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.
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 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.
