1 step out of the way, 1,999,999 to go.

As the title implies, a journey of a thousand miles will always begin with the first step (apparently there are roughly 2000 steps, on average, in a mile). What I'll try and outline below is the journey I am embarking on and how many steps I have taken down that road; it will hopefully outline what this blog is going to be for as well.

1) Why this blog?

I've been flirting with the idea of being a writer now for some three or four years now, but forward progress has been minimal to date. By starting this project, by cataloging my successes and failures as a creative person, by cajoling myself into producing content for this site, I want to use this as the spur for me to improve and practice this art of writing.

2) So you think you're a writer, eh?

No, I don't. I have spent the last three years (the last eighteen months more seriously) listening to authors and commentators in the fields I am interested in and they all say the same thing: "Writers write." So, by that simple and pithy definition, I don't think I qualify. I am probably best described as a "jotter". I jot things down and now, after some months, they are starting to turn into stories. Maybe when I'm finished they will even be good stories.

My jottings (and my pen wot I wrote them wiv)

3) So what do you want to write?

Well, my first excursions into the world of reading were actually joke books that my Grandad used to buy for me at birthdays and Christmases; I don't think I'll ever be able to remove humour from the stuff that I like to create, even should the amusement be dark or dry in nature. As I have grown older over the years, my passion for the new and for the fresh has kept me immersed in genre fiction, specifically Sci-Fi and Fantasy; I think each type of fiction brings such varied flavours of the novel and unexplored that opening genre books always feels like opening doors into new places in my head.

A past adolescent addiction for comic books has slowly come back into my life and I feel that this is an area I'd like to pursue further in future, hopefully with an eye to mixing my love for drawing and painting with my writing.

Finally, my new fixation is computer gaming, a long-time love of paper RPGs transferring seamlessly onto the small screen. The thought of being able to contribute writing, art and architecture to an endeavour like some of the games I play is very exciting, but that's a thousand miles away from where I am now!

4) Art? Architecture? What is this, pick your own profession?

It's not a cry for help, or some kind of weird midlife (I'm not even that old) crisis, but just an expression of what has always been the case: I like doing interesting things, architecture has been interesting, but now I feel like writing as well would add a bit of extra spice.


I hope that this points the way to where I want to go, helps anyone interested to get into my head and see what it is like. This is just the start for now, the very first step to writing more seriously and more regularly, and as time goes on I will add some links to things I enjoy and cherish, as well as my goals over the next weeks and months.