I figure it's only fitting to have my first blog ever about how I got here. Here meaning, here at this moment writing at my desk on a blog I thought I'd never have.
I come from a family where the divorce rate is four out of five and all the mothers have custody over their offspring. My aunts and mother all employ different parenting styles: The Tight Leash 1 (never allowed to go out), The Tight Leash 2 (you must call me every hour), Free Range (do whatever you want, just be responsible), and Abandonment (I know I gave birth to you, but I'm just going to move across country and leave you here so I can go live with my internet boyfriend who I have never met before).
My mother was a huge fan of the Tight Leash 1 method. I was never allowed to go out with friends when I was younger. It wasn't until 10th grade when I finally began to lie to my mother about where I was going and what I was doing that I actually made friends and hung out.
So, what did I do prior to all my pent-up shenanigans in 10th grade? Well, if you haven't guessed from the title of this blog then you must have some logic issues.
I read. I read a lot. I read fantasy and science fiction books. I was always reading something when I was younger and even now, I am always reading (several books at a time if you can believe it, and no, it is not impossible). And, from all the imaginary ideas I consumed from the books I read, I began to make my own characters. From there I made a world they belonged in. I created situations they needed to deal with. I became a writer at the age of nine.
Unfortunately, I don't have anything from way back then. My teachers and professors had a habit of not returning creative writing assignments... Odd...
But, I also have a long standing love-hate relationship with computers. Before laptops and USB storage units where as common as they are now, I did type my stories on a DELL desktop. Did I expect my desktop to get a virus from the crappy dial-up service that was our only option at the time? No, I did not. And, because I did not expect that to happen, I did not save my work on a floppy disk. So, what happened when the only solution to fix the sick desktop was to erase the entire memory board? I LOST EVERYTHING.
I don't know about other creative persons, but when I lose a piece of work, I feel like I literally lost a tiny piece of my soul. No, I am not exaggerating. A crappy desktop and virus had ruined my life two more times after the above mentioned experience. And, each time, I lost a piece of myself. It's not easy to recover what was lost. When you create something, you put your heart into it and a fragment of your soul flows into your piece. Your achieve a sense of accomplishment, a sense of immortality- you are leaving your mark to be remembered and known, to express yourself. For an artist to lose something of theirs (not sell or given away, lose), it's like being thrown into the abyss, not knowing where to go or what to do. You can't heal the loss of a piece of your soul. You just learn to deal with it.
So I'm dealing with it. I now have a MACBOOK and five USB storage units so a virus and crappy computer will never ruin my life ever again. Take that you immature computer nerds who had nothing better to do with your life than create viruses to ruin other people's lives! You can hurt me no more! (Hopefully.... these losers are clever...)
So, why fantasy and science fiction or just fictional stories in general? Easy answer: Reality is depressing and boring enough. I live in life. It's not fun or exciting. A dragon egg isn't going to appear in my house, my carpet isn't going to suddenly develop floating powers, and my ring doesn't rule them all. I didn't grow up in a warm and happy household. I hated school. I work forty hour weeks to just barely survive. And, I live in a world where war over a stupid issue is an ocean away. So, the real question is: Why would I NOT read fantasy and fiction books to escape this less than pleasant world?
Fantasy and fiction stories allow one to escape and go on adventures that are not possible. They can help a person grow and mature in a safe way. Fantasy and fiction books are for me what movies, cartoons, videogames, extreme sports, and television series are for other people.
Now, I'm not delusional and I don't see imaginary characters or things. I simply read about them and write about them because it makes me happy and calms my inner being- otherwise I would be out there becoming a serial mass murderer.
So, there you have it. The long version of how I came to be here writing this blog. But, I also want to give a shout out to the customer that is basically the reason I am here attempting to get myself out there by blogging. He is a customer of mine that I see when I work on Sundays in his neon green bicycle outfit getting a breakfast sandwich in a bag. I'm sorry I don't know your name, but I want to thank you for taking an interest in me and what I do. Thank you.
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