Every adventurer has a moment that sets them off on a journey. Bilbo Baggins had a wizard and 13 dwarves invade his home. Harry Potter received a letter, inviting him to become a wizard at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
My adventure to become an author began with a dream. My dream was of Aragon and Legolas with Orcs invading my home’s front lawn. This dream lingered in my brain when I woke one summer morning back in fourth grade at my family’s camp. It would have disappeared weren’t it not for the events at the breakfast table.
The kitchen appeared normal when I came downstairs. Dad sat at the head of the kitchen table working on his laptop. Mom bustled behind the wooden kitchen peninsula with various breakfast items cooking. Nothing out of the ordinary. My siblings eventually migrated their way to the table, either attracted by the aromas or Mom announcing breakfast would be ready. I cannot recall who asked the question, but someone asked Dad what he was doing.
“I’m writing a book.”
This news shocked me. Dad, a doctor, writing a book? He explained he dreamt of a submarine being swept into a tsunami.
To a child, it was mind boggling that someone could decide to write a book from a dream. Therefore, I decided I would write a book too. I loved the Hobbit. Why couldn’t I write one like it?
My story drafting included sketching my own version of the dwarves and characters from ‘The Hobbit.’ However, Mom deflated my prep work of the story I envisioned writing by saying using templates of characters created by someone and following the same storyline was plagiarizing. That meant I could get in trouble if I wrote it and attempted to publish it.
“If you want to write a book, you need to write your own story.”
The idea stumped me. If I couldn’t use the Hobbit as my template, what story could I write about? However, I was determined to write a book. Dad was doing it. I can do it too.
I found an empty floppy disk, settled in front of a dinosaur desktop computer, opened Microsoft Word, and set to work. Elements of the Hobbit sneaked into the story as my two female protagonists encounter a troll hidden behind a waterfall that had messengers as its prisoners.
This story has evolved as I grew up, honing my skills. My adventure to become an author has left a trail of notebooks, computers, floppy disks, laptops, flash drives, hard drives, and Google Documents.
Have I reached my adventure’s end? My adventure has led me to develop Waggish Writer where I am releasing creativity to the universe via the Internet.
Well, the best part of an adventure is when one adventure ends, another begins. This entry ends one adventure on my journey as an author. It’s time to set out on another. Care to come along?
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APA Citation
(1) Jackson, P. (Director). (2012). The hobbit: An unexpected journey. [Film]. New Line Cinema.
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