

When I began writing The MoonQuest book (Book I of my Q'ntana Trilogy ), I always saw it as a movie...though I never imagined that I would be the one to write the screenplay. Then, when I found myself writing The MoonQuest screenplay a dozen years later, I began to see the story's potential as a large-scale stage musical.

Now that I have written all three of the Trilogy's books and screenplays (Book III, The SunQuest , will be released in a few weeks), my muse has started nudging me toward that MoonQuest musical.

She began her campaign a few evenings ago, when, after it had languished for many, many months at the bottom of my Netflix queue, a filmed stage presentation of The Phantom of the Opera  suddenly demanded my attention.

I was walking to the store the morning after having watched Act I of this 25th anniversary production (staged brilliantly at the Royal Albert Hall) when she whispered to me, my muse did.

Tonight, as I sobbed through the musical's final curtain calls, she whispered again, louder this time.

To be clear, I wasn't crying because of the story or its production. I was crying because those curtain calls brought me back to a time in my life when I went to the theater religiously, wrote about the theater regularly and fantasized about writing stage plays. This was a decade before the creative and spiritual awakening that would ultimately birth The MoonQuest.

"Perhaps," Toshar ponders as he prepares to tell the story of his MoonQuest on the first page of the book, "it is time to allow the boy I was to touch the man I have become."

I was no longer a boy when my theater dreams first ignited. I was a teenager in my junior year at Montreal's Mount Royal High School, working on a school production of the musical Mame --  a time I write about in Acts of Surrender: A Writer's Memoir . My recent experiences tell me that those long-ago theater dreams never died, even if they were overtaken for many years by other imperatives.

A few days ago, I wrote here about the surprising (to me) rediscovery, reclaiming and reintegration of my artist-self. Today, it seems, those three R's have found another target: my theater self.

In the next days, I will allow that part of me to reignite as I welcome back my long-dormant, never-realized playwriting self. And once again, the mythical tale of a land stripped of its visions and stories will live out in my life in a new form.

I know no more about writing large-scale stage musicals than I did about writing novels when I began The MoonQuest or screenplays when I launched into its film adaptation. What I do know is The MoonQuest story. I know it intimately because, in so many ways, it continues to be my story, a story that, as always, begins once upon a time...

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The Art of Surrender

"I still couldn’t call myself an artist. The way I saw it, I created energy-enhancing tools and just happened to employ the same instruments used by 'real' artists." 
~ from "The Art of Surrender" in my memoir, Acts of Surrender: A Writer's Memoir
•     •     •     •     •
Some years back I was coaching an accomplished writer who had already published several short stories. She had even won awards for a few of of them. I'll call her Sally, but she's a composite of several clients, all of whom carried a reluctance similar to the one I'm about to describe.

Sally asked me to help her with a novel she was conceiving. As we worked together over the weeks, I discovered that she refused to call herself a writer. "A writer has written a book," she insisted. "I've just written short stories."

"A writer writes," I retorted, quoting the You Are A Writer meditation included in my two books on writing. The meditation continues: "That’s what you have done. You have written."

For homework, I insisted that Sally listen to the recording of that meditation at least twice a day for a month.

You are a writer. What you write is powerful. What you write is vibrant. What you write, whatever you believe in this moment, is luminous. Trust that to the best of your ability, in this moment. Acknowledge the writer you are, in this moment. ...You are a writer.
In less than a month, thanks to You Are A Writer, Sally could finally state clearly and unequivocally, "I am a writer."

I have no difficulty calling myself a writer, perhaps because my writerly identity snuck up on me so sneakily and surreptitiously, and over so many years. But I have never been comfortable calling myself an artist. 
Never mind that I've had photographs published in The Globe & Mail, Canada's most prestigious English-language daily, and that I've sold my artwork all over the U.S.
Yet if a writer is one who writes, then an artist must be someone who creates art. Given that I have been creating art for decades, isn't it time for me to surrender to that part of my identity?

All artists in all media are storytellers. At our best, we create from that innate heart-spark that everyone carries. We also create from that place of authenticity, discovery and revelation that can make us feel vulnerable and scared, that can hold us back from sharing our work...that can keep us in hiding.

I realized, when I recalled the Sally story a few days ago, that I can no longer hide this part of myself -- from me any more than from the world. It's time to claim my artist identity. It's time to do what I inspired Sally to do. It's time to say it, publicly as well as to myself:

I am an artist. 
I am an artist. 
I am an artist. 
There. That feels better.

But there's more to do. Without action, those artist-words could easily be empty words.

What's my next step? The answer is clear before I finish asking the question: I must claim my professional artist identity.

I start by ordering new business cards, long overdue. For the first time, these add "artist" and "photographer" to "author," "screenwriter" and "creativity catalyst."

It's a start, but I know that it's not enough. I need to do something more concrete. What I decide to do is to create a new website, a dedicated online gallery for my work.

