When I grow up

I think I figured out what I want to be when I grow up.

A writer.

Writing is such a strange thing for me. In highschool, writing papers was what I hated the most. I would literally write papers where each paragraph would take me 30 minutes to an hour. I was tortured over how to word things and string together sentences. But I managed to write. And what came out was actually pretty good.

I remember I wrote a story in grade 7 (that I loosely ripped off of The Terminator plot) and my grade 7 teacher thought it was amazing. Mr. Bell actually spent 10 minutes reading it out loud to the class. I remember the surrealness of the situation like it was yesterday. My teacher and classmates laughing as he hit the funny parts. The mild and lackadaisical clapping at the end. Pretty cool..but I still hated writing.

And I continued to rock English in high school. Being a stereotypical Chinese kid, I of course did well at Math and Science. But I always looked back at my papers as my proudest accomplishments in highschool. I would proof read them and think: "wow, that's pretty good". I even won a couple of English awards. My Dad was sad I didn't win the math award. My socials and English teacher both told me I should think about going into journalism. I scoffed.

Anyone who reads this blog with any regularity (hey Schaubnuts!) knows that my writing is really not that great. It can be funny at times. But it's easy to sound funny when I'm writing about the stupid things I do when I go out.

But I think I have it in me to be a decent if not a good writer.

I'm inspired by writers like Bill Simmons of ESPN. His casual, funny, and poignant writing style is something that I feel I can relate to and perhaps emulate?

I also just got a book at the airport on my flight to JFK. Magical Thinking by Augusten Burroughs. He's the same author of Dry, Running with Scissors and Sellevision. I have no idea why I bought this book. I haven't read any of his other books. I had never even heard of Magical Thinking before. I never buy books like this. I have nearly a hundred books at home, airport souvenirs from my 100% work travel days. Easy reads: James Patterson, John Grishman, and all that other New York Times best selling, easy reading stuff.

These books are the literary equivalent of summer Hollywood movies. Entertaining, easy to digest and generally predictable. Seriously, how many CIA conspiracies or Southern lawyers with dark secrets in their past stories can I read about? Apparently...a lot.

But for some reason, while walking by the Magical Thinking book, I was compelled to pick it up. It's a collection of Augusten's own true stories. Stories about growing up. Working at an Ad Agency. His quest to become a writer. Just a bunch of odd and humerous stories from his life.

I'm inspired.

I can write like this. My life may not be as exciting as Augusten's is (I was never given a blow job by a taxi driver who used to be a cathloic priest), but as I was reading this, I couldn't help but to think I can write stories like this that will make people smile.

I know I could never be a novelist. I don't have it in me when describing a man walking into a house to note details like the creak on the 19th century floor boards, the smell of vinegar used to clean the 15th century antique table in the expansive Victorian foyer of his late mother's Georgia home that use to be one of the first cotton farms in the South that freed slaves. I don't have that level of detail or attention in me. Nor do I care to.

But I think I have short stories in me.

With the exception of blogging, and writing in journals when I traveled, I don't write recreationally. I haven't tried writing fiction since high school

But I think I'll give it a shot. Maybe start with a story loosely based on my childhood? I dunno. I'll think of something. A satirical, based on reality, memoir?

I may or may not post any of the writing here.

But if I do, it may be a nice change to read some fictional drivel I write instead of my narratives of snorting rum or eating sweaty cheese.