"Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today."
Many of us have dreams, but how many dare to pursue them, gain the tools and abilities and take the time to live their dreams'
Rufus Curry was a young officer more than ten years ago, when he was struck with the idea for a story and the irresistible urge to write. The urge has evolved into "One Week Gig," a novel about "Love, (and good lovin'), good music, disappointment, dreams, adventure, victory and temptation."
"It spooked me," Curry, now a lieutenant colonel with U.S. Southern Command, said. "I just sat down and wrote 58 pages without stopping."
Not knowing what to do, he shelved it until the next opportunity.
"Three years later I was in Bosnia," he said. "I converted it from the old computer format, wrote a lot more, and then put it on the shelf. I didn't know what to do - how to get a book printed, or anything."
A few years later he viewed an interview with Jack Canfield, author of the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" books, and what Canfield said changed his mind. The author admitted that he started writing the series to make money, that at the time he started he really needed the income.
Curry hired an editor to hone the book.
"The first draft came back from the editor looking like she had killed a small child (from the red ink)," he said with a smile. "But she asked probing questions that allowed me to win, and tell my story; it was bubbling out of me."
Canfield, and Curry's editor, made actually producing the book sound realistic to achieve. Curry then took a course at Miami-Dade College in self-publishing.
"Sitting in class made it tangible. I was the only one in class with a book ready to go," he said.
As a musician and member of the Screen Actors Guild, Curry had the contacts to find a model and design a jacket, knowing that despite the adage not to judge a book by its cover, people pick up books that appeal to them.
"I spent a lot of time standing in Borders and Barnes and Noble looking at books, trying to see what works best."
He says publishing fiction is harder, because self-help books - for example - have a ready-made audience. Still, the results have been worth it, and he has recouped the expenses of his sold out first printing run.
"My goal is not to be able to keep up with demand, help someone and generate financial freedom and fun money," he said.
In the mean time he has more copies on the way.
"Everyone has at least one book in them," Curry said. "We can change lives by taking the skill or talent that we have and letting it run free. Most people don't trust themselves - thinking that their ideas wouldn't be worth others' attention or have power."
Writing the novel was "absolutely therapeutic" he said. Writing a fight scene, he would be immersed in the action even after leaving the keyboard. His passion has affected others as well.
"A woman told me that my book made her take a look at her life."
If others are inspired to write, Curry urges them to do so.
"Take 15 minutes, sit still, and put something to paper," he said. "Don't force it, but write whatever comes to mind. After a while it's like chocolate, you can't wait to get back to it."
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