Transformed

Last year I started writing little stories about my past and posting them on this blog. It was fun for me and readers enjoyed them enough to encourage me to write a book. I decided to give it a shot.

I approached the task as a technician. Step one was laying out an elaborate timeline of significant events. My job was to simply relate what happened. Or so I thought.

Turns out relating what happened involves a lot of decision-making about what to include or leave out. Technical writing skills help. The real challenge is crafting an interesting story. I promoted myself to craftsman and went back to work.

The biggest surprise was how often readers of early drafts said they could relate to the story. Turns out, I wasn't as different from other people as I thought. Who knew? Instead of a biography about me, it became a story about growing up and the path to self discovery.

Contrary to what I thought starting out, the book is not a factual recounting of my life with snapshots. It's more like a series of impressionistic paintings. Certain tints and tones are dialed way up while others are muted to evoke a certain response.

It's art. To my amazement and surprise, I have become an artist. Whether I'm a talented artist or not remains to be seen.

It's time to return to the cone of silence to do some more writing. I hope the cone is big enough for the beret and smock I've ordered from Amazon.com. After all, the clothes make...

The Crotchety Old Man