Jason Ludwig – writer, illustrator, artist, car salesman

Jason Ludwig sells cars. But he’s no ordinary car salesman. When he invited my wife and I into his office to begin the excruciating game of “offer, counter offer, let me talk to my manager and see what we can do, what will it take to put you behind the wheel of this car today”,  it took all of two minutes for him to utterly demolish the negative stereotype of the pushy car salesman. How? He listened more than he talked. Imagine that. He asked questions and listened to the answers. That impressed  me. While he was going over some details with my wife, my mind wandered. It does that. I looked around and noticed the pictures on the wall next to his chair. . . his wife and new baby, a few motivational phrases pinned to the wall and on his desk two stacks of business cards.

Two Stacks of Business Cards?

I grabbed one from each stack. I put his car salesman business card in my pocket and began to read the other one (shown here on the right).  While he talked to my wife about moon roofs, Bluetooth, power this and power that, I pulled out my iPhone, accepted the invitation on his card and logged onto his Facebook profile. Jason Ludwig, it seems, has another life. . . a life full of creativity, imagination, and an almost otherworldly talent for illustration and storytelling.

A Most Unusual Test Drive

With my wife at the wheel, we pulled out of the dealership and onto the highway for a test drive. When we were safely out of traffic I turned to Jason in the back seat and said “tell me about your other life.” By the look on his face I figured he didn’t get asked that a lot. So during a most unusual test drive, here’s what I learned about a most unusual car salesman. Jason studied at the Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, Massachusetts. I won’t attempt to describe his illustrations with words. See for yourself:

See what I mean ? Can your car salesman do that?

Reality Comes Calling

Jason Ludwig burning the midnight oil.

Jason Ludwig is firmly rooted in reality – rare for someone with such finely tuned artistic sensibilities. He wanted to be an illustrator, and could have been a great one, but when the only response to his resume came from an auto dealership, instead of getting angry, he got busy. He has been selling cars for the past six years. He’s very good at it. But what’s  really impressive is the ease and grace with which he accepted the dictates of reality and simply did what he had to do. No whining, no complaining. And here’s the best part. Despite the hours he spends at the dealership, he has managed, somehow, to find time for his other great love and remarkable talent – writing. How fortunate for us!

Move Over Tolkien and Rowling

Jason wrote a book (Kindle only at the moment) called A Viakov’s Tale, which he promises will be the first in a trilogy. The tale follows the adventures of Abnayrn, a young member of the Viakov, the black bearfolk of Nith. You know that feeling you get when you’ve found a book that grabs you? I’m there. Though he is a first time author, you would never know it. He has been steeped in fantasy since his introduction to Dungeons and Dragons at four years old. I’m not a book reviewer but I know when I’m reading a book I can’t wait to get back to once I’ve put it down. Here are two 5 star reviews from Amazon.com:

An amazing read! Captivating from the very first line. A very smart and often intense journey into the lives of characters I find myself deeply caring about.

What an excellent adventure. The characters are well written and developed. You quickly feel for the young would be defender. I look forward to great things from this author.

And so do I!

And Now Back to You

If you could write about someone you think we all should know, who would it be and why? Have you ever thought about that. Why not post a comment and let us know who it is.