A bit of backstory.
Making an indie publisher all goes back to my time at the University of Southern California and before that, dance. I was studying acting at the time and classes often forced us to roll from from one creative endeavor right into the next. I loved and still love acting because of how physical it is. Before acting and writing I was a dancer and for the longest time, I believed classical ballet was my future. At the time I lived and breathed dance and couldn't get enough of it. Though life had other plans. Dance led me to film, film led me to acting, and acting led me to writing. Writing led me back to acting and there has always been a bit of a back and forth relationship there.
For most of my life writing was a skill I displayed very little competence in. Plainly stated, I sucked at it. Couldn't spell, didn't know where a comma was supposed to go, and I frequently allowed my thoughts drift into run-on sentences. If I'm being honest with myself, I still suck at most of these things. That said, here's the thing about writing... It is and will always be more than technical skill. For me it was expression, imagination and freedom. That and enough grit not to give up.
I've always been a deep thinker and I preferred to spend much of my time in college alone to walk, think, and practice my acting in hidden corners of the campus. I believe I came into my own as a person when I started writing because when I started writing I really began a journey into thinking.
Back at USC in acting school, I didn't find myself sharing much of what I had created. By this time I'd been writing for about two years. Was still pretty bad, but I was starting to write things my family could tolerate reading. I was making progress, but outside of family I still didn't often share what I wrote. Partially because we didn't have time to develop these ideas as college students with rich social lives. Myself lying somewhere on the other end of the spectrum. The other reason probably having something to do with memorizing lines. Another thing I suffered to do well. This has been a trend my whole life. Suffer technically, thrive creatively. Then something happens where the technical kind of catches up with the creativity and I sort of blossomed into a little creative butterfly. Before I was this mildly dysfunctional and deranged looking caterpillar, but I pupated into someone who knew just enough to execute ideas well. This was and is the creative golden age.
Post graduation, I like many of my peers believed we were instantly destined for greatness and would softly drift into high paying acting roles. Or at least that's what we believed being the talented bunch we were. Then reality set in, jobs took priority, and we all had varying degrees of success in the acting field for several years. Life continued on and I continued writing. Fortunately what I did professionally at the time was something that provided no shortage of exposure to the human condition and has in many ways defined me in my adult life for good or ill. That career was becoming a police officer during a global pandemic. That, paired with several years of substantial social, political, and environmental turmoil. During these years I came to understand much more about the world, and most importantly reinvigorated my grit and determination for creative fulfillment.
Comments