Dear readers, viewers, and fans,
I have a small favor to ask, but before I get to that, let me share the story of my success as a writer.
I was inspired to write back in late 2004 early 2005, by the introduction to a book I was reading called New Stories from the South 2001, edited by Lee Smith. In the introduction,Ms. Smith was talking about a student she had, that didn’t think she was a writer. When Ms. Smith asked her to tell her about a favorite memory, the student said something about walking in a mall in North Carolina, The phrase “Listlessly walking in a mall…”, caught my attention, and right then and there I decided to begin writing a story of my own. The “story” turned into a novel, which didn’t do as well as expected, but that book taught me a lesson I will never forget. I learned not to publish a novel without first having fellow writers critique it, and I also discovered that it’s best to get a professional editor to help you fine tune your work. Since that first book was published, I have learned a lot about the writing process from the Behind Our Eyes organization for writers with disabilities (www.behindoureyes.org and http://www.magnetsandlatters.org), and through my course of study in the field of communications at Kaplan University.
My love of music and my writing brought me through a trying personal situation in my life, and music is often times the inspiration for my creative writing. During the healing process, I often had dreams of climbing. These climbing dreams were quite challenging, and I couldn’t turn back once I started the difficult climb, to take the easy way out. I had to move forward and upward, then take another rout to either go back to square one, or come full circle to the place I needed to go. I strongly believe that these dreams were God’s way of showing me that no matter what I faced in the past, by His amazing grace, I was able to climb out of the pit of despair, and into the light of His love. Romans 8:28 says “For we know that all things work for good to them that love God; to them that are the called according to His purpose.”, and I live by this verse every day.
As a result of these dreams, I have been fascinated with mountain climbing in recent years. A few years ago, I read a book called Savage Summit, depicting the lives of women who either climbed Mount K2 and died on the mountain, or survived K2 and perished in other such climbing expeditions. The stories of these women and their climbing teams were written in such a way, that I was able to picture myself on these nearly impossible climbs. The materials I read about mountain climbing were the inspiration for my story called the Big Climb, which has been published in an anthology called Awethology Light by the Awethors. This anthology as well as Awethology Dark and the December Awethology Light and Dark volumes are available as free downloads from Smashwords, Amazon and other ebook retailors.retailers.
In 2014, I wrote a very rough first draft of a novel called The Apple Wheel, and won the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) challenge. I participated in NaNoWriMo 2015 and came close to finishing a novel called Epiphany High, which is a high school mystery with a message of forgiveness. Although I was 500 words short of reaching 50000 words in 30 days,winning the challenge wasn’t my main objective, my objective was to write a novel in 30 days, and to have fun while doing it.
Many of my short stories are inspired by dreams, writing prompts, everyday life, and my biggest inspiration is music. These sources of inspiration, sparked the creative ideas for the stories in my latest ebook called Stories Outside the Box, which is available through Smashwords http://bit.ly/25e3AdT, and Amazon http://amzn.to/1ZWxjkX. I have also published a short story entitled A Whirlwind of Memories, in an anthology called Gems of Strength, which is also available through all major ebook Retailers. However, if you’d like to purchase a paperback copy of Gems of Strength, please contact me through my social media outlets, or by email At annwrites75@gmail.com.
I continue to write fiction inspired by many aspects of life, such as a fountain that I’ve walked past in Orientation in Mobility lessons, or my singing bowl.. During the first year after my emotionally trying situation, I found music to be a very powerful source of healing, along with a few spiritual blessings from God. During the past few years, I have learned not only to listen to music as a source of entertainment, but to tap into it’s deeper vibrations and meaning. Delving deep into the heart of a piece of music, has sparked my fascination with the healing power of God’s gift of sound. As I have started doing research and making discoveries about the music of my environment, and the powerful vibrations of sound, I started writing a book called Embracing the Healing Power of Music: Seven Steps for finding your way out of the darkness, and into the light through God’s gift of Sound. This project is one of many that are on my radar to be published in the near future. My target audience for this book consist of people who have suffered some type of traumatic experience in their lives, or those who suffer from some sort of depression and fee that there’s no way out of the pit of despair. People who have recently read my stories can tell you that my writing has a message of hope, love, faith, and forgiveness. Although going into business for myself as an author is my main objective, it’s not the only reason I want to become a professional author. I feel that God has called me to reach out to these people through my writing, and if my stories or my self-help book can change the life of just one person who is carrying a heavy burden, and feels like he or she is bearing it alone, that is an even greater reward. My fascination with the healing power of sound, and music has led me to find recordings of Tibetan Singing Bowls. I purchased a bowl of my own back in April, and it took me a couple of months to learn how it likes to be played, with the help of a video or two, and allowing the bowl to be my teacher.. When I play my bowl, it helps me connect with my creative self, although this is a spiritual connection that God has blessed me with, the vibration of the bowl’s dominant voice, and the chattering overtone opens up my throat chakra, so that I may hear the music within me. This in turn sparks my creativity, and allows me to write from my heart. The singing bowls play a part in a story I’ve recently started writing. That says a lot for the connection between me and my bowl. It may be small, but a powerful source of inspiration in its own right, nonetheless.
Not only do I write fiction and a bit of nonfiction, , but my experience as a freelance writer, and my work with Project Starfish America (www.pstarfish.org) has enhanced my professional writing skills as well. If you would like to read a hodgepodge of essays and poems that I have written over the past five years, please take a peak at my blog by visiting http://www.wwannwrites.wordpress.com. Please connect with me on Facebook, by liking my page called author Ann Harrison, and on twitter @annwrites75. If there is one thing that I want people to take away from reading my story, it is the message of hope, faith, love, forgiveness, God’s amazing grace, and the gift of Salvation. No matter what mistakes you’ve made or what trying experiences you’ve been through in your past God still loves, and longs to bring you back into His divine, forever family. You are precious and you are well loved! Always remember my dear readers, you are important to Our Heavenly Father, and our Lord and savior Jesus Christ first of all, and to me, as friends, friends, and my most devoted supporters. I thank each and every one of you, for your prayers, and your support. I pray that each and every one who reads my story will be richly blessed by my journey, and the the wisdom I have shared with you.
I do have one small favor to ask each of you, now that you have read my story of success, please help me continue my success story by supporting my crowd funding campaign. If you can contribute at least $5, I will give you a free copy of Stories Outside the box. If you can contribute $25 or more, I will write an article for your website/publication, or conduct a q&a session on creative writing, in either written form for my blog, or in a brief skype call, or I can promote your book/site/event on my blog and my social media channels. Please contribute to my crowd funding campaign at http://www.mydreambookteam.com/project/10. Continue reading “Success story and my crowdfunding campaign”
