Becoming Who I Am

This week I began what could be considered a new career, as an independently published writer.

Why? Why poke my little seed leaves through the ground in a forest of redwoods? Making it big in the world of Art can be like getting noticed and celebrated as a seedling while being surrounded by giants. So again, why am I making the effort? I have a day job, I have a beautiful family, a big yard, a shiny bicycle (my car is not that nice), etc, etc.

I love story. I don’t just like hearing, reading and watching stories, I like creating them. I’m a writer. And I can’t say why, but I have the desire to share mine. Is it because my stories are better than most, such that everyone needs to know about them? I guess we’ll see. Is it because I’m dying to establish a new vein of self-worth through notoriety and approval? That would be misguided – one disparaging critique from someone I respect, and I’d crumble, no doubt. I want to share them because I wonder whether the stories and characters I’ve created will speak as deeply to others as they have to me.

Everyone loves story. I’m not alone. Stories tell us where we’ve come from, where we are, and where we are headed. Stories help us understand who we are, and inspire us to become who we were meant to be. Dare to love, regardless of the cost, and you can change the world. Refuse to forgive and you become hard, calloused and vengeful, a poison in the world. Stories can also simply entertain, but those aren’t the best ones. The best stories are the ones that speak to our core, move our emotions, give us dreams, daydreams, beg us to try and understand their characters and events.

We’re all in a story together. The story of mankind is one with big questions, big answers, and big implications. It’s so incredibly complex, and yet many of the answers given by world religions and sages through out the centuries are simple: just be, just be one, just love. And then we look around at the mayhem and feel that such notions are dangerously naïve. There is injustice, which demands justice, and justice demands punishment. As most things go, the truth denies neither end of the spectrum.

It’s our story that has most influenced my story crafting. Okay, so is my story imaginative? Certainly. Can it transport the reader to another time and place? It sure takes me there.

After many years of crafting, I’m finally ready to share “The Reaper’s Seed.” And I know, before selling a single copy that even if very few people enter my imagination, it has been and will be a fulfilling journey.

Let the story begin.