The beginning

Writing books has always been something that other people did. After some pretty major life changes for the better, I began to think that perhaps I could write a book. It started with me contemplating writing a memoir to leave behind for my children. That quickly morphed into this harebrained idea of writing a fictional novel. Having raised a daughter who has been world building since high school, I leaned on her expertise on the subject and she pointed me to a series of lectures by Brandon Sanderson on creative writing given at my alma mater, BYU. I devoured the series and was endlessly amused that I had sat in that same lecture hall on more than one occasion. I began to plan and brainstorm. I read about the snowflake method. I started going to a local Shut up and Write! group. In the lecture series, Sanderson suggests we give ourselves permission to write a bad book. Story telling and writing is just like any other human pursuit, it requires practice. So, taking his advice, I have given myself permission to write a bad book. I am still unconvinced I can actually do this. I wanted to have so much more prepared before 11/1. So, I will be pantsing this thing far more than I wanted to. I have always wondered what would happen if I woke up tomorrow and computers no longer worked. As a software engineer, this is the stuff of my nightmares. That is the question I'm trying to explore here. Early as I started to brainstorm, I started to think of how many fantasy novels are set in a world in which there existed an ancient, advanced, and long since dead, civilization. As I began to brainstorm, I connected these dots, and from it came the idea for the book which I have given myself permission to write poorly. How can the world in which we live, become that ancient, advanced civilization of a fantasy setting? I spent all of 11/1 arguing with myself whether I should actually begin. Here I am on 11/2, still unsure, but a day behind. I do not know if I will blog more, or if I will complete this challenge. I do know that I will start. So here I am, about to embark on a journey into the unknown and uncertain.