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On The Table Read Magazine, “the best book magazine in the UK” author of A Journey Must Be Taken: Playlist, H. L. Howard, shares the inspiration behind his story and his creative writing process.
Written by JJ Barnes
I interviewed H. L. Howard about his life and career, the story of his new book, A Journey Must Be Taken: Playlist, and what inspired his main characters.
I am H.L. Howard, Author of “A Journey Must be Taken – Playlist”, a winner of the Independent Press Award 2024.
“A Journey Must be Taken: Playlist” was inspired by the magic power of tarot during the Covid-19 pandemic:
There was desperate isolation during the pandemic time. I worked at home, stayed alone, and happened to click a tarot reading video on social media. I was shocked that it described what was happening in my life, especially in corporate life. It was one of a few bright spots in my life.
As I continued to follow those tarot channels, I felt the power of tarot and heard a little voice in my head calling to bring the story of the power of tarot to the public. In fact, I felt that the “invisible hands” from those readings guided me to do something creative, like writing a diary-style book, to relieve my anxieties. I wanted to write about the funny stuff in contrast to the environment of sadness, heartbreak, and, most of all, loneliness.
Around the Pandemic time in the spring of 2020.
It’s about three years. The eighth draft was done on August 11, 2022. The book was published on January 11, 2023.
I felt compelled to bring the power of spirit and the divine via tarot to the public.
I had no challenges I couldn’t overcome since I am not in this field for a living. As I mentioned, this book is the product of co-creation with high intelligence power via Tarot readers.
I wanted to model the Protagonist as a Forrest Gump-style fool, partly based on my experience and observation of the people around me.
I was also inspired by “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallen”. He talked through a set of songs to make people laugh. I expanded it to use as a playlist love language in this book. I modelled on singers like Taylor Swift or other singers who use this creative way to express love and keep deep in their hearts about this secret love.
It was the “Spiritual Enlightenment” event when the Protagonist took a leap of faith to change his life and pursue the antagonist; he found non-existent love waiting for him. At that moment, his dream displayed his spiritual world paralleling his real life in a set of crypto images, confirming that his angel and spiritual team were with him; he was in good hands.
“A Journey Must Be Taken: Playlist” is a contemporary romance book.
My book touched on the taboo love story involving a “to-be couple” with insurmountable obstacles against the social norms. Because of extreme isolation and fear of disclosure to the public, crypto-like, baby-talking-style playlists are used as love expressions. This demonstrates the wisdom of” love knows no boundary, “not in age, gender, wealth gap, or geographic distance.
It depicts how destiny set by fate could be guided by the invisible hand of the spirit and the divine and how faith could help people in dire situations to fulfill their wishes.
Some call it an “Epic story about spiritual self-discovery” or “Pandemic scar literature.” I call it the co-creation with universe energy.
It’s free-style writing as invisible hands guided me for those twists and turns.
After a few drafts were rewritten, the professional editors took over and went through a rigorous editing process, following the Chicago Manual of Style (CMoS), 17th edition, for grammar, punctuation, style, and formatting guidelines and Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (M-W) for spellings. The line editing, copy editing, and all other editing efforts were performed before the book was published.
Trust your inner little voice to tell you the direction to take. Focus on yourself and your passion. Believe in what inspires you, will be resolute with your reader.
I have two series planned: one is about the “invisible hands” via tarot reading applied to different perspectives of social life, and the other is zodiac star constellation-based sci-fi fiction. In addition to this, I am also interested in some non-fiction topics on spiritual self-discovery.
To me, it is a passion, a mission, a leap of faith to see how far I can go and what level of accomplishment I can achieve.
As I mentioned, I am guided by invisible hands. It is co-creation with high intelligent force, and it is also their accomplishment.
Kindle: https://amzn.to/4bxMsDu
Paperback: https://amzn.to/4eVoGob
Hardcover: https://amzn.to/3XRN580
Facebook: H.L.Howard (http://www.facebook.com/themelvilleverse)
Twitter: HLHowardOfficial (http://www.twitter.com/HHowardofficial) @HHowardofficial
Instagram: hlhowardofficial (http://www.instagram.com/hlhowardofficial/)
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@Melvilleverse
YouTube Author Channel: http://www.youtube.com/@ABridgeToDivineTarot
LinkedIn: h-l-howard (http://www.linkedin.com/in/h-l-howard)
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