Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Three Beginnings: Writing, Iron Thirst, and Blogging

Below you will find my contribution to the Beginnings Blogfest, courtesy of L.G. Keltner over at Writing Off the Edge.

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http://banoosh.com/2012/08/10/life-is-about-creating-yourself/

I didn’t grow up with visions ofbest seller lists dancing in my head. I had a wild imagination, but never madethe connections to becoming a writer. So it was quite the surprise to me when Ifinished the first three chapters of Iron Thirst (which was once IronObsession).

When I turned thirty, I startedtrying to “find” myself. Asking questions like – what is my purpose? Maybe itwas a third-life crisis (as opposed to mid-life, hope to make it past 60!),maybe it was the question of legacy – I don’t know. All I knew was that Ineeded answers.

I turned to God, and asked him.“Lord, I’ve been thinking. Trying to figure out the gifts that you gave me, andwhat you want me to use them for. Not to be rude, but I’m coming up short. I’mnot questioning you – ok, maybe a little. You seemed to be in a silly mood theday you picked my skills, because you put together some very odd choices andsome that I’m not sure that I could ever use in the real world.”

Here’s what I knew. I am an avidpeople-watcher. I enjoy watching how people relate to one another.  I canbe rather silly. I love to look at the world in new and unique ways, and pointthose out to others. I am empathetic to the point of ridiculousness. Seriously,why do I cry at cotton commercials? And with that comes the ability to putmyself in other people’s shoes. My imagination is a tad bit out of control (nomeds please). What “job” in this world could use these skills?? (If you knowthe answer, shh, don’t tell. She ain’t figured it out yet. That’s coming.)

So, off I went on my journey to“find” myself. Who would have thought that a kick-ass store in Decatur wouldhave the answer hanging on a wall? (Heliotrope, for the locals.) I walked inbrowsing, just killing time. Up on the wall was a print with the words thatwould slap me in the forehead. “Life is not about finding yourself. Life isabout CREATING yourself.”  “Hmmm,” was all I could say. I wanted thosewords. I wanted them tattooed on my backside, but knowing that I would want theworld to know them too – I decided against that. Running around mooning peopleis not my style.

One morning, I sat up in the bed andlooked at my doting husband and said, "Wouldn't it be cool if someonewrote a story about DragonCon? You know, playing on the idea that some of thefantasy exists there was actually real?" And instead of saying -"Woman, you're nuts!” he said, "That is a pretty cool idea."

I continued getting dressed and let the idea dance around a little more insidemy head. By the time I arrived at the office, I had pretty much laid out theoutline for the first chapter minus character names. When I arrived home thatafternoon, I read him chapter one. And so the journey began.

While working full time, going to school full time, and still being a prettydecent mother (who am I kidding, I rock!), I wrote the bulk of the novel inabout 4 months. The idea became much more than a book about DragonCon and morea love story that was plagued with obstacles while maintaining a humorous tone.My logic - laugh or the world will kill you. And in this story, oh does it try.

I had taken the message to heart. Notonly was I creating myself – I was creating other wonderful people and a worldfor them to live in. Their lives existed from my typing. The battles they facedrequired me to save them. They needed me, and I needed them. All that goofystuff, those unusable skills were suddenly so clear as to why I possessed them.And I’ve never felt closer to God than when I am writing.

I was very hush, hush about mywriting in the beginning. My husband knew what was going on. He watched mewrite, but beyond him, I didn’t tell a soul. I hid behind my keyboard at night– my dirty little secret.  I was terrified that if I said it out loud itwould stop. Or worse, people would think I flipped my skull. I mean – it wasjust a phase, right? Like marathon running, painting, or interpretive dance (ok– never did the last one, just making sure that you are paying attention.)

But it didn’t stop. I continued towrite, keeping my new passion hidden from the world. When I realized that thiswas more than just a fun past time – that it was a dream – I knew I would haveto go public. Come out of the writing closet. The book was nearly finished. Iwas halfway through act three. I made the leap and mentioned it to a friend atwork, and waited for the look. You know- THAT look, one eyebrow up, smirk,switch to dead-pan, “Oh, that’s nice.”

But it didn’t come. She was proud,excited, curious. Ok. Let’s try again.  New person. This one haddreams of being a writer and never made the leap. He had tons of questions ofhow to get started.  And as I continuedto share, I found more and more people who wanted to write, but didn’t knowwhere to start. So the blog was born.

So, three beginnings in one –how Ilearned I loved to write, how Iron Thirst came to fruition, and why the blogwas born.

So,tell me. How about you? Did you always want to be a writer? If you blog, whatmade you start? Did a character appear in the night, or did you mold them outof clay-slow and steady?







20 comments:

  1. Love the picture and that saying is very true! It's great that you have a very supportive husband and friends. Sometimes that makes all the difference in the world when it comes to making your dreams come true.

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    1. Thank you. It really does make a huge difference!

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  2. What a great beginning story. I love that saying and cracked up about the tattoo on your backside LOL. Great to meet you through this blogfest! :)

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  3. I loved reading your journey into writing. It's great to meet you throught his blogfest. I started dreaming of writing in late elementary school . . .thanks to a teacher, but after a few backfired attempts at sharing my writing ith others I hid it for a long while. I'm glad you found support and encouragement right away!

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    1. Welcome! It's weird. I always wrote, but I never thought about being a writer. Lack of confidence, maybe. :-)

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  4. i was really hush, hush about writing as well at first. funny...now it seems i have it plastered all over the place :) enjoyed your post!

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    1. I agree. Now I a pesky writer, who wants to speak about writing writery things, and by speaking--I mean, writing. haha

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  5. I never dreamed of being writer, but I have always written things down. Worlds of my own design. People. Al sorts of things.

    I didn't do it for money till around 2000 (so 30 as well).

    Great post!
    Looking forward to more.

    --
    Tim Brannan
    The Other Side
    The Freedom of Nonbelief

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    1. Money? There's money? How does one get some of that? Haha. I always wrote stuff down, too. I found a ton of old poems and random kiddie stuff the other day from probably about middle school.

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  6. I think I might be in your club, or you in mine. I find a lot of similitude, except of course, I'm a dragon. :) I love your beginnings.

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    1. We should have a secret handshake. haha Just please don't breathe fire on me. I'm nice. :-)

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  7. These are great beginnings! And it's okay that mooning people isn't your style. You get far fewer run ins with the cops with blogging and writing than you do with crazed explosions of public indecency. I agree that life is about creating yourself.

    Thanks for participating in my blogfest!

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    1. Lol. Thanks again for hosting this blogfest. It was a ton of fun! So much introspection.

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  8. I started my blog because I missed writing. I'd like to write more fiction, but I find it a lot harder than non-fiction, so it might need to wait for a stage in life when I have more uninterrupted time to write.

    Visiting from L.G.'s blogfest - nice to meet you!

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    1. Welcome. The cool thing about fiction is that it is always there waiting for you when you are ready. I've had to put writing on hold many times in my life, but I always come back. :-)

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  9. When I started writing I was really nervous about it, so I mostly kept it to myself. I'm still nervous about it sometimes, depending on who I'm showing it too, but I'm much more confident with it now :)

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    1. That's natural. I think it's easier when it's less personal or when you are with another group of writers. It still makes me nervous with some of my friends. But sometimes, you just close your eyes and leap.

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  10. I've attended Dragon*Con twice now! :D And I live in Australia!

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    1. Isn't a blast! I've been 3 years, but I actually lived in Atlanta at the time.

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