Well, sort of. I'll go ahead and warn you ahead of time, this post will be unlike anything I've previously blogged about. This post will be about as real as I get here. I'll blame the New Year as reasoning for this sort of public reflection, but sometimes you have to look back to truly appreciate how far you've come. It's been a long year, full of many highs and lows, but mostly full of transition. There's been a longstanding tradition that on New Years Day you create resolutions, and if you're lucky, you'll see them out. This post is about my resolution for 2013.
To start, let's go a little further back.
When I was a pre-teen I lived in the suburbs of northern-Virginia. In 1996, the area was a hotbed for high school distance running. There were three guys (Shariff Karie, Eric Post, and Eric Kweder) who were national-calibur athletes. I remember watching Karie try multiple times to break the 4 minute mile (unsuccessfully). A sportswriter by the name of Pearl Watts wrote vivid descriptions of the races. Despite the fact that I was usually there, slapping hands with the winners at the end of the finishing shoot, his descriptions brought me into the the race. My mom would read his stories, and clip them out. His writing became the standard for my article-writing. Somewhere in his words, in one of his stories about some race, I wanted to do the same. I wanted to connect the reader to the story.
Around the same time, I had the opportunity to befriend a guy named Freddy Hall. We'd spend afternoons air-jamming in his living room, pretending to be rock stars. To spare you too many nostalgic moments, I'll skip ahead a bit. As it turned out, Freddy went on to become an awesome singer-songwriter in Brooklyn. Last year he launched his first album with his band: Freddy Hall & The Best Intentions The Wander Years. Knowing him over the years, watching him grow and his music progress, his career became a huge inspiration for me to do the same - in another genre: writing.
Several years ago Freddy was in Denver, touring with the Broadway-Off-Broadway musical Spring Awakening as a guitarist. When he was in town we had the chance to catch up. At the time, I was taking some writing classes at a local community college, attempting to find my voice. Though, I didn't like anything I wrote, and figured it all pretty much sucked - ironically, the thought still holds true with my writing to this day. I did what I could, but figured my writing would remain just a hobby. As it was, I had been writing off and on for years, but entirely in the private realm. Most people had no idea, and I preferred it that way. But, at this time in my life, much of my writing became a release. It was an outlet I could use to express inner thoughts, like music.
Freddy had many questions about my writing, and reminded me of our fictitious rock albums. After all, he's a writer himself; of lyrics and music. Before he left for another show, in another town, he bought me a journal - I joked the previous day that it was for "real writers" (of which I obviously did not consider myself at the time). Inspired, I spent the next few months filling its' pages, playing the role, but never fully bringing the ideas out of the journal. I'm almost embarrassed to the admit the inspiration eventually faded months later, and 75% of the journal remained blank for another two years.
Now, we're about up to January 1, 2013.
When you're really passionate about something, it never fully leaves your head. The flame may fade a bit from time to time, but it never fully blows out. This is pretty much what happened with my writing. After nearly two years of ignoring the words floating around in my head, I couldn't look the other way anymore. I knew it was something I had to try, otherwise I would always wonder what would have been - and I do not play the what-if game. So, I added a little weight to the goal of pursing my writing again. Rather than quietly try, then walk away, I decided to really swing for the fence, something I do from time to time when I really care.
Despite publishing only one fictional story in a small, literary journal at a community college I once attended (this almost doesn't count), I decided to take my shot at magazine writing. I was living and running in Boulder, Colo., one of the most prominent spots for distance running in the US. I met a variety of elite athletes, and immersed myself well within the running community. I finally came to the conclusion that this was the gold-mine I had been needing to find stories. This was really interesting stuff, and I was living in it. I didn't have to look far for stories, all I had to do was listen.
Enter: Fernando Cabada.
Cabada was a friend, and we had shared just a few miles on the roads. He was a enigmatic figure, with an insane amount of potential. Early on January 1, 2013, I saw a Facebook post by him. On this particular morning, I was nursing a hangover, but fully ready to dive into this pursuit. I wasn't looking for a story at the time, but I saw his post, with picture and workout splits from several hours early. I remember thinking, "What 20-something adult does a hard workout on New Years Day?" (A professional athlete is the correct answer).
Though, from what I had known about Cabada, he was the kind of person that lived in the moment, and enjoyed life to the fullest. (He once told me he had 7-beers the night before he set the American Record in the 30k). Staying in on New Years Eve to prepare for a workout was uncommon for him - at the time. I was impressed with the dedication to the his goals, and began researching his previous year. I noticed a trend: a change in approach, a newly minted dedication that included a variety of sacrifices on his part.
This is right around the time the lightbulb went off in my head. Here was a story worth telling, a man in transition.
Within days I was putting together an article proposal to send out to any major running publication. Like I mentioned early: Swing for the Fence. Having never published in any major (or minor) publication nationwide, I first sent it to Competitor Magazine. I figured I'd wait a few days, and if I heard nothing, or got denied, then I'd try a few other options.
Surprisingly, I wouldn't have to send it anywhere else. In an extreme act of faith, Senior Editor Mario Fraioli went with it. And just like that, I was contracted to write a 2,500 word article on the Evolution of Fernando Cabada for Competitor. It was my first real attempt at getting published, and my first attempt at even writing a sports article. The pace picked up from here.
The article released on Competitor.com in April, the week before the Boston Marathon. A few days later, ESPN ran the article on their site, and Cabada's story made the front page of letsrun.com (the most popular running-news website in the world). It was hard at this moment not to feel like I was on to something. I was convinced it wasn't a fluke, and was determined for it not to be.
I began looking all around me, searching for stories of challenge, stories of transition. Several months later I landed another story - this time for Colorado Runner Magazine. My own training partner (Tyler McCandless) graced the pages of my pen this time. With the emergence of Run.com, I was able to land a multiple stories on their site. Colorado is rich with distance runners, so the topics weren't hard to find, or track down.
By late fall, I began accumulating short stories that I had been privately writing on the side. These were much different from what I was publishing in the sports-world. In an attempt to mix some philosophy, theory, and social commentary, I created fictional stories of multiple dimensions. The rhythm of the pen just flows sometimes, and I found my voice by writing daily, and reading the works of others. I'll admit, the unfiltered grittiness of Chuck Palahniuk became a huge influence on these short stories. Eventually, I came to the natural decision to swing for the fence again, and create a collection of shorts stories and poems for publication. (Currently, Coffins & Cradles is in the manufacturing stage, and should be available for purchase mid-January). But this year-long story doesn't end there.
Somewhere in the midst of writing daily, and searching for stories, the desire to be a full-blown staff writer for a newspaper still lurked in my shadows of my mind. Connecting Reader to Story - consistently - was still a goal. I could do my best Pearl Watts impression occasionally as a freelancer, but a newspaper is a more consistent outlet. So, once again, I swung for the fence, and applied for a Sportswriter position in December 2013. Several interviews later, I accepted a staff writer position for the Gunnison Country Times. Just like that, 11 months after deciding to pursue writing, I made it a full-time gig.
And to think, with heavy eyes and a pounding headache, the year started with a Facebook post.
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