A New Beginning

After reading a few other blogs, other than the few I ever read, I realize I didn't start this one very well. So consider my previous posts like the coming attractions at the movies (sometimes the best part of the experience, but hopefully not here.)

And now for my first post.

I'm a writer, trapped in a pilot's body. As one might expect, a degree in Broadcast and Cinematic arts surely lead to a career with the airlines, but there have been a few twists along the way. I've always been creative, but kept the real and imagined worlds separate. I've lived a rather ordinary life, with two cars, a house and a job. And a wife who puts up with the oddity of me.

As an airline pilot, I have lots of free time, much of it when I'm at work. If not while the autopilot is flying the plane, than when my life drips away in various hotel rooms across the land. And so, I find myself wandering the strange worlds of my mind.

I never did much with this until a few years ago. Sure, I wrote a lot in school. I wrote short stories, screenplays and even developed a TV show, but once real life hit, it all got filed away. That was until about four years ago.

Who would have thought an innocent trip to a theme park would have such a profound effect? (Although thinking about it now, two guys in their mid thirties running around a fun park sounds more than a wee bit creepy.) Well, it was on that day a good friend said something that left an image in my head I couldn't shake. I was hit by a vision of a character who's story needed to be told. Right then and there, Schmitty the Pirate was born. (Actually the complete story is a bit different. I'll save it for another time.)

As the character evolved, the story around him changed quite dramatically. I wrote and re-wrote and wrote some more. Luckily, I had plenty of time. If I didn't say so before, the best part of being an airline pilot is all the free time. It's not uncommon for weeks to pass before I actually have to fly a plane. All the while, I'm on full salary, free to pass the time however I choose. To be honest, I'm not always that disciplined. And I'm easily distracted. And as I overheard one time and fully believe, pilots, by nature, are generally lazy people.

Well, laze be damned. I wrote a book. Then, I set it aside. Got a new job. Training was actual work. Several months passed and I came back to revise Schmitty once more. And, as I already knew, I didn't like the beginning.

In my attempt to write a new beginning, a whole new story emerged, set several years earlier than the first. I now had the beginning of a series I had envisioned somewhere along the way, and I must say, it was a much better story.

So, four years after that fateful day in the fun park, I'm ready for the real world to enter the fictional world of Schmitty the Pirate and Grimstoke's Curse.

And that, as they say, is where the easy part ends. Because now I find myself researching literary agents, writing query letters in the hope one of them will be fooled enough to take a look at my manuscript. In the meantime, life flies by. New stories, in new worlds formulate. Sequels take shape. I actually go to work once in a while. And, I've decided to share my journey in this blog.

It's not all about writing. There's a heck of a lot on these interwebs, so expect to see that which entertains me, and, hopefully, you. If I think it's funny, and I won't get sued, I'll post it. Along the way, I'll write about whatever it is I'm doing.

Enjoy.