Where to start? I'm hoping a little background might help you make some sense out of what will follow in the months ahead. If that's even possible.
Why a blog and why now? In a word: timing.
At the risk of starting a non-fantasy blog with a little Tolkien, allow me to borrow a few words from everyone's favourite wizard* (feel free to read this in Ian McKellan's wonderful voice):
"Gandalf? Yes... that is what they used to call me. Gandalf the Gray. That was my name... I am Gandalf the White. And I come back to you now - at the turn of the tide."
As quotations go, I now realise there are likely more appropriate words out there. This is more introduction than a reunion. I'm no more a wizard than I am a hero; and the turning of the tide is actually a battle not against some dramatic evil, but me fighting my own directionless and dissatisfaction.
Allow me to explain.
Right from childhood my easily-distracted mind has been creating little worlds and back stories, creating events and characters which could (and still do) leave me lost in thought, cut off from anyone around me. Some of these are complete fabrication, conjured from some dark, inexplicable recess within my subconscious; others are twisted perversions on the world around me, 'what if' scenarios run through in my head. I'm sure that this isn't uncommon, but from a young age I've instinctively known that I wanted to be more than a story-generator and progress to full storyteller. I wanted to be a writer.
So it was that I went about fulfilling this idle ambition in the best way I knew how: by doing a Economics degree and then languishing in the insurance industry for nigh-on a decade. Eat that, life ambition!
I'm still at a loss to explain exactly how this all came to be. As is natural, I've attempted to blame others for the lost years - teachers, parents, videogame developers - but ultimately I'd allowed life to get in the way. The metaphorical bull had not so much been grabbed by the horns as it had sauntered past me, yawned, and curled up the corner to snooze in idleness.
But remember we're at "the turning of the tide"! Deciding enough was enough I decided to take a Sabbatical. I like to call this A Sabbatical as it sounds grander than "I decided to jack my well paid job in and do something guaranteed to lead me to financial ruin". So I've taken a Sabbatical. One guaranteed to last no longer than a year. That was twenty months ago. Let's move on to achievements, then:
I have written and rewritten (and re-rewritten) my first novel. I am now beginning the process of finding an agent and then publisher, but the first challenge will be finding someone to actually to read it before dismissing me out of hand. Reading the odds of success, it may have been more economically prudent if I'd spent the last year-and-a-half playing the lottery. But this is a labor of love, not common sense.
What to expect from this blog:
1. Updates on how my submissions are going. Expect lots of talk of rejections.
2. Some additional short stories and 'micro stories'. I hope to keep these frequent but irregula.
3. Other random thoughts/pieces relevant to my life and thoughts on story telling.
4. For November 2012: essentially the kickstart to my blog, I shall be partaking in the National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo (or even Nano) for short. More details in the next update.
I'm casting this blog into the vastness of the internet like a fisherman his net upon the open sea. I hope to capture some imagination, but at least I'll try not to bore you all too often!
Edd
*Sorry Harry
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