i - Day 01 – Introduction

The first thing I can remember wanting to be when I grew up was a writer.  Not in that grade 5 "I want to be an astronaut!" sort of way (which I'll admit I did), but the first inklings I had of my place in the world hinted that putting words to paper would be a good way to go.

It was grade 8, and one of the two teachers I had for that school year happened to be a fan of science fiction and fantasy, which I had discovered a year earlier thanks to an old copy of The Hobbit in my parents' library.  As it happens, I've since appropriated the book (the statute of limitations on "borrowed" having expired sometime in the nineties, I would think).  This teacher introduced me to some of the classic fantasy from the eighties, like Eddings, and got me started on the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and at some point during that year I discovered I enjoyed making up stories.  My first attempts were poor imitations of the books I loved, but my teacher encouraged me to continue, and over the next several years, even into university, writing courses would appear regularly in my course load.

Which is probably for the best. I appreciate the fact that high school is hard on a lot of people, but damn did I ever have a bad time of it.  I owe a complete mistrust of "the establishment" to my time in high school, thanks to my teachers', guidance counselors', and thus unavoidably my parents' total inability to figure out what the hell to do with me.  Well, except my English teachers.  Every single one of them encouraged me to write, and to write a lot. Looking back, most of my positive experiences with school involved me writing for my English teachers.

Sadly, I fell out of the habit about a decade ago, except for half year stretch seven years ago.  Work kind of sucked and working evenings meant long-ish stretches of waiting around.  So I started writing a story I'd been cooking up for a few years, and six months later I'd written a rough draft of a novel.  To this day nothing compares to the deep satisfaction I feel when I think about it.

So, I plan to do here what I never should have stopped doing.  I'm going to tell stories.