Destiny Allison | Paying it Forward

A long time ago, a man took pity on a young woman with a crazy dream. After weeks of haunting his place of business, she worked up the courage to ask for help. Would he let her intern in exchange for casting?

The woman wanted to be a sculptor, but she had three children and husband who didn't support her. The obstacles seemed insurmountable, but the woman had to try. If she didn't, she felt like she would die. Her little clay figurines and brought light to her life only she didn't have any money, didn't know how to move them forward, and had reached the limits of her own capabilities..

The man put down his tool, lifted his glasses, and wiped the sweat from his eyes. He glanced around the big room, separated into sections -- furnace, kiln, mold making station, chasing tables -- and saw them through her eyes. He said nothing for a minute, calculating liability and teaching time. She waited, heart thundering and stomach hollow for him to speak. Then he smiled. "I've been wanting an intern. When can you start?"

That was twenty years ago and it changed my life.

Since then, others have stepped forward in times of crisis. Some of them were strangers doing a kindness. Some were people I knew who believed in what I was trying to do. By the time I hit the pinnacle of success as a sculptor, I had dozens of people who had nudged my process forward. I couldn't have done it without them. Once, a homeless man brought me a gift at a particularly hard art show. I still have it. On the back of the cheap, mass produced etching, he scribbled words that will always have meaning. "Thank you for making the world beautiful for me."

Some gifts were enormous. Others minute. All of them made a difference.

Paying it forward is the most important thing we can do for one another. Who doesn't have a dream? A problem? A down and out moment? When we reach out and give a nudge we change lives for the better.

Because so many have done so much for me, I've dedicated 25% of the sales of my new novel, PIPE DREAMS, to help other artists and authors achieve their dreams. Each month I do a drawing and the winner gets the proceeds.

Destiny Allison

About the Author:

Destiny Allison is an award winning sculptor, businesswoman, and community builder, although writing was her first love. As her passion for the written word evolves, Allison is writing what she loves. Pipe Dreams is her fiction debut and other fictional works are soon to follow.

Last year, she published Shaping Destiny: A quest for meaning in art and life and it recently took first place honors in the non-fiction/memoir category in the 2013 LuckyCinda Publishing Global Book Contest. In it, Allison reveals the truth that life is art and it is a book Allison felt she had to write. She lives in Santa Fe, NM with her husband and dogs, alternately missing and celebrating her three grown sons.