Suddenly, my drawings, photographs and inspirational art are being sold in a professional setting, and it surprises me to discover that I feel more anxious about releasing my visual art into the world than I do about putting my books out. (I've probably forgotten how scared I was when my first words hit print 37 years ago!)

Yes, I'm feeling anxious. But I'm also excited. It's energizing to share the fruits of my creation in more than a casual way. It's even more exhilarating to integrate into my "family" an orphaned inner child that I have long been reluctant to acknowledge, to give yet another part of me a voice in this sometimes messy, often paradoxical, always unfolding agglomeration of bits and pieces that is Mark David Gerson.

In the end, though, isn't coming back into wholeness what this journey is about? It's certainly what I have written about and taught for more than two decades. Whether I'm aware of it or not, I'm sure that even my art reflects it.

And so my artist website is launched, with more images -- art, photography and what I'm calling "inspirational art" -- being added to it every day. Apparently, I am an artist!

Please check out my drawings, photography and inspirational/motivational art at
• Mark David Gerson Fine Art/Photography
• Instacanvas


click on any image for a larger view 
and to access additional images

Photos (c) Mark David Gerson: "Passion Flower," "An Open Heart Knows No Limits" and many other images are available from Mark David's fine art/photography website unframed and as framed/matted prints, canvas wraps, acrylic prints, metal prints, greeting cards and iPhone cases.

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• The Q'ntana Trilogy Books
• Acts of Surrender book• The Q'ntana Trilogy Movies• The Voice of the Muse book + Writing Inspiration• Mark David GersonPlease follow Mark David on Pinterest and Google+

Now Available: The StarQuest - The Long Awaited Sequel to The MoonQuest!

Journey to the time before time...

when the stars lost their mooring
and the constellations unraveled, 
when chaos was king and evil reigned unchecked 

This is the Q'ntana before The MoonQuest 

Here, in the midst of brutal tyranny,
a legend would not die:
of the Heart of the Star
and of the Fair One who would rekindle it
to bring peace to the land.

The StarQuest (The Q'ntana Trilogy, Book II)

The Long Awaited Second Installment in
The Q'ntana Trilogy


To celebrate the launch of The StarQuest all my Kindle ebooks are on sale for $2.99 each through July 2
• The MoonQuest (The Q'ntana Trilogy, Book I)
•  The StarQuest (The Q'ntana Trilogy, Book II) • The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write• Writer's Block Unblocked: 7 Surefire Ways to Free Up Your Writing and Creative Flow
• Acts of Surrender: A Writer's Memoir
• The Book of Messages: Writings Inspired by Melchizedek

•  The StarQuest (The Q'ntana Trilogy, Book II)  is currently available exclusively for Kindle apps and readers. Versions for Nook, Kobo and iBooks will be available June 29.


Please "like" these Facebook pages...
• The Q'ntana Trilogy Books
• Acts of Surrender book• The Q'ntana Trilogy Movies• The Voice of the Muse book + Writing Inspiration• Mark David GersonPlease follow Mark David on Pinterest and Google+

Electric Muse Radio for July: Authors, Photographers & Celebrities!

One month's radio shows done...and what a month it's been! The Electric Muse with Mark David Gerson got off to, well, an electric start with four creative stars: 
• Luke Yankee, author of the critically acclaimed memoir Just Outside the Spotlight: Growing Up with  Eileen Heckart , and an accomplished writer/director/producer/actor in his own right.
• Michael Scott, the New York Times bestselling fantasy author of the six-book series The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel.
• Dorothy McIntosh, dubbed the "next Dan Brown" and an author whose debut novel, The Witch of Babylon, was an instant hit in some 20 countries.
• Photographer Melissa Vincent , whose 200,000-plus Instagram fans have turned her into a mobile-photography superstar. 
(Click on any of their names to listen to a replay of their episode.)

July's lineup is just as good...if not better!
• July 9 ~ Truly a Renaissance man of the arts, Dan Stone is an author, poet, fine-art photographer and visual artist. On this episode, we'll be talking about how each of Dan's artistic pursuits feeds the others and what it means to be creative. We'll also be talking about dreams. As Dan puts it, "Most of what has come into my life so far or what I hope is on the way, started with a dream."
• July 16 ~ Hollywood visual effects master Ed Kramer , whose technical artistry brought you Harry Potter’s Quidditch field, the multiplying puppies in 101 Dalmations, the dinosaur stampede in Jurassic Park II, the weather and ocean effects in Twister and some of your favorite moments in Star Wars. Ed has lots of entertaining stories about Hollywood and moviemaking to share with us.
• July 23 ~  Photographer and watercolorist Lynn Lane , one of Houston’s “Top 100 Creatives,” is exhibited in galleries and museums around the world. With styles from documentary to edgy, he is a favorite with commercial and creative clients alike, from Cirque du Soleil to Saks 5th Avenue. He's also a documentary filmmaker and, a cancer survivor himself, founder of the Voices of Survivors Foundation, which has given scores of cancer survivors a human face and voice.

