It’s been a long road that led me to being a blogger. I have many different facets, from being a geek and a nerd, to complex philosophies on life, to sometimes contradictory wishes and dreams. Why do I like to write, and what has brought me to this road of being a blogger?
When I was a child, single digits, my mother read me a bedtime story every night. As I grew older, she’d occasionally have me read her to sleep when she needed a nap.
I’ve never been rich, nor was my family, but we were able to get a lot of good books on sale. We’re talking old classics here - Great Expectations, a half dozen Oz books, Robinson Crusoe, Robin Hood, and The Swiss Family Robinson. I loved them all, and I think they influenced my writing style. I still have to watch out for overly long sentences and I use somewhat formal, flowery language peppered with words such as “therefore”.
My grandmother always gives amazing gifts. Even the clothes were awesome - I still wear the Star Wars shirt she gave me in high school. More importantly, she gave us books. Science Fiction and Fantasy were among the most common genres. For some reason, the only author who is coming to mind is L.E. Modesitt Jr, though we’ve been sharing Brandon Sanderson books as well, lately.
In middle school, several key events that happened. First, I began to keep a journal. Though I occasionally missed weeks at a time, I kept a daily hand-written journal by the time I was in high school. I have mostly fallen out of that habit since I graduated. Second, I wrote a notebook full of a truly awful time-travelling story that I still don’t understand. I will probably never revise the story; I keep it more as a memory.
Third, and most importantly, is the moment I call the start of my writing aspirations. I had not been a particularly good student. Not especially bad in the eighth grade, just not particularly strong at anything. There was an awards ceremony, and I was in the back of the auditorium with a friend of mine. Were whispered to each other and made snarky comments. I’d like to repeat - whispered. We weren’t rude, just bitter. After a long list of awards, my teacher announced the “Most Promising Writer” was - me.
In High School, I used to go to school early. I found a little hallway that was almost unused and sat and wrote poetry. Truly awful poems, really. It sort of paid of a few years later, when I hand-assembled a couple of books of the least bad poems I had written and attempted to sell them at an art fair. One person bought the book, and I gave another to a friend. I guess that, by one point of view, makes me a published author? No, no. That doesn’t count. And those poems will never again see the light of day.
And then there’s the jump between high school and now. I work on the Three-Day Novel contest most every year, and always complete it, even if it is a little short. I try to participate in NaNoWriMo, though I still haven’t made 50,000 words in the one month - I seem to always have work that decides “Hey! You need to do more in November!” Or arms that ache.
NaNoWriMo is what got me to start blogging. In the middle of the month, I realized my story wasn’t working, and I got some writer’s block. So I just started writing everything that came to my brain, which eventually turned into kind of a biography. (Don’t worry, this blog will largely be not biography.) It got me to thinking, and planning and...here I am.
Blogging feels more personal to me than other forms of writing, even when I’m not talking about me. I feel more connected to people.
So, that’s me as a writer, up to today. I don’t know that anyone is interested, but I wanted to share.
No comments:
Post a Comment