Tree of Life: Branching Out Featuring Tina Downey

July 27, 2013July 26, 2013 / WriterlySam / 28 Comments

Welcome to the TREE OF LIFE: Branching Out collaborative writing challenge, where creative minds meet epic movie music. To read the collective story in its entirety as it unfolds and for more details on this groundbreaking collaboration with Audiomachine click HERE.

I want to extend a warm Välkommen to our Swedish wielder of words, Tina Downey. Follow Tina’s writerly escapades over at Life is Good.

* Listen to the inspiring track from Audiomachine’s Tree of Life album featured in the sidebar music player

Inspiring Soundtrack: Audiomachine – Cry Freedom – Tree of Life

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As the tree withered, Zoe felt herself begin to really live, as the roots her feet had become grew deeper and deeper into the increasingly colder earth.

The change happening to her physically was excruciating, but her heart was elated as she felt herself being propelled towards the sky, growing branches and shoots and more branches. Leaves appeared where her hands had been, and she felt the breeze ruffling them all over her body. It felt right.

The feeling of completion left her wanting more. A voice whispered in her soul, “Freedom! Take the freedom!” As she had before, she willed it to happen, and the freedom came easily, smoothly.

She no longer felt the pain, instead she seemed to shrink even as she ascended further. The fluttering leaves were now far below her as she allowed the transformation to take her body once more.

The thin man smiled as he watched the eagle, appearing as from nowhere, soaring quickly away from the new tree.

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ATTENTION FANS: You can WIN an autographed TREE OF LIFE Audiomachine album by LEAVING COMMENTS! On August 17th, two lucky readers will be chosen at random from the comments section of the story excerpts. The more you comment–the better your chances are of winning a piece of cinematic history! We want to hear from YOU!

TREE OF LIFE is available NOW! Click on the following links:

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Tree of Life: Branching Out Featuring Shannon Kenoyer Lawrence

July 26, 2013 / WriterlySam / 24 Comments

Today’s featured guest is the gifted author, Shannon Kenoyer Lawrence. Join Shannon on her writerly journey at The Warrior Muse.

* Listen to the inspiring track from Audiomachine’s Tree of Life album featured in the sidebar music player

Inspiring Soundtrack: Audiomachine – Turning Point – Tree of Life

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The arcs exploded into bits of glimmering light. As these glorious specks cascaded over Zoe, she was filled with a sense of elation, her fear beginning to ease, calm settling over her. This was her time.

The thin man left the others behind and approached her. He pressed a hand to her belly, and she felt a quickening beneath it, gasping as the pain of countless bee stings filled her. Yet she bore it, stood tall, unwavering.

His voice was that of millions, speaking as one. “To thee, I grant conscious choice. You have the power to determine what happens from here.”

She looked into his yellow eyes as the agony moved down her legs, into her feet. He removed his hands, but stayed before her, his gaze shifting to the ground. Her own eyes followed, and she was stunned by what she saw. Her feet shimmered, the flesh moving as if something lay beneath it. She felt within her an ache to change, to let go. Something fought for release. His words came back to her, and she knew what she must do.

Zoe allowed the change to occur, willed it to do so, watching as her feet elongated. She reveled in the sensation as they broke through the crust, penetrating the soil, so cool against her flesh.

She felt the roots of the tree that stood near her. They were weak, crumbling; she sensed a sickness there. Her own roots spread, intertwining with the old ones and breaking them apart.

The tree began to wither.

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TREE OF LIFE is available NOW! Click on the following links:

Purchase a CD from CD Baby
Download it from iTunes
Stream it on Spotify Download it from Amazon Purchase a CD from Amazon

Tree of Life: Branching Out Featuring KC Hunter

July 25, 2013July 25, 2013 / WriterlySam / 16 Comments

Today’s featured guest is the wildly imaginative author, KC Hunter. Learn more about KC’s novels and how he developed a new form of storytelling media at AOE Studios™.

* Listen to the inspiring track “The New World” from Audiomachine’s Tree of Life album featured in the sidebar music player

Inspiring Soundtrack: Audiomachine – The New World – Tree of Life

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A rainbow met the horizon with an eruption of light. Spirals of color poured from the source—violet, amber, emerald and gold—arcing into the sky and then slamming sharply into the dirt. There were forms in the arcs; shapes of man and animal alike, twisting along the energies as they coalesced into a writhing pool, motes of energy rising slowly from its surface like fireflies.

Zoe and her companion watched in wonder as three forms gracefully emerged from the spectacle, shedding flecks of light as they surfaced. The first: an unnaturally thin man, his head swarming with bees. The second: a child whose hair was set afire and whose back sprouted gossamer wings. The third: a woman of some age, her hair white and her dress flowing around her like a possessed fog.

