saddlerider1, From The Western Prairies, 176 Fans, 37 Hubs, Joined 3 months ago
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Nellieanna Interviews Saddlerider1
A lifelong student of the arts shares his legacy on HubPages
1. You have many devoted followers, Saddlerider, - Ken, - so perhaps many Hubbers are already aware of your incredible story. But for those who may be meeting you for the first time, would you mind sharing some of the important factors, highlights and major turning points in your amazing journey from boyhood to manhood? You've mentioned that you had a special mentor in your youth who greatly influenced you. Could you tell us briefly how you met him and what it meant to you and whether you continue to feel his guidance upon you at times?
My story began in Montreal, Quebec Canada. I was born into a fairly large family in one of the toughest and roughest neighborhoods, where defending yourself was a common daily occurrence. It was especially hard being from a family where abuse was prominent and we never knew when the next battle would occur between my mother and her live-in boyfriend. Tough as it was living in a household of never knowing when we were going to be scooting out the back door to avoid the drunkard coming through the front, it had its positive moments. Though we laughed and cried together, the catalyst was my dear mother. Without her loving, caring, defending spirit in our lives all of us children would quite possibly have ended up in foster homes or on the streets fending for ourselves. Unfortunately for me as a boy, not having a father figure in my life to teach me and guide me in the ways of the world, I started to go astray and had a few minor skirmishes with the law. It wasn't until at the age of 15 working after school that I met a man who became my angel of kindness and who would mentor me for the rest of my teen and young adult life until his passing. I turned out to be the son his dear wife and he never had and his two daughters accepted me like their kid brother. George taught me and showed me things that made my mouth fall open so many times. Some of the many examples were how to enjoy fine music, great books, appreciate fine dining, how to use my cutlery properly at the dining table, how to budget my earnings and above all else a respect for life. He even taught me an appreciation of different wines mostly from Italy, as he spent 17 years there managing a winery during the war years for the Duke Of Bronte, a direct descendant of Lord Nelson. I have written about my mentor in one of my hubs called The Boy From the Bottom of the Hill. I started this series to chronicle my younger years being mentored by George. He passed in 1992 and I wept like a baby that day. I have been to his resting place many times on visits back home and feel so comfortable and at peace in our quiet conversations. Without this man coming into my life at that precise juncture in my youth, I can honestly say that my life would have taken on a darker side and like Donnie from my hub The Dark Side, I too would have fought to stay alive in the streets of Montreal.
2.Just in the time I've known you on HubPages it seems that your writing has evolved from being very good prose of an intellectual and philosophical approach, to more recently it's blossomed into some wonderful deep poetry which seems infused with abundant heart and soul. It almost seems as though you've let down an invisible barrier and let yourself feel more free to be and to express all you are. You do this with such ease and with no loss of your essential strength so that it simply enhances and adds to all you are as a person. But was there ever any hesitation about it and was there a specific inspiration to go ahead and branch off into the new direction- perhaps a Muse?
