Writing Nugax

When I was in college I had to choose a Major. I had exhausted all of my liberal education classes. Had I known what I wanted to do at the onset, I could have slipped out of a few of these classes because they’d have fallen under my major. I however, I just liked going to school. I was a good student and liked all my classes, except surprisingly, the theatre classes. Going into college, I thought I’d be an actor but the egos of the upper classmen left me cold and bitter. I plotted revenge upon them and planned to do away with the entire school with a terrible plague of gelatinous moon monsters.

But, in the meantime, I was faced with a letter from the dean telling me to pick a major or suffer a penalty on my scholarship, I did a little soul searching. I realized that the classes I liked most were the ones in which I wrote. I also liked film. I became an English major and went on to get a Master’s Degree in American Studies, Film Emphasis.

I tried to do a little fiction, a little poetry as all English majors do, but I excelled in criticism. Now criticism isn’t about telling someone how stupid they are, or why a film sucked. Criticism is about deciphering messages and gleaning pearls of understanding from complicated text. By studying criticism, I developed a sharper mind and a deeper understanding of reality. It also gave me one of the nastiest poison pens you’re likely to encounter!

Writing is about expression. It’s about creating interest while getting a point across. I’ve never been paid for my writing, unless you count newsletters for jobs I’ve had and I don’t really know that much about the art. I write when I have to and can make myself do it. I’m one those writers who hate to write but love to have written. Mostly however, I think I have a knack for writing in a time when fewer and fewer people do. Writing is too often lost after school, forgotten like trigonometry and your locker combination. It was useful when you needed it, but in the real world it seldom comes up and so atropheis like any unused muscle.

I was at the height of my skill in college when I was producing volumes of text every quarter. I’ve tried to fight the atrophy with drugs and sex. When that doesn’t work, I try to keep a journal. However, discipline is something I usually have in short supply. When I do keep a journal for any length of time, it’s probably because my life has gone to hell or some other world shaking event has driven me to write. If it weren’t for gaming, monthly newsletters, e-mails and the occasional web site, I probably wouldn’t be able to conjugate a verb.

The writing I’m going to put on Nugax will be whatever I want. I suspect it will be excerpts from my journal, personal essays, histories and observations. I suspect much of the writing may have to do with the other areas of Nugax, since these will be recent example and cheap links. I may even add a piece of bad poetry. I dunno. Check back and share my personal journey. I’ll try to make it interesting.