The Change Artist brings Carla Rieger's powerful recipe for mastering self change into a compelling story format.
The story begins with the troubled relationship between an adult daughter and her dying father.
Eve Ensler’s TED talk is a powerful message. The best part is the end when she monologues from her new book, I Am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Life of Girls Around the World. Eve Ensler is is an American playwright, performer, and activist, best known for her play The Vagina Monologues.
The Girl Cell, Eve Ensler on TED
She proposes that the survival of the human species will only happen once we resolve the war between masculine and feminine – both within each person and within the collective mindset. It’s about shifting the domination of the “girl cell” by the patriarchal mindset – which is also a theme in the award winning novel, The Change Artist, which is based on a true story.
If you buy the Change Artist book through any online bookstore, send us your receipt and we will give you a free 2 month subscription to The Change Artist life membership site (worth $40). This is 1 hour of video and webinar content on how to:
– integrate your own masculine and feminine energies
– be the artist of your own destiny
– manifest the change you want to see in the world
– have the courage to face challenging transitions
We donate 10% of proceeds for this book to The Girl Effect, created by the Nike Foundation and NoVo Foundation to educate people about the positive impact educating and empowering girls can have on a community.
Carla Rieger has written a compelling story, inspired by true events in her own life.
After her father’s death, Carla Rieger found the journal she had once given him and discovered he had filled it with details about the secrets of his past.
This discovery became the catalyst for The Change Artist, a semi-autobiographical journey of discovery, in which Fran, the heroine, uncovers her father’s two hidden lives, discovers a sister that she never knew she had, and frantically searches for the truth.
Rieger has mastered the art of the page-turner; as the narratives of different characters intersect and diverge, the reader is compelled to find out what happens next. Written in a style influenced by Dan Millman and Dan Brown, The Change Artist is a mythic journey that blends fiction with truth, offering lessons in creativity, spirituality and history along the way.
The Change Artist is Rieger’s first novel and a winner of the Books & Authors 2009 Award for “Fiction Inspired by True Events.” It is also a finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards and a finalist in the USA Book News Awards.
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Linda Naiman, founder of Creativity at Work, is known internationally for pioneering arts-based learning in organizations. Linda leads retreats, facilitates creative strategy meetings, speaks at business conferences, and conducts workshops on creativity and innovation in North America, Europe and Asia. She also coaches leaders, managers, and artists on finding creative solutions and achieving their goals.
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To get a copy of the book click here.
The Change Artist is told from the point of view of 3 characters at different times in history. Name actors who you think should play them plus the love interest and why. Our panel of judges will decide which entry has the best argument for all four. Winner receives 4 free copies of The Change Artist to give out as gifts. Send suggestions to carla@artistryofchange.com by November 30th, 2009.
1. The daughter (the present) – around 30 years old, Canadian woman, dark features, petite.
2. The father (1940′s) – around 20 years old, male with dark features, athletic build.
3. The grandmother (1930′s) – around 30 years old, Roma/Gypsy woman, dark features, petite.
4. Jasper, the love interest (the present) – mid 30′s, handsome, British musician with dark features.
Change leaders can become targets. Often the person who suggests a new idea gets shot down by people who are uncomfortable with change. There are plenty of examples throughout history of people who stood for change getting assassinated or vilified. It’s no wonder we keep our mouths shut.
There are inherent forces within nature to create, to stay the same for a while, then to destroy. It’s the cycle of life that also affects people. There are times in a person’s life (and times in history) when we need to release the old to make room for something new. This transition can trigger turmoil as the energy of one fights against the other, like two chemicals in a test tube. Finally, the two become one and a third entity emerges. The Phoenix rises from the ashes of the old. The new tree grows from the dead trunk of a mother tree.
If we keep our mouths shut when it’s clear a change is needed there can be negative consequences. Stifling your creative ideas, can undermine your own well being but also those you serve. Leading change comes with risks, but if that is your path then life tends to mysteriously show up to help. Choosing the path of a change artist requires you to have certain habits so that you can be as resilient as possible.
Here is Carla Rieger talking about The Change Artist, a novel about the perils of denying your creativity. It explores one woman’s path of reconnecting to her creative heritage and habits she needed to become a leader of change.
The top-down hierarchies of power throughout history are starting to break down with the advent of such things as the Internet that creates a more democratic process of contributing creatively to society. It used to be that only a few music producers chose what music we would all get to listen to, or a few art galleries which art we could see, or a few movie producers which movies to see, or a few publishing houses which books we could read.
But now, artists of all kinds can self produced and self distribute via technology and the Internet, which means no more middle man. The end user decides rather than one person at the top of the hierarchy. It’s a rare time in history. For most of history only a very few people in society got to be creative and they were usually offering that creativity in service of a patron who had a specific agenda. Now people all over the world can be making art for art’s sake and we get to enjoy a wide diversity of perspectives .
