I remember discovering magic when I was a child. From an early age I was obsessed with fairies and princesses and anything that transported me to another place, another time, another dimension. Growing up, I loved to play outside, to imagine myself as anything and everything out there that was fantasy related, and back then my imagination was boundless.
During summer vacation when I was a little girl, my favorite cousin and I would play Indian Princesses in the desert hills behind her small home in Central Heights, Arizona. I took pride in the Native American ancestry that we shared, imagining being swept off my feet by a tall, dark, and handsome stranger that would whisk me away to his castle where we would live happily ever after.
Sometimes he was a rogue cowboy and other times he was from a rival tribe. It didn’t really matter because the hero always got the girl (me, grins) and the couple would live happily ever after. It also didn’t matter that cowboys historically didn’t have castles, or for that matter, did tribal chieftains. What mattered was the experience of being carried away into a riveting story.
As I grew up, magic faded further and further into the distance. My new reality of being an adult set in…until I discovered my love for reading again.
I didn’t realize it, but creativity was what fueled my soul back on those Arizona hills. It was what made the mundane bearable when I found myself stuck doing chores or other things that I didn’t enjoy as much as sprinting across an open field to see what was in a copse of trees, secretly wishing I’d uncover an entrance to a magical fairy-land in the gnarled branches of an ancient oak.
Inspiration started for me in the Southwestern desert, but I have come to realize that it is everywhere. It’s listening to the chatter of a small child who thinks she’s alone, watching a couple stroll down the street, hand in hand, or witnessing a soft summer breeze set an aspen to shimmering in the sun’s rays. It is every particle of light that illuminates a perfect, blazing sunset. Even though inspiration is everywhere, it can often be hard to find.
For me, more than any other form of entertainment, books have the ability to move me. Where else could I hope to become an elf setting off on a great adventure, a robber running from the law, or a dancer taking the stage for the first time? What I’ve discovered as an adult is words are magic. They have the ability to transport a reader anywhere they might desire to be. The best part is reading doesn’t come with jetlag.
You might be wondering if I ever found that fairytale ending I dreamed about as a kid. Maybe not in the traditional sense. Life by its very nature is hard and relationships are harder, but piece-by-piece I am capturing the all elusive happily-ever-after.
I’ve looked for happiness in many places, but I am finding it in the one place that I didn’t expect: inside of me. Nothing makes me happier than being true to myself, and writing has become my truest form of expression.
Some might quail at the thought of staring down the blank page with the ever present blinking cursor, but for me that little flashing line is a call to explore the unknown. And the one thing I’m certain of when I start a book, whether reading or writing, is the possibilities are endless, and that, my friends, is magic.
Christie Rich
About the Author
I grew up daydreaming about fairytales, and my love for discovering new worlds has never died. My love for reading is what fueled my imagination in the first place and still does. When I am not writing or reading, I am enjoying family time with my husband and two children
Published & Upcoming Works
Five (Elemental Enmity Book I) New Adult Paranormal Romance
Dark Matter (Elemental Enmity Book II) New Adult Paranormal Romance
Genesis (Elemental Enmity Book III) New Adult Paranormal Romance
Christie, loved reading about your inspiration to write, made me feel dreamy 🙂 And agree on finding that elusive happiness inside yourself. It took me many years to dig it up, but now that I did, it feels magical.
Christie RichOctober 6, 2012, 1:50 pm
Hi Ksenia! I’m so glad you enjoyed my article, and finding your own happy place inside is so important! I think it comes with experience and age, but that’s just me. Thanks so much for your kind words 🙂
Comments on this entry are closed.
Thanks so much for having me here today, Wren! It was fun.
Loved having you Christie, I hope you come by again 😀
Christie, loved reading about your inspiration to write, made me feel dreamy 🙂 And agree on finding that elusive happiness inside yourself. It took me many years to dig it up, but now that I did, it feels magical.
Hi Ksenia! I’m so glad you enjoyed my article, and finding your own happy place inside is so important! I think it comes with experience and age, but that’s just me. Thanks so much for your kind words 🙂
Thanks, Wren. I’d love to any time. :0D
Age? Did you say age? Oh yes 😉