Falling in love with your own work

I’ve been quite focused on writing stories these days. I’m falling in love with my own writing. I know that sounds arrogant to some people but I think that’s the way it should be.

Of course we always strive to be better but it doesn’t mean we can’t love what comes out in the process, it’s particularly that upgrade or improvement that I’m in love with.

These are stories I could not have told as fully back when I first started writing, and even just a few months ago I did not think they would be able to come together as beautifully as they are.

Does that mean other people will like it?

I really don’t know, but when you love your work, other people loving it is merely a bonus. I think it will reach the people it’s supposed to reach anyway.

When I started writing, I did so out of a desire to tell my own story and to change something. My writing was far too preachy. I was more concerned with getting my point across than letting my reader explore their own imagination and emotional experience.

I never liked artist’s being overly vague about the intentions behind their art. I think learning about what inspired art is half the fun of enjoying it. At the same time, the artist need to give their audience space to react in whatever way comes naturally to them. Imagine telling people to laugh after your jokes. The punchline will fail to land. There also isn’t anything beautiful about lecturing people. Art doesn’t have to be completely vague and without direction but it also should give some freedom and flexibility to the reader if it seeks to really move them.

I am still writing a book that moves me first and foremost, one that helps me release some of my own little traumas and redefine my experience, to become a newer and better me.

So I tried something. I kept a lot of the lecturing in, but instead of directing it at the reader, I’ve turned it into a self reflection of a slightly less reliable character. It’s a chance for us to get to know him better and to see clearly where he is coming from. His ideas aren’t right or wrong, they are just his ideas and now the narration which is written an older and more mature writer (uh…me) can stand at a distance from the character. The reader is now free to agree or disagree with the character, and will be directed to see his arguments more objectively.

At first I thought I’d have to rewrite the entire book to be less preachy but then I realized that this book is a healing process for me so it helps to create a character who is closely aligned with who I was. Some points really haven’t changed that much, but even just that little extra distance makes it a much more powerful read, or at least I think so.

The first two books have quite a bit that is based on my own experience. None of it is entirely autobiographical, but there are situations I’ve been in and thoughts I’ve thought. Book 3 which I am starting now is going to be the most challenging find though because it strays much further from my own experience. Almost nothing in it came from my own life experiences.

The whole fun of writing this story was to create a slightly different version of myself and to see what kind of completely different life they may have lived if just pushed slightly in another direction.

Imagine pushing a rocket ship one degree left or right upon launch. At first it wouldn’t change that much but as time moves on, that rocket will reach somewhere very different from its original destination.

This is my favorite way to write because the possibilities are endless and there are so many things you can discover about yourself.

I’m just about finished editing, Confessions of the Damaged 1.2, just waiting for the final draft of the artwork, teased here:

It’s much shorter than the average book but it took me about 3 hours to read it and I think it’s something that if you like you can read many many times.

Confessions of the Damaged 1.1 was released on 3/15/2021. Confessions 1.3 and will likely be out in the summer, and actually you can read these out of order if you wish, though there is a continuous story, it can be read out of order as it’s already written out of order.

I’d really appreciate it if you could show it some love over at Goodreads.com too.

🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