Curie Author Showcase (May 19th, 2018)

• In spirit of Curie's mission to promote undiscovered but exceptional content, we wish to use this twice weekly section to provide an author showcase for some of the outstanding authors who received Curie upvotes in past week. Curie curators and reviewers nominate authors for inclusion in this showcase and author approval is sought and attained.

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Featured Author: @adreini
Steemit Open Mic - Week 85 - Felicity

Image used with the permissions of @adreini

@adreini 's shirt says it perfectly, "Insanity." What she does on the guitar is insane. What makes it even crazier is, in talking with Cristal I learned the guitar isn't even her main instrument, that would be the piano. I for one cannot wait to see her playing a piano.

As I sat here and watched her play this I suddenly found myself smiling uncontrollably. There was simply no way for me to watch, listen, and NOT smile. The things she does on the guitar just make a person happy. To me that is a true gift.

My name is Cristal Rodriguez, I'm 21 years old, I live in Caracas, Venezuela. I play mainly piano, I also play other instruments like guitar, Venezuelan cuatro and drums. I like all kinds of music, Venezuelan folk music, salsa, merengue, rock, jazz, classical, electronica and many more.

When I was 6 years old I wanted to play an electric guitar, I told my parents that I wanted to play the instrument but my parents told me that the instrument was too big for me and they decided to put me in a Venezuelan cuatro course at the Fundación Bigott(Bigott Foundation). At age 12 when my father bought my first guitar, I started practicing on my own, in high school I met a very influential person for me, she who was my music teacher, she told me what it is to love music even if there are obstacles, thanks to her, I made the decision that I wanted to be a musician.

Featured Author: @creationofcare
High Desert Trails Rally Race Photos

Image used with the permissions of @creationofcare

Today's Author Showcase is a bit more action packed than normal. Included this time around is this footage from a Rally Car Race. @creationofcare joined her spouse @mattlovell to film and take photos of the event while Matt worked with the radio crew.

When I expressed feeling bad for those that seemed to be off the pace and moving much slower than the rest, Matt shared the following info. -

Performance Rally is a game of attrition. I have observed a 30-40% attrition rate in most club level rallies; This event was right in there at about 33% (24 starters, 16 finishers). Its part of the adventure, even finishing is an accomplishment!

I am an artist, a homemaker, and an avid day hiker. I look forward to sharing with you my stories about hiking in my local mountains, and the epiphanies they grace to me. All of the flora and fauna have messages for us about how to live in balance and with respect. - @creationofcare

Featured Author: @hiddenblade
Tortured Blindness | Pen and Ink Drawing

I have loved @hiddenblade 's art from the first time I saw it. I actually submitted the post that got her first Curie upvote. She has come a long way since then - I do not mean in her art, that has been amazing from the start. What I mean is after that first vote she started learning more and more about Curie and has ascended to being a Curie Curator now, and not surprisingly is excelling at that as well. I will let her share a bit about herself and this particular art.

Just before i graduate in art school i was diagnosed with ptsd for an event that happened 12 years ago.
I pledged myself that after my first solo exhibit I wont be taking any pressures so i could focus on myself first.. and i am still in the progress

This post particularly is very symbolic and important to me. The drawing was made in 2011 when I had no clue what the hell was going on with my mind. Since I knew the root of all this, it made sense to me that all these years the art became my light in the darkness.

Most of my works are self portraits with explorations of different mediums like oil, acrylic, video art and photography.

This week @hiddenblade actually has a second creation of hers in the list of approved posts. Another author, @kristyglas did a photo study of one of her other photos/works of art (seen above, right). You can read more about that here - Dreaming Roses- A Photo Study Painting & A Short Story

Featured Author: @ctdots
Visiting ancient cliffs from Devonian Period

Image used with the permissions of @ctdots

@ctdots takes us on an adventure through Gauja National Park in Latvia. Featured here are some breathtaking photos from the many castles, caves, cliffs and rivers located throughout the park. Many of the locales are ancient in nature.

Founded in 1973 it is the first national park in the territory of Latvia of that time. In 2004 it was added to Natura 2000 – European Union network of specially protected areas for conservation of nature diversity.

Back in the days, when I've started to explore the nature, I was alone. I thought that most of my friends will think that what I'm doing is silly, but I was wrong. Soon after some of them joined me on my travels and throughout the time I've felt how it changed my life for better. And what is even more important, I've seen that when we are traveling my friends tend to smile way more that usual. So it made me wonder that all we needed was a small push or inspiration, and I thought maybe I should not just seek, but share as well.

Featured Author: @alfie-hart
British Wavesailing Association (BWA) Event 1
Time to be a film maker

Image used with the permissions of @alfie-hart

Keeping the action going is this amazing coverage of a British Wavesailing Association event in North Wales from @alfie-hart . What makes this footage even greater is @alfie-hart was not only filming the competition, he was competing in it. He got one of his competitor's 14-year-old sons to film the heats he was in. The above photo is him doing a tabletop trick. Wavesailing is just such an interesting sport to watch. They do so many great tricks while out there riding the waves in their unique way.

Featured Author: @addiesworld
Steemit Openmic Week 85
Journey, Don’t stop Believing (cover)

Image used with the permissions of @addiesworld

@addiesworld does an amazing rendition of the classic Journey hit Don't Stop Believing. She really did make it her own and the result is incredible.

She shares what the song means to her in her post -

I’ve been listening to the “80’s decade” playlist on Spotify on repeat. I saw Journey when I was about 15 years old in concert and it was crazy! The amount of energy at that concert was unforgettable.

@addiesworld has performed with a band named Briteside, alongside an artist known as Thrillogy, and under the name Adelaide while releasing some EP's and singles. Now 22 years old she is working on her own EP. She shared how she got into music in a previous post -

My music journey really didn’t start until I was 15, when my brother left to serve a two year mission and left me his guitar (well it was more like I got to “borrow” it while he was gone lol). He would sit and write music in his room and I always loved it, so when he left I decided to take on the task.

I had been playing piano since I was about 8, but my favorite piano teacher of all time moved away and I was soooo sad. My mom tried to get me back into lessons with different teachers, but I was too stubborn, so eventually she pulled me out. I still loved to play though, so I continued on my own. Learning to play by ear and teaching myself from YouTube videos. Piano is still my greatest love to this day.

I wrote my first song when I was 15 and literally sang it to anyone that would listen.

Featured Author: @chinyerevivian
Story Writing Tips - Characterisation

@chinyerevivian shares some great tips on how to create and build strong characters for any story you are writing. Any writer will come away from this post with a better understanding on not only how to create characters, but to create characters valuable to your story. Tips include everything from copying someone you actually know, picking the right names for characters, how to avoid cliches, and much more.

My name is Chinyere. I'm Nigerian. I love literature, art, nature and everything beautiful. I love to read and I love to write. My writings range from fiction to non-fiction and poetry. I started taking writing seriously two years ago. Before then, it was scribbles and unfinished stories here and there.

Right now, I'm focusing more on fiction, women, children and book reviews while developing my writing skills.

We have decided to add one #mycuriestory post to each Author Showcase.

Featured #mycuriestory Author: @supernovastaffy
My Curie Story & How Curie Helped Me!

Today's #mycuriestory comes to us from @supernovastaffy who has now gotten two Curie votes for their great food and travel posts. They share how Curie has helped them keep going here on the Steem Blockchain.

This Curie Author Showcase was written by Curie Curator @randomwanderings (Gene) with input from other Curie curators and reviewers. Author permission was sought and obtained from all authors featured in this showcase. All works are the copyright of their respective authors and used with permission.