The Beginning

If you had asked me 6 months ago, hell even 6 weeks ago, the idea of me even reading a book let alone writing one would’ve been laughable. And not just by me, but by pretty much anyone that knew me. And yet, here I sit, typing out this first blog post documenting my path of putting words on paper and maybe doing something with them. I don’t know if I will ever get a full book written, or even if I do if I will get that book published. But what I do know is that for the better part of two decades, I’ve had several ideas swirling around in my head and now I’m giving them their moment in the sun.

How did I get to this point? That’s a valid question that I even ask myself some days as I work on this endeavor. I have been a huge fan of the fantasy genre ever since I was kid. But I was an only child and never really fit into any one group, so I didn’t have that core group of friends that would gather weekly to play Dungeons & Dragons or Magic: The Gathering like you so often hear about in the backgrounds of fantasy writers.

I played sports, mostly hockey, and excelled at academics - but I had teachers telling me I had to cut sports and focus on school, and coaches telling me I needed to focus on sports. I was never going to make hockey (or any sport really) a long-term success, but I loved it. I didn’t care to hang out with the kids who were at the top of our class academically, even if I was in all the same classes, so I floated through my teens and high school. Bouncing between cliques, never a main member, but getting along with all of them, I picked the bits and pieces that allowed me to carry conversations without having to spend too much time on anything.

Enter the movies!

I was never much of a reader, probably because I was slower than average and my comprehension was never that great. I could read a chapter and have no idea what I read if someone asked me 5 minutes later. But movies, oh those were much better. Easier to remember and much shorter than reading the book, I would find hours upon hours of both entertainment and knowledge building for the various friends circles I was floating through at that point in my life.

Don’t take this to mean that I am against reading. I’m not. Far from it. It just wasn’t at the top of my priority list when I was contemplating things to do with my spare time. I love Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan series, Mark Lawrence’s The Broken Empire trilogy is outstanding, and while I’m not sure I’ll read the last books if they ever do get published, I am current on G.R.R.M.’s A Song of Ice and Fire series.

If I may quote myself from earlier in this post, “And yet, here I sit.”

I should probably get to the “why” of the matter at this point. As I mentioned in my opener, I have had ideas for a fantasy story in my head for years and they probably would’ve stayed there, except for one reason. My kids.

My daughter is a clever, funny, sweet little girl who loves everything Daddy does. My son just thinks life is exciting, every part of it - especially if it involves food. One thing both of my kids really enjoy is watching me play video games, one of which is a fantasy role-playing game (RPG). Seeing the awe and joy on their faces as they watch my character change shapes, summon dragons, and fight “the bad guys” makes me the happiest dad on the planet.

Who knows if they’ll ever get into fantasy as a hobby or preferred genre. But for right now, they love “moving my guy when he goes to his home” and using their imagination to create stories about what my characters are doing as I explore the world.

So I’m doing this for them. Not because I think I will write a book and they’ll be proud of it - hell, even if I do publish it in the next few years neither of them will be able to read it for several more years still. Maybe I will just print whatever materializes and leave them for the kids to enjoy when they get older. Maybe nothing gets printed and I just use this as a temporary outlet before moving on. Or maybe I publish my ideas and see where it goes.

Only time will tell...