Zoe could hear their voices, in synchronicity, repeating what sounded like a lullaby:

We come for the one,
We come for the one,
Who holds the Tree within her eye.

We come for the one,
We come for the one,
Her new world makes the Devil cry.

We come for the one,
We come for the one,
Giver of life who now must die.

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TREE OF LIFE is available NOW! Click on the following links:

Purchase a CD from CD Baby
Download it from iTunes
Stream it on Spotify Download it from Amazon Purchase a CD from Amazon

Tree of Life: Branching Out Featuring Daniel Swensen

July 24, 2013July 24, 2013 / WriterlySam / 16 Comments

Today’s featured guest writer is witty wordsmith, Daniel Swensen. Visit Dan’s Surly Muse, for more on perfecting the craft.

* Listen to the inspiring track from Audiomachine’s Tree of Life album featured in the sidebar music player

Inspiring Soundtrack: Audiomachine – Across the Horizon – Tree of Life

Zoe turned her face to heaven, catching the last sparkling droplets in her hair. Molted by the wind, the clouds gave way to a serene wedge of cerulean sky.

The Tree blazed out in all directions, a riot of color and light, yearning branches tipped with leaves of carnelian, emerald and gold, eclipsing the day-lit meadow into shards of multi-hued shadow.

Even as she looked on in rapture, a sudden melancholy pain wracked her, curling in her abdomen like an errant unborn.

“What is this?” she asked, dismayed by the rift between the beauty before her and the encroaching agony within.

“Separation,” Adam said. “All life is a greeting and goodbye, by turn. The hurt of separation is called living.”

“A metaphor?”

“A transition,” Adam intoned. “The first of many. Life is change, Zoe. You are life, and you will change. This is the pain of your first goodbye.”

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TREE OF LIFE is available NOW! Click on the following links:

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Tree of Life: Branching Out Featuring Djinnia

July 23, 2013July 23, 2013 / WriterlySam / 18 Comments

Today’s featured guest is the mysterious spinner of tales, Djinnia. You can find more of her lyrical prose in the winner’s circle of Figment as well as Wattpad, Authonomy and Hexbound.

* Listen to the inspiring track from Audiomachine’s Tree of Life album featured in the sidebar music player

Inspiring Soundtrack: Audiomachine – Breaking Through – Tree of Life

A gust of wind tore through the Tree’s branches. Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled in dark tones. The threatening storm ruptured, and rain poured from the sky.

Zoe’s heart saddened as the vibrant new life became pummeled by the pelting rain. “Oh no.”

He touched her shoulder in comfort. “It’s all right. Death is as natural as life.” He lifted her face with the crook of his finger to meet his gaze. “Many will survive and be the stronger for it. Those that do not will be mourned by you because you loved them.”

She understood then. Love was the savior and the destroyer. It was the succor and the hindrance. It was the truth speaker and the deceiver. Love was meant to be clung to tightly yet strong enough to let go without reservation.

Zoe laughed as she threw her hands up into the storm. The freedom of her insight exploded forth from her heart like a Phoenix from the ashes. She grabbed his hands and danced away in giddiness as she imagined her soul flying alongside in joyous rapture.

The rain slackened then stopped. The clouds vanished to allow sunlight to create water diamonds to dazzle their eyes as a rainbow painted the sky.

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TREE OF LIFE is available NOW! Click on the following links:

Purchase a CD from CD Baby
Download it from iTunes
Stream it on Spotify Download it from Amazon Purchase a CD from Amazon

Tree of Life: Branching Out Featuring Ruth Long

July 22, 2013July 22, 2013 / WriterlySam / 15 Comments

Today I’m featuring the runaway imagination of the gifted storyteller, Ruth Long. Check out life from a writer’s point of view at BULLISH INK

* Listen to the inspiring track from Audiomachine’s Tree of Life album featured in the sidebar music player

Inspiring Soundtrack: Audiomachine – The Truth – Tree of Life

The leather-clad rider swung down from the saddle, tattered russet duster flapping behind him like the banner of a long-forgotten realm, tawny hair swishing in the breeze like the tail of his chestnut mount. “From the dust we come and to the dust we return.”

“How did you come by this wisdom?” she asked, eyes, ears, and heart as wide as the ocean.

He scooped up a handful of soil, and let it sift through his fingers like the sands of time. “Because I am the Adam who came before, the one who lives now, and the one who is yet to come.”

She crouched beside him. “Then you must know what I am to do with this gift.”

His smile was gentle. “Consider this: what matters most is how you spend those precious heartbeats between rising from dust and returning to it. This is the truth that never changes, the story of our days, the root of the Tree of Life.”

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TREE OF LIFE is available NOW! Click on the following links:

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Download it from iTunes
Stream it on Spotify Download it from Amazon Purchase a CD from Amazon

Tree of Life: Branching Out Featuring Susan Scott

July 21, 2013July 21, 2013 / WriterlySam / 15 Comments

Today’s featured guest writer is the passionate Susan Scott. Please join Susan’s brilliant, thought-provoking discussions at the Garden of Eden Blog.

