My Own Eras Tour? No, Not Really. This is a Thought Experiment

Now that I’m trying to sort through all the books I have written across the years to get them edited and maybe even published, I’m starting to notice my own inclinations, patterns, and tendencies. Which seems like a bizarre observation to have after so many years working at this craft and so many first drafts under my belt, but this is where I find myself.

Up until recently, I didn’t realize that I had patterns as a writer, which might seem conceited considering how inevitable it is for a creator to have some sort of signature or two. I know I can latch onto things or get hyper fixed on concepts, words, genres, and styles, but those obsessions come and go with the seasons. Consequently, a through line to my life feels impossible. I jump from one ship to another with such frequency that I have lost sight of the path, but when I lay out all these jumps, I start to see it. At the very least I can see the eras of my life, not entirely unlike Taylor Swift but messier and with so much less applause.

I started writing something vaguely like stories when I was young. I would take characters I loved from my children’s books and movies and try to imagine what came next for them. I would imagine side quests for them as the main story trudged along. Winnie the Pooh was a favorite subject of mine because he was a favorite of mine full stop. It was fan fiction, yes. Or it would technically be considered as much though it happened outside the usual venues and avenues.