Part of the Journey

21 Aug 2011 2 Comments

by Stephanie Ciofalo in Brain Droppings

I was thinking the other day about sequences of events. It’s interesting sometimes, to consider where you are now and trace it back as far as you can.

For instance, here I am, in the midst of writing a tentatively planned out five-book series. One novel done, edited, and hoping for traditional publication, and another one and a half in rough draft form.

I wrote that first novel, Gilded Shadows, as a result of NaNWriMo, which in turn was a result of Ms. Sandra Bell Kirchman’s encouragement on her forums at FantasyFic (who also published two of my short stories).

I met Ms. Kirchman via another website’s forums where I’d been posting mine and my husband’s Everquest fanfic. Obviously, I’d have never written the fanfic, nor would I ever have met my husband, if I hadn’t started playing the game, so I suppose some credit can be given to the folks at Sony, as well. Also without those stories, I’d never have met the lovely and talented Karolina Seryfin, also known as the DragonSnail, who not only provided the illustration for FantasyFic’s anthology, but created gorgeous fanart sketches for mine and John’s EQ fanfic so many years ago.

One of DragonSnail's fanart pics of my cleric, Kallysti, and her father.

I can trace further…the starting on Everquest came about due to my tabletop gaming group (GURPS & DnD, mostly, and Rolemaster later on), whom I met via a lady named Denise in geology classes at CU-Boulder. And I’d have never gone to Boulder had I not failed out of the Colorado School of Mines, where I’d never have been accepted if I hadn’t done well in high school. Which, when I think about it, can easily be traced back to my mother reading out loud with us as children and beyond.

I guess the convoluted point I’m trying to make here is that you never know where this place in your life, the one you’re at now, is going to lead. Sometimes you’re in control of events, sometimes events are in control of you, but if you keep your eyes open and pay attention, you might just end up where you wanted to be all along…even if you didn’t know where that was in the beginning. Gah, I sound like a half-arsed fortune cookie here. But yeah, sometimes (often?) the point you start from is no indication of where you’ll end up.

I mean, I didn’t know I’d love and pursue writing as I am. I started out as a geology major. If I’d been an English major, would I be where I am? I can’t say. But I haven’t regretted a single step of the journey so far.

Advertisement