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I addition to contests, we interview and highlight successful steemians in particular fields: Entertainment, Writing and Art to get a first-hand perspective of what it takes to make it and how our steemians compare and are inspired by other successful individuals in their field.
Today we are very pleased to announce an interview with speaker and author 
| The Interview | |
|---|---|
| dreamchasser: | Tell us a little about yourself and your background? |
| authorsamoliver1 | I am an author and speaker over several books on spiritual care to the dying and to life. My first book "What the Dying Teach Us: Lessons on Living" is inspired by my 30 years of work with those who are dying. Dying people have much to teach us about living in soul. As they become more soul than body at the end of their life, their silent inner language inside them reveals a path. It is a language of the soul, a directional voice, and one that becomes a passageway into their most authentic self. |
| dreamchasser | What literary pilgrimages have you gone on? |
| authorsamoliver1 | I have spoken at Hospice Conferences in and out of the US for almost 3 decades. Much of my focus is on how dying people reveal the hidden secrets of living in the moment and right where you are. Each day and every moment is a reflection of the choices you make inside yourself to discover what is most important to you. |
| dreamchasser | Do you get energize or exhausted when writing and what do you think are common traps for aspiring writers? |
| authorsamoliver1 | I am energized by my writing, and I only write on topics that are the closest to my heart. There is a reason for this type of style. You see, when you write from what is meaningful to you, there is an inner flow of connectedness with being a part of something greater than yourself. This is why it is called inspirational writing. The temptation to share what you know that feeds the ego is replaced by what can be known through you. This requires an individual to submit the ego into a greater knowing and allow the Universe to fill in the details. Most writer's blocks come from reaching beyond what one knows and finding a path he or she actually has to work for in the process. When you rely on writing from who you are, the journey becomes more of a remembering than a becoming which requires work. Writing from the ego burns a lot of writers out. Writing from inspiration becomes a never ending journey into the sacred places of the heart where giving a receiving is a natural outcome of unconditional grace. This unconditional grace has no beginning nor end. For what can be know through you becomes the focus, and not, what can be known because of you. In essence, the Creator embodies the writer's heart in ways that allows a moment of pen and paper to become One with what unites us all. |
| dreamchasser | Do you want each of your book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? |
| authorsamoliver1 | If you write from your heart, each book will stand on it's own. At the same time, I have noticed that each book I have written have built my character in ways I would have never dreamed possible. Each word is a connecting point with what I hold sacred in the moment of it's conception. One word after another becomes patterns of thoughts that reveal the overall theme of the book. When you have a collection of 10 books such as myself and have a little time to reflect on them all, you begin to notice an overall connection having taken a journey as long as I have in communicating to others what is most sacred in my life. This connection from the writer to the people is brought together by a power greater than ourselves unified by a common cause reflected on through words. |
| dreamchasser | Did publishing your first book change your process of writing? How? |
| authorsamoliver1 | No. It did encourage me to follow a desire I had known inside me for a very long time. |
| dreamchasser | What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? |
| authorsamoliver1 | When I was a child, I began to write poetry. I noticed it have a tranquil effect on my person. When I shared it with sympathetic readers, I felt a bond between me, my Creator, and those around me. It was my connectedness to the divine and human qualities of my being that had been with me all along. |
| dreamchasser | What does literary success look like to you? |
| authorsamoliver1 | Success is not defined by the number of books you sell. It is the constant pursuit of a worthy idea that brings fulfillment to the one involved in it to it's completion. The end result is the feeling of wholeness the writer did not have at the beginning of the journey. Yet, it was obtained through the striving toward an idea of becoming more that one could have possibly done on their own. Through the act of writing, the writer is constantly changing as the result of their writing. They are transformed, which means to go beyond form, creating a change in what one strives to be through the process of yielding him or herself into diving deep into a path whose outcome is discovered through one's faith in the journey itself. You see, words have power. They can define you or they can free you. One thing is for sure, words create everything you know. They give life to a person, place, or thing. Even when you are born, you are given a name. Names give identity. An identity is formulated through words. Words give meaning. Words give us power. Words give us life. |
| dreamchasser | What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book and do you view writing as a kind of spiritual practice? |
| authorsamoliver1 | I see writing as a spiritual practice for me. It is more of a reflection on the life I have been given. I will research topics of interest for a brief time in order to get an understanding of what I am talking about, but my work comes from life experiences I have gained in Hospice Care. When you write from experience, the words written down are merely a reflection of that writer's soul. |
| dreamchasser | Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find? |
| authorsamoliver1 | I think good writing will guide the reader into the point or points the author wants to convey. Otherwise, why would you want to write a book only a few people will understand. To me, good writing leads the reader along a path of discovery. It is a discovery of what is most important to him or her. This discovery creates an identity. This identity gives inspiration for living. This new way of living draws from the deep resources that lives within us all creating a community of souls united by the power of the written word. It gives us a place to belong. It gives the soul a place it can call home. |
| dreamchasser | Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with bad or good ones? |
| authorsamoliver1 | I have read a few over the years. I have found that most reviews are from readers who either agree or disagree with your point of view. It is not a reflection on the books contents much of the time although it can be at times. It is more of a reflection of the readers understanding of what the writer tried to impart upon her or his audience. In so doing, it is more about the reader than the words of the author. |
| dreamchasser | How do you relax and what is your favorite motivational phrase. |
| authorsamoliver1 | I relation through meditation, a good read, and wonderful memories. My favorite phrase of all time is something I write in my books when asked to autograph it. "Follow your dreams, your soul knows the way." |
| dreamchasser | What is your favorite book and why? |
| authorsamoliver1 | The Bible. The stories contained within this book reminds me who I am, and it has created me in ways I could not have on my own. The inspired stories contained in the collection of chapters of people's lives have been a living presence within me. It gives me faith, hope, and love. And yes, the greatest of these is love. Words written from a heart of unconditional love has the potential to change the world. We live in a world of words. For better or worse, we are married to words. When they come from a place of unconditional love, we speak into existence what cannot die. It resurrects what is deepest in us. The birth of Eternal Life through words spoken into existence from the purity of our hearts. |
| dreamchasser | What advice would you give to aspiring writers? |
| authorsamoliver1 | Write to change the world. When you write to change the world, something incredible happens. You change. In so doing, the writer becomes what he or she aspires most allowing the dreamer to become the dream. In this place, you will have reached the heights of a mountain top experience no money can buy. |
| dreamchasser | Where do you see publishing going in the future and what are you working on at the moment!? |
| authorsamoliver1 | Publishing has changed a lot in my day. My first works of art began with pen and ink meeting the paper. Now, it has become key strokes outlined in a word document that can be published in seconds depending on the skill of the writer. I have been recently working on daily living encounters through Facebook. I have been doing a series of live videos for those interested in spiritual reflection. I do have a title for my next book that will be revealed at the end of my writing of it. It is more on what brings us together as a people. |
| dreamchasser | How can we your readers discover more about you and your work? |
| authorsamoliver1 | You can find me on Facebook under Sam Oliver (Author Sam Oliver). For more on my work, you can find it on my website. |
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