Freedom

by Courtney Pierce

My writing dream isn’t about being famous, becoming wealthy, or pumping my ego full of nonsense. Honestly, that’s all hooey. For me, writing is about freedom—the founding-fathers kind, the soul-bearing kind. If I had to, I’d write in secret by candlelight to be able to say what I want to say, and I wouldn’t give a whit if anyone read it. Being an author can be a lonely, wallet-busting profession. My hard work would return only a few cents an hour if I depended on it for my living. I write on spec.

But that’s okay. I’d still be stupid rich in other ways.

As a quasi obsessive-compulsive, passionate person, I yearn to be engulfed in a story. While I’ve not been clinically diagnosed with OCD syndrome, I do know I can spend hours, days, or weeks immersed inside the heads of my characters. I love wrapping myself up in ridiculous, delicious scenes where the unthinkable happens. When I’m free to be in my writing cave, bats could land on my head without my noticing. I’ll even forget to eat or retrieve the day’s mail.

Image: CampusXtra

Sometimes I can’t believe I “went there” in prose, which invariably results in a frantic deletion exercise after I get out the words. Whether fictional people or animals, my characters become so real that I dream about them, talk aloud to them, and pepper them with questions like a therapist. It may sound a bit twisted, but that’s my personal technique for delivering a polished story.

Not all writers can go the distance given the emotional and physical investment required to produce a novel of polished words. It’s like hiking the Pacific Coast trail, complete with blisters and thirst. But when you get to the peak, the vista at 13,000 feet is a magnificent reward. There’s no other way to get there.

Absolute freedom takes discipline. If someone would say, “Here’s your prompt:  write anything you want with no limitations.”

My response would be: “Uhhhh . . . “ My mind would draw a complete blank.

On the other hand, if I saw a middle-age woman running through the airport terminal with her laptop cord dragging from her roller bag—oh, man! I could weave a tale around that image in fifteen minutes flat. Ideas are like seeds to be tended, nurtured, and watered. They grow and change to become something delectable and satisfying. Savory and sweet.

I got a tease of my writing dream when I took a break from the corporate grind to write my first book, Stitches. Like many baby boomers, I was sandwiched between helping my elderly parents and meeting the challenges of maintaining an executive career. Being the responsible lass that I am, my parents won out and my decades of saving afforded me the opportunity to take a breather. Writing became a comforting salve from the crush of responsibility. My one-year sabbatical stretched to five years and birthed five books. Number six has been a struggle since returning to work full-time again. It’s like trying to be creative after slapping on the cuffs.

Now that I’m back for the last financial infusion before retirement, I long for the absolute freedom again. The "writer's high" is so close I can touch it. With my husband being a writer too, he understands the intense pull of prose. For that, I’m blessed. Not every spouse appreciates the diversion of attention that is required to be a writer.

My husband and I will write together (and spar about our difference in styles) to the end of our days. When we can no longer see the words, we’ll dictate them into a translation program. When we lose our teeth and are unable to talk, we’ll telepathically know what each other is trying to say. And if neither one of us can function at all, then we’ll just hold each other and dream about our respective stories. We’ll already know how they end.

I did make my husband promise to sheep-sheer my nose hair should it become necessary. In turn, I’ve committed to do a bowie-knife trim of his eyebrows if they dare reach out to tickle my forehead.

And when we're both gone, we'll be young again, and our books will live on forever.

Courtney Pierce is a fiction writer living in Milwaukie, Oregon, with her husband and stepdaughter, along with their spoiled cat, Princeton. Courtney writes for the baby boomers audience.  The Executrix received the Library Journal Self-E recommendation seal.  By day, Courtney is an executive in the entertainment industry and uses her time in a theater seat to create stories that are filled with heart, humor and mystery. She has studied craft and storytelling at the Attic Institute and has completed the Hawthorne Fellows Program for writing and publishing. Active in the writing community, Courtney is a board member of the Northwest Independent Writers Association and on the Advisory Council of the Independent Publishing Resource Center. She is a member of Willamette Writers, Pacific Northwest Writers Association, and She Writes.

Coming Soon!
Book 3 of the
Dushane Sisters
Trilogy

Check out all of Courtney's books at 

courtney-pierce.com and

windtreepress.com. Both print and E-books are available through most major online retailers, including Amazon.com

The Dushane Sisters Trilogy concludes with Indigo Legacy, due out in summer, 2018. There's love in the air for Olivia and Woody, but will their family intrigue get in the way? Ride along for the wild trip that starts in a New York auction house and peaks in a mansion on Boston's Beacon Hill. The Dushane sisters finally get the answers they've been seeking about their mother.

New York Times best-selling author Karen Karbo says, "Courtney Pierce spins a madcap tale of family grudges, sisterly love, unexpected romance, mysterious mobsters and dog love. Reading Indigo Lake is like drinking champagne with a chaser of Mountain Dew. Pure Delight."