Get to Know Me: I'm Quiet Until You Say "Writing" or "D&D"

Everyone who knows me know I'm an introvert who tends to be drained away in social situations.

If I don't talk, I'm listening and watching what's happening around me.

But if you ask me what I'm writing or are curious about D&D, you'll unleash a waterfall of words.

But why would I be an extrovert about these two topics? There’s a backstory to both.

Writing’s Backstory

I’ve talked about what started me. That one fateful morning my dad told me he was writing a book (you can read all about it in my previous blog post).

Since then, writing has been essential to my day. A day without writing can be a minute without breathing. Increasing pressure on the lungs until you’re fit to burst.

Perhaps that’s a bit dramatic. Especially since I’ve learned it is okay. It’s okay when there’s a day that my imagination and the words to convey it go on holiday. Everything is better after a brief holiday.

For the most part, writing is a daily dose of medicine for my mental health. It makes my day brighter and its trials easier to bear.

I sneak in my daily dose of writing on my morning pages. 3 pages of unfiltered rambling on life or story ideas. The side effect of those morning pages motivates me to work on my other writing projects.

I suppose the writing is a lonely business. Sometimes so lonely that I become overly excited to talk to someone about the work I love.

As an introvert, it’s hard to just randomly start a conversation on just a mundane topic like weather. Start on writing, and I’m all over it.

Heading: D&D’s Backstory

Before I spill my guts on my love for D&D, let me clarify what it is.

D&D stands for Dungeons and Dragons, a role-playing, tabletop game that my dad introduced us to when I was a kid.

He led our first campaign with me, my siblings, and our mom at our camp’s long kitchen table where the Dungeon Master Screen concealed his notes.

Square by square, Dad drew out the dungeon floor on grid paper, sprung traps, and engaged us in battles with fantastical monsters where we rolled dice to determine our fate.

The campaign was an act of fun and make-believe. It continued until we could not figure out a puzzle that crushed us to death.

Yet the seed was planted. It was storytelling and fantasy, two things I love, and it helped me discover J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” and J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series.

D&D fostered my imagination and built connections to a group of friends that still endure the test of time and distance.

The best part of D&D is character creation, and then I discovered how I love to bring the storytelling into the game.

I’ve tried my hand at being a D&D Dungeon Master (read here for that story)…only to find that I want to write more than dungeon master. Being a dungeon master is great improv practice.

When I think of these topics, here’s what I think makes them awesome starting points of conversation:

• They’re creative expression

• You move the story forward with your action

• The limits are only your imagination

So if you’re searching for a way to start a conversation with me, you have two magical phrases to open the way: “writing” and “D&D”

Until next time, have a wonderful life. <3

Erin