Such a small word. So simple in its appearance. And yet so very, very daunting.
What if I were to give up everything to pursue a passion?
What if I were to tell a certain man how I feel?
What if the world we create is simply a fantasy?
There are hundreds of writing prompts out there to jog the imagination down the marvelous paths and tunnels and waterfalls of the written world. What exists with far less frequency are prompts to write nonfiction. There is now a delightful phrase: creative nonfiction. But for the life of me, I still struggle to grasp what it means.
For the longest time, I kept my passion for the written word to myself and my very, very closest friends and family. Now, however, I am being asked to do something more. I am being asked to share with others what I do, what I have, a time or two, been paid to do, and what, at times, I can be quite good at.
I am a writer.
Unfortunately, the caveat that comes with that bold statement is that I am a fiction writer. As an only child, I was creating stories in my head long before I ever put them to paper, but for all that, now I must figure out how to turn a grand passion into a tool to be used at work. Rarely have I felt so ill adept to the task at hand. Now I must learn a new task, a new trade, and one I have very little experience in. Now I must learn to write what is fact, with only the faint flourish of an artist's touch to help me along.
If I must first walk before I can run, then the problem becomes: how on earth do I learn to walk? I am a writer, but my preferred medium is fantasy, with the occasional historical piece. How on earth am I supposed to take that and turn it into something completely different? I look at the task before me and feel that I am being tasked to turn straw into gold.
For anyone else out there who has faced a similar road, please share any insights. I feel that I'm walking this road alone for a time, and while I am anticipating new opportunities to stretch my own limits, it does not mean I won't long for my comfort zone. In the meantime, what insights I find, I will happily share, in the hopes that maybe someone might do the same for me.
Having expressed enough to feel a small burden relived, I shall now go back to homework, with the barest hint of contemplation for the daunting road ahead.
Rambling, but with a new direction now...
L.E.
