Greetings,
As you read this, questions may arise about who this person is, feeding you information about themselves and why they’re here when you probably have better things to do. To respond to these metaphorical (and most definitely 100% real) questions, I offer both advice, and a challenge. I always commit to finishing a piece of writing when I start it, and so I challenge you to do the same with this blog post.
~
Growing up, I was always told “honesty is the best policy.” I’ve really grown to hate that phrase. It feels immensely counterproductive, especially after enduring a plethora of toxic friendships, where the other party has despised my honesty for placing a focus on the webs of lies being spun. Well, I’m now going to go against that belief and provide some honesty to begin this blog post: I’m entirely unsure how to start this.
Let’s continue this trek of honesty. Writing blog posts is quite the leap outside my comfort zone. I picture myself as a frog, leaping from lily pad to lily pad, creating rough strokes in the water as he attempts to escape a predator, a bald eagle with chestnut brown streaks soaring in the vast blue sky above him. Oops! Sorry, got caught up in my writer’s mind for a moment. Back to the topic at hand, I’ve always been accustomed to writing short stories, or poems about my current emotions, and will display my feelings about working with F.L.A.R.E in the best way I know how: a poem.
Tears of fear.
Rebelling mental voices.
Daring confidence,
Challenges the anxiety,
Fueling the self-doubt
That’s consuming me.
To be truthful, I’d only taken an interest in writing during my junior year of high school when I downloaded an app on my phone known as Rook – a place where authors can write stories based on premises created to their liking. Utilizing this app opened a door within me, sparking a passion for writing that only became fully realized when I began attending Keuka College.
One aspect which has crossed my mind a plethora of times, as this growing passion for writing has overtaken my brain like a tsunami, is the concept of how a writer’s life plays out. What fills my mind is walls lined with a multitude of color-coordinated and alphabetically organized shelves of books- or maybe that’s just what I want in my future because I crave organization like a madman. Can those two ideas even coincide? Alphabetical and color-coordinated? I’m unsure. Anyway, while that idea may be possible, realistically I imagine a writer’s life to be an even split of tasks such as meetings pertaining to publishing, editing and revising their content, and possibly advertisement, while the actual writing portion is the other part of the job. And of course, writing every day. Yes, it’s possible. It may seem like a drag and unrealistic, but Stephen King did it, so anyone could if they tried their best and were dedicated enough. Regardless, I’m very uncertain as to what I want my future as a writer to look like, and what kinds of pieces I desire to create. This passion started with an interest in storytelling, but has now moved in a more poetic direction, so who knows where I’ll be in ten plus years. But, I would like to have the realistic tasks of advertising and publishing (and of course, the color-alphabetically-coordinated shelves).
Gonna bring the honesty back, as if I haven’t been honest throughout this entire post: I have ZERO clue how the publishing industry works. I’ve never published a piece of writing, besides a small booklet for my college creative writing class that was “published” for my own enjoyment, and also for a grade. However, from a professional standpoint and for monetary gain, I’ve never published anything. From the surface, it may seem as simple as pressing the metaphorical big red button labeled “PUBLISH”, that sits beside every writer’s desk for when they finish a piece of writing. But I picture it as a blurred mesh of meetings about advertising, setting up locations for in-person appearances with possible signings, and how much monetary value the book may have. To reiterate, I don’t have a clue how this process works. It could be quite complicated on the inside and appear much simpler to an outsider.
So…what else is there to say? I took a leap of faith outside my comfort zone and decided to try something new. I’m not exactly sure where this escapade will lead me, but I’m quite intrigued to see how it unfolds in the coming days, as I type away at this keyboard as fast as a cheetah darting through a burning hot savannah. I might just spend the entire summer stressing over blog posts. (Not what I believe will actually happen, but it’s a possibility). With that, umm…how do you end a blog post? Hello? Anyone? Right…just me.
Nathan. The New F.L.A.R.E Intern.