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

Splendid, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear the story of how you went from this being just an idea to making it into something real.

Growing up I was always moved by the power of stories. They can move you, transform you, and they often act as a mirror, putting into words exactly what we have felt from different experiences in our personal lives. As an avid reader, I told myself that one day, I wanted to wield that power. I wanted to harness the ability to change lives and inspire people with my writing. I lost my father ten years ago and I have lived with that grief daily ever since it happened. Four years ago I felt overwhelmed by the pain of losing him. At times it felt crippling. This was when I decided to write about it. Put my grief into words. Get it out on the page and maybe then I could look at it objectively and from there, try to find healing. This is exactly what I did and the end result was my first published short story titled Born to Die: A Murder Confession. After completing the story I shared it with some of my close friends and asked for their honest opinion. I had always treated my writing as something sacred and only for me, but I knew I needed to share this story with as many people as possible. After getting feedback from friends and family, and doing some edits, I sought out ways in which I could publish it, and in the end, I decided to try Amazon publishing.

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?

I am a freelance creative writer and actor. As I mentioned before, I love storytelling and for me, both writing and acting give me the outlet to be truthful and explore the human condition. Studying Humanities in college, helped me to develop my understanding of history and culture. I believe that my undergraduate studies were a good foundation for me, as a writer. I was able to further discover how people process events and behave in certain situations. I also learned how essential that awareness is, to convey truth about people’s lives, thoughts, and actions. After completing my Bachelor’s degree in Humanities, I went on to study acting at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City. Now that I have graduated, I am at the beginning of my career as an actor and I try to find time to keep up with my writing in between jobs.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

One of my greatest burdens as a writer and actor is that I feel as though high-quality books and films are becoming rarer. I also believe that we have allowed mediocrity to dominate art. Today, people seem to be overly concerned with garnering a diverse label in the literary and film industry. While these efforts are well intended, they often come at the neglect of quality. It seems as though high-quality standards are no longer a priority, as long as diversity is achieved. However, when something has been erroneous for such a long time, in an attempt to make corrections, it is easy to jump from one extreme to the other—instead of seeking equality and balance. I believe this is a problem today in the film and literary world. There has been a major deficit of diverse writers, not only regarding race but also relating to the content that is being produced. I want to help take that step towards balance. I want to offer not only a diverse perspective but also good art. So in my creative endeavours, I always seek to be honest and not just focus on delivering what I think my audience wants.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative person is that I get to do something I love for a living. I have worked a typical 9-5 before and honestly, it was soul-crushing. I knew I couldn’t keep living like that, and that’s why I decided to pursue writing and acting full time. This way I get spend my time doing something I’m passionate about, and get paid doing it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B086QF3GM6?ingress=0&visitId=8dce2b80-e257-4316-b4cb-8b3b48d15565
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/splendidwillowrine/
• Other: Backstage: https://www.backstage.com/u/splendid-willowrine/