Before I post more snippets of writing, I thought I would spend a moment of introspection. In the past I’ve written about some of the creative things that I am doing now and what I hope to achieve in the near future. Lately, I’ve been thinking about longer-term creative goals.
I think part of that is because the latest instalment of the Covid saga has meant that I haven’t attended a LARP in over a year, and that’s a big outlet for a significant portion of my creative energy. I have heard LARP described as the intersection between acting, storytelling, and crafting and that’s a description that I find accurate. People who are interested in LARPing are generally drawn to one or multiple of those – and I sit somewhere in the middle enjoying everything.
Acting
I did drama classes for about six years, which ranged from traditional theatre and theatre sports to various genres of short film. I had intended to continue that when I started university, however I quickly found I didn’t have any spare time to put towards learning lines or performances. Near the end of university, I signed up with an acting agency and appeared in small, unnamed parts for TV. As my weekends were dedicated to balancing being a parent with study, I had to turn down most roles. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the occasional moment on set.
Storytelling
Stories have been a part of my life since before I can remember. Before I learned to write, I was telling stories that my parents would write down for me. When I was 12, I got given an old laptop from my dad’s work and I used it almost every day to write the stories that floated through my mind.
Like most things, I virtually had to stop writing during university. I came out the other side missing writing terribly, and of course now I have a novel on the way and about 14 others filed away in my head to write in the future. Alongside that, I am on the writing team for a LARP, although that has been somewhat unpredictable as we are at the mercy of Covid when it comes to being able to run the first game of the campaign.
Crafting
I have always pulled things apart to find out how they work – and had some success with putting them back together. LARP is one of those things that gives me both focus and a deadline, which is important for getting anything done in a reasonable amount of time.
This is an interesting one, because I love making things with my hands, but getting started is the hardest part. I often make things in bursts when I have a reason to finish it within a given time frame – a painting for a birthday present, editing a short highlight video for someone, sewing one of my son’s things back together, that kind of thing.
Without LARP, I crave the chance to act and make things.
Over this past year, the urge to run away with the theatre or join an agency had been steadily growing.
I didn’t realise exactly how much LARP scratched that itch until it stopped. But it got me thinking, there’s nothing to stop me from pursuing those acting dreams in the future when my job in software has had a chance to marinate. Ideally, I will have published a few books by then and maybe that will be around the time things start to shift towards being more creatively focused.
As much as I enjoy working in tech now, the satisfaction is fleeting. Nothing as lasting as being able to hold a book in my hand and flick through the pages while taking in that new book smell and reveling in the fact that I created that. There’s something about holding a book, DVD, or something I have created in my hand that speaks to me.
One day I hope to share that.
It’s small steps until then.
A page of writing, practicing those acting skills, getting better at what I do.
It’s just a matter of time.
Creative Adventures 