I just spent the morning watching a movie and crying. Sure the story is heartwrenching (child goes on a quest to find his parents, whom he’s sure gave him up for adoption by mistake, and finds the loving family he hoped for). But I wasn’t moved by the images of the certain tearful reunion to come, or the struggle of a family to reunite against all odds. I’m not much for contrived stories that are purposely meant to induce waterworks on their way to the inevitable HEA. It was the movie’s music that captured my initial interest, and what it represents in the movie that captivated me.
I love music. I always have. Some songs resonate with me to the point that I’m not sure where they began and I end. Music makes me feel alive, and it inspires my writing, which is why there are so many songs mentioned in my stories, and playlists for practically all of my Promise Me books. My mood shifts easily listening to songs that convey passions, making it easy to enhance a particular scene I'm creating with sorrow, lust, love, or joy by simply turning on a song that brings those feelings to the forefront. I think this is common for most people, and why the love of music is almost universal, no matter which kind of music a person prefers.
Why do people create music? Like the boy in the film, they long to be heard. So simple of a conclusion, and yet so profound. I write stories because I long to have my work read. I knew that the odds were against me the moment I entered the writing world, and I didn’t care. I love writing. I love it more than food, more than anything. I feel the clamoring inside me of so many other stories that are anxious to get out, so much that I hope to share with others. There isn’t any way not to be a writer, when you feel like this. You just write and hope to God that someone loves your creation. It is like someone calling out to you, telling you the story that you frantically type into the late night hours. It is like feeling chosen, special, like this is the only right path because it was something you were meant to do. And the most wonderful thing is casting out your painstakingly constructed efforts into the world and hearing back the welcoming cries that what you created is magical, beautiful, and above all, meaningful.
That is the rush I feel now, every day I hear anew that someone loved one of my books, that a particular character feels like a friend of theirs, that they were moved to tears or rage or passion by one of my scenes. It doesn’t get any better than this. And I hope to God it never ends. Because I understand completely what kind of loss it would be to not feel this alive. I look back to the time before I was writing and feel like I sleepwalked through those years in a grey daze. Going back to that existence after being awakened to such passion is incomprehensible. I stand with so many books behind me and so many more stretching out in front of me. There’s still so much work to be done. And God, am I ecstatic about that!
Live your dreams. Only you can make them come true. Don’t wait or rationalize. Take your first step today!
Tara Fox Hall’s writing credits include nonfiction, erotica, horror, suspense, action-adventure, children’s stories, and contemporary and historical paranormal romantic drama series such as the Promise Me series (series page: http://amzn.to/2DnpbUW)
Her website is www.tarafoxhall.com
