Foreword
(a.k.a Introduction a.k.a Prologue a.ka The Part Where I Answer The Question:
What the hell was I thinking?)
Dear you,
I am not the first
person to do this. Many have come before me and were probably more successful
at pulling off something like this. Heck, I’m doing it anyway.
I have never been good
with words. At least not the spoken kind. I’ve often claimed that I am more
eloquent in writing. Which is how I found myself writing my first ever letter
when I was maybe six or seven years old telling my parents to give all my
things to my baby sister. I don’t remember why I wrote that letter much less
the rest of its contents. It was years after that little incident when I
started writing again. Apart from the necessary school work that is.
When I was in first
year high school, our school paper held this sort of audition for freshmen that
they can add to their staff. Everyone was required to write something. I wasn’t
one of the chosen four but I continued writing anyway. It wasn’t until I was a
senior that one of my poems was published. Yup. I started with poems. The first
ever “Dear you” letter that I wrote though, well that didn’t exist until after
a fight I had with a very good friend. We haven’t spoken for some time and I
had all of these things that I wanted to say and I couldn’t because we were
miles apart. Calling didn’t seem to be enough. She wouldn’t pick up the phone
anyway. So I wrote her a letter instead. There were several others that I wrote
for her. None of them saw the light of day. She doesn’t have any idea and she
never will unless she finds out and reads this.
So, what’s the big
point you ask? There’s none, really. There would probably be a few entries here
that would spew words of wisdom but mostly, these are words that I never really
had any courage to say in-person. Like what I told another friend, at the end
of the day, I am all just bravado. I’m just as scared of rejection and being
misunderstood and taken out of context as much as the next person.
Which brings us to your
next question: doesn’t this set me up for all that? Probably. But someone once
told me that if I don’t do this, then how would “writing for a living” ever
happen? He was right. I can’t be scared forever.
Which brings us here,
to now and you and me. This is my heart and soul as I have never bared it to
anyone before and I am scared to death. Like I said, many have come before me
and many more will come who will probably be more successful at this than I
would ever be. I must be crazy but here we are anyway.
Dear you who are
probably reading this. If you see yourself in one of these pages than I am glad
to have found a kindred spirit and I hope this makes you realize that you are
not alone. I’m right there with you.
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