5 Ws and 1 H: Who

Last week I mentioned that we were going to answer the 5 Ws and an H of me as a writer. I’m just running these down as they come in the order I learned them. That means today we start with “who.”

So, who am I as a writer? I’m a genre writer, if we are keeping this simple. I’m an indie publisher. My writing is sparse, with no wasted words. I hope I’m entertaining. Reviews make me think I am.

I’m a writer with big plans. Right now they are plans that are bigger than the free time I have. But I have some things kicking around in the back of my mind. And if I do them to the level I think they can be done, things could explode. Well, explode is the wrong word.  They won’t explode. But it could go well. Let’s leave it at that.

But I think who I am as a person is going to be reflected in who I am as a writer also. So, maybe the better question to answer here is, “Who am I as a person?”

Well, I’m a lot of things. First and foremost, I’m a husband. And in a few weeks, I’m going to be a dad. I owe a lot of my writing success to my wife, Gina. She’s the one who pushed me to write and publish Chasing Filthy Lucre. She believed in me as a writer, almost before I did. 

Funny story. We were out with some friends just after Gina and I had met – literally a day after we’d met. This was the second time we’d seen each other.  Well, third time. Anyway, Gina and I were talking and she asked what I did for fun. I told her that I was a writer. She seemed incredibly impressed. She had me from that moment on.

But Gina pushed me. She encouraged me to write. She encouraged me to do more with the writing I’d already been doing. She’s also in every story I write in some way. They are all small. Only she and I -- and maybe some family members -- will recognize it. But she’s there. 

I’m also a Christian. I know that may not be a huge revelation. If you’ve read this blog for any amount of time or follow me on Twitter, you already know that.  But it’s something that shapes who I am, not just as a writer, but as a man.

My faith is hugely important to me, and I think that can come across in my writing. I’m not saying that everything I write is an allegory to the Gospel story. Actually, none of it is. But my faith is reflected in my writing in one pretty specific way (not counting that the title of Chasing Filthy Lucre comes from the New Testament book of Timothy, among other places).

My writing has hope. I put my characters in some pretty dark places, but I like to think that in the middle of all the dark, there is a kernel of light that’s shining. That’s what my characters are running toward. They have a belief that things are going to get better, not matter how bad it seems at the moment. And that’s a big part of Christianity. At least it is for me. When I’m in my dark moments, I have faith that God is going to still be there. His light may be dim, but it’s there. If I can keep my focus on that light, I’ll get through the dark.

So that’s it, in a nutshell, who I am as a writer. We may pull these out again later and really break them down, but I’m trying to keep these short. Come back next week when we tackle “What” and “What do I write?”