The truth does not change based on your ability to accept it.
I do my best to live life in a way that I am aware of what I do, while also trying not to chase things that are outside of my control.
Here are some of those truths that help me stay in control of my life.
Alexander the Great. Even though he lived on this Earth for only 33 years, some 2,300 years ago, we have yet to forget his name and legendary battles.
During his short life, nothing stopped him. Nothing. Huge armies with elephants, impregnable fortresses, vast distances over mountains and rivers and deserts, hunger, thirst, the sea itself, the uttermost extremes of physical hardship and war. His body was littered with scars; everywhere that is, except his back. That’s because the world’s greatest commander never retreated, and he never lost a battle.
Most of his portraits, sculptures, and coins reflect a kind of upward gaze as if he were staring into the very heavens, yearning for something unreachable.
He dedicated his life to the struggle against insurmountable odds. And he became great because he surmounted them all.
“History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.” ― Winston S. Churchill
For those of you who don’t know much about me: my name is Cristian Mihai, I am 27 years old, live in Constanta, Romania, and I have been writing for over fourteen years. Also, I do enjoy long walks (on the beach or not) and I have been blogging for more than six years.
But how did I become a writer? How did I decide to be one? What steps did I take? What happened along the way? Why didn’t I quit? What made me keep on keeping on when all hope seemed to be lost? Continue reading
Disclaimer: this is going to be a long and (somewhat) harsh post about certain realities of life most of us are trying to evade by all means possible.
I am not writing this post out of empathy. I am not writing this post because I read some articles and now I am trying to pass along the knowledge.
I am writing this article because I understand.
I understand the difference between the burning pain of suffering deeply and the general apathy and hopelessness of depression. The emptiness. The lack of interest, joy, passion. I understand the despair, the loneliness, the reluctance to discuss about it all, the very fatiguing job of hiding it all behind a smile, or an “I’m fine” delivered in the worst way possible. Continue reading
Five years. Five years of daily blogging. Five years since I decided to never give up, no matter what. To keep writing, to keep blogging, to just keep at it for as long as it took.
And what a ride it has been. Around the world, indeed. 200 or so countries. Lots and lots of people, lots and lots of stories… Continue reading
”I completely fell in love with Cristian Mihai’s beautiful way of writing. His main character, Chris Sommers, is an embodiment of realism. His persona was much attune to what some of us feel about ambition, love, and the realization of heartbreaking disappointment. I felt a connection to him in a much deeper level than I’ve ever known. Mihai’s writing style just reaches out to you, captures you – without letting go for a moment. It’s also very personal that you just can’t help but love the main protagonist. There were times where it pained me to stop reading because I wanted to note down my favorite quotes from the novel because it was just that amazingly brilliant.” – E.S. praise for Jazz.
Fourteen years of writing. Six years of Amazon releases. A lot of time and effort. Experimenting with style, technique, and storylines. This is what this e-book bundle is all about.
An e-book bundle containing my five major releases. And something special. At a special price.
Jazz – Read reviews on Goodreads here.
My first novel, an unrequited love story. Classic. I set out to write Jazz, owning nothing more than a few scattered images and the desire to write about Paris. I built my beautiful and mysterious woman, my young and naïve writer, and all the other characters in my story. And brick after brick I built my melancholic city.
Sometimes the characters let me in without complaining too much. I was allowed into their world the minute I punched the first keys. But other times it wasn’t like that. Other times I had to work hard to get in; I had to struggle to leave the real world behind.
”This book was very unexpected. It made me think about what is means to be a writer, what the process of creation means not only to the creator but to those who are affected by what has been written. Much of what Mihai says here will resonate with anyone who has ever struggled to put words on paper.” – Cynthia Dumarin, praise for The Writer.
The Writer – Read reviews on Goodreads here.
The Writer is a novel about a guy, Jonathan Fisher. It’s a first person account of how he became a writer.
The Writer is also what some people might call Literary Fiction. With a touch of Magical Realism.
The Writer is Metafiction, meaning that it’s a novel about a writer writing a story.
The Writer is a frame-story. Jonathan Fisher somehow decides, on a mostly random basis, that he wants to read a story to the audience. Well, it’s not precisely the audience, because Jonathan Fisher is actually addressing a certain someone. Anyway, he still insists on reading from his short story collection.
And then there’s this guy, Jonathan Fisher. There’s something broken about him. He’s just an observer. That’s what makes him so frightening. He’s the kind of guy who’ll walk right past a woman getting mugged. He never intervenes. He’s happy to be a shadow. I know there are far worse people (and fictional characters) out there, but…
Dream City and Other Stories – Read reviews on Goodreads here.
A magnificent painting, a few memories in a notebook, a letter to his son. Paul is dying, and he wants one thing and one thing only: he wants to feel he’s in control. He doesn’t feel free anymore, just because a disease is eating away his life, so every morning when he wakes up he puts a gun to his temple and closes his eyes.
Like he says, “True freedom comes from the realization that you can kill yourself at any time.”
2:22 AM – Read reviews on Goodreads here.
“Where have you been all my life?” you once asked her. You stared her in the eyes and smiled and she smiled back, a bit scared by what you just said.
