The First Step

What does it take to be a writer?

It's a question I've pondered since my first stab at storytelling on an old Apple IIe back in the '80s. I had been given an assignment by my teacher -- though I can't recall exactly, I believe it would have been 5th or 6th grade -- and I was to write a story. That was it. No subject. No guidance. Simply "write a story."

So I sat down in front of the blank screen and started pecking away at the keyboard, watching the green letters flash up on the screen with every keystroke. An idea had formed in my head and my hero -- Marley Tuesday -- set upon finding his wife and son after they'd been kidnapped by some unknown menace. Where it went from there, I can't recall. But I was hooked. I loved watching my idea become transformed onto the paper.

After turning in that assignment, I found myself writing other stories. I tried various themes, different plots. Anything to download my mind onto paper. Secretly, I saw myself as the next Louis L'Amour or Franklin W. Dixon (author of the Hardy Boys series). I saw myself as...a writer.

Today, a quarter of a century later, I'm still fascinated by putting word to paper. But today, I no longer write stories about a father in search of his family. Instead, I try and convince the reader that one type of product is better than another. That one should hurry in so my company can sell you something better than the competition. Flowery prose, marketing trickery, fancy adjectives, word games, whatever it takes to get the buyer in the door.

But I want more. I crave the days when I wrote for fun, or told a story. I love telling my children stories about growing up on a farm. Or complete fantasies, such as my life as a pirate, sailing the seas in search of treasure. So what do I do? Can I become a story teller? Or will my soul continue to wander, waiting for me to take the next step?

Again, I ask: What does it take to be a writer? I don't know, but I'm going to find out. I attended a tremendous "Personal Branding" workshop last Friday by the guys at Tricycle (www.thetricycle.com). It really made me think about who I am and what I want to be when I grow up. I want to be a writer, and now is the time to start branding myself as such.

Going forward, this blog will become my personal diary, a journal of my effort to tell the world a great story. This blog will become my conscience, my publicist, my editor….and perhaps my salvation.

~NitroDad