In which I give in to the Ziltoidian Overlords.

Blogging is something that I've wanted to do for a while now, however I never felt as though I had anything too important to say on either side of the coin for most things. Generally I find myself pretty agreeable and non-confrontational. However, recently I've been reading through the blog of my friends Ariana and Kristen and that, coupled with my general desire to write (and lack of inspiration thereof), made me decide to bite the bullet and start my own.  I will use this space to write thoughts, opinions, local happenings, short stories and all things in general that are nerdy.

My goal will be to write often enough so that it becomes habit, and thus will help me continue to work towards an eventual (and I do mean eventual) career as an author.  This has been a life goal of mine since I can remember.  I used to write stories as a kid about my friends and I (Matt, Ryan and Jordon).  Our favorite game to play was to pretend that we were the sons of Gods, specifically the Greek and Roman ones.

Matt was the son of Apollo, Ryan was the son of Hades, Jordon was the son of Zeus and I was the son of Poseidon.  We would run around vanquishing medusa, harpies, cyclops and other nasty beasts.  So naturally this was the first inspiration I had for a story.  A tale about how my friends and I would discover that we were the sons of gods and how we got our powers and then go off fighting evil.  I don't think I ever wrote more then a dozen or so pages (a lot when I was maybe only in elementary school), but that was the first clear memory I have of wanting to be a writer.  Years later I heard about the Percy Jackson story and laughed.  I suppose I wasn't the only one with imaginings of being the child of a deity.

Then in middle school I discovered D&D, and my creativity took off.  Character backstories, history, countries, lore, magical weapons, ancient evils, entire worlds needed creating.  I attempted to run a few games to only minimal success, however I continue to play to this day (about 16 years now).  While we continue to play, I don't write much these days.  I have been focusing a years worth of writing attempts into a solid month during November for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, for those who are unaware of the acronym).  The goal being to write a 50k word novel within the confines of 30 days, for the prize of kudos of your loved ones and a pat on the back (a well earned one if you've ever tried and succeeded).

I've attempted it the past three years and only succeeded on my first try.  I wrote a steampunk mystery, set in the late 1800s about the equivalent of an airship 'Titanic' going missing and the following cover-up.  Two years ago I attempted a sci-fi horror about the madness of space (filled with all sorts of alien goodness) but realized I'm terrible at writing convincing horror.  It felt more as though I was writing an adapted Resident Evil 1 script (Take this lockpick... You.... Jill.... The Master of Unlocking) and I could only write a few thousand words before losing any and all interest in the story.

Last year I had a bit more success in my attempt at a 'Lovecraftian' Western.  This is a genre that I really want to come back to and might even go so far as to try it again this coming November.  It rings with a 'Dark Tower' sort of vibe with me, minus the Stephen King (or more specifically the first book of the series, which is the only one I've read).  We will see what inspires me this coming November.

So blog one is complete.  Here's to (hopefully) many more, and much more success in writing.

Cheers.