Where Do I Go From Here?

So who the heck am I? Thats not an easy question to answer, but I'll try to give the best answer possible. I'm a computer geek who has decided computers really aren't all that interesting anymore. Or maybe its that the sameness of everyday dealing with them has made them pale in comparison to so many other things I could be occupying my time with. My name is Eric, and I'm an aspiring writer who hopes someday to be able to consistently "work my muse", as it were. But what does that mean? To answer that question means going back to the beginning and starting a story. Go ahead and get your coffee and snack, snuggle down into the chair, and get prepared for something truly interesting.

A beginning is always hard to start, particularly for someone who is trying to find his muse. Writing has not been something that comes easily to me, except for those few moments when I get in "the zone". Judging from the number of writers that profess this same issue, I'm not completely alone in this. Thats a relief. But back to my story. Quite some time ago, when I was a young pup in high school and quite unsure of myself, I had to write a story for English class. The cool thing was that I got to choose what to write. Sure, I had written other things in previous years, poems and such. But this one moment is the singular instance that stands out in my memory, so we'll start there.

I chose to let loose on my imagination, and quicker than I could believe it, I had a full-fledged manuscript of pure fiction. I don't know for sure if my fellow students found it interesting or not, but my teacher seemed to think it was good work. If I were the man I am today (or at least a more self confident teen), I probably would have recognized the potential and launched into a historical writing career. Unfortunately, that dastardly little imp known as Doubt crept along my backbone and destroyed any positive effort I might make for years.

Recently I decided to take up pen and paper once more (keyboard and mouse actually) and see what I could create. I'm now 70+ pages into a rough draft of a book, a writer and editor for brighthub.com, and ready to kick that imp to the side.

So the question remains - which happens to be the title of this particular post - Where do I go from here? I've heard writers say that blogging every so often helps them get over the "dry spots", those nasty hot deserts of wordlessness that seem to plague us all. This is one reward I hope to get out of this particular blog. And although this writing is an exercise for myself, I am hoping that somewhere out there I'll get somebody to actually read and enjoy these posts - or despise them with a passion, whichever the case may be. I might even be able to get some inciteful comments and improve my writing a bit, so that when my book is in its final draft, it will really be ready to send out into the world. Finally, somewhere along the way I hope to rope in my muse and tie him to my hip with duct tape, never to abandon me again. It sounds good anyway.