My SolutionQuest!

As I was reading D.J. McIntosh's The Witch of Babylon the other day in preparation for my June 18 radio interview with the author, I had an aha about The StarQuest (Book II in my Q'ntana Trilogy of fantasy novels) that was so obvious that it shouldn't have been classified as an "aha" at all.

You see, there has been this recurring descriptive detail in my sequel to The MoonQuest that has never felt right, no matter how much I have tinkered with it; and I have tinkered with it...in every draft since I began the first in (gulp) 1998! Suddenly, though, one throwaway phrase in McIntosh's thriller offered up a simple solution to my elusive problem!

Perhaps that's why The StarQuest told me soon after that it's finally time to release it...as soon as I make the appropriate alterations, of course. (Yes, I talk to my books; why wouldn't I, when they know their story far better than I ever will!)

Then, yesterday, as I began skimming through the manuscript to make the necessary revisions, I stumbled on a phrase of my own, on page 74. "You idiot!" I shrieked out loud. The solution to my "problem" had been right in my own manuscript -- probably since the first draft! At the same time, that solution probably couldn't make itself known until the book was ready to be published.

I'm still grateful to Dorothy McIntosh and will be certain to tell her so when she's on The Electric Muse with Mark David Gerson in a few weeks. For now, though, I'll be spending the next while prepping The StarQuest for publication.

My goal? A July 9 release, to coincide with the 16th anniversary of my "accidental" arrival in the U.S. (a story I share, along with many others, in Acts of Surrender: A Writer's Memoir ). And as July 9 is a Tuesday, the day The Electric Muse with Mark David Gerson airs, I've recruited author/singer/songwriter Amy Robbins Wilson and asked her to interview me on that show -- a show all about The MoonQuest, The StarQuest and The Q'ntana Trilogy books and movies.

What about The SunQuest? Well, if Amy asks during the show, I'll tell her that I aim to get this final Q'ntana installment out before the end of the year: on my birthday, October 3. That means that by the end of 2013, the 19-and-a-half-year-long literary odyssey that began in March 1994 with The MoonQuest book will have come to an end. To quote Charity in the musical Sweet Charity, "All I can say is WOW!!" What a journey!

The StarQuest will be available on July 9 in the Kindle, Nook, iBook, Kobo and Google Play stores, where you can also find The MoonQuest, a multiple award-winner and on its way to the big screen. The MoonQuest is also available in paperback at Amazon.com.

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The Electric Muse with Mark David Gerson: Starting June 4!

What is The Electric Muse with Mark David Gerson? A brand-new radio show featuring an eclectic blend of authors, playwrights, screenwriters, directors, musicians, photographers, visual artists -- all talking about themselves, their work, their passions and their muse.

Want a sneak preview of a lineup that includes a writer/director who spent his boyhood palling around with Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich and Paul Newman, a New York Times bestselling author with more than 100 books to his credit, one of Houston's "Top 100 Creatives" and the author of a historic thriller described by CNN as "one of the six enduring historical thrillers"? Visit www.markdavidgerson.com/electricmuse.html. And be sure to bookmark the page so you don't miss any new additions to the exciting roster!

• Tune in to The Electric Muse with Mark David Gerson every Tuesday at 5pm PT / 8pm ET starting June 4 on the Authors on the Air Global Radio Network. Don't 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! June 4 at 5pm PT / 8pm ET...and every Tuesday after that: The Electric Muse with Mark David Gerson.

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Mark David's Art: #126 - "City of Destiny"

A new blog series featuring my artwork, old pieces and new...

"It’s as though a fiery pilot light burns somewhere beneath L.A.'s endless sprawl, a flame that rekindles and renews my life force whenever I travel its streets and freeways and that calls to me wherever in the world I find myself."

~ Mark David Gerson

Like my writing and photography, drawing just sort of snuck up on me. I never saw myself as an artist, and I was startled to sell my first piece. I was even more incredulous when other visual artists began to introduce me to their friends and colleagues as "a fellow artist"!

 And like my writing and other creative endeavors, drawing is a medium I don't plan out. I simply stare at the blank page until the first color and pencil stroke call out to me. As for the rest of the drawing, it's never any less an act of surrender.

To view/purchase any of my artwork or learn about my custom portraits, visit www.markdavidgerson.com/art.html. 

• Direct Link to "City of Destiny"(#126)

Each 8.5" x 11" print comes with information about the drawing, along with instructions on how to tap into its potential as a crystal-like a tool for healing. All prints sell for US$10 each as a downloadable file that you can print out yourself or for US$20 (plus shipping) for a mailed print.

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Please "like" these Facebook pages...

• Acts of Surrender book

• The Q'ntana Trilogy Movies

• The MoonQuest book

• Writing Books/Recordings & Inspiration

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New Everyday Low Prices for My Ebooks!

