I Always Wanted to Be a Writer
My imagination has always been a big part of my life. From my youngest memories as a kid I was creating enormous worlds, exciting adventures and fascinating tales whether it be with my Stars Wars toys and G.I. Joe action figures, out racing through the woods along the creek by my house, or just riding my bike as if it were a fighter jet.
With pencil in hand in school, I eagerly took to writing poetry, short stories and compositions. Doing creative writing was always my favorite class or assignment. My elementary school teacher would instruct us to write a two-page short story and I would write 10 pages. My high school teacher would ask us to write 10,000 words and I would turn in a 50-page short story about a spy who fought his way through an army of evil cyborgs to rescue his family.
The Definitive First Needle to Enter the Vein
When I discovered something called Dungeons and Dragons existed, I bought the red box set with my birthday money and tore into it. I had no one to play with yet but I read and re-read those books, running my fingers over the artwork and creating solo campaigns I ran as both PC and DM.
The older I got the more long-form my fiction writing became. I branched out of fantasy into science fiction, horror, comedy, and yes, even romance. I knew in my heart I was going to be an author when I grew up. I even picked out a fancy pseudonym: L. X. Josephs.
So what happened? I think once I got to college I got tied up with, well, college. Then I graduated and had to find a job. Married the woman of my dreams and began raising two beautiful, strong daughters. Writing for fun just kinda settled into the periphery. I’m not complaining. I’ve had a wonderful life and been blessed with so many gifts. Despite it all, the nagging desire to write, to create and express myself, never went away.
So much good stuff going on here.
Finding my role playing group, now practically going on 20-years strong, has been a tremendous creative outlet for me but also kinda like a drug. I love using my imagination, creating worlds and characters, and role playing as my own character, but it constantly left me wanting more.
I have realized that what I wanted was to do what I first loved as a small child - to write and tell stories and entertain my friends and family. It’s too easy though for me to push that aside and take care of my other responsibilities. It’s something I need to do for myself but I simply won’t or haven’t. That’s why I started this blog. I know myself and therefore I know that if I am beholden to you, the reader, I won’t want to let you down.
In high school I began an epic fantasy tale based around the D&D characters my friends and I played. Over many starts and stops, I managed to write 229 pages, single-spaced, about my world, my characters, the people they will meet, they places they will go, their triumphs and failures. Now, I want to finish it. I need to finish it. I will finish it.
Thanks for being here. I hope you will check in frequently. And I certainly hope I won’t let you down.