Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Audreyanna Garrett. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Audreyanna, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?
I think this is a great question because it’s often something that I am not asked to speak about as a creative, but it’s important for people to know. I actually have been able to maintain and earn a full-time living wage while pursuing my creative goals and passion. Now, this does not come without consequence, but it’s the best way for me to approach my creative goals because of the cost associated with maintaining a website, blog, self-publishing work, and trying to establish a YouTube Channel. Obviously, if I had the ability to repurpose the time that I give to a full-time job, now in addition to my pursuit of a Clinical Psychology Doctoral degree, I would say that I would probably be more well known and renowned for my industry. But due to the limited time and resources I can allocate to support my creative journey, the money that I am able to allocate from my income affords me the ability to pay for marketing, blog and website maintenance, cover art, editing, and promotions for any self-publications. Needless to say, it literally costs to be a writer and creative.
Audreyanna, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I, Audreyanna Garrett, born September 7, 1984, in Houston, Texas, raised by a single mother, have experienced my fair share of hardship in my lifetime. Through each trial, I managed to stay determined and hardworking, never relinquishing the memories from where I came from, but vowing to take the necessary steps to make sure that myself and my family never have to return.
I discovered my passion for writing in my adolescent years. I developed a relationship with pen and paper before I had many friends. Writing was my way of expressing how I truly felt without dealing with the misinterpretation, so often encountered when trying to express myself verbally.
I started with a journal, where I housed my poetry, and my poetry and thoughts later developed into blogs. Subsequently, I went on to establish and three blogs, Poetically Speaking, Writer’s Block, and AudriWrites (TruthSpeak).
Each blog encompassed a different chapter of my life, utilizing the trials and joys of my journey to exhibit my growth process. I so often share, what I like to call, “life lessons”, more often than not in the form of poetry, in hopes that someone else can grow and learn as well. What each blog has in common, is my ability to creatively and poetically express the importance of love and its role in life. I have taken a great interest in establishing a relationship between love and self-empowerment.
The most recent blog, TruthSpeak (aka Audriwrites.com), was created to give birth to spirits of acceptance, encouragement, understanding, and forgiveness, as well as help, diminish spirits of fear, desperation, doubt, and frustration, all while encouraging us to move forward in truth to something greater.
I received a Bachelor’s of Fine Art from Sam Houston State University, in Dance, in December of 2007. In addition to my undergraduate degree, I have obtained a Master’s in Business Administration, concentration in Global Management, and a second Master’s in Psychology, at the University of Phoenix. I have also received the experience of studying for one term abroad in London, England, at the University of London, and I am currently enrolled in a Clinical Psychology, PhD graduate program.
Despite the workload, travels, and pursuit of continuing education, I have managed to establish and maintain the title of poet, published author and writer, self-publishing my first poetry collage in September of 2009, titled Diary In Reverse. Diary in Reverse was followed by Writer’s Block, poetry collage, released in the latter part of that very same year. In 2011, I released Poetically Speaking, poetry collage. Recently I have published a fiction novel, Southern Belles (2011), self-help, relationship book titled The Love Trials, (2013), Shades of Red, a poetic love story (2019) and memoir I Don’t Respect Your Politics (2020).
Through my work, and all future literary projects, I seek to motivate, encourage, support, spread love and provoke conscious thought into the lives of many.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I can best illustrate my resilience in the illustrated evolution of my work over the years. For as long as I can remember, I have loved to write and found it the easiest way to express myself, but I’ve managed to turn a desire to merely “express myself” into a complete brand, and I have developed that brand into a series of tools for self-help that also encompasses my future profession as a Clinical Psychologist. I learned to evolve my creative brand as I evolve as a professional, bridging the gap between AudriWrites the creative, and Audreyanna Garrett, MBA, MSc, future doctor of Clinical Psychologist.
To further illustrate the point, if you’ve followed my work, its history shows just how much poetry is the root of my professional writing career. In fact, as my first published work was a poetry collage, and while I was frequently recognized for my poetry, I realized that it was not enough. I came to learn that not all individuals value and love poetry in the same way that I do, so I asked myself, what should I do to reach others? How can I get my work in front of a broader audience? From that question or line of thought, I started writing a fiction novel and established my first web blog. Ever since then, I set annual goals for myself as a creative, separate from those I set for myself as an individual. Maintaining this annual goal development plan affords me the opportunity to not only broaden my audience, but also expand my skill set to incorporate my professional goals, all while simultaneously evolving as a brand.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
Absolutely! I think it’s hard for a non-creative to understand why I would choose to continue to pursue a passion that takes such a long time to generate profit and long-term reward, but for me it’s easy; I love what I do! I have a God-given talent and sometimes when you love something so much, and you recognize the value in your craft, you don’t seek everyone to understand why you continue, you simply wait until they understand and realize why you never stopped.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.audriwrites.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/audriwrites/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Audriwrites/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/audri-writes-02142b42/?trk=pub-pbmap
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/audriwrites
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgTefMiTazTOwu7_6GSsXTg
Image Credits
Photo Credit for Southern Belles Fiction Novel Cover -Kenal Louis Photo Credit for Photo of Author (AudriWrites/Audreyanna Garrett) outside of Barnes & Noble-C’na Roberts Photography