While creating a new children’s book, Nicholas, age twenty-two, conceives of a new financial concept that could dramatically change how people earn money and choose to make a living. Lacking the courage to promote his idea, he abandons his opportunity for an entrepreneurial future. Nicholas takes an unplanned career detour working as a consumer products art director with a company that markets innovative gadgets and gifts.

Unfolding in Santa Barbara, California during an idyllic, Pacific Coast summer, Nicholas believes he is living the dream life. He proceeds to ignore the warning signs that his structured, success-driven life is actually unraveling in slow motion, leaving little time for his true calling — a life of personal creativity that makes a meaningful contribution to society.

During a workday visit to his favorite lunch and juice bar, Nicholas meets Paige, an aspiring songwriter. They quickly discover that they both view life through their favorite song lyrics. This unlocks a powerful creative connection between them. During their time together Paige witnesses an unexplainable phenomenon that apparently only she can see. Energized by the experience, she fearlessly embraces the unknown and begins to realize the unlimited range of her creative powers. While Nicholas continues to maintain the illusion of living a fulfilling life, Paige strengthens her connection to this new source of creativity discovering it possesses invisible restless elements linked to Nicholas’ dormant future.

The Creative Trade is a magic realism novel about the courage required to sustain a creative life and the invisible depths of human connectivity. The story takes place in Santa Barbara in 1979 as the counter culture retreats from view and the young, urban professional class begins its media promoted ascent.