Welcome to
Writers4Higher
This issue, Writers4Higher features
Gale Massey
Hi, Gale. Welcome to the
Writers4Higher family!
Tell me about yourself. Your book(s), your life, your
inspiration.
Writing is alchemy.
Not the alchemy of turning elements into gold but a higher form of alchemy;
pulling words out of thin air and creating something that connects, heals, and
inspires. Stories contain the essential elements of our lives. Once I started writing,
putting together words, I began feeling like an alchemist, like I had found my
path. Every one of us is wounded somehow and we all look for wholeness. Anais
Nin said it clearly, “All of my creation is as effort to weave a web of
connection with the world: I am always weaving it because it was once broken.”
My pocket-size book Grief… reminders for healing was a
unique experience of taking a painful experience of grief and using it to
connect with others. With over 800,000 copies in print, that project was more
successful than I ever dreamed it would be.
Where do you see your writing taking you in the future?
I’ve won a few awards and I’m
successfully placing pieces in journals and newspapers so I hope to continue
along those lines. But the most important thing for me right now is to keep
putting myself in a position of building my skill. Finding teachers that I
sense have compassion and the ability
to teach has been a challenge. I’ve learned some tough lessons on that journey
but I’ve also found some teachers with big hearts and generous spirits. For the
near future I’m focusing on a few short stories and my novel-in-progress, which
won the Best of Novel award at Eckerd College Writer’s Conference earlier this
year
How do you use your talents/time to help others?
Once I found a mentor
who was truly interested in my work and my process I began to understand how
important it is for writers to help each other. When I read another writer’s
work, I take my time and I read deeply. In workshops, I treat each writer with
respect and consider their work carefully. I have a good instinct for story
that comes naturally to me. I do it well and I take it seriously because insightful
feedback makes the difference between a project that crosses the finish line
and one that gets put on the back burner. I believe this is what writers need
to do for each other and how we participate in the writing community. It’s how
I give back.
Would you like to find Gale?
Check out the links to
this talented author:
Rhett
DeVane
Fiction
with a Southern Twist
I really like the idea that writing is alchemy. It surely is. In fact, when we see our work that way, it becomes larger than we can imagine.
ReplyDeleteMalcolm