Interesting question Neilleanna. My sole reason for writing in Hub Pages was to write for my estranged children. I wanted to write in the format of a Legacy, answering questions that they may want to ask me before my death. I wanted to share my background with them in a very honest way. Leaving nothing out, not holding back in any shape or form. I felt this urgency to get out to them who I was and the kind of boy and teen their daddy was and what shaped me into the man I am today. So that's how it all began. It wasn't until one day while reading other hubbers that I came across a writer Charlie aka Ralwus who touched a nerve within that brought out the thirst to write. Ralwus is a man who wears his life on his sleeve, holds back nothing, can be on the sensuous, sexy and even border on the dark and provocative side. However he delivers it at a lightening speed from so many angles that you just know you're going to get hit and most times it's right in your gut. I admire his delivery and immediately started to follow him. Then a cowboy presented himself on one of my very first Legacy hubs and he is no other than Wayne Brown. This man felt my pain and even lived some of it himself. He was so supportive in his kind and generous comments that I knew he was my type of writer. He then like a bat out of hell commenced writing such exciting short stories that were action packed, rough, romantic and yet gentle at the same time. Wayne is a shoot from the hip type of writer and he delivers with impact. He captures your attention from the very first word and before you know it, you're sitting there mesmerized by his buckets full of talent. It was also Wayne Brown who I saw like a caterpillar unravelling from his cocoon into a majestic butterfly, spreading his wings and dropping the gold dust powder of verse on his pages. He surprised so many of us with his poetry and still blows me away with his immense talent. Another huge inspiration of course without exception is yourself Nellieanna. Reading and enjoying your poetry as you know has drawn me so into your hubs. You attract me like a buzzing bee around a honey pot. Your sweetness, kindness and vast superior command of the English word never ceases to amaze me. Your comments alone many times can surmount to another hub and it's so delightful for the hubber you're commenting on to receive such beauty and straightforward responses with clarity, kindness and grace. So to answer this question, most definitely I have muses just to mention three. However there are so many talented writers and poets on the hubs, I couldn't possibly give them all the accolades they deserve for the sheer numbers of them that caress hub pages.
3. When is your best time of day or season to write and do you find certain physical settings - like, say, sunrise or on the lake, to be more encouraging and/or inspirational; or do your ideas just come to you anytime an d anywhere?
For me there is no best time of day or for that matter a particular season. My writing is spontaneous. I could be walking, cycling, sitting quietly, playing my guitar or waking up to the birds chirping in the trees that surround my house when thoughts start to flow and cascade my mind. It's then that I start to spillover like a babbling brook over shiny rocks. I grab my laptop and immediately enter Word. I write like a madman without notice of spelling errors or punctuation until it reaches the edit room. I just have this overwhelming need to get it out and let it take shape anyway it wants to. I will often stop, save what I've written, leave it and come back to it the same day and complete it. I rarely leave a piece unfinished for days or weeks. I have to complete it the same day I commenced it. That's just my style I guess. An urgency to complete, he he.
4. Your writing has such a wide scope and range. What are your favorite subject(s) and kind(s) of hubs to read and to write, if you had to narrow it down and choose?
I like to write about the past, present and future. In most of my hubs I have written about my life growing up in Montreal amongst turmoil, strife and finally accomplishments. I believe the studying of the arts, painting, drawing, learning the guitar, reading great books and listening to classical music rounded me off. It left an indelible mark in my soul that stayed with me all my life. It recently resurfaced the last couple of years and brought me into writing about my experiences. I love to write short stories that tend to have action and suspense and a dark side to them and yet at the same time express my softer and romantic side with poetry. I am my worst critic and know that I don't hold a candle to many poets in the hubs, but I give it my honesty, emotion and passion when I write verse, hoping that it may reach out and touch someone else's soul as it does mine when I pen it. I am drawn to hubbers with depth, emotion, character and great story telling ability. I rarely read about gadgets or products that I have no interest ever using or buying, although there definitely is a need to promote and for good reasons. I love to read funny hubs and two of my favorite funniest hubbers are Arthur Windermere and Shadesbreath. They absolutely slay me with their wit.
5. If you had your way and could influence or change something which would make the world a better place, what would it be and how would you see it being implemented in a practical, realistic manner?
I think my primary objective would be to find a way to stop the hunger in this world and to see every human being go to sleep nourished and with a roof over their head. To accomplish this it would take all countries on our planet to use their skills and resources to help the starving. More education and resources are needed, the cessation of waste by stopping the throwing away of perfectly good food into garbage bins. Surely there has to be a way to circumvent this wastage and preserve it so it can be fed to the starving. Also another thing I want to see corrected is the plight of the homeless. All empty buildings that sit on land boarded up, somehow be outfitted in a livable manner to allow homeless to lay their heads down and be protected from the elements and the streets. I would also like to see the end of wars and living in peace amongst each other. However that is a difficult call, because wars have been with us since creation and mans inhumanity to man will never cease until there is an intervention by a higher power than man. I can only pray for peace. I can't change man's heart.