Get any of my ebooks for only US$3.99 

For Kindle, Nook, Kobo or iBooks

• The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write
• The MoonQuest (The Q'ntana Trilogy, Book I)
• Acts of Surrender: A Writer's Memoir
• The Book of Messages: Writings Inspired by Melchizedek
• Writer's Block Unblocked: 7 Surefire Ways to Free Up Your Writing and Creative Flow
Purchase Links for All Ebook Titles

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Don't forget to check out my new
Tele-Classes for Writers

Also discounted right now! 

markdavidgerson.com/registernow.html

Everything Old Is New Again...Again

It's déjà vu all over again.
~ Yogi Berra

It's early 2009. I'm just coming out of a period of reclusiveness and I find myself suddenly thrust back into the public eye. If I did few public appearances other than book-signings when The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write was released eight months ago, I'm suddenly in nearly unquenchable demand for my insights about writing and the creative process. One coaching client grows to two, three, and then a dozen. I'm giving frequent talks and seminars. I'm teaching regular classes and workshops. I'm speaking at conferences and expos. I'm traveling. I have a media presence -- with my own radio show and as a frequent guest on others'.

And then, 18 months later, it all stops, almost as suddenly as it began and, for the next three years, I find myself turning inward again, focused almost exclusively on writing projects that force themselves on me with insistent urgency. Through that time, I finally complete The StarQuest novel, first sequel to The MoonQuest and a project that has been more than a decade in the making. I also complete my Acts of Surrender memoir, another project that has lingered far too long. In addition I start and take to their final drafts The StarQuest screenplay and The SunQuest novel and screenplay, as well as a new book on writing, Writer's Block Unblocked: 7 Surefire Ways to Free Up Your Writing and Creative Flow. It's a period of unprecedented creativity...and one that has just now shuddered to a halt.

Now, in an echo of 2009, I find myself thrust out of my creative seclusion in many of the same ways I was four years ago.

• I once again have a new book about writing; this time, it's an Amazon top-seller within days of its release. 
• I'm teaching again, with tele-classes currently scheduled from this month through to July and with more under discussion. 
• Just as I was four years ago, I have been asked to create a radio show on a new network. This time, it's to be weekly instead of monthly and feature higher-profile guests. (It's set to launch next month.)
• Once again, I find myself working with Susan Larison Danz's Lighted Bridge Communications on my events and media appearances. Susan and her company were instrumental in arranging many of my engagements and appearances in 2009/2010. Now, four years later, we're at it again...only now we're focused on larger, more visible events and venues.
• If four years ago much of my focus was on one-on-one work through a thriving coaching practice, today's focus seems to be be more on groups. But the objective remains the same: Inspiring people to rekindle their passion and reignite the fire in their lives.

At first glance, you might be tempted to say, as I briefly was a few days ago, "Can't this guy move on? He's doing all the same stuff he used to do. How is that progress?"

No, this is not Groundhog Day and I'm not Bill Murray's arrogant weatherman. My experiences may appear to be identical to those of three and four years ago, but they're not.

As I have written here before, I dislike the expression "coming full circle" because it suggests that we're returning to a place we've already been, having learned nothing and grown not at all. My preferred image is that of a spiral, where we return to a place along the same axis, but at a higher level of consciousness and understanding, and where we are given the opportunity to operate, as I put it in a The Voice of the Muse, at "a higher level of awareness, mastery, openness and trust."

And so... a new book, new classes, a new radio show and new events and appearances -- all pushing me to my next level of professionalism and, as always in my life, to my next level of surrender.

Where do I go from here? If this renewed beginning is still somewhat veiled, it is replete with the promise that all new beginnings offer. Once again, from The Voice of the Muse: "From silence to silence, word to word, trust to trust -- the spiral is an infinite one, carrying you from one beginning to the next and one ending to the next on a journey with no beginning or ending."

The spiral is an infinite one. Mysterious, too. I can't even begin to imagine where it will carry me next.

For now, though, please check out these renewed, turn-of-the-spiral activities... 

To celebrate the launch of Writer's Block Unblocked for Nook and Kobo, all my Nook, Kindle and Kobo ebooks are on sale for US$2.99 each through May 5...

• The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write
• The MoonQuest (The Q'ntana Trilogy, Book I)
• Acts of Surrender: A Writer's Memoir
• The Book of Messages: Writings Inspired by Melchizedek
• Writer's Block Unblocked: 7 Surefire Ways to Free Up Your Writing and Creative Flow
• Purchase links for all titles

New Tele-Classes...

1. Writer's Block Unblocked (5 Mondays in May/June) ~ You can write -- naturally, eloquently and flowingly. Become one of my many writer's-block success stories: Free up your creative flow today! ~ $199 through May 7, then $249
2. Beyond Writer's Block (5 Mondays in June/July) ~ You don't have to have been blocked to benefit from this class. Whatever your form, genre or experience level, Beyond Writer's Block will deepen your creative experience and awaken you to new skills, new stories and a renewed confidence in your innate gifts. ~ $199 through June 3, then $249
3. Two Tele-Class Discount Package ~ Writer's Block Unblocked + Beyond Writer's Block for a rock-bottom price: $399 through May 7

Please "like" these Facebook pages...

• Acts of Surrender book

• The Q'ntana Trilogy Movies

• The MoonQuest book

• Writing Books/Recordings & Inspiration

• Mark David Gerson

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