Yet,some people still live with the idea that being creative is dangerous. Indeed, creativity often threatens the existing status quo or structure. Movies open minds to new ideas. Books excite the imagination with new possibilities, new forms of dance help people embody a new way of being, and innovative business systems contribute to the evolution of society.
Here is Carla Rieger talking about her new novel, The Change Artist, on Studio 4. This story covers lesser known stories about World War II. It explores the dilemma many people face throughout history between being creative and maintaining the status quo. From present day Vancouver to Nazi Germany of the past, to the Sahara Desert and to a band of carnival entertainers.
“Remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the end, they always fall — think of it, ALWAYS.” – Mahatma Gandhi
Creativity and innovation without integrity is, by universal law, unsustainable. We see this throughout history with investors like Bernie Madoff, or companies like Enron, or political leaders like Hitler. They impress people at first with their “innovative” way of changing things for the better. But if the innovation isn’t based in integrity then it cannot be sustained and eventually the leaders self-destruct and those that follow them lose out.
The Change Artist within us all is the archetype of the dreamweaver. It’s the part of us that can re-program our virtual reality movie. However, have you noticed that it doesn’t always create a rosy picture of health, wealth and happiness? Sometimes The Change Artist attracts challenge, loss and hardship into your life. Maybe these are opportunities to grow, to learn how to live more in harmony with universal laws, to make ourselves right with the world again. You cannot learn about integrity unless you transgress it from time to time and most humans have done that in big ways or small at some time in their lives. Like a child learning how to walk, we take a step and fall, then get back up and try again.
The suspense novel, The Change Artist, was recently reviewed by Clare Swindlehurst in her Blue Archipelago book blog in the UK. The novel explores how three people in three different generations of the same family deal with change, creativity and integrity in their own lives. The story goes back and forth through time and spans from the early 1930′s to the 21st century, and is inspired by true events of those who have suffered great loss but then found their way back to creativity with integrity.
The Myth of Hades and Zeus is fascinating because it explores the light and shadow sides of the male archetype within society and the individual. According to Jungian theory, archetypes are, “Universal patterns from the collective unconscious”. They show up in stories, religions, mythologies, legends, and fairy tales.” They also show up in our dreams, visions, and day dreams.
The Greek myths of Hades and Zeus struck me as central to the characters of George, Jorg and Jiri in The Change Artist. Separate identities but also part of the same individual. In ancient Greek mythology Zeus was the God of the upper world and Hades was the God of the under world, they were brothers and sons of Poseidon.
Human instincts are one manifestation of an archetype. According to author, Jean Shinoda Bolen, the ancient Greeks used a deity to mirror every state and capacity, every mood, thought, act, and experience of the human being.
Beverly Hills, CA (May 18, 2009) –The 2009 National Indie Excellence Award Winners & Finalists have been selected. The contest recognizes small to mid-sized presses and independent and self-publishers who are emerging as a significant force in the book-publishing world. Their work is making up a greater percentage of the total marketplace than ever before; their messages are resonating with more people every year and they represent a new generation of writers who are finding their voices. The Indie Excellence Awards seeks to do for independent books what the Sundance Institute has done for independent films.
The competition is judged by an independent panel of experts from all aspects of the publishing industry. The awards are based on overall excellence: cover and interior design, promotional text, and content. From the largest slate of entries in its 3-year history, the 2009 National Indie Excellence Award recipients have now been selected. The full list is available online at www.indieexcellence.com.
Social Change
WINNER
The Aesthetics of Equity: Notes on Race, Space, architecture and music by Craig L. Wilkins
www.afamarchiteacts.com
University of Minnesota Press
978-0-8166-4661-6
Finalist
The Change Artist by Carla Rieger
www.thechangeartistbook.com
Anand Publishing
978-0-9688272-8-4
Finalist
Autism ABC by Dr. Sherry L. Meinberg
BookSurge
978-1439202050
This story came into being when I found a box of hidden photos and documents after my father died suggesting that he had lived out other identities in his life. I had been a creativity and innovation catalyst working with the public and with organizations to help them be more creative especially in uncertain times. Bringing my father’s story to light in the context of what I teach seemed an interesting challenge.
Genealogical Research
I spent 10 years and did all kinds of genealogical research, hired researchers, went to Europe, wrote letters, made phone calls and tried to piece together the story. Some information was available, some wasn’t. On this journey I uncovered so many fascinating stories of that time in history I chose to weave several of them together into one epic story of interweaving characters, places and events.
What the book is about
Fran, a change-averse accountant, is overshadowed by her elderly father’s demanding and eccentric ways. Thinking she would be set free when he dies, Fran finds herself tangled in a web of betrayal and confusion. Her inheritance in jeopardy and her father’s true identity threatening her future, Fran must find an inner strength she never knew she had. From Vancouver to Vienna of today to the Sahara Desert and carnival entertainers of the past, Fran fights to uncover the truth both to save her father’s legacy and find the secrets that will unlock her soul. What she discovers will change her life forever.
Also you can buy the book on this website, read the blog, see discussion questions, read book reviews and check out sample chapters at http://www.thechangeartistbook.com/.
