Was it burnout? A mid-life crisis? A mystical calling from the deep, dark woods? …Aliens?!

No matter my reasoning, in late 2019, I made the gigantic decision to completely change my entire professional life. Having spent over 25 years as a multi-sector professional building successful and award-winning community engagement and development programs at organizations such as Kent State University, the American Red Cross, No Kid Hungry, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, First Book, AmeriCorps, the United Nations, 4-H, and many more as an employee and global consultant, I decided it was time to fully close that chapter of my life to open a weird and wild new one.

I used to be a wonderful, wild weirdo as a young person. I invested myself in so many layers of school-based and public arts, music, acting, speaking, creative adventures and then some. I was spending time hiking in the woods, performing as a clown, singing in bands, producing art shows and zines, and was heavily involved in public and private theater and musicals. I was competitive in Model UN and public speaking, dabbled with puppets, often painted my nails and colored my long hair as I felt like it, and in one way or another involved myself in just about every form of fine and creative art as it interested me. And in-between those adventures, I was constantly writing songs, poems, stories and plays for myself or anyone who was kind enough to read them. And I was happy.

And then one day it just all dried up. No real reason, and not all at once. But at the time, I was also in a strange place with my mental health and in a certain part of my life where I had to invest more in dress socks and sports jackets and ties than paint, chap books, and drums. At a fairly young age, I found myself as a professional and it seemed clear that I needed to reflect this so others would take me seriously and I could advance my career. And so I took it seriously too. Then one random day, almost 25 years had passed. I was both bored and boring. I still wrote some creative stuff, dabbled quietly in some art, but deep down, so very deep down, a wonderful, wild weirdo has been locked away.One that only knew how to be a true weirdo in private or in odd, awkward bursts.

So. I decided to change. Not go back, but at least re-connect with my inner weirdo, the creative monster in my belly. To go back to feeding it, listening to it, allowing it to grow again to gain some new skills and refresh some old ones. I slowly climbed out of my dress clothes, and schedules, and buttoned-up expectations to begin re-engaging with myself. Starting in 2020, I began perusing a variety of weird and sometimes pointless creative efforts, while also heavily focusing on my writing, and continued authorship as a hopeful fiction, children’s book, and young adult novelist. Of which several books I’m in the middle of writing, editing and finishing to query for agent representation and publishing.

So welcome to my website. It’s one part link-driven outline of my historical written and creative work, and one part new platform to showcase what I’m doing new these days to feed and groom my unruly creative monster. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

xoxo, Ben

These days I live in Northeast Ohio with my beloved husband, Joe, and our 12—yes twelve—cats. I enjoy short walks on the beach, weekly massages, and refrigerator-cold pizza.

CONTACT ME: Ben Bisbee | 330-388-3181