Startin’ blogs and takin’ names

Alright, first entry to this blog! I’m pumped, are you pumped? Let’s do this.

So what is this blog even about? Well, I write stuff. You know, words and things. Sentences even! The “About” section will give you a more in-depth vision of who I am and what I do, but essentially I’m an author of novels, short stories, essays, and poems. This blog will be my way of getting some of my material out into the world, and sharing my experiences as I venture down the path of submissions, queries, and publication.

Well, I suppose that’s enough for a first post. I certainly don’t want to keep you. Things to do, places to be.

… Oh, that was basically just one paragraph? Man! Writing is hard!

If I can be honest with you, and I think I can—I’m really sensing a connection between us, you know?—then I admit that I’m not entirely sure what to add here. If my blinking text cursor could talk, it would tell you I’ve been sitting here quite a while trying to think of something brilliant and pithy for your reading pleasure. (I saw that sarcastic blink, text-cursor. Don’t you blink that way at me.)

They say that when you don’t know what to write, you should just dive in, stream-of-consciousness style. Get your Holden Caulfield on. This actually composes a large part of my creative method, because storytelling is often an act of improvisation. Of guided whimsy. Of having a general framework and set of goals in mind, of course, but mostly letting the subconscious do its thing.

When the act of writing is at its most scrumptious and transporting for me, it feels almost like watching a creature outside of myself. An animal that I am merely watching as she prowls and plays amongst the reeds, sniffing out metaphors and jokes and more “ah ha!” moments than I could have by conscious alone. I like this animal of mine. True, she does not always come when called. Sometimes she is too busy batting around dust bunnies to bother with my stories. And she does not do all the work for me. Every author toils over phrasings or plot snags or coming up with an idea in the first place. But my animal helps. We work together, and when I am struck with Writer’s Fear, fear that when I sit down in front of that blinking text-cursor nothing will come, my animal gives me a nudge to remind me that it will be okay. The ideas always return. My animal is loyal, and in return, I am loyal to her.

Well would you look at that. Three more paragraphs! Thanks, Fluffy.

Anyway, please stick around. I’d love some company–writing is such a solitary endeavor. Check back soon for excerpts from my various projects, as well as some EXCLUSIVE (oooh, ahhh) pieces for this blog alone. Don’t you feel special?

(My real-life animal. This one’s not a very good writer.)

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