Why I Write

In my short life I've often been asked the question "Why do you write?". Usually this question comes from someone older than I who, having worked their fingers to the bone at a job they don't care much for but sees no point in "silly" dream-chasing, wants to point out the fallacy of such endeavours.

I wish I was of brilliant enough mind to come up with the quote by Michele Shea I posted earlier this morning.

"Creativity is...seeing something that doesn't exist already. You need to find out how you can bring it into being and that way be a playmate with God."

Those two sentences embody my love of writing. I write to simply because I enjoy it and if others enjoy it too that's all the better.

Granted I'll more likely than not never be on the level of Hemingway, Faulkner or Dickens but if that was my reason for writing I should have long ago packed it in and moved on.

I write simply for the love of story telling. Yes I have the overwhelming desire to write professionally but at its core its all As best as I can remember, my love affair with writing began as early as 2nd grade when I wrote some truly awful stories and alaphabet books. I wrote like crazy up through middle school when, and I'm ashamed to admit this, I quit after being mocked by some little punk that ripped a story I was working on out of my notebook. My preteen mind was smashed by this open mockery of my work and I unfortunately succumbed to it, ceasing to write for several years.

As a teenager I picked it up again during my time in various production classes, writing scripts, short stories, "skits" and in short everything short of poetry (I've never had the talent for it). Since then I've almost always been writng something, even if the vast majority have been things that only my eyes have ever seen. I've probably started and trashed (and sometimes started again) about four or five projects for every year I've walked the earth. More recently as I've grown and developed a slightly thicker skin I've allowed handfuls of people to view what I've done. This I feel was necessary since no one that has ever made a career of writing without exposing their work (and by proxy themselves) to the world.

Brevity has never been something I've been good at, so in the interest of not rambling too much longer let me get to the two-fold point to all the above. First and foremost I just wanted to clarify that I write because it simply makes me happy, which I feel I did. My secondary point was to point out the foolishness of not doing something that makes you happy because someone else looked down on you for it. I sacrificed fully a quarter to a fifth of my young existence not doing something I loved because some turd in middle school made me feel bad. See the problem there? If I allowed the mockery of others to derail me like that today I'd be sitting on my hands attempting to do nothing with my life. Everywhere you turn in life you'll find people who will try and break any and all dreams you have. Don't let them do it, embrace what you love even if you'll never "be somebody" in doing it. Because afterall doing something you love because you love it is what matters most.

Because I'm Not Feeling Particularly Creative at the Moment....

Creativity is...seeing something that doesn't exist already. You need to find out how you can bring it into being and that way be a playmate with God.---Michele Shea

I passionately hate the idea of being with it, I think an artist has always to be out of step with his time.----Orson Welles

The position of the artist is humble. He is essentially a channel.----Piet Mondrian

I know just how frustrating it can be when you're tired and exhausted, but you still want to draw something.-----Ward Jenkins

A Book Every Aspiring Writer Must Read

I've almost learned more on style and developing my "voice" from this one book than I have from years of articles and textbooks.

If you want to write, enjoy stories about an artist at their craft or are just a King nut you have to check this one out.

It's Coming!!!!

Coming soon.......

www.shadyoung.com


I'm working on the site daily.

I'll post more as the launch date draws near.

Stay tuned...............

Progress Report

When I decided to pack it up last night my latest project was sitting pretty at a hair over 33,200 words.

That puts me at roughly 51% of my projected goal.

I'd have gotten more done this weekend by "family commitments" kept me from my work.

I'm working on other shorter pieces and one much more "epic" in scale as well but most of my attention is falling on this one story at the moment.

As I move further along I'll post additional updates.

Rebooting this Blog

Two years back I opened up this blog as an avenue to discuss my 2nd favorite hobby, photography.

Today I decided to retool this blog and use it at the first step in launching my "author's platform". My oldest love has always been writing and for much of the last year and a half has been spent reading and writing.

I've been working hard at several different projects and am looking into several different publishing options for when these projects are wrapped.

As they get closer to completion I'm planning on launching a website to sell them, be they self-published or put out by a more traditional publishing house.

Keep an eye on this site as I'm considering posting teasers and previews as well as just thoughts on things and my overall progress of various things.

Thank you for coming and I hope to make a fan of you in the future.