Hobbies

In elementary school I teachers often asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. At the time this was an easy one for me, I wanted to be an author. I enjoyed writing stories as a child, and as I grew up I continued my passion. On long hikes, I would make up stories on the spot and tell them to my sister who always loved the wacky improvised plot lines and characters.

The first story I remember telling my sister was about a special groups of spies disguised as clowns in the 1940's. Next was a story about bugs discovering the true meaning of life by leaving the forest that they've known their whole lives. I liked letting my imagination take me away to fantastical places and transcribing them orally or writing them down on paper. 

The first indication that writing may not be a viable carrier option was when I was informed by my parents that writers don't make money and therefore is not a career worth pursuing. I, still in love with the idea of story telling continued writing as a hobby. 

By the time I was in eighth grade I knew that to legitimize my hobby I needed to write a full length novel. For this process I turned to NANOWRIMO (National Novel Writing Month) which takes place in November. The goal was to write a full length novel (50,000 words) in one month. I attempted to write but failed after about 12,000 words. I found that writing with goals in mind sucked the fun out of the process and turned writing into more of a chore than a hobby. Before I knew it my life was filled with commitments and writing faded to the back of my list of activities to do. The magic was gone and the excitement spoiled I forgot the feeling of writing and therefore no longer wanted to write.           

Stories don't come as easy as they used to. Stories no longer instantaneously appear in my head as they did on hiking trips. Imagination has faded with time and I can only think of ideas grounded in the real world rather than fantastical stories one can escape into. Perhaps I will give writing another shot someday. I shouldn't be scared of something I love.