Creativity Takes Courage - Henri Matisse
Walking through Kitsilano neighbourhood on this Sunday morning, my dear friend Penny and I happened upon a courageous young girl seated at what we thought was a lemonade stand.
But this
little girl was not selling lemonade, she was an eight year old self-published author selling copies
of her books, greeting cards and stickers.
My friend
purchased two of her lovely cards but I gravitated to the books she was selling
for $2.50.
The books
were still wet with glue, because she had bound them together by hand. She is
the author and illustrator and as you will see by the photo below of her ‘about
the author’ page, Ruby is eight years old and got the idea of writing these
books because she has two pet rats: Wilfred and Twitcher, who happen to be the
main characters in her book series. Yes, she has written a series. She has
written a series. A series. A %&@^$ Series!!!!
I bought
the books because:
a) Gotta support other starving writers
(but Ruby is not starving because at $2.50 a piece she is making more than
double what I do as a traditionally published author!),
b) They are absolutely adorable and so
is she.
But what I
didn’t expect was how well written these books are. She followed Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey monomyth almost to a tee.
Wilfred and
Twitcher started off in their ordinary
world where we learn they both come from poor families who struggle to put
food on the table. Twitcher is bored, and tired of his circumstances, the
rumblings of an adventure to come.
The call to adventure came when Twitcher
asked Wilfred to go find the magical blue berries that his Dad had told him
about.
The meeting with the mentor came in the form
of a magical red bird named Scarlet who took them part way on their adventure,
but then, this was as far as she could take them…
They met enemies and allies, went through tests.
There was a
central ordeal in the BEAR-LION cave
where they nearly died at the midpoint but managed to escape.
They seized the sword i.e. the magic blue
berries.
Made the road back home with the help of a
raccoon where they returned with the
elixir – magical berries that produced non-stop food that would last them a
lifetime so they’d never go hungry again!
All this in
a 10-page self-published book of an eight year old creative genius named Ruby.
This
creative genius has not yet been tainted by doubt, fear and nay-sayers; in fact,
her mom and dad were out there with her helping her count change (and
controlling the crowd that had gathered). She is an inspiration to the rest of
us who ‘know too much’.
I was
thrilled to snatch up two copies of her books, and have the author sign them
because, as her mom said, this is the last sale of the season as Ruby will
be taking a year-long sabbatical in Berlin starting next week. No doubt she
will find lots of inspiration for the further adventures of Wilfred and
Twitcher. Go Ruby!
Check out the
questions and answers page at the end of the book and the preview of book two.
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