You told her that you’d like to hold her hand.
“Why?” she asked.
“Because I could conquer the world… if only you’d hold my hand.”
She lay down her cup. She put it to the side of the table, then moved the ashtray next to it. Then she did the same with your cup. She put her hand on the table, palm up. And she said, “You’re brave, you know? To think that you can conquer the world with just one hand.”
2:22 AM is a short novel written from the perspective of two people who break up. They don’t want to, but it happens. The days go by, they both struggling to find comfort in the fact that the other one is never coming back.
”I was drawn in after reading the first page. Being a “hopeless” romantic I could empathize with both characters but I felt a connection with “him”. The authors description of loneliness, excitement, regret and pain is so intense, I became emotional while reading. It is gripping, honest and touching. Beautiful story…” – Melanie Lawson, praise for 2:22 AM.
closer is the story of a man who is so seduced by the desire to get rich that he becomes involved in a world where anything is permitted. His journey to the top is interrupted by the consequences of his past actions. Things become darker, more violent and more sexually disturbing than he could ever have imagined as he tries to break himself free from his past.
Deft, shocking and unforgettable, this gripping tale about risk, consequence and the treacherous balance between the two reveals a world where there’s nothing to separate right from wrong.
And a bonus. The Best of Cristian Mihai(2012-2017). Essays and blog posts. On art, life, love…
This e-book bundle is available for only $19.99 $9.99 on my e-store here.
“Above all else, it is about leaving a mark that I existed: I was here. I was hungry. I was defeated. I was happy. I was sad. I was in love. I was afraid. I was hopeful. I had an idea and I had a good purpose and that’s why I made works of art.” – Felix Gonzales-Torres
When we think of human needs we think in terms of hunger, cold, thirst, the need for shelter, or for human connection.
Something like that.
We don’t think that we have this paradoxical relationship with death… our own brevity scares us so much that we want at least a small part of us to endure… we want to stand at the edge of the abyss and shout out at the darkness that our own mortality will not diminish our light…
We also feel most alive when closest to death. Continue reading
First of all, I’d like to thank everyone who ordered anything from my e-store last night and today.
As you probably know if you read this post, we’re close to reaching order number 1000.
So, I thought of hosting a giveaway, so we can reach this number faster.
Two prizes:
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE AND PARTICIPATE IN THE GIVEAWAY
P.S. Any product is eligible, including the programs from The Art of Blogging, or the e-books, not just the advertising.
P.S.2 You get an invoice after your purchase, and you know what number your order is, so you can time different purchases to have a better chance at winning
“The one perfectly divine thing, the one glimpse of God’s paradise given on earth, is to fight a losing battle – and not lose it.”
Life is a war.
You have to fight to get what you want, you have to fight to become the person you want to be. You have to fight to put food on the table, to be fit, to accomplish goals, to take care of your body.
The hustle, as they say, never ends.
Of course, you might be inclined to use one of life’s many crutches: to have someone else take care of your needs, to dream of retirement, to dream of winning the lottery or reaching Heaven. Continue reading
“People only give value to a thing if they have, at some point, been uncertain as to whether or not they’ll get it.”
― The Winner Stands Alone
I often say that it’s the struggle that pleases us, not the victory. That we must fight to get what we want, and that what we do not fight for never lasts.
We often forget about the sacrifices we must make to get what we want. We focus on what we are, what we are not, on what other people say or think or do. We focus on the tools we need, on funds, on whether or not others believe in us. We focus on the reward, on the journey, on the setbacks and failures. We focus on everything but this: Continue reading
Hi guys,
As you probably know, I am a full time blogger, which means that I make my living through my blogs.
That being said, I am setting up a budget for 2020, and selling advertising space for the entire year at a heavy discount.
If you become a sponsor for 2020, you will get:
The cost? Well, usually, 12 reblogs would cost at least 720 dollars if purchased separately. The sponsored posts? Add another 360 dollars. That’s 1,080 dollars if you were to purchase a reblog and a sponsored post each month.
But what if you purchase all of these right away by becoming a sponsor for 2020?
Well, the cost would be only $349.99. Today only, the price is $249.99. That’s it. Yup. Today only, you pay $249.99 for an entire year of advertising, and save over 75%.
Isn’t that a great deal?
If you want to become a sponsor for 2020, help me keep this blog alive, and also get more readers, you can purchase the last spot left on my e-store here.
As usual, payments are secured via PayPal.
Are unpublished writers necessarily artists in the ideal sense? Or might their speculative efforts also serve a practical purpose by promoting their very survival? Words, like other symbolic toolsets, allow people to understand their environment just as cave paintings aided primitive man. Whether a particular understanding is sound or unsound remains a matter for debate, but understanding itself surely acts as a control mechanism, individually and as Foucault posited, collectively.
In the process of writing I address paradoxes, explore memories, and shape ideas. How my words might fit into a marketplace comes as an afterthought. This approach, widely considered impractical, has led me to self-publish, an endeavor that did not escape my scrutiny. Why bother, I mused, especially when information has never been more readily available? And despite the usefulness of words, why make a lifestyle out of them? Both questions are worthy of entire books but can be…
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