My Happy Place

I can think of nothing that I would rather be doing on a daily basis than creating short fiction stories. The feeling I get when I come up with a good story is indescribable. It's like a giant jigsaw puzzle that starts with one piece. Usually, that one piece isn't even where it all begins. Before long, you soon realize that it doesn't matter where it begins because the puzzle starts taking the shape it was always meant to take. Upon completion, you sit back and enjoy the artwork that you created.

I wish I could spend more time behind the keyboard, or with a pen in my hand, but the reality is that I have other responsibilities in my life that pull me away. Between being a parent, a husband, and a student, my hands are full. That may be why it is always such a joy when I am able to carve out some time to work on a piece of fiction.

I started writing only a few years ago now because I was at a place in life where I didn’t really know what direction to go in. One day I decided I was going to write a short story. I still remember the first story that I composed. It was originally called, Darker Days, and it was a Jekyll and Hyde type story that was action packed from the jump. After that story, I was hooked.

Since then, I have poured myself over a keyboard or notepad for countless hours. Never as much or as consistently as I would like, but I'm still grateful for the time I do have. It would be my dream to make this a full-time career one day. I am definitely still working toward that, but in the meantime, I’m just enjoying the process.

Usually, my story ideas start with a what-if question, but sometimes I just start writing and have no idea where the story is going to take me. Oftentimes I find that the best stories that I write are the ones that are completely unplanned. Even now I’m working on a manuscript that I’m posting one chapter at a time on Vocal. I legitimately have no clue where I am headed with this story, but I love that unknown aspect of this particular project.

Obviously, it helps to have some sort of direction, but even when I plan something out it seems like the story just takes control anyway. I can have my mind dead set on how a character is going to act in a scene, but when I start writing there is a general feeling that I should go in a different direction. The character then starts leading the story with their actions instead of me trying to control it like some higher power controlling the strings of the puppets below.

Creating these stories takes me away from my day-to-day life. It allows me to see through the lenses of different people. It’s like I’m there with the characters as the story is unfolding before them. I think the development of these characters as the plot takes shape is what we really crave when we read a story. We want a story that takes us away from the life we live through the eyes of a character that we can relate to on some level.

I want to be able to create stories like that for people. I want people to read my thoughts and then spend time contemplating what the story was really about. I want to create stories that make people wonder about their own lives and consider carefully how they are spending their time. I want to make people laugh like I do when a character makes a sarcastic comment. I want people to read my story and want to keep reading because the suspense spurs them on.

These are the things that drive me to keep writing. It might seem as though it is completely goal-oriented, but that is only a partial truth. Even as I am writing to you now, I feel the inner peace that comes with it. Writing has become my therapy. There is something so freeing about creating an entirely different world, or even one that isn’t so far-fetched. I am forever grateful that I have found something that has given me so much peace and joy.