Mudra Love on Passion for Writing & The Hawai’i Creative

EVA JADEE: What inspired you to start writing? How old were you when you knew that writing was what you wanted to do? 

MUDRA LOVE: I’ve been writing in diaries since I was a little girl. I would write about everything from what I did that day to who my current best friend was and how many boys I had kissed. Life felt busy and everything seemed important. Writing was my way of slowing things down and keeping tabs on what was going on around me. It was also my way of shifting through my feelings and making sense of what was happening inside me. I’m not sure of the exact moment I realized I wanted to spend more time writing, and pursue it professionally. I don’t know that it was the craft itself that inspired me, but it was important for me to express myself and writing became the most natural way for me to do that.

EJ: Why is it important for you to express yourself?

ML: I was extremely shy growing up and still am to a certain degree. I had a hard time expressing myself to people in person, and it didn’t help that people around me seemed quite egocentric and not very giving of their time. They rarely asked questions that encouraged me to express my true feelings or elicited the kinds of conversations I wanted to have. I would never venture into my feelings or share information unless I was asked. I didn’t speak unless I was spoken to, and when I did, it often felt unsatisfying. It’s no wonder that I had all these thoughts and feeling bottled up inside me and releasing them felt amazing. I found great comfort in blank white pages. They became the perfect medium for me to express myself and talk about hard things. These blank white pages were quiet, non-judgmental and unassuming. They were very giving of their time and gave me all the space I needed to explore my feelings and learn about the world around me.

EJ: Why did you start The Hawai’i Creative?

ML: As much as I love blank white pages, I was also craving dialogue, a meaningful exchange. Writing can be lonely and isolating and I find that with The Hawai’i Creative I am able to connect with others in the way that I have always wanted to. I am able to have the kinds of conversations I want to have. I am eager to go beyond ordinary conversation and dive into the heart of why people do what they do. I think it’s important for artists to express themselves and with The Hawai’i Creative I explore what it is they are trying to create and why? How does music infuse life into the producer that they can’t get anywhere else? These are the kinds of questions I’m interested in exploring. My interviews provide a safe space to explore these thoughts and feelings. In a way, I am like the blank white pages. I become for them what they have been for me.

EJ: You have a book coming out soon, what’s it about?

ML: Monk’s Daughter is a memoir about my personal experience with Buddhism and how my father, a former monk of Chinese Zen Buddhism, has guided that journey. I am most excited about my book getting in the hands of the reader who needs it the most. I am excited about the possibility of changing someone’s life for the better, or at the very least, exposing them to a new way of thinking and being. I am also excited for my father to read my book because after all, it is dedicated to him.

EJ: What is one thing you wish people knew about you?

ML: One thing I would like people to see more is our similarities rather than our differences. We all experience hope, joy, fear, and misery. Some people think I have it all. I am thankful for my life’s blessings, but I’ve been through my fair share of hardship. And I continue to have good days and bad days, just like everyone else.

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