Book Release Day!

"Seeing The Voices: A True Tale of an Artist's Faith" available now.

The day has arrived to announce my latest book, and I’m at a loss for words. That’s nothing new, really. I often find myself searching for worthy words to express things precisely, and often I fail in that pursuit. I’ve written and rewritten this opening paragraph several times in the past few days, and every version has come up short—and I know there’s a simple reason why.

My gratitude is abundant. It’s enormous. Not only for the people who have helped along the way, but for the Universe that has quietly guided me through this strange little life. No matter what I write, it doesn’t seem enough to express how fortunate I’ve felt over the past twenty-five years simply to be here: on a planet somehow positioned perfectly within the cosmos to sustain life…and…it’s given me the opportunity to create something that might matter to others.

“Gratitude” just doesn’t feel like a big enough word.

At its most basic, writing has always been a search for the precise words. Some authors seem to thrive at finding them without effort. I’m not one of those authors.

For me, during that search, the writing becomes a process of learning, questioning, changing, and growing. Writing and rewriting is the process, over and over, until the exact words are found. Yet, it seems at times like they don’t exist, and this search for words has never come as naturally as drawing, but in time, I’ve developed a faith that the words will eventually appear. And that faith always comes with an understanding that the process isn’t entirely up to me.

There is a mysticism in creating that exists beyond the physical. It isn’t entirely tangible, explainable, or logical. Sometimes it makes perfect sense; most of the time it doesn’t. Yet the longer I’ve worked in that space, the more I’ve learned to trust it. Not just in creativity, but in life, where this faith gradually grew from the uncertainty.

This new book is about many things, including positivity, spirituality, religion, aging, a daunting leukemia diagnosis, the recovery from a traumatic brain injury, and a transcending cross-country journey following 9/11. A trip that at its surface felt like an escape, yet slowly became a path toward something more—a spiritual and creative awakening that would shape my faith in unseen forces. At its heart, it’s about the origin of this faith I have with many things, and how it somehow found me when I needed it most—at the edge of the Grand Canyon on a Sunday in October of 2001.

On that day, and many days since, I’ve wondered why or how the obstacles found me, but I’ve also found myself asking the larger questions: Why are we here? Why am I still here? And how is any of this even possible? If you place your faith in the absolutes within math and science, our existence simply doesn’t compute. The deeper we understand the Universe, the more remarkable it seems that any of us are here at all.

That realization feeds the faith—not in having answers, but in not needing them. There is no endgame, only a willingness to follow the clues, embrace the unknown, and trust the confirmations that appear along the way. All feeding a positivity that there is always another possibility, another perspective. With that being said, perhaps this book will help someone else find comfort in the unknowing or the unexplainable, just as the creative process (and life) has taught me.

Like my previous books, this one is also part of the healing. To be honest, I wasn’t sure I would release it while writing, not just because it’s very personal, but also because I wasn’t sure what the lesson was—until it was finished. As it usually does, the words surfaced, and the lessons received. I now know the book no longer belongs to me.

So, here I am, releasing a book with everything that embodies gratitude: excitement, recognition, observation, feelings, humility. Words that still don’t feel quite right, but maybe the combination of all of them will help. Either way, I have high hopes—or perhaps it’s faith here, too—that even though I can’t seem to find the words to express how my gratitude, the book will still reach those meant to find it.

Thank you for being a part of this journey.

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A Quick Preview

With approximately 70 images, here’s a sneak peek at many of the drawings created for this publication.

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Where to Find Seeing The Voices: A True Tale of an Artist’s Faith

Because I’m an independently published author, there are currently just a handful of ways to purchase. There should be more ways in the near future.*

Hardcover (full color): Publisher | My Website

Paperback (b/w interior): Publisher | My Website

*If you are in the Utica area, there is currently one way to purchase locally at Munson’s Museum Shop during the Art Festival this week.

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A Free Offer

If you have any interest in a preview of the book, please contact me, and I’ll email you a PDF of A Brief Tale Before the Tale, a short intro at the book’s start.

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Lastly…

At the very end of this book, I’ve included a list of suggestions. These suggestions were a play on The 10 Commandments, but I didn’t like that word, so Suggestions it became. This list came to me quickly upon the completion of the book, and I thought they were important enough to share here (don’t worry, no spoilers here):

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Thank you for your support, and may the wonder always be with you!

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Note: All above was written, illustrated, and conceived by Bernie Freytag (No A.I., and this include the book in its entirety)