Adventure Awaits

This past weekend—week really—I did a lot of soul searching. Now, before you think I’ve slipped into some sort of existential crisis (again), let me reassure you that is not the case. (Maybe.)

It is no secret that a few months ago I needed to return to a regular eight to five office job again after quitting my last position. Let’s just say that the office life is rather….abrasive to my explorer’s soul. I loathe being confined to a tiny cubicle for nine hours a day, five days a week.

That is what I am, I’ve realized. I’m an explorer.

I think that’s what we all are as writers because we love to explore new worlds so much so we create them; whether secondary fantastical worlds, alternate universes paralleled to our own, or pockets within our contemporary age. We love to explore human relationships, discover the absurd, or learn about cultures different than our own.

We crave adventure, so we create it for ourselves.

This might just be me, but I would think this is a universal element shared amongst writers alike, our desire to invoke emotion and wonder through storytelling, which takes our readers on journey of discovery.

For myself, more specifically, I have long known I have a weird knack for collecting bits of random information and trivia. I’m a packrat for knowledge. Don’t ask me why. I’ve always been this way. What it means is I have an eclectic, rather useless, knowledge about various forms of mummification as well as Regency Era etiquette and the relationships between Europe’s royal families during the reign of Queen Victoria to how Caravaggio changed art forever with his use of chiaroscuro along with random bits of ballet’s history scattered throughout. Take this and mix in a rather unhealthy dose of multiple mythologies—their creatures and heroes and magic—and you get a concoction that is just begging for exercise and not stagnation.

Sure, I could be a history teacher. That might be an excellent use of my idle brain, riddled with all these random facts, or I could just write stories instead. (I’m obviously not in this for the money either way.)

The only issue is my abrasive office job doesn’t allow me to exercise said brain. It rather wishes I didn’t since it too often questions the inane status quo on a daily basis and makes most around me uncomfortable.

In an attempt to find a source of income which would allow some form of exercise, I attended an interview last week which I thought was the perfect position for me. It would utilize skills I’ve developed over the past six, almost seven, years, but provide the opportunity to challenge and strength other skills I want to use throughout my life as I pursue a career as an author.

Except…I didn’t get the job.

As devastating as this was for me, I’m trying to look at this from a higher perspective.

We all know last year I recommitted myself to my writing, to gain consistency, etc., but you may not know I am also still seeking representation for my adult fantasy romance, which I haven’t given up on in the slightest. In fact, thanks to some connections I made last year, I am now a part of a wonderful writers group where I have found the support and community I sorely needed to help me grow as a writer.

This means I’ve been able to have more people beta read my material and provide the feedback I lacked. Though others had read my manuscript before, they were mostly alpha readers who helped me with the overall plot elements, not the nitty gritty.

This support has given me the courage to keep going, to not quit and give into my despair. When I consider it and all the progress I’ve made within the past year with my writing, I can’t help but wonder if I didn’t get the job because it would take away too much from my capability to juggle earning an income whilst pursuing my dream of becoming a full-time novelist.

I’m not sure what’s going to come next, but I like it that way, I think.

This way leads to adventure.