I’ve had false starts before, many of them. So…, why now, why this time?
Reading as a kid
I’ve loved reading for as long as I can remember. More often than not, when other kids were playing outside, I was reading. Some of my most vivid childhood memories are of browsing through libraries or riding my bike down to Main Street in Logan, Utah to visit the Book Table bookstore – I could always find something I wanted there. Book orders were an exciting time at school, at least for me – I’m sure my mother secretly wished the school would stop handing them out. Adding to my collection of books and organizing it was almost as fun as reading. I read all kinds of books but my favorites were mysteries; Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators, the Hardy Boys, Agatha Christie, and The Westing Game are some of the most memorable. Finding clues and solving cases was endless fun.
My reading lean years
I never made a conscious decision to stop reading. I can’t put my finger on the exact point when it happened; maybe there wasn’t just one point. Cars, girls, sports, jobs, movies and TV began to occupy my former reading time. Compounding that, going to college, starting a family, and embarking on a career as a computer engineer dominated my time. Spending significant portions of my day in front of a computer monitor or reading about computer science the last thing I wanted to do in my spare time was read. I started fly fishing to escape – but that’s a whole other story.
Back in the saddle
I credit movies for reviving my reading appetite. I fell hook, line, and sinker for the advanced previews of the Lord of the Rings – it seemed like nearly a year in advance on the first one. I bought the trilogy plus the Hobbit and devoured them before the movies debuted. The Chronicles of Narnia were next – I enjoyed all of them. My taste gravitated towards fantasy.
Reading these classics reawakened my childhood dream of writing a book. However, being away from reading for so long, I felt compelled to research a variety of authors in hopes of discovering my own story to tell. I started perusing recommendations on Amazon – I love Amazon by the way. I picked up titles from Anne McCaffrey, Ursula K Le Guin, G.R.R. Martin, Cornelia Funke, Christopher Paolini and Naomi Novik. During this time I read the Harry Potter series – who didn’t? Also, based on editor’s picks on Amazon, I read Stolen Child by Keith Donohue and the Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger – thoroughly enjoying each of them.
As my children grew older they started reading too. My fourth son introduced me to Fablehaven, the Ranger’s Apprentice, and Percy Jackson, all of them excellent and worth reading.
Ready to try writing
That brings us into the calendar year 2010. Now, I’m not saying I’ve read enough to be a writer – I’m not sure if I can ever do that --but I’ve read enough to know what I like. I’ve cherished those works that make me feel alive, that make me want to read more. I want to do that for someone else. My hope is that I can evoke an emotional connection with my readers – if I’m ever lucky enough to have some.
Nudges
I’ve received nudges along the way too. In January my wife signed me up for a writing class through the Spanish Fork city adult arts education program. It was an excellent class taught by Annette Lyon. Annette has published several books, she really knows her stuff. I gained confidence, not that I am a good writer, but that I can become a good writer. And the only way to become a good writer is to write.
Big nudge
My biggest nudge so far happened in February. I knew that writing would be hard work, and take a huge amount of effort. Given my status in life, I’d been wondering if writing was a worthwhile endeavor. So, one morning I happened to be reading from A Disciple’s Life (the biography of Neal A Maxwell) and Standing for Something by Gordon B. Hinckley. In A Disciple’s Life I read:
“Yes there would be problems ... yes there would be challenges ... yes there would be unevenness and disappointments ...
He knew all those things, yet ... he did not wait until everything was perfectly in order before acting... If one tried to solve in advance all the problems which might occur later, he might never start! The capacity to trust the Lord for continuous revelation as to what would later need to be done was clearly a part of the makeup of this very special man.” (A Disciple's Life page 467)
In Standing for Something I read:
“[God] allows ... disappointment to occur on the threshold of every human endeavor. It occurs when the boy who has been enchanted in the nursery by Stories from the Odyssey buckles down to really learning Greek. It occurs when lovers have got married and begin the real task of learning to live together. In every department of life it marks the transition from dreaming aspiration to laborious doing.” (Standing for Something page 134)
I refuse to believe that reading both of these passages on the same day was a mere coincidence. I’d been reading A Disciple’s Life off and on for several years. I’m not saying I’m destined for greatness, in fact, in all likelihood I’ll never be published. But the direction I should go right now seems crystal clear.
Hope + dream + work
I’ve had false starts before, many of them. So…, why now, why this time? I’m not sure I’ll ever be good. But I have dreams I hope I can turn into reality. I want to write a book. I know it will be hard work, but I’m eager to make the “transition from dreaming aspiration to laborious doing.” I have to try. And the first step is to start.
