The Dark And Light of Growing Up

What's your slow-going dream?

I’ve always wanted to be a writer, but over the past ten years the dream slowed. Becoming an adult dealt a harsh blow to my imagination, which is both a good thing and a bad thing.

THE GOOD THING is that growing up taught me the way the planet really worked. In high school and college, most of my writing was idealistic. And being of underdeveloped character, most of my stories were embarrassingly journal-like. Looking back at them and facepalming constantly, I’m glad the world didn’t see them before older-me did. These days, my writing is much more mature, true to life, and honest.

THE BAD THING is that living in reality, without scaffolding or bumper guards, I got burnt quite a bit. I found myself unequipped to navigate adult relationships, and lost lots of friends. A little too zealous for the working world, I experienced burnout more than once. And the distractions of the twenty first century took up a lot of time that I would have otherwise spent writing and reading. The trauma of development really inhibits your sense of fantasy. I found myself no longer writing about secret art societies, mammoth hunts, and teleporting buses. In a word, my sense of magic was crippled.

Going forward, I hope my writing journey takes me to a place halfway between fantasy and reality. And as the year closes out, I consider myself back on my writing grind. The home stretch may not quite be in sight, but I know I’m closer now than I was before. In March I finally completed a novel seven years in the making, and then put it on a shelf for over half a year. I’m just now getting back into editing it, in hopes of starting the publication process in January. It’s hard work and slow-going, but I know that every step I take brings me closer than I was before!