About Me — Peter Wright
A blissful lonely man
My voice has found different ways to exist. The first memory of my childhood is having asked my mother her name. She told me the world knew her in various ways; her family knew her as Jossy, her students as Pina, and the government as Josefina, but I could call her mom.
The actions are the mark you leave on people. That will be your real name.
My first teacher — Pina.
She gave me the first way to name my voice: Fabrizio.
I grew up in Guadalajara, one Mexican city. My parents were both teachers, and I had the joy of growing up with their careers. They enrolled me in every school they worked at elementary school. I met all kinds of people and places during my childhood. I learned the beauty of ephemeral because it is precisely nature ephemeral of each moment in life that makes it an indelible print inside our souls.
The medical contraindication of my free childhood was loneliness.
During my adolescence, I had more pen-pals than friends in the neighborhood or at school. I enjoyed my loneliness and, I didn’t like living with my surroundings. But there was something special about pen-pals. Especially with my friend Loretta from Italy, I received her letters every two months. So I started to count the time in terms of how much to write a letter took.
Even now, eighty letters after receiving her last letter, I am still measuring the time in terms of letters.
When it came time to choose a college career, I only knew how to write letters, so I scheduled a meeting with a career counselor. I took an exam, and I got a high score in two possible majors, literature or engineering. The counselor told me that those were my best options and gave me a brochure of a new career recently implemented at my university: Computer Science Engineer.
We are talking about the ’90s where computing was about to exploit its full potential, and the internet did not yet exist. I knew perfectly well how a typewriter worked, but I had never seen a computer other than on television. I thought that with such a powerful typewriter, I could write cooler letters. I enrolled in computer science.
It turned out that I had a talent for computer sciences. So far, that career has given me stability. But the most beautiful gift I have received from computer science was, being able to work in more than 30 different cities around the world. As when I was a kid, and my parents enrolled me in a new school, I have met so many people and cultures, so I am blessed.
I got married and divorced. But during the time I lived in Madrid, I became the father of two beautiful Spanish children who are my life.
Sebastian and Nerea gave me the second way to name my voice: Dad. That is my favorite voice.
When the midlife crisis hit, I couldn’t afford a convertible, so I turned my energy into one of my lost dreams, writing. I enrolled in college again, and I felt Patch Adams, with the difference I attended the screenwriting course. I wrote movie scripts and movie reviews. And it was on a movie review where I found the love of my life.
The movie review was “Only you”. I became her Peter and she became my Faith. And Faith brought back all the lost letters with her.
She loved every one of my letters and insisted that I stop writing scripts, and just write stories. While we were together, I never put her advice into practice. Life was in charge of reminding us of the beauty of the ephemeral, and since we finished our relationship, I ask myself the same question.
How many letters does eternal love last?
One day I decided to heed her advice. I became a storyteller, I have been published in some reviews and I work occasionally for a story application called: Ipstori.
And so far, I go on with my literary education studying diploma courses and writing courses at some universities of Guadalajara and Madrid.
Some letters ago, I started to translate some of my work into the English language. I found my Spanish work doesn’t fit with English words, and suddenly I found another voice here on Medium, writing in English. I started a project named Peter Wright Story Telling, in honor of that review of “Only you” I made. All the people started calling me “Peter” and I thought it was funny. Until one writer I admire called me Peter.
That writer gave me the way to name my voice in English: Peter Wright
Oh, I almost forgot to tell you why I am a writer. I am writing a book, and I found the best way to write a book is having experiences, in real life of course, but also writing. To write as much as you can, to read as much as you can, to know more writers, and learn new ways to tell stories. Medium gave me a lot of that experiences.
When I finish my book, I will visit a small used book library in each of the cities I have been in my life. I intend to find a library that can donate my book to someone who wanted to read it. To let my voice in every place I have been.
This is my way to say thank the universe for this beautiful life given.
The problem will be, with what name will I sign the book.
Thanks a lot for reading my story,
Peter Wright
