And so it begins…

Hello all,

I just want to first thank anyone who has liked or followed me on my Facebook page, subscribed to this blog, or just generally did their best to encourage me over the past few years. I’ve wanted to be a writer probably my whole life, since I picked up and read my first Harry Potter book. That feeling never went away, it only intensified with each of the hundreds of books I’ve read since then. Having said that, I’ve done very little to make that a reality, so writing this and sharing it is the first horrifying step on this journey… if you’re not counting the tens of thousands of dollars I owe for my pending diploma.

In February of 2016 I enrolled online at Southern New Hampshire University to pursue a degree in Creative Writing and English. In the past four and a half years, I’ve added a minor in Communications to that and I’m now firmly into my final term. My graduation is a mere weeks away and all I have to do is get through two 400-level classes, all of the worst holidays to work in retail for, and an increasingly worsening pandemic.

What could go wrong?

My goal for this blog mostly is to keep writing. I don’t write near as often as I should and my reading has slipped a bit as well. In Californication, the main character and author Hank Moody once said, “Being a writer blows. Writing is like having homework every day for the rest of your life.” So, this is me assigning myself homework. The main thing you’ll see here, at least for the foreseeable future, is content relating to my Dungeons and Dragons campaign run by the most amazing Dungeon Master I’ve ever had, Ken Hullenbaugh. Each session or so, my character writes a letter in game to send back to his betrothed to keep her updated on what he’s doing and so she knows that he’s alive. I have the first few letters actually written, but I plan to post them to the blog as part of my writing exercises.

What is Dungeons and Dragons?

Dungeons and Dragons is a tabletop role playing game, or TTRPG, that’s been around for a few decades. Players create characters and play in a game run by a DM. Their characters stats and skill determine what they’re good at and dice rolls determine how well they do it. Our campaign specifically is using an unofficial campaign guide called the Heroes of the Orient, which is an oriental themed world. It’s worth noting that the campaign was removed from dmsguild.com so I can’t link you to it, but it’s not something I created and I make no such claims.

So, I hope that I might be able to keep you entertained while I complete my degree and better my writing craft.

Allons-y!