6. You are always so admirably honest and generous with your own experiences, which in turn, encourage others to share. What do you consider a Hubber's greatest obligation and best contributions in helping and encouraging each other's confidence and progress in writing?
I believe strongly that a hubber first and foremost do their best to leave a complimentary comment. Be as diplomatic as humanly possible, not critical but praise worthy. Like I alluded to earlier, I am my own worst critic. However I have great difficulty being someone else's critic. I tread very carefully and look for good in people no matter what they may be writing about. Because behind that hub may be a person in great distress or pain and I never want to make them feel badly by being rude or hateful about their hub. We all have something to say and we all are sensitive to criticism no matter what form it may come to us in. I prefer to build up rather than tear down , no matter what he/she may have written only they know the reasons for writing it. If on entering a hubbers posting I find it distasteful or it disturbs me to read, then I simply leave out of respect for myself and the hubber posting it. Better to say nothing at all than to put your foot in your mouth by becoming argumentative and or leaving a nasty comment. I say just pass it by.
7. Not only do you have loyal followers here, but you seem especially faithful to follow others' works and to encourage them. Perhaps there are some whose hubs you read first; if so, would you say that it is due to their subject materials or to the genre of their specific new hubs, or do you just feel sure it will be good whatever it is, coming from those special writers - or is there perhaps a special quality that especially attracts and draws you to read and comment whether or not it's a familiar writer? I don't want to put you on the spot, but if you wish to give examples of some of your favorite writers or hubs as examples, feel free to do so.
What a loaded question :0) There are many I follow as well as being followed by many. However we all have our favorites and are drawn to read them as soon as possible. The daily alert of new hubs published is a great asset to all hubbers. It allows us a quick glance to see if any of our favorites have a new published hub. If so, then we are in there like hot damn. I follow hubbers whose hubs spark a nerve in me with their subject they are writing on. I don't have to second guess what they are hubbing about, because I feel so confident that I am going to enjoy it no matter what they write. I have been struck on the blindside a number of times by brand new hubbers by the likes of McHamlet, Steele Shields and Itfawkes. They are incredibly gifted writers and I immediately commence following them after reading their hubs. Here also are just a few of my favorite veteran most talented gifted hubbers I would like to make mention of. *Silvergenes,* Green Lotus*, Micky Dee* , Habee*, Magnoliaz* , Petra Vlah*, MFB111*, Tantrum*, De Greek*,Mike Lickteig*,Ladyjane*,KatieM2,*Merlin Fraser*,Lalesu*,Nell Rose*SteveoMc* TonyMac and 50 Caliber. There are so many more but white space on this page wouldn't allow me to list them all.
8. Are there any other undisclosed talents and facets to your personality we may not have been privy to yet? Now, don't be modest! Inquiring minds do want to know!
I am purely a frustrated jock who after missing the draft into the Montreal Canadians Organization way back in the sixties, took up a paint brush and easel, a guitar, acting lessons and became a life long student of the arts. Never making a name for myself, however, but mixing with talented people, writers, artists and musicians over the years. The arts embedded a passion in me and a romanticism of fair play. Hockey was my passion and it taught me valuable lessons about being a team player in life. It helped me with my future careers in real estate, transportation, retail store ownership and consulting. At this late time in my life many of those passions have resurfaced and I still have most of those skills I learned coming up through the ranks. Now it's so much fun to put a blank canvas in front of me and experiment, pick up my guitar and strum some of my favorites, write short stories and attempt my hand at poetry, sigh. I long to please and help other people understand and learn the value of team work. No matter what field you're in or what game you play, nothing succeeds or leads to success without teamwork. I've coached both my sons in hockey and have seen now how the discipline and hard work as a player turned them in to team players and leaders amongst their peers. I simply strive to offer up my best and show kindness and compassion to others unconditionally. Hoping that I leave this world a better place than how I entered it. Thank you, fellow writers, for allowing me to share with you some of my thoughts, hopes, dreams and above all else love of the human race and this wonderful planet we all share together. Peace and hugs to y'all.
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