Audiomachine – The Legend Begins – Tree of Life

The air seemed to thicken slightly as she stood next to him.

“You know my name then. You know that Zoe means Life and that the Ancient Greeks believe that it derives from Eve, she who ate the apple in the Garden of Eden which resulted in the rise from unconsciousness and into the real world?”

“I know this”, he replied. “I know too that women have been blamed for you and your husband’s expulsion from Paradise. But you must know that the Tree from which you ate was both a blessing and a curse?”

She looked up at him.

“Yes, it is a paradox, isn’t it. I chose to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. For my choice we were banished from Paradise and were unable to leave via the Tree of Life which stood at the furthest end of the garden. Flaming swords were placed there to prevent us leaving via that route”.

She sighed.

“Do you mean to say that I have a choice now in accepting this precious gift?”

“This is what I mean. But this gift also carries with it both a blessing and a curse”.

“I have dreamed of this moment for aeons”, whispered Zoe.

The sky darkened further.

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TREE OF LIFE is available NOW! Click on the following links:

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Tree of Life: Branching Out Featuring DL Hammons

July 20, 2013 / WriterlySam / 12 Comments

Today’s featured guest writer is the innovative DL Hammons. Check out DL’s mystery/thriller/suspense projects and exciting contributions to the blogosphere over at Cruising Altitude 2.0.

Inspiring Soundtrack: Audiomachine – Above and Beyond – Tree of Life

“But heed my words closely, exalted one,” the stranger spoke, an ominous shadow falling over his eyes. His voice had taken on a serious tone and everything around them seemed to mirror his demeanor, the wind dwindled to a wispy afterthought and his equine companion had become as still as the Caretakers statue.

“The Elders do not entrust this gift lightly, and you would be wise to weigh your choices carefully.”

She looked up from her fingertips into the depths of the visitors gaze.

“Your bestowal, and the fire from which it emanates, are simply a tapestry of affairs used by the Elders to bring forth harmony. Come and behold what you have wrought.”

With little prudence or conscious will, she moved to take her place beside the outlander.

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TREE OF LIFE is available NOW! Click on the following links:

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Tree of Life: Branching Out Featuring Gary Philip Pennick

July 19, 2013July 19, 2013 / WriterlySam / 35 Comments

Today’s featured guest is the clever composer of the written word, Gary Philip Pennick. With an inner voice that speaks volumes about the man challenging his inner critic, visit Gary’s thoughtful musings at Klahanie.

Inspiring Soundtrack: Audiomachine – The Fire Within – Tree of Life

The words resonated. The thoughts painted pictures of hope, of wonder, of love, in her mind, her heart, her soul.

The revelation of the moment, grew within and without. The Tree of Life spread forth the message. Intertwined with her, the branches, the blossoms spoke of the moment beyond the pain. The sadness she had felt soothed by the knowledge that beyond the anguish, was a new beginning that was born from the heavens of a starry night.

The Tree of Life spoke of the fire within. The flickering flame. A beacon of rejoicing that when the sun doth rose, the world would understand that we shall dance together in an all different, all equal, wondrous diversity. Her pain eased. The gift of a new life, spoken through the music of rustling leaves on the Tree of Life.

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TREE OF LIFE is available NOW! Click on the following links:

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Download it from iTunes
Stream it on Spotify Download it from Amazon Purchase a CD from Amazon

Tree of Life: Branching Out Featuring Al Diaz

July 18, 2013 / WriterlySam / 20 Comments

Today’s featured guest is the celebrated Father Dragon himself, Al Diaz–an artist, philosopher and gifted storyteller. For a healthy dose of fiery food for thought, stop by the creative cave of Father Dragon Writes.

Inspiring Soundtrack: Audiomachine – Solstice Sun – Tree of Life

Her raced heart drummed in her ears. The twig grew faster at her touch. “Life.” She gasped, enraptured by the miracle she was witnessing. The flowery scent filled her senses.

She touched the tip of a branch, another twig emerged. Giggling, she tapped a couple of branches with the same results. She laughed and spun on her heels, her arms raised to the sky. She had the power of life in her hand!

She danced around the tree, leaving a trail of green after her touch. The more blossoms she saw, the more excited she became. “When the Wise Elders entrusted me with the mission to turn the Tree of Ages into the Tree of Life, I never thought it would be this easy.” Her fingertip stung and the starlight twinkled. “Oh, it hurts now.”

“Zoe, the act of giving life is anything but easy. It involves effort and, often, pain.”

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TREE OF LIFE is available NOW! Click on the following links:

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Download it from iTunes
Stream it on Spotify Download it from Amazon Purchase a CD from Amazon