Hard Times Breed A Vivid Imagination
Born in Chicago, Illinois, on April 4, 1968, Arial Burnz (Gina Candido) is the eldest of four children, having two sisters and a brother. At the impressionable age of five, her father journied with his wife and three daughters to Hollywood, California to pursue a career as an actor. Hollywood and all the glitter it had to offer stimulated an exciting environment for storytelling and imagination. However, anyone who has been in the Entertainment Industry knows what a hard road it paves and not very many families survive the tumultuous experience. Arial's family was no exception to the rule. The marriage broke apart and Arial's mother took the girls back to Chicago to start again. Life for the three girls was a tough one. They experienced various phases of poverty, abuse, and that included time they spent in a foster home in Southern California. Not until their high school years did things begin to "normalize" in their life--as much as that was possible. It was at that time that Arial's mother married again and a new baby brother was on the scene. But hard times are not without any benefits. Such environments frequently breed vivid imaginations and that's where stories are born!
Finding A Voice
Arial's first literary project was a play she wrote in second grade about a possom who befriended a hedgehog - performed by her and two other classmates. She continued with stories scribbled in school notebooks throughout her elementary years and then in high school, she began to take writing seriously by enrolling in English and creative writing courses. Choose Your Own Adventure and Fantasy Fighting Gamebooks fueled her imagination for fantasy, where she began penning the beginnings of Dragon's Claw and became inspired by Ariel, Steven R. Boyett's fantasy apocalyptic adventure about a Unicorn and a young man named Pete. (Incidentally, that's where the pen name Arial came from, changed to be numerologically aligned with her birthdate.) As for most writers, finding her voice in literature was a lot like fumbling around in the dark for something--she knew it was there, it was a clumsy task, and she couldn't quite put her hands on it. Arial and her sisters were fans of Sting and The Police. Sting's song "Moon Over Bourbon Street" inspired the girls to read Anne Rice's novel "Interview With The Vampire" on which the song was based. THAT was the seed that sprouted a creative garden of poetry and prose from the girls and allowed Arial to find her voice. Each of the girls eventually went off in their own directions based on their diverse personalities...and Arial's led to paranormal, fantasy and historical romance.
Today
Arial is living in Rancho Cucamonga , California, (just outside of the Los Angeles area) with her soul mate DeWayne...and enjoying everything this world has to offer--especially the beautiful mountains they wake up to every morning...and an ocassional trip to the beach. Their favorite time to visit the beach is at night - a humbling experience that puts life into perspective. Her favorite foods are Mexican, Italian, Sushi, and Chinese. Her "totem" (or magickal animal she has a heart for that symbolize her own good fortune) is the Unicorn. Arial is Wiccan by faith, Gypsy by heritage, and joyful at heart. (The picture above was digitally altered by Arial for positive visualization in seeing herself at her book signing of her first novel.)
She invites you to visit her other web sites:
Enchanted Woodz - A world of magick expressed in wood!
Burning Me Timbers - A world of PIRATES expressed in wood!
Enchanted Tutoring - Helping people unlock the magic of their minds for over 15 years! Tutoring and training through our ONLINE classroom!
The M.A.G.E. Foundation - Magical Animals Goodwill Education Foundation - Making the world a safer place for all magical animals!
MY UBIQUITOUS UNICORN
By Arial Burnz
Your purity and innocence
Enchant my soul and heart.
Mystical and magical,
You weave a work of art.
You gallop through my dreams at night
And haunt my mind all day;
But I wanted more than just a thought.
I had to make you stay.
I thought of ways to make you real,
Breathe life into the myth.
Pictures, pins, stuffed animals...
Nothing seemed to fit.
And then I found the perfect way
To make your image last.
I went and had you tattooed on
The right cheek of my arse.
Not a masterpiece...but humorous nonetheless...and true! ;)