On writing and life in general

As a kid I was surrounded by nature and culture, both of which seized my imagination every waking moment. During that time, any writing I did was consumed in fantastic stories and fairy tales. A while later, when adolescence made life more complicated, my pen was fueled by loneliness, discouragement, and self-consciousness. I found solace in writing. The page was a willing listener and faithful confidant, and unlike some of my high school peers it did not mock my hopes and dreams.

For the ten-plus years since high school I have been busy typing scholarly papers, research reports, and presentation notes. I'm a big-picture thinker. Literature is my oxygen, and ideas are like brain candy. I'm still mourning the end of my university career. I find the 'real' 9-5 world rather cruel and mind-numbing after ten years of feasting at a banquet of rich discovery, limitless knowledge, rigorous discussion, and other heart-palpitating thrills. On the up-side, this lets me reacquaint myself with my old friends, Imagination and Creativity. Now with university finished and behind me, I am free to write about anything. Anything! It feels liberating even to type that word!

Meanwhile, Hardship and Grief have been my companions these last few years. They caused a growth spurt of sorts (complete with growing pains), and I'm a better person for having met them. That said, I'm ready to part ways with those two, at least for a while.

If you've already peeked around my blog, you may have noticed my focus on heavier issues. As John Ruskin observed, "All great and beautiful work has come of first gazing without shrinking into the darkness." Maybe I gaze into that darkness a little too much, but for some reason I'm captivated by that moment in time when the human spirit collides with pain and is faced with the question of how to respond. It seems anything of meaning in life stems from these moments.

I'm still captivated by those stories and daydreams of my childhood. I long to be surrounded by nature and culture, myth and adventure, epics and fairy tales, laughter and wonder, and I'm working on bringing more of that to this blog. C. S. Lewis would approve, I'm sure.