Brandon Mull thought a career utilizing what he considered his best talent — his imagination — was impossible, so he did the practical thing and took a public relations job to support his growing family.His passion for creating intricate stories and awesome scenarios would have to become a side hobby. The imaginary world to which he would retreat full of mythical creatures and adventure would have to take a back seat to press releases and marketing meetings. For Mull, a man of faith, it was a confusing place to be. He thought he was supposed to develop his talents, to pursue his inherent interests. But his knack for writing fantasy novels seemed like a faculty he wouldn't get to lucratively use.\"There are certain career paths that seem stable and sensible for somebody who intends to have a family, like I did,\" Mull said. \"And there are certain career paths that seem insane. Wanting to write fantasy novels is in the insane category as far as stability.\" After months of tirelessly and unsuccessfully trying to get his first novel published, a book he had worked on for a year and a half full-time, and with a baby on the way, he opted to enter the corporate world. Today, several years later, Mull is a New York Times best-selling author of the young adult fantasy series \"Fablehaven.\" The fourth book in the series, \"Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary,\" was released Tuesday, March 24, by Shadow Mountain, a publishing arm of Deseret Book. As it turns out, the PR job, the failed first book and the subsequent discouragement were all stops on a journey that would allow him to turn his creativity into a lucrative venture in ways even he couldn't imagine. Mull chronicles that sometimes arduous and spiritual journal in a recently released Deseret Book audio CD titled \"The Road to Fablehaven, Seeking, Finding, and Using Your Best Talents.\" It's a recording of a speech Mull gave at Southern Virginia University last fall, where he encouraged students to pursue their interests and include God in the process. For Mull, a graduate of Brigham Young University, that meant postponing getting a day job after he graduated from college, and then turning down a promising teaching job on a Navajo reservation — moves he said understandably worried some of his family members. But he had to listen to his conscience, and to the messages he felt he was receiving from heaven, even though they didn't seem wise to others. He eventually took a job with Excel Entertainment — then an independent film production company — because it just felt right, \"Here's the beautiful thing,\" Mull says on the CD. \"I go work for Excel Entertainment. ... Not too long after that, they get acquired by Deseret Book's Shadow Mountain. All the senior execs at Excel have read my book, know I like to write, know I'm really good at it. ... They hear Shadow Mountain is getting into the fantasy/adventure genre ... the senior execs at Excel Entertainment hand them my manuscript ... I go and and write 'Fablehaven.' Within a year it's a New York Times best-seller.\"Mull said he sees parallels between his own life and the story of Joseph in the Old Testament. \"I feel like anybody ... who is looking to discover and use their talents in cool ways can learn a lot by thinking of the story of Joseph,\" Mull said. At first, Joseph was sold into servanthood by his brothers, then thrown into prison. But eventually, by using his God-given talents, he rose through the ranks in Egypt to become Pharaoh's right-hand man.\"In the short term, some of the things that happened to Joseph were terrible, or difficult or boring or whatever, but in the long term the Lord found ways to use his talents.\"Mull advised that taking the practical approach, especially when a person's interests involve creative fields, is the best method. That way, you're taken care of financially and can explore \"If you're going to try to succeed at something that's artistic or that is kind of like a road less traveled ... you would be wise to sort of do it how I did it,\" Mull said. \"I tried to make it work within a structure that allowed me to still live a normal life. ... I got a day job and supported my family and then created time to work on my dreams on the side.\" Mull said that he believes people have been given talents for a reason, and that even when they get discouraged, they're meant to use them. \"What I felt I found in my experience is that God likes us to use and develop our best talents and will help us find ways to use them in cool ways.\"\"The Road to Fablehaven\" is available at Deseret Book and other LDS retailers.
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