Obligatory First Post

Like most of you out there, I woke up this morning and thought to myself, “why not start a blog?”

Yeah, just a few years late. The truth of the matter is, until recently, I haven’t had the time to start and tend to a blog (that’s my excuse, and I’m sticking to it). Now that I recently graduated from college, I’ve found that time once taken up by studying and stumbling around the bars is now plentiful.

I guess now would be a good time for random background information. I graduated with a degree in English (roll out the red carpet, bust open the champagne, and get my mansion ready) and a certificate in Tech Writing. English has, and probably always will, be my “thing”. Also, I'm from Texas.

The allure of English for me isn’t the formation of words or a fascination of grammatical accuracy.

It’s an outlet for me to tell stories.

 (Insert Wayne’s World flashback transition)

As far back as I can remember, I’ve been telling stories. Admittedly, pretty awful stories. But hey, I was seven. My stories consisted mainly of a superhero named RBL Man, who reflected my drawing skills at the time. He was a small circular character with big round eyes, a cape, and a bitchin’ pair of sneakers. He took down villains ten times his size and always saved the day.

One day, I realized that drawing little scenes on paper wasn’t enough. This began a tradition of tyrannical improv-plays that my friends and cousins took part of, and that I directed with an iron-fist. Poor kids. My characters had to be perfect, my scenes had to be perfect, everything had to be perfect. We usually killed time this way, and I would always devise new stories to tell.

Fast forward ten years. Growing up, I always had story ideas in my head. But I didn’t like reading. Writing seemed tedious. Comics were out of the question, since my skill level in drawing didn’t advance past RBL Man. But the ideas kept coming, swelling in my head. One day I sat down and did the impossible. I wrote. And I liked it.

(Insert transition back to the present)

Q: Okay, that’s great, but what’s the purpose of this blog?

A: Slow your roll, reader. Ahem. And so, this blog was created.

My goal is to share some of my stories, while hearing some of yours in the process. Here, I’ll chronicle some of my exploits (usually involving booze-filled exploits, travels, hobo-attacks, and other kinds of shenanigans I get into), and post works of both fiction and non-fiction. This includes short stories, excerpts, and flash fiction. 

Yup, it’s one of those.

However,

I don’t want to simply show my stories off. I want to get to know your stories, as well.

I’ll post stories frequently, but also want to hear from you guys, my readers. Feel free to send me your stories; I’ll post some of my favorites on here and give you full credit, as well as any additional details you'd like me to give.

You can send me pretty much anything. Snippets about your day, something that’s happened to you, poetry, short stories, flash fiction, illustrations, and more are all cool in my book.

I want this blog to become something more than a single outlet for stories. I want it to become a community where storytellers connect in any form they want.

I think that’s enough rambling for right now. Stories and other junk coming soon, keep an eye out.

-Your Obsessive Chronicler,

Ryan