#ThursdayThoughts Guest post by Mike Mizrahi !

Well, we've made it to June already so welcome to the first Thursday Thoughts of the month!

Today's guest is new-to-me and brought to us by Litfuse Publicity Group so please give Mike Mizrahi a great big ole Southern hello!

Create Anyway

We’ve all got the bug to create. It’s in our genes. We can resist . . . we can hide . . . we can put it off. But it’s there, gnawing at us over time. What’s the point, we say? Nobody will see it, or hear it, or read it . . . or if it’s an original dish, taste it outside of my home. And what if I don’t like my own creation?

For those of us who write, the obstacle might be writer’s bloc. Put it down, take a break, and . . . go back to creating anyway!

You’ll feel good and be energized. And you’ll get better. The first draft of my first manuscript was awful. But I did it, and proved to myself that I’m capable of writing a novel. Aristotle said, “Well begun is half done.”

One of my good friends is a painter, and a darn good one, but there was a time when I didn’t know this. Tucked away in his home, he would recreate scenes on canvas from the photos he took on various road trips with his wife. When I saw his work, I made him share the paintings with the other men in our life group. He shows his work now at small art shows, and has sold some paintings. But that’s not why he continues. He’s a creator. It connects him with a strong creative drive in his inner being, and when he paints, it’s one of those things that make him feel alive.

Another close friend, a comedian at the sunset of a very successful career, is daring to remake himself as a movie scriptwriter. He’s a very talented man who knows his craft, and understands all too well the forces beyond his control that align to keep him from his goal. But he creates anyway! He will create until his last days because that’s how he was made. I believe he will succeed.

My spiritual mentor and I wrote and recorded songs for twenty years to lift scripture from “the pages of the Word” to the ears of the children in our church. Never sold anything, but we sure had fun doing it. Maybe it’s a new business you’ve always dreamed of . . . or the desire to learn how to play an instrument . . . or learning how to cook. Go for it. Don’t put it off another day.

We’re all too busy, I know. Find the time and space. When I embarked on writing my newly published historical novel, The Great Chattanooga Bicycle Race, I almost threw in the towel. The research was painstaking. Then from somewhere, these words came to me . . .

Take it slow. Don’t give up. Create anyway.

Wow...Mike, just what I needed to hear. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. Now let's hear a little more about you....

Mike Mizrahi has a master’s degree in public relations, advertising and applied communication from Boston University. After a career in corporate public affairs, he retired to pursue a deep passion: writing.

Mizrahi and his wife, Karen, led a mission trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo four years ago and were so moved by the experience, Mizrahi wrote his first novel, which he hopes will one day be published. The Great Chattanooga Bicycle Race is his debut published work.

Mizrahi loves reading and writing stories about “sozo,” which means to be rescued in Greek. He and Karen are very active in their church and community and love to hike, travel and go the movies together. The Mizrahis live in Woodland Hills, California, where they raised their children who are now adults.

Learn more about The Great Chattanooga Bicycle Race and Mike H. Mizrahi at www.mikehmizrahi.com or on Facebook (AuthorMikeMizrahi) and Twitter (@MikeHMiz). 

The Great Chattanooga Bicycle Race

Anna Gaines, an introverted nineteen-year-old, discovers she's a natural on the "wheel" after a visit with her aunt in Brooklyn. Upon returning home to Chattanooga, she insists on the same rights that have been given to men to cycle in public. She becomes the first woman to ride the streets of Chattanooga, clad in the risqué costume that many New York women are wearing in 1895-bloomers.

A firestorm ignites, pitting a few progressive thinkers against a city full of moralists intent on clinging to their post-Antebellum way of life. Anna, beset by insecurities born from a horseback riding accident as a pre-adolescent that leaves her with a pronounced limp, dangles in the middle of an explosive controversy she never envisioned. And she is pitted against Peter Sawyer, the Cycle Club President who silently harbors a crush for her, in a five-mile bicycle race that will decide if women have the same capabilities as men to ride. Learn more and purchase a copy.

Sounds interesting. Thanks again Mike for sharing your thoughts with us. Good luck and God's blessings with your book(s).

Hope you enjoyed today's post, friends and that you'll drop by each week for Tuesday Treasures, Thursday Thoughts and Saturday Spotlight.

Until next time take care and God bless.

PamT