I've been reading some of these other new member introductions to try and get an idea of what I'm supposed to put here, and it seems that most of you are really excited to be writing creatively, and very much identify as writers already. I have to say I don't feel the same way: for me this is more of a desperate escape attempt, from a career I thought I wanted but which is now nose-diving into a dead end. I've certainly never thought of myself as a "writer", especially not a creative one. But I have done a lot of writing over the years: four years of college and two of grad school, and working a white collar job where writing emails/documents is my main activity have given me some appreciation of and (I hope) ability in the craft. Maybe only once I realized how much of my life had already been spent writing, in fact, did I start to think of it as something I could use to help carve out a little bit of individuality for myself, instead of simply an instrument to do a job. A little about me IRL: I've lived my entire life in the US, but have traveled pretty extensively in Western Europe, the Middle East and South/Central Asia. Languages I used to be passable at are German and Arabic, but that was quite a while ago now for both. Favorite books, writers etc. you can find in my profile, other interests of mine include history (any), politics (the more theoretical, the better), Stark Trek (any series, but mostly DS9 and earlier), zombies (fast or slow), spaghetti Westerns, and Les Miserables (the book, the musical, any of the movies). Anyway despite what I said up above about not considering myself a "writer", I do have ideas/notes/outlines/beginnings of several pieces of prose fiction floating around that I hope to share here, just as soon as I muster out of the 14 day/20 post/2 critique probationary period. Thanks in advance to anyone who will read them.
Hi Robert, welcome to the forum. I'm not sure what to make of "I have to say I don't feel the same way: for me this is more of a desperate escape attempt, from a career"in light of the rest of your post that you do a lot of writing and have lots of ideas. If you are planning on making a living at writing, that's a tough one. It's not the goal most of us have, though it may be the dream. It's like me buying lottery tickets every week, I know better but I keep hoping. There are writers here whose goals are to make a living, maybe getting rich is still the dream but they have a work oriented approach to the novels (plural) they are writing. Perhaps that is the path you seek.
I see your point, and fear I may have given the wrong impression. When I wrote about "escape", I wasn't really thinking about money--I don't mind having a lifeless 9-to-5 in order to pay the bills, just as long as I feel like I'm doing something valuable in another part of my life.
