A writing life

(This post originally appeared in full on my LinkedIn)

I can’t think of another topic, ambition, occupation, pursuit, whatever that has consumed me as thoroughly as storytelling. I’ve been doing it for as long as I can remember.

I always intended to center my life around writing.

Even before I had the patience to write things out, before personal computers made it easy and tolerable, when I was whispering ideas into a tape recorder, I knew that I had to tell stories. They kept me awake at night and tumbled out of my mouth to strangers if I wasn’t careful.

I was never satisfied to just get them out and leave it at that. I needed to share, to see someone else’s eyes light up, engaged and enthusiastic.

These things that came from my brain delight and surprise me, too, and I can’t let them languish in a drawer (Or in a folder on my desktop.)

I saw a post recently about how a book is a brand asset and it really distilled how a life centered around writing, rather than a particular work, is the key to making that your main source of income. (Still a long shot, but you know. You have to dream.)

It’s this concept, that all of the pieces that go into building an identity as an author add up to the life, that appeals to me the most.