Words and liminal spaces

Writing stories is not so different from writing code. You have an end result effect you try to plan, you make a path to execute it, and you build structures and agents to bring your goal alive. It doesn't matter if that's an ETL pipeline for restructuring data or a horror story that makes your audience feel fear and appreciate their lives a bit more.

As mentioned in my tech experience, I enjoy writing documentation. I used to do a lot of that back at Rutgers OIT. One of the projects I was most proud of contributing to was documenting processes for our Digital Media Lab so that students could do audio, video, and image editing/post-processing, even if they didn't have all of the skills in advance.

Eventually, I ended up applying to How-To Geek and wrote a bunch of articles while I transitioned between cities and occupations in my life. Even in my personal life, as I take on any kind of project I tend to document things as I go. This was very helpful when I revisited my Sanskrit and religion notes as I prepared to perform Hindu ceremonies and rites for clients over the past few years! And as a bonus, this same documentation angle also works for describing and transmitting esoteric knowledge of all kinds.

Still, I do love a good story.

I was happy to join a writing group for several years when I was in New York. I have to shout out the Schermerhorn writers for helping me explore short story writing. I even managed to have a few mostly finished pieces that I'm proud of, but of course, sharing in each other's lives and experiences was the real benefit and I miss each of them as well as their writing. Sharing your tools and techniques works best when you understand your own biases and tendencies, since that lets others adapt them for their own and likely different personalities.

I've enjoyed exploring a variety of genres: web-destined flash horror, supernatural/mythological horror, fantasy of all kinds, science fiction, slice of life, biography, and research essays. I've even completed some romance commissions.

All language is arbitrary - something that clicks as soon as you learn a second language. And, if all language is arbitrary, then you know you have to learn them with a phenomenological approach. You figure out what the insiders know, learn it to their standards, and then you can understand it more completely as a living thing. And actually, setting language aside, it rarely matters what the subject is - the benefits are long-lasting. I'm grateful to be able to spend a chunk of my free time writing and exploring the liminal spaces of the imagination

Perhaps I should post a few samples...