At the start

I recently attended a writing seminar with the wonderful Maggie Stiefvater and Court Stephens in Nashville, Tennessee. While I took away a metric ton of stuff - advice, jokes, approaches, work mythologies, and the like - one of the key things I learned about while I was there but didn't have a good enough answer for was exactly how to fill out some portions of my Wheelhouse.

There's a chart. Maybe I'll upload mine at some point. It's a circle and it's a list divided as you see fit into those Things You Like To Consume or Create.

Like, OK: You like Buffy, and that's cool. I get it, I was a teenager then, too. But why do you like Buffy? Think on it. Everyone likes Buffy, so everyone has an answer to this, methinks.

As for me, I have always been into vampires and weird semi-gothic stuff like that. I like snarky characters, and I think writing a convincing teenager takes a special kind of talent. Also, Spike and Angel are like super mega attractive, even when they're all vamped out. But really? What I like about Buffy is that she's a bad ass girl and she can take care of herself, but she's a little dumb about boys and absolutely, without fail, loyal to her friends.

So. She's normal in a circumstance that is nowhere near normal, and she stays strong even in her weakest moments.

And just thinking through that told me something I'd already known for years:

I have always preferred to read stories and watch movies that centered on strong, female central characters who persevered despite their situation.

Case in point: The first book I can clearly remember falling in love with was A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. Yes, it's a big, fat, religious allegory in some ways, but this is what I loved about it: It's a battle of good vs. evil, and it's a story about a family finding its way, and it's a fantastical tale about interdimensional travel, and it's compelling on all levels, but over all that?

Meg Murry is strong and a mess and braver than anyone else, ever, and I simply adore her. To this day. I met her and her mother when I was about 10, and I have never been the same.

My love of Meg and Charles Wallace and their mother and Calvin and Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Ms. Which and Aunt Beast (!) and their strange tale of battling a nasty brain who epitomizes all that is bad in the world started me down this path: Because of Meg and Mrs. Murry, I began to seek out smart, female characters who could run the world as far as I was concerned. Because of the crazy science-fiction/fantasy story that came with them, I began to seek out similar arcs in other mediums - other books, yes, but also movies and short stories and everything in between. {Side Note: I can thank Mrs. L'Engle's book for my current status as Whovian and Marvel Nerd. Also why I like Buffy Summers.}

All that to say, Stiefvater and Stevens made perfect sense to me when they said that, to determine the items that really lived in your wheelhouse, you had to delve deeper. You had to pick apart the things you love and determine the real reason why.

Because when you know what's in your Wheelhouse, you know what you're good at writing about or what you want to be good at writing about, and it can direct your steps simply and well.

A second point they made was that often, when you really dig into your WIPs, you'll find that their essence is the same -- the story being told is the same story you told over there, but it looks and feels different, because that's the deal with Things In Your Wheelhouse - they can be applied in a plethora of ways. Perhaps it is your Heart Story - the story that only you can tell for whatever reason, but perhaps you're too close to it to be able to do it justice, just yet. This isn't a bad thing, but it is A Thing You Should Notice.

And when I dig into some of WIPs, there is a common theme, and to be quite honest, I never noticed it before now.

I write about returning home.

Physically or mentally, it doesn't matter. I write about finding your family - whatever that looks like - and your safe space.

It looks different in the varied stories I've written, and as such many of the stories don't appear to have common themes, but they do.

And as I consider my next WIP - the first one I have started since the seminar in Nashville, I can see that thread all over it, and I'm excited to pre-write and get some planning underway.

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Man, that was a really long-winded way to get you to this point, which is where I tell you that I'm planning to actually keep this blog going (if you have known me for any significant period of time, you know how many blogs I've had over the years).

I intend to discuss my writing struggles, my writing victories, and the books I'm reading, and perhaps some #RealLifeBiz, too.

If you're down, feel free to follow me. I'll be writing here even if you don't. ;)