In the Beginning

I have written stories for about as long as I can remember, at least the last few months.

When I was a kid, I started out doing G.I. JOE fan-fic, Indiana Jones type treasure hunting yarns and some pseudo-Tolkien inspired fantasy outlines.

In a lot of ways, that's still what I do-very action oriented yet indomitable character driven tales. It has to have punch and bring the blood and thunder as it were-I cannot be bored. I write the stories that I want to read. Quite often I catch myself wanting to watch a movie that doesn't exist or read a book on a certain time period and subject and 'Lo and Behold' that book doesn't exist either. What do I do? I write it. I'd like to think the whole reason I have a novel published, Heroes of the Fallen (with more on the way) and a half dozen short stories coming soon is because there is a passionate fire behind them. You have to want these stories to be told...and it does take skill, talent and TIME, but there has to be a fire burning, you have to sit down and WRITE.

That's was the biggest obstacle for me in my 20's. I always knew I would write books, I had a drive to tell the stories I wanted to read-BUT-I kept making excuses and saying I would write when I had time, when I was older and was just sitting around.

How foolish of me-when am I ever just gonna be sitting around?

Throughout my 20's I had a lot of adventures, but my point is, that IF you really want to write you have to sit down and do it.

I didn't really get after it until I was 28. I would go into my favorite local restaurant in the evenings, order a drink and usually something simple like soup and pie-I got everything for free because the waitress's liked me (Yes, I was that guy-the one who gets free pie) and I would tune out the world and write.

Now the stuff I wrote back then will never see the light of day-but the point is even back then I was learning-voice, pacing and characterization and perhaps most important of all I was forming a habit of discipline when it came to writing.

My hope for here at the Man Cave Author blog is that we can all share some writerly wisdom and reap what we sow. Keep your sword sharp and your pen handy.