Feeding My Creativity

So, I was reading today's assignment and realized I have no real answer to the question. The question is, "What feeds your creativity?" and I honestly do not have a succinct answer for you. Let's look at some of the things I have accomplished so far in my life, regarding writing not like everything I have ever done we would be here all night.

I recently started running games of Dungeons & Dragons with some friends as the Dungeon Master. Sure, we have been using a pre-made module written and distributed by Wizards of the Coast, but I have had the opportunity to do things not part of the module. I have had to work on my improvisational skills to come up with character names and responses to questions I didn't know the answer to. Learning not only to think on my feet but to understand lore and rules helps me feel more creative even if it is not entirely my own creation.

I just today had my first ever article published in an online magazine. It was not anything special and it was short, but I did it. I am officially a published writer. Whether I ever accomplish this task ever again is completely up to me. Do I continue to write articles for this magazine? Do I find other such magazines and peddle my wares there? Does this make me a journalist? Where do I get press credentials from?

I seem to have gotten off course about how I feed my creativity. In truth I find food for my creativity everywhere. I never do anything with the food except store it away in my giant underground doomsday bunker. Like if they counted stored creativity like they do weapons and food in all those doomsday prepper shows I would have to be on there. I have 31 years’ worth of ideas swirling around in my head. That should be enough to feed like a small country for a few years.

I think ideas may be swirling around in my head but truthfully a half-formed thought is no better than a moldy piece of bread in your doomsday bunker. You must organize and catalog and prepare your bunker or you will wind up with nothing when the bombs drop. The sad fact is I have the food, but I let it spoil before I do anything. I need to organize, catalog, and prepare my creativity or else I will be stuck eating moldy bread when the zombies arrive.

Storytelling...Superpower?

So today's "assignment" was to take this quiz and find out what your storytelling superpower is. Appropriately enough my superpower is The Protector (i.e. superheroes). I am unsure of this but looking back at previous posts I can see that I like to talk about the little guy/girl a lot. I prefer to look at the world and see the problems so they can be fixed, or at least talked about. I am not the protector though. I think the only thing I ever regularly protect is my child from running into traffic.

So I am not a superhero but I do find myself drawn to the attributes of heroes. I love a good Superman or Flash comic. I will go to first showings of DC & Marvel movies. I want to see heroes saving the day. So I guess why wouldn't I be drawn to writing that type of character?

I don't have any big revelations for you today so go and enjoy your weekend.

Honor My Reality

This will be short. Mostly because I have not found a way to honor my reality yet. Until recently I was working a job that required me to work odd hours so the little time I did have I spent with family and friends. Now that I am unemployed I spend a lot of my time on the computer looking for jobs. Perhaps finding a stable job with a steady schedule I can create a reality that involves me writing more.

Now don't get me wrong I find myself jotting down ideas all the time. I am on my phone reading an article and I must go to notepad and write something down. I recently downloaded an app that allows me to brainstorm ideas in a sort of mind map with bubbles and different colors. I was using it to plan something, but I found myself more worried about the color of the bubbles and making the map look symmetrical. A fun activity but it does not honor my reality so much as create a new one.

Planning time to sit down and write without confidence is hard to do. Clearly, I am doing it right now so maybe it isn't so hard. Although this is based off a prompt and allows me to be sort of free-form with my thoughts. To sit down and write a short story or a novel requires some leg work. Any good writer will tell you that it takes time and patience to create a good story. Look at all the authors we are waiting to finish pieces of work (George R. R. Martin and Patrick Rothfuss to name a few). While some authors find it easy to sit down and pound out a few pages these two struggle to get those pages out and I think they are the real heroes. While I am with everyone else in wanting the next installment of A Song of Ice and Fire as well as Day 3 I am certain that Rothfuss and Martin are closer to the reality of being a paid author then say Patterson or even my favorite author Stephen King.

So, my reality is I am waiting for the spark. Maybe that is the wrong attitude and I should be attempting something every day, but I think that is the point of this book club I joined. A spark to get me writing. Am I doing more than complaining to the void about why I never write? no but who cares. The only people reading these are my family and friends and they all tell me I am the best. Not really but if this makes me write more and then I find the story I have been looking for in the process, yay!

To all the struggling writers and procrastinating authors out there I salute you. May your bookshelves need organizing and your cursor never move.

How Did I Become A Writer?

I have answered the question before as to why I became a writer but not how I became a writer. Although I do not consider myself a writer I did join a program that sends you a prompt once a week that is supposed to spark my creative brain and give me something to write about. This week’s prompt was, "How did you become a writer?"

I don't know how to answer that question. I know that I have always been a reader and I have always admired writers. So, I think it was just a natural progression for me to move from reader to writer. When I was a kid I would read a book a week. I remember in sophomore year of high school we got a yearlong assignment to read 2000 pages by the end of the year. I was done with my 2000 pages by the end of the first month because I was such a ferocious reader.

As I have gotten older and gained more responsibility in my life I have found myself with less time to read but I still find time to look at new books and wish I could read more. In 2013 when I was deciding on where to go to finish my bachelor's degree I found myself in a sort of quandary. I wanted to be a political science major, but I have one problem, I can't right technical papers worth anything. I have a specific writing style that does not translate well to scientific/academic papers. Yet, I wanted to write. So, I found myself looking at creative writing programs. I found one, I was accepted, and in the end, I graduated with the highest GPA of my life. I wasn't honored or anything but a 3.78 GPA for me is like asking a penguin to fly.

Did that make me a writer? No. Am I a writer because of this blog? technically, yes, but truthfully, I am finding it hard to see myself as a writer. at the end of the day I want to write, and I have an urge to write but I get bogged down by the other things in my life. The day-to-day stops me from accomplishing some of the simplest writing tasks.

So, how did I become a writer? To answer the question, I haven't yet. I am still working on it. While writing sounds as simple as putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard it must come from somewhere. I have looked at writing advice from every spectrum. Write what you know. Don't write what you know. Show don't tell. All the advice just swims in my brain as I type and eventually causes me to seize up in panic. I abandon whatever idea I have been working on and forget about writing for a while. I become an ornithologist for a few days. Then I am off to the races to try my luck at gambling. Soon I am back in front of the computer trading stocks. The I find myself with no stocks to trade, horses to bet on, or birds to watch, and back in front of the computer with a blank word document open and the cursor blinking.

No, I am not a writer I am an attempted writer. I would never be charged with writing just accessory to writing. I am the fall guy for writing. Perhaps I need more confidence or perhaps I should just quit but sometimes it is fun to see where my fingers take me. Writing is something we all do, and I guess it means we are all writers in the end, but I think the question is not about why I write birthday cards, which I do not, but why I write what I write. Which at this point is nothing? So, if you want you can stick with me through this new "book" club I have joined and perhaps some of the other prompts will lead to an actual book.