Evolution Of An Interest
The Path to Where I Am
I was recently asked by a writer friend of mine, “What made you decide to try writing”. Being a topic that I felt others could potentially find helpful, I sat down to explore the answer to that question. While there is so much more to what lead me to who I am today, my focus will be on my history with writing. So here goes nothing…
And So It Begins.
My interest oddly enough started as a child. Why do I call it odd? First, I was horrible at it. It wasn’t because of childlike language or inability to find words to express myself. Just that for some reason, the moment I sat down and looked at paper my mind went blank. Didn’t matter what the occasion was; book reports, stories of what I did that summer, letters. Anything you can think of, just as blank as the paper I was looking at. Secondly, you can ask either of my parents, I was never without something to talk about. I was a child of way too many words. Which made it odd that I could never express myself on paper. Heck of a start as a writer isn’t it? The thing was I could paint an amazing picture with my words, I made up stories constantly. I have been told I had an overactive imagination and was extremely creative, especially as a child. As well as an overactive mouth, though I was never told it was a bad thing. So, why did I find it so hard to focus and put things on paper?
I honestly can’t remember why it was I started but just before my preteen years started a journal. Thinking back, it was probably due to the lack of people to socialize with during the day. Being homeschooled left a lot of hours through the day that I had no one my age to talk to. I guess my thoughts had to be expressed somewhere. Now, when I say journal in all actuality it was just a composition notebook. Not anything fancy or impressive. Though throughout my life I would on multiple occasions revisit this practice for some time. This journal was slowly filled with thoughts and aspirations. What I wanted to be, goals, who I was and was going to be. It gave me a chance to express myself and be creative. I never understood how much that encouraged more creativity. As I got older these composition notebooks would fill with a much different form of writing.
Around this time, I had this great idea. I started to write a book. Amazed? It was nowhere near as impressive as you may imagine, I tried writing and drawing a guide book for a couple of video games. Based on the guides I had seen before but for games, my friends and I played. After months of work, I showed a friend and we had the idea of asking his dad to get it published for us. Being as these guides are typically sold as soon as the game is on the shelves, our enthusiasm was short-lived. Especially since we had only half completed it. Not bad for kids though I suppose.
A Song For My Heart.
I never considered myself a writer, though I was doing it constantly in one form or another. My teen years brought another form of writing. At 13 years old my parents bought me my first electric guitar. I had been “playing” since I was 10 when I got my first acoustic, but never really applied myself till I was about 12. This was my outlet and music was who I was. Every free moment I had was devoted to music and guitar. But I always kept the aforementioned composition notebooks near. Like Kurt Cobain, I filled them cover to cover with thoughts, lyrics, tablature, and drawings. Thing is I didn’t even know he did the same at the time, I did it to document my creativity. The thoughts were deeper, exploding with emotion and inspiration. Scattered with lyrics that aimed to express a thought without conveying a real message, typical teen frustrations. No one understands right? Although these lyrics were very intentional though to look at them, you would never notice the focus harnessed to write them. This was all just for fun, they didn’t paint pictures, tell stories. They were far from the next great American anthem and weren’t the soundtrack of my generation. They weren’t bad though, not for a learning lyricist. Though they were never anything I was altogether proud of. Eventually, I backed off of trying to write lyrics and focused on the music, though this isn’t the end of Greg the writer. I continued to keep documentation of what I considered to be my most “influential” thoughts. Sadly, over time these writings are gone.
A Pivotal Thought
Music was still the passion that flowed through my blood. Fueling a fire of undying inspiration that screamed its way out of a cheap amp. I never stopped creating, in some way, all the creative energy inside was coming out. My late teens and early twenties brought as much maturity in my art as it did immaturity in my behavior. I was starting to learn to take risks and go for the longshots. This showed in my creative expressions (writing, music, and now drawing). Like most teenagers, I found what, for the sake of decorum, we’ll call “recreation”. This new activity seemed to increase my inspiration levels and create new sources of it.
I know it may seem like I’m getting sidetracked from my purpose, but I promise it’s going somewhere. Just bear with me.
Around this point in time, I found something that would inspire one of the most amazing ideas I ever had. Or at least what I thought was. Either way, it also introduced me to one of the greatest influences on my way of thinking, of what I thought was acceptable. Maybe even of what was possible. My friends and I were doing our normal routine like any other night. A little “recreation”, good conversation, and another long ride ending with hanging out at the house. A girl I worked with had given me something she said I needed to check out, so I shared it with my consort. We’d never seen this before; it was new to us. All we knew was it came very highly recommended and we were in the perfect condition for such a venture. We sat down, 3 of us. Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas, we had no idea what to expect. What I got was a view of journalism I never expected to see. Suddenly it became interesting to me. I found a person whose books and words would become a staple in my collection from that day forward. I have since seen this movie an estimated 50 times, maybe more.
I came up with what was either the greatest or stupidest idea ever (subject to point of view I suppose). We would gather a similar bag (if you’ve seen the movie or read the book, you’re probably shaking your head) and take a car trip across the country and document it. Document it from our point of view at least. The rest of the plan was to submit what we produced to Maxim and see how many times they said no until they gave in and published it. I started making calls and trying to line things up, hoping publishing would pay for gas and food. Who needed sleep? I came to find out I was the only one who was willing to risk being stranded in some other state just for the sake of writing my own story. So, depending on your point of view my friends were either saving me or killing my sense of adventure, you decide. Either way, Hunter S. Thompson (RIP) will always inspire me and remain a favorite author.
End Of One Vision, Beginning Of Another
Having dismissed the previous idea, I continued to write my song lyrics and poems. Very few people saw them, but these were really for me. This continued through my twenties and long after. Of course, I was still reading but added horror greats like Anne Rice, Bram Stoker, and H.P. Lovecraft to my interests. I always loved the way that Dracula was written, I had such a hard time putting it down. However, all the short stories I was writing dealt with more realistic ideas, well sort of. Zombies and disease outbreaks were what took my attention in writing. I wanted to write something similar to Dracula but different. So, I took what I was doing with short stories and began to write in a longer form. I was working on a novel or novelette, but it was going to be a collection of the same story from multiple points of view. Almost like a journal or scrapbook sort of feel. I never published any of it though, I didn’t know at the time of all the opportunities the internet created for self-publishing.
Back to the Present
This brings us to the here and now, which finds me typing on a MacBook (if my computer teacher could see me now, he’d flip lol) still creating. Though I’ve discovered a new form. I sit here writing blogs, articles, and learning copywriting. It’s a slow process trying to take it in, but I’m learning. Which I guess says something about me. I never quit anything and writing will always be something I do, though it hasn’t always been my focus. It has however been a constant and will remain so.
