We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Derek R. King. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Derek R. below.

Derek R., appreciate you joining us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

I am happy as a creator. In fact, I’ve never been happier than I am now. Every day, I have the freedom to explore new ideas and concepts and then to bring this “something new” into the world. This is a hugely inspiring feeling to go to sleep on and to wake to.

I don’t think about having a regular job, because I had one for over forty years. But I do wonder what it would have been like if I had made my career change earlier. How much more fulfilling could my life have been? But then again, maybe every experience I’ve been through led me to be the full-time author I am today.

My first solo were a non-fiction book and three poetry volumes. They were published during my “regular job” phase, but I do remember pondering during that time what a career as an author would be like. But there’s comfort in the known, I suppose I found the steady income a form of safety.

Towards the end of that career, I met author Julie Kusma and my desire to make a change intensified. Our creative energies meshed instantly, and our collaborative outputs took on a steady rhythm. Since our collaborations began, we have published, on average, one, if not more, books every month. In fact in the four years we’ve collaborated to date we have published nearly sixty books together and I have published seven further poetry volumes in that same time.

So, I think it’s fair to say our meeting became the catalyst for my career change at the end of 2023. Now, each day, we share the great joy of being together and creating together.

So, yes, I’ve never been happier than I am now.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My solo creative work includes poetry and non-fiction. Some of my earliest work I’d classify as dark or gothic poetry. On reflection, I suppose it was a fair reflection of where I was in my life at that point. My non-fiction book, The Life and Times of Clyde Kennard, is a biographical account of a man’s life during the American Civil Rights Movement. I was fascinated by his story and dismayed there was very little information about his life out there. I took it on more of a hobby in the beginning, and over a ten-year period, little by little I composed, what I believe to be, a moving story.

After I met Julie and we began our life together, my writing took on a more hopeful and spiritual hue. We have written several enlightenment books, the first of which is Honey: Words to Heal and Mend, and my personal spiritual journey was reignited. Together we have shared Kintsugi, Ho’oponopono, Jungian philosophy, Alchemical philosophy, and so much more.

My solo work reflects this too, as my recent books are all love or nature poetry like Urban, A New Year’s Frost, and Soulmates.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My creative mission is to use my words to inspire and uplift others whether it be through poetry, affirmations, or themes in novels. And I happily and proudly endeavour to accomplish this with Julie.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

In order to fulfil my creative mission, I had to unlearn a sense of unworthiness that I had carried with me most of my life. It’s not easy unlearning conditioning but spiritual tools like shadow work and subconscious reprogramming clear the path to a genuine creative flow.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://derekrking.uk
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