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

Mark, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I have two writing projects that mean the most to me. The first is a young adult fantasy series that I started for my children years ago. It helped me bond with them as I loved seeing the expressions on their faces when I would create a chapter a week for them. It was supposed to be a one book story but it exploded into a six book series that I am up to book four on at the moment. This project was for my children but it did teach me the craft of writing and it is something I plan on releasing to the public one day in the future.
The second is the Roses & Ashes trilogy I’m working on right now. Book One has been released and I’m in the process of editing book two. The thing about this project is it helped me through a very dark time in my life as I had lost my my job twice in two years due to company closures and had to move around the country for work while going through a divorce at the same time. The pain and frustration I felt helped fuel the pages, while some of the characters brought out a new resilience I desperately needed.

Mark, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I have loved stories my entire life. I think a good story can do more than just provide entertainment. They can give us a temporary escape, show a different perspective, give us hope, and help us move toward our dreams. In grade school, anytime a writing assignment was given to me, I would fill pages with my work. At that time I used it as more of an escape as I had personal dealings at home and I always felt a little different from my peers.
Life is tough, and everyone has their own demons to battle. Battles that nobody else knows. Things that can destroy us if we let them. I’ve been a teenage parent, lost two jobs in two years, been through divorce, traveled the country in search of work, and experienced the death of a child. Something no parent should endure. And I know that everyone else out there has there own stories.
My hope is that my books can offer a fun ride, something that will give readers a temporary thrill. But I also hope to deliver characters they can relate to. Something positive that will stick with them and help them on this journey of life.
I’ve also recently opened a clothing brand as a reflection of one of the characters, the Boogieman. I’m also a fan of fashion and have been trying to create something I think people will feel comfortable in but also look good wearing.
The tag line is to “take a bite out of the night,” and this leads back to taking on things in life as most people have a fear of the dark (the night). But I don’t thinks it’s so much the darkness as the unknown beyond it. Sometimes fear keeps us from experiencing new things, taking on that new project, getting into that new relationship, or embarking on a new career. Instead of fearing those new things, perhaps we should approach them head on and take a nice big bite out of them.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect is creating something from nothing. Yes, when writing new stories there are elements that may be similar to other adventures but as far as the particular characters in that particular story, none of them existed until they were put to pages.
It’s an even more amazing feeling when you hear readers relate to some of these characters, when they feel what these characters are feeling. And even though it is a little stressful, I do like when readers reach out and ask when the next book will be available as they need to know what happens next.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Something that made me show my resilience is when I lost my job in South Carolina. I used to work in nuclear power. In 2015 the plant that I had worked at for fifteen years announced they would be closing. Shortly after, I moved my family from Massachusetts to South Carolina where they were building two brand new reactors. The area was amazing, my new friend group was terrific, and this was a job I could retire from. Everything seemed to have worked out perfectly.
Unfortunately, one year after we moved the company announced they were cancelling the project. In one day almost six thousand people lost their jobs. I was devastated. I was living a thousand miles from everything I knew and the only purpose for me being there was now gone. It felt as if I was stuck in a nightmare. I traveled for a few months, leaving my family behind until I found permanent work, which led me here to Arizona. That time was very dark for me as I was by myself, in an area I didn’t know and to top it off shortly after moving, I was going through a divorce.
However, I managed to pull myself through and this experience sparked the idea for my current trilogy. It had nothing to do with the nuclear part. Instead, while I was out one night at a sports bar, trying to distract myself with alcohol and sports, a crazy idea popped into my head. What if the Grim Reaper fell in love with a bartender? And that was how Roses & Ashes was born.
The experience I had is something I don’t wish to go through again. However, if not for that I wouldn’t be writing the story I am now!

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