Eric Trant returns to Choices. Hello Eric!

Please welcome Eric Trant back to Choices – his second stop on his WOW! Women on Writing virtual book tour. His new book, Risen, is in the historical supernatural fiction genre. How much more creative can a guy get!

Before I go into details about the book, Eric will share his thoughts about a career in the arts – something I can seriously relate to. My husband worked his entire career in science and engineering (I like to call him a rocket scientist), and I worked as a technical writer in the aerospace business. However, both our sons chose careers in the arts. Our older son was an accomplished jazz musician and composer before his untimely death in 1999, and our younger son is an actor and movie maker. However, each found realistic ways to earn a living while pursuing their dreams – one as a computer expert, and the other is a tennis instructor. Eric Trant has some very wise words about the situation we and so many other parents find ourselves in.

“Is a Career in the Arts (writing) Realistic?”

by Eric Trant

Hold your vomit

When I went to college, my hometown offered me an academic scholarship that covered most of my tuition and fees, but on the pretense that I chased a degree in the sciences. I enjoy math (hold your vomit) and science, dig chemistry and biology, and geek out over programming.

But on the other side of my brain is an equally ambitious artsy-fartsy little guy swinging his fists at the moon. It was after my third semester, during winter break, that this art-fart shook up my benefactors by announcing he had overwhelmed the sci-guy with a passion for philosophy and classical literature.

So, I changed my major to philosophy, minoring in classic literature, and set my sights on a PhD in said arts, with a career in teaching (like my mother).

My benefactor threw his hands up at this. I was informed in no uncertain terms that my scholarship hinged entirely on my seeking out a degree in the sciences. They were not interested in unleashing another artist into the world, because artists have so little chance of survival and rarely earn a livable wage.

So, I changed my major to chemical engineering, pre-med, and set my sights on medical school. I earned the chemical engineering degree, failed to get into medical school, and all the while I wondered, What if…?

What if…?

Now, my son is a percussionist. He is finishing high school with his sights set on a degree in percussion and a career in teaching. I was a percussionist as well. I even kicked around majoring in percussion.

And I am faced with two little angels on my shoulders, one wondering, What if…? The other tugs my ear and screams, Artists do not survive!

So which voice do I listen to?

Do I discourage my son from chasing a degree in percussion? He is as good at math as I ever was, and I am sure he could pull off an engineering or business degree. Why waste a good math-head banging drums?

Or do I encourage him to continue making a name for himself and indulge his percussionistic passions? He is already fabulous on the drums. He teaches paid lessons to the underclassmen and has the blessings of several band directors, along with many high-end recommendations for college. He is paving out a bright future for himself in the arts.

My son’s heart on the corporate plate

In this internal argument, I keep coming back to that moment in the bank with my benefactor, discussing my scholarship and my potential modifications in career goals.

I caved when he said he would pull the scholarship. Still, my artistic passions lingered, stubborn as hangnails. I write and publish novels despite my degree, study philosophy even though I have no one to debate it with.

I still peck around on the drums with my son, though he outweighs me by several leagues.

I never fully purged the art-fart from my head, and I know the same guy is shaking his fists at the same moon inside my son’s noggin. My son wants to carve his name in art, and who am I to become the banker with his demands?

So, rather than cut out my son’s heart and serve it on the corporate plate, I am helping him set realistic goals.

Let’s be realistic, shall we…?

See, that’s the part so many artists lack. Their goal is to become a famous [blank]. A famous author. A famous drummer. A famous painter or singer and so on. They rely on that one-in-a-billion chance they will reach escape velocity and spin free from the gravity of the mortal world.

But let’s be realistic, shall we. Set goals over which you maintain some control. Become the best you can in your field. Loop your rope and swing it at the moon, but at the same time, keep your damn feet on the ground.

Find a way your art can reliably earn a living. My daughter, for instance, enjoys painting and drawing. So, we are encouraging her to pursue a dual degree in psychology and art. See, there is a growing trend for what is called art therapy. She could earn a living with her art, and at the same time help trauma victims and patients with degenerative and psychological diseases.

My son the percussionist is enamored with marching bands and drumlines. His goal is to come back as a percussion director at the high school or college level, as well as an arranger of percussion music. He is modeling this path after several of his mentors who forged this same career ahead of him.

See, they have ~realistic~ expectations of how to earn a living while pursing their arts.

And that is the difference.

***

Eric Trant’s Risen

Haunted by visions of a demonic angel and sold into servitude by his father, young Alberto battles to survive the horrors of a nineteenth century Sicilian sulfur mine.

Suffering merciless brutality, Alberto must save not only himself but his deformed older brother, both pawns in their father’s mad plan to overthrow a group of wealthy landowners.

Bound by a death-debt to his hunchback master, Alberto discovers a door the miners call Porta dell’Inferno, the Door to Hell, deep within the sulfur mines. When he learns the demon-angel of his dreams stalks the caverns beyond the door, Alberto realizes a strange fate has lured him and his brother to the gates leading to the underworld.

Now Alberto must face the creature from his visions and rise to become the man his father demands him to be, or remain forever trapped in a hellish world where none escape.

Print Length: 182 Pages
Genre: Historical Supernatural Fiction
Publisher: WiDo Publishing (August 15, 2017)
ASIN: B0746P5MTS

Risen is available in print on Amazon.

About the Author:
Eric resides in Dallas, TX with his wife and children, where he writes and manages his own business. His writing combines literary characterization with supernatural elements, all the while engaging the reader’s senses with constant movement and vivid settings. His books are designed to be one-sitters, meaning they can and should be read in one (or a few) sittings, owing to the fast-paced nature of the writing.

You can visit Eric at http://www.EricTrant.com, or see his blog at DiggingWithTheWorms.blogspot.com.

Thank you so much, Eric, for sharing your wisdom with our Choices readers. We wish you huge success with your new book, Risen.

Eric’s blog tour stops: