Gary Lucero Writer

Not everyone has the inclination or ability to create great works of art. Many people can play musical instruments, and some can write music as well as sing or dance, but not all of us can perform.

 

The fact is many of us are without creative talent. We can hum in the shower, and create rudimentary drawings, and that's it.

 

But this doesn't stop us from being creative beings. We strive to create, to express ourselves, and we often want others to consume our art, to acknowledge and enjoy it.

 

I have felt this desire my entire life. As a child, I immersed myself in drawing pictures, coloring, writing stories, taking photographs, and later, as a teen, writing poetry. I had no choice but to express myself, but for decades I denied that writing was the correct outlet for me.

 

I convinced myself that I could program software, release it, and that people would buy it, use it, and provide feedback so I could improve it. I tried for years to succeed at this, but I just didn't have the chops to write great software.

 

So I returned to writing. It wasn't like I had stopped, but I had given up on my dream of being published.

 

In late 2023 and early 2024, I sorted through all the poems I had created over the last few decades, graded them, and decided which ones to release. I published a book of poetry called When I Flew. It was a good book but didn't have a catchy cover, and it had limited success.

 

I unpublished not just that book, but several others, and decided to take publishing seriously. I found a great editor, someone I trust, and worked with her to refine my poems. I found someone to create an appropriate book cover and illustrations, as well as the entire book design, and I plan to publish the book we created together on October 1, 2024.

 

It's a book of dark themed poetry called In Letting Go.

 

How about you? Do you draw, or sing, or take photographs? Maybe you sew, or knit, and create all manner of home crafts?

 

Where do you expend your creative energy?

 

Please comment to this post or e-mail me, contact me on Facebook, or Instagram. I'm also available on YouTube.

Author AK Weller, well know for her thriller books and short stories, is an amazing graphic artist. She designed the cover and illustrations for In Letting Go, my book of poetry, and handled all the formatting and internal design.

 

She has a monthly newsletter, which you can sign up for here. In the latest issue, she introduced me as a writer and poet, and featured my new book! She has been very generous and is amazing to work with! If you need a great graphic artist, I recommend you check out her company, Westley Enterprises.

 

And for editing, I hightly recommend Lisa McCoy. She's another amazing person, a champion of self-published writers, and she's the one who turned me on to Westley Enterprises!

 

 

I was at a Southwest Writers meeting recently and I told the people sitting at the same table as myself that my forthcoming book, In Letting Go, is darkly themed poetry. One person asked me what that means.

 

I mistakenly said, "that life sucks."

 

I don't believe life sucks and my book isn't about that. But what is it about?

 

Some of the poems in In Letting Go seem straightforward enough. The first chapter, The Abyss of Time, has poems about growing older, about the evil that lurks within each one of us, and about failure and doubt. Many of the others in this chapter are expressing my views on life, on the government's mismanagement of their duty, and the plight of the average human being.

 

The second chapter, Realm of the Dead, is focused on death, which, as a 63-year-old, is an especially interesting subject to me.

 

I'm not sure how many years I have left in me.

 

I can feel the weight of those years as they press upon me, and it feels like time takes an unbelievable toll in so many ways, both mentally and physically. And while I realize that some people don't live long--they might not make it to their first birthday--for those of us fortunate to experience a long life, we also get to analyze our journey through it.

 

So the second chapter is focused on what death means to me, and in many ways, to all of humanity.

 

The third and last chapter, And So It Is With Heroes, is about a fantasy realm. Its poems are about places and people and what's happening as they fight the evil that not only surrounds them, but also lies within each of their hearts.

 

In Letting Go isn't about one thing. It's about life and death in a world where most things aren't simply black and white. And it's about a fantasy realm where nothing is black and white. It's about my journey and perspectives and outlook on life. And while I'm sure much of it can be appreciated by others because we are all connected in many ways, some of it is very personal.

 

In Letting Go releases on October 1st, 2024, a month from today. It will be available from all major booksellers.

 

If you like my musings here, there is a lot more on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Please connect with me there, or e-mail me.