I'm new... this is my first post. And I want Ray to know just how much he's recently changed my life.

Once upon a time a little girl loved to write short stories, and loved to read fantasy by Bradbury, Asimov, McCaffrey, and others. But she thought that no one would want to read her silly little short stories, and so when she grew up she turned instead to writing non-fiction articles and books. A reasonable living, and creative enough it seemed. And so it went for about 30 years.

A year ago, in 2007, the now-middle-aged woman decided to buy Zen in the Art of Writing, and brought it to San Diego Comic-Con to read in the various lines and at night in her hotel room. While walking across the convention center floor one day, she skidded to a stop as she saw a very familiar-looking man being escorted. Remembering to breathe, she took out the book (fortuitously in her backpack) and asked Ray Bradbury to sign it.

He looked at it for a moment, a smile creeping across his face, and he said "Well I'll be damned," just before writing inside the cover "Good Luck, Ray Bradbury." The woman geeked out for a good half hour after that, and was never the same.

Recently, the book was read, cover to cover, on a rare vacation. And an amazing thing happened. Permission was given to write from the heart, from the soul, without regard to markets and what others might think. First came free-form poetry. Now comes the short stories that should have been written 30 years ago.

Recently a wildfire threatened the woman's house, and her husband asked what should be put in the car just in case the house went up. And she said "Family photos, geneology papers, and that signed Ray Bradbury book."

Thank you, Ray, for changing my life. For giving me permission to write for the joy of the story again, and bringing me back to myself. For giving me permission to dream and try to capture a little bit of it, because as we both know, there are things impossible to smash into the little word containers we're all forced to use, because the effort kills them... snaps off their little wings. But that's what magic and imagination are for.

Thank you.

Good job! And welcome.

You're a good writer.

Welcome Willow. Great story about a great book!

Welcome, Willow!

Mog the Dog here. I'd love to read some of your stories from the soul sometime. I'll check out the link to your site.

MTD

Thanks, that's some really nice feedback.

I have some Heroes fan fiction I've done, my Heroes RPG at 9th Wonders, and some highly-acclaimed erotic sci-fi stories (sorry, not linking to those), but my other fantasy/sci-fi short stories are either on my ideas page or partially finished. Soon they'll start to be completed, one by one, and query letters will go out to the usual suspects.

It feels unbelievably good.

The greatest gift that Bradbury has given to the world, is Bradbury! Few would bother with the fans, he loves them all , and we love him for that more than anything else.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: patrask,

quote:

Originally posted by Willow Polson:
...and some highly-acclaimed erotic sci-fi stories (sorry, not linking to those)...

Blahst!

Willow:

Ann Rice did more than a few erotic 'Sci-Fi' novels in her youth.

John

...and now she writes Christian books!

Well, good for her.
I enjoyed Taylor Caldwell's "Dear And Glorious Physician", historical fiction about St. Luke.

Great story. What kills me about Bradbury is the way his writing touches and changes life. His writing conveys this spirit of living that touches hearts. He touched mine in 9th grade (1969) and I continue to be impacted by him. It's truly amazing.

I cannot say how many writers have come up to Mr. B, at signing, and said how much Zen has inspired them to continue on with there writing. One friend, at work, who'd rather be writing scripts than being an accountant reads a chapter every day...and starts over when he gets to the book.