• July 30 ~  Author, biographer and ghost writer Jenna Glatzer was a recovering agoraphobic still unwilling to be enclosed in an airplane when she was asked to write Céline Dion's authorized biography. Two weeks later, she was in the air, enroute to Las Vegas and to an adventure that would change her life and launch a career that has resulted in more than 20 books, including an authorized biography of Marilyn Monroe. She tells that story in the newest Chicken Soup for the Writer's Soul book, and she'll share that inspiring experience and others on this episode.

Wait! Why did I leave out July 2? Because this episode is going to be a bit different...well, a lot different! Instead of asking all the embarrassing questions, I’ll be in the hot seat, answering them! In the host seat will be author Amy Robbins-Wilson. Why the switch? To mark this week's release of The StarQuest , the second book in my Q’ntana Trilogy of fantasy novels, Amy will be interviewing me! So, for a look at the author behind the host, please join us this coming Tuesday via this link!

Meantime, get yourself a copy of The StarQuest in the Kindle, Nook, Kobo or iBook stores -- and check out all my titles, on sale for US$2.99 through July 2 to celebrate their new sibling. (The book is in the Kindle store right now; it should be in the Nook, Kobo and iBook stores later today or during the weekend.)
To listen live to any episode or to hear a replay after the broadcast, click on the name link for any guest. And visit the Electric Muse pages on my website for more about these and other past and future shows.
Tune in to The Electric Muse with Mark David Gerson every Tuesday at 5pm PT / 8pm ET on the Authors on the Air Global Radio Network. 

Don't you dare miss an episode! But if you must, you can always catch it after the fact. Just look for links to every episode on my website.

Don't forget! Every Tuesday at 5pm PT / 8pm ET: The Electric Muse with Mark David Gerson.
~~~~~
Please "like" these Facebook pages...• Acts of Surrender book• The Q'ntana Trilogy Movies• The Q'ntana Trilogy Books• Writing Books/Recordings and Inspiration• Mark David GersonPlease follow me on Pinterest and Google+

My Readers' Gallery - #8

Welcome to the latest installment of my online Readers' Gallery, featuring photos and videos of people from all over the U.S. and beyond reading my books and ebooks and listening to my CD. (Look up previous posts here, here, here, here, here, here and here.)Today's installment is devoted almost entirely to The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write .

I had not yet written The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write when I first met author Estelle Blackburn in Sedona, Arizona in 1997. She was visiting from Australia and I, unknowingly, was at the end of the three-month road odyssey I write about in Acts of Surrender: A Writer's Memoir . 
After Estelle returned to Australia, the work we had done together in Sedona catapulted her forward with her book Broken Lives , which freed a man wrongly convicted for murder and went on to win multiple awards. "I have so much gratitude for the help and confidence you gave me," she would write me soon after. 
A decade and many lifetimes later (for both of us), we would reconnect in Sedona, where this photo was taken. Read more about Estelle and her work on her website.

From all the way in Jakarta, Indonesia, Maria Theresiya Kussoy (above) is plumbing The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write for inspiration for her writing projects. 
Across the world in Northern Arizona, Sam Farmer Hightower (below) is gearing up to do much the same thing!

I recently interviewed writer/director/actor/producer Luke Yankee (below) for my Electric Muse radio show about his work and his about critically acclaimed book, Just Outside the Spotlight: Growing Up with Eileen Heckart. 
Imagine my surprise when he inserted this testimonial for The Voice of the Muse into one of his answers: "I was desperately looking for some kind of affirmations for writers and stumbled on The Voice of the Muse, your incredible book and companion CD. Now, anytime I get stuck I go back and listen to your 'You Are a Writer' meditation. So, the common thread is that I'm a storyteller and you, Mark David Gerson, have really helped to feed that and get me through some of the lean times." Hear my complete Luke Yankee interview here.

And finally, from across the ocean in Paris, translator Laurent Delpit, featured in one of my very first Readers' Gallery posts (below right), sent me this view of his fridge!


Read more about these and other readers and their projects in my Facebook gallery.

Why not join the online fun and get your book, business, event, blog, websiteor other success promoted here, on Facebook and on Google+! Interested? Read on...
If you have a copy of any of my books/ebooks or of my CD, I'll post a pic of you to my Readers' Gallery Photo Album on Facebook and on Google+. Just make sure that your face is clearly visible in the photo and that the book/ebook cover and/or CD cover are visible as well.
And to help you promote your book, event, business, success, blog and/or website, I'll include in the photo caption not only your name but your promotional info/link. I'll also post the next batch of reader pics here in a future blog item.
Simply email me your pic and caption information, or contact me via Facebook, Twitter or my website.
Feel free to send one pic or several and to include one book, all books, the CD or any combination. Just send separate photos for each item (unless you really are reading both books at the same time!).
And if you like my books, please "like" my Facebook pages:• Acts of Surrender book• The Q'ntana Trilogy Movies• The Q'ntana Trilogy Books• Writing Books/Recordings and Inspiration• Mark David GersonPlease  follow me on Pinterest and Google+ and subscribe to my videos on YouTube