auria “Hussein” cortes

Many people ask me how I have time for so many hobbies. Well, let me say that I don’t consider writing a hobby, but the painting and music I do.

Whenever I write lyrics or a melody, I do so with a character in mind. Some of the lyrics will make it into the final book and others are not intended to ever make the cut. Rather, the lyrics or melody act as character development exercise. It’s information that the reader doesn’t need to know to understand the story, but information I need to write the story. 

Until last week, I didn’t incorporate my painting into my writing. But my recent At the Podium post with JK Rowling changed all that. In the video embedded in the JK Rowling post, we see that she drew sketches of The Harry Potter characters. This gave me the incentive to create paintings of the characters or settings in my book.  

What you see in the above picture is the beginning stages of a painting for a guitar that makes its presence throughout my book. It’s not close to ready, but I decided to showcase the piece because the final product will have lyrics that will appear in the book. As a result, I won’t post the finished painting until the book finds a home with a publisher. But I thought it would be neat to show everyone how I incorporate my hobbies and my passion.

Writing in many ways is similar to painting. The first draft of a novel has many kinks. And the beginning stages of a painting always looks like a kindergartener’s work. Each activity needs to be nurtured.  Patience is key. I’m learning that lesson slowly.

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