My Philosophy on Writing
What I Do
just the basics
I write for a living, but it’s dry stuff. There’s no part of it that a sane person would call “fun,” although often I enjoy it. I also find myself writing for pleasure. This space allows me to be creative – I use it to present my fiction and to discuss the ideas I explore in my stories. Read on for my philosophy on writing.
Why I write
i think i know
As I write this, I pause from Le Guin’s The Telling, and recall that a story ends when you begin telling it. I think it takes some of us longer than others to reach the starting line – to leave behind the fantasy of uniqueness and realize that a voice is found in what we share.
Storytelling is not odd for a child. I wrote stories about astronauts and space monsters. I filled toy cement trucks with sand and water as my cousin and I improvised construction worker intrigue. Nowadays I watch my nieces improv musicals. It’s something we all do. I wonder when you stopped? I quit after I read Garcia-Marquez and Neruda and concluded my own words were frivolous.
At that point, I’d already quit composing music. I was shamed by words about the programmatic value of my music – it made people imagine scenes and feelings. I was not capable of understanding those words as compliments. Stricken by the certainty that should I continue, I would finally prove myself commonplace, merely a fraud, I didn’t write another note.
Again, I wonder when you stopped?
I suspect that most of us stop at some point – there’s an end to words, art, music, tinkering, carpentry, sewing, design, gardens, all the things we do for the fascination of creation. They’re swallowed up by practical concerns. They’re drowned out by our myths about who creates and why.
Many years after I stopped, and no few years ago today, I found myself on a long drive back from South Florida to Texas. It’s the sort of drive you do, inadvisably, in a single day. I remember two things about that drive. First, the highway was a red ribbon that wound and waved towards the sunset – not a good sign. Second, an audiobook of Octavia Butler somehow kept me alert. As I listened to her essays about her life experiences, I felt the conviction that I should start again.
Creation is its own good, independent of external hierarchy. That’s why people do it no matter what. Unlearning bad lessons is good experience – a chance to be “so much younger now.” Whichever outlet you choose, there is no one born who could not benefit, and benefit us all, by creation.
This Site
just the basics
I hope that my efforts on this website will encourage you to read my stuff. I have loose plans for the characters I’ve written – these aren’t their only stories, but I don’t know all their stories, yet. My idea is to present small selections from my own work alongside discussions of related contemporary topics. My “sun-baked cyber fantasy” is not an allegory for our times, but it isn’t silent about them, either. I want to know what you think about the characters, stories, subjects, and puzzles that interest me.
My team
(also under pen names)
Oreo
disapprover
We found Oreo in a dumpster at a dog park. He required kitten formula and is not keen on strangers. He accepts neck-rubs and provides traditional cat gifts in return.
Rabe
Butterfly
I adopted Rabe from a shelter. She loves fetch, tug-of war, long walks, hunting crabs, snuggling, and meeting friends and strangers.
Albit
Nose-biter
I found Albit in a shelter. She keeps Oreo in company and in line. She loves all people, and if she loves you alot, she will bite your nose or wake you up by chewing on your ears.