All within an Introduction

My short story course asked for an introduction and I went a bit overboard. So, here's what I told them. Apologies to Brenda and Suzy: ;-)

Hello, my name is Paul R Smith. I have to put in the middle initial to keep me separate from all the other Paul Smiths you may know. People often mistake me for the other, dare I say, imitations. Often they misatake me for the ex-boyfriend who chased after their college roomate. I’m not him. I’m Paul R Smith. I am married and have made no passes at her former roommate. At least, nothing anybody saw.

Sadly, I’m a writer trapped in a successful computer expert’s body. I actually bought my first computer to help me increase my writing output. Instead, it very much killed that output and took over my entire life. There is a tragedy of being too good at what you do when deep down you know you made a wrong turn. My friends and loved ones know me as the guy who can fix any computer issue. I’m known as the gadget geek. I have an iPhone and a Kindle. Heck, one of the people I’ve helped professionally is now the CEO of Chrysler. I’m sought after for tech recommendations. But I never invited to the really good parites that most English majors get to go to. The kind of parties hosted and attended by really interesting people. The kind my wife’s college roomate goes to.

Still, I don’t advertise what I really yearn for - barring this entry. I just quietly take my writing courses and hand in my assignments late. (cough cough) It all boils down to I’m too afraid to tell the world I’m a writer. Whenever I say it, I keep hearing that inner critic voice asking what was the last thing I published. I can only shrug and mumble some blog posts, a few twitter observations, and the occasional “getting to know you” forum posts .

My problem, in the words of Yoda, is that I can not finish what I started. I’m 0 for 4 for Nanowrimo. I have a filing cabinet filled with unfinished short stories. And all my poems are the same one line, “Roses are R...” I can’t finish anything because I let life interrupt me from this eternal beacon. And after the siren’s call of the other thing passes, it’s too late. I’ve lost the story. It becomes time to start something else I can’t finish.

This time however, I’m making the commitment to get this work done. I will get the work done. I will get the two stories finished and sent out. Despite an economic collapse and learning a new job. I realize the distractions will continue.

We computer people always believe in keeping a good regular backup. So I will coninue to write. But I will start to finish. I have great support over here. And even my wife breathes a sigh of relief to see me going forward. Especially, when she erased her former roomate’s phone number off my phone.