Back to base

I have been told for years that you should write what you know. I suppose that is why I like writing this blog. Everything that I write here is something I know. Or at least I fake it pretty well most of the time. Either way it is writing I enjoy and normally comes to me fairly easily.

I have also been told that when all else fails, go back to things you are familiar with. I suppose it is the idea that when you are lost or stuck, the familiar will help you regain your footing. Start back at the basics before you try and launch into the more complicated.

For me, the familiar and what I know happen to be the same thing. It is a nameless project that has been in the works for what seems like forever. It is a story that I know so intimately that I am always surprised when some new aspect reveals itself to me. It is a thing that has grown and changed so many times over the years but has at its core always been the same.

I am not certain if it is a project that will ever be completed. In some ways that makes me very sad. It is a story I really want to share. I think it is a story that others would very much enjoy. I think seeing its completion would be so radically satisfying.

At the same time it is a story I never really want to end. I love that it is always there waiting for me to come back and work on it some more. I love how it will suddenly grow and shift and take me to places I didn't know existed. I love how it seems so alive. Finishing it would take all of that from me.

I feel sort of guilty that I never give the story the focus it deserves. Every six months to a year I go back and start opening all the files again. I lovingly read over what is there and make notes about how it needs to change. Sometimes I cringe at the poor writing I left behind, and sometimes I have to smile at what I see as a rather brilliant use of words.

I will work on it feverishly for a few days or a few weeks and then once again it will be set aside. It will lay dormant again until I need it while other projects are lovingly tended to. I will plod along on other things while it waits, knowing I will be back.

I think maybe though, the best part of this particular story is that it is not just mine. It is a shared piece between myself and one of my favorite people in the world. We have been telling this story together so long that it is as much a part of our friendship as anything else.

I love that I can always share the love of this story with her. I love that my passion for this world and these characters can always be shared with someone. I can turn to her and tell her some new revelation I have had and she will squee with excitement as it becomes real in her mind as well. I love that she can in turn do the same for me. We can grow this world together.

Sometimes old is new, and new is old, but there is always a peace and comfort in the familiar and what we know. I think it is well past time for me to go and get comfortable again.