Some Thoughts

Okay, it's been, like, a while since I posted, and I need to get a groove going with this blog.  Within next week, I'll have a post about revision.  For now however, I wanted to cover some things that have been going on in my life.

Writing has been on a bit of an up and down trip lately.  School, friends, work, emotions, yadda yadda yadda.  Fresh writing has been a bit hard to come across.  However, I've had plenty of time to revise some material I have written.  I revised four pieces I thought touched base on four different genres quite well.  One in sci-fi, one in horror, another in drama, and thriller.  I have to say, I enjoyed reviewing these pieces because they provided me with challenges in different forms.  One thing I have been asked a lot, mostly by those outside school of course, is what I like to write the most.  The answer is tough because I can't give a straight forward answer.  I mean, I grew up trying to write horror based material, feeling that was where my calling was.  I guess in a fundamental aspect, that is where I have most experience.  But writing has changed a lot for me over the past year.  I used to write genre based material, sci-fi/horror, because that was where I felt my writing skills were best.  But since taking a class in Creative Writing, reading a wider variety of material, sharing work with fellow writers, I've found myself testing my skills in other genres, fantasy, drama, comedy (yes, and very unsuccessfully too), and now romance.

Writing has become my way of dealing with things going on in my life.  It became clear to me when I wrote the first draft of my latest novel House in the Hills (working title).  A writer is supposed to write about what he knows right?  It's really all I have to go by.  I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, hell, I can be pretty damn stubborn and closed minded at times, but I believe my creative ambition and story telling can be pretty damn good.  But my writing helps me deal with things that are going on in my life, and in a lot of ways, that's makes them more than just stories to me.  My ongoing project, Rise of a Hero, is supposed to touch base with my discomfort with where the country is heading, the development of technology, the distrust amongst people, and what the combination of all these things mean for a rapidly changing world.  It's simply a massive story, and I've already split the concept into two books.

But I took a break, revised my darker material for a couple months and found myself flirting with becoming depressed.  I decided to take a turn towards something a little more focused on the light in the world.  I had a close friend help me get going on writing a romance.  I'm not sure where the story will take me, but I know I need to flush the swimming emotions that have been bothering me for the past couple weeks.  It will be a journey, and a test in my writing ability.

Moral of this post.  Writing for me is extremely personal.  I take things from my life:  people, things, places, music, and place them in my story.  It helps me deal with life because, really, life can mess with you when you least expect it to.  Anyway, that's my rant for now.  There will be more.

What does writing do for you?

Keep Writing.

J.G.A.