Why Do Writers Write?

To tell a story? To tell a story for profit? To tell a story to garner fame? To write a story to win a prize? Or maybe writers write because they have to, because they have a passion so deep that it won’t let them do anything else.

Last month I was inspired to write a memoir for a contest titled HARD TIMES (sponsored by NC Writers’ Network). This hard times story of mine had been buried within me for years. It isn’t a pleasant story and it doesn’t have that happy conclusion I make sure all my novels possess. I didn’t write it or enter it into the contest to win. I wrote a story that has plagued my life since 1991. I wrote the story because I had to. Because it wasn’t just my story; it was my husband’s as well. We had suffered in silence long enough.

This husband of mine, Bud Rudesill, is a scientist…a geologist to be specific. But in his heart of hearts, he’s an artist. He’s an artist because he has to be one. If he can’t create something he will die.

From a young age Bud valued the work of his Great-grand Uncle Jack and was inspired to follow in his footsteps. Jack Wilkinson Smith is arguably the father of plein air impressionism and one of California’s most important painters.

Bud’s done just about everything: ceramics, sculpture, bronze casting, silver and goldsmithing for jewelry, carpentry, watercolor and oil painting and teaching it all at a variety of colleges and art schools. While working on his Master’s Degree he taught undergrad art students THE ART OF POTTERY and his master’s thesis is NATIVE MATERIALS FOR ART CERAMICS. He also taught at Arcosanti (Paolo Soleri’s architectural experiment), The University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, Central Wyoming Community College, The Art School in Carrboro, NC, and The Penland School for Arts and Crafts in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. (For a short bio of Bud click here.)

The year after my first novel was published, Bud accompanied me to Gardenia Press’ annual writers conference. He thought he might offer his services as a book cover artist but was inspired to write instead. When we returned home he began writing a novel. He worked diligently for a couple of weeks before he completed the first draft of a 135,000 word novel of pure gibberish titled IF GOD IS ON OUR SIDE. Since then he’s honed his writing skills and written at least twenty novels, novells, and short stories, most of which are published on Amazon/Kindle. Just like his jack-of-all-trades art, his writing genres include historical fiction of the American West, mainstream fiction involving love stories, espionage, the one percent, and time travel.

Because Bud Rudesill is my hero and because today is his birthday, I’m dedicating this blog post to him and his lifelong passion to create beautiful things.