Blotter continues to pursue his passions

MINOT, N.D. – For as long as Cody Blotter can remember, there has been a need to create.

Growing up in Turtle Lake, Blotter was a self-described artsy kid. Drawing, writing, and music came naturally.

While his road to becoming a published author has almost as many twists and turns as a great book, his relationship with writing began long before.

“My journey started as a little kid. I think one of the first stories I wrote was a 20-page short story in third-grader handwriting,” he recalls. “I started writing longer-form stories in high school. At some point — and I can’t really say when — I just stopped. I don’t know why.”

Fast forward to 2024, and the need to create, to write, came back. It started by dusting off an old short story about three friends facing a dangerous creature. In December 2024, he began writing “Relict,” a survival thriller.

“One of my hyper-fixations has always been dinosaurs. I wanted to bring a prehistoric world into our own, but genetics felt overdone,” he said. “I was sitting in front of a blank Word document, thinking about ways to bring them back, and almost out of nowhere, I thought, dragons. Dragons exist in every culture around the world.”

“After finishing it, I researched publishing options and chose independent publishing. It allowed me to keep full creative control over my projects and tell my stories my way.”

His first book was published in April 2026. He chose independent publishing to give him more control over his stories and how they are presented.

“‘Relict’ really gave me a chance to face some of my own dragons, and it helped me heal from things in a way that I hadn't yet,” Blotter said.

Soon after his first book, Blotter started his second, “Bright Eyes,” which let him explore something new: romantic subplots and writing for an adult audience.

“It is geared more towards adults,” he said. “It serves as a fable about the arrogance of man, but at the end of the day, it's truly just an expansion on my own tinfoil-hat theory about the possible origin of the legendary chupacabra.”

Both of his books are available online on Amazon, and “Relict” is available in paperback at Main Street Books in downtown Minot.

Along with writing, he found other outlets in high school to express his creative talents. Through speech, particularly dramatic interpretation, he could combine writing and performance. Music and choir, however, remained his favorites. His flute and piccolo were constant companions, and in 2005 he was selected to perform with the National FFA Band.

“My flute and piccolo were truly extensions of my arm,” he said. “We started the speech team in high school, and that’s where I really started to thrive. Drawing, writing, and music were what I excelled in.”

That early connection to the arts eventually led him to Minot State.

Blotter decided to attend MSU during his senior year of high school after competing in a speech meet held on campus. The proximity to his hometown was another advantage.

“When I came to MSU, I was a music education major with a theatre arts minor,” Blotter said. “The way the program was designed, music ed majors spend a lot of time in the music department, but I did the best I could to balance both.”

His academic path eventually changed. He discovered that education was not the career he wanted to pursue and shifted his focus toward theater. He remained active in the theatre arts program, participating in Campus Players, mainstage productions in Aleshire Theater, MSU Summer Theatre, and Alpha Psi Omega, a national theatre honorary society.

His time at MSU ultimately ended in 2011, but the creative pursuits that brought him to campus never went away.

Today, Blotter lives in Minot and works full time as a health information specialist at Trinity Health. Outside of his 40-hour workweek, however, he continues to make room for the things that have always mattered most to him. Writing books is only one part of Blotter's creative life. Music has remained constant, as well.

After leaving MSU, he began focusing his free time on writing original electronic pop music. His influences range from ABBA and Lady Gaga to artists such as Pet Shop Boys and David Bowie, but he describes his approach simply.

“I love a good hook,” he said.

Blotter writes, records, and promotes his music himself.

“I don't have a producer or a manager; everything I do is DIY,” he said. “Sometimes it might show, but as an artist, I've grown to appreciate the flaws as much as perfection. I've always been a ‘music first, lyrics later’ writer — sitting at the keyboard for hours plunking out chords and melodies until a feeling turns into words, and then into a song.”

He doesn't perform live as often as he would like, but he has found opportunities around Minot. During college, he performed at Pangea House, an artistic collective that provided a platform for independent artists. He has performed at local bars and the Misfits of Minot Variety shows and, more recently, found an audience on streaming services.

“I’ve heard rumors that Main Street Books plays my released music pretty regularly,” he added.

While he continues to be active in the art scene in Minot, he stresses the entrepreneurial side of being an artist is difficult.

“At my core, I’m an artist,” he said. “I wish I had the resources to have a team of people to help me with marketing, accounting, booking, and the intricacies of running a business. I think we are at a weird place in society where everyone is trying to monetize their hobbies.”

His full-time job covers most of his financial needs, but his creative work provides something different from monetary gain — purpose.

“Artists usually don’t make money off of their art; they make more art,” he said. “I make next to no money as a musician and next to no money as an author. Everything I make goes right back into the art form.”