Corder’s Creative Corner: 'Writing makes me happy'

Over the years, people have ridiculed or mocked me for some of the things I’ve written.

During my freshman year of college, I wrote a Young Adult story about a goth girl being beaten up in a bathroom, and it was eviscerated with harsh criticisms by a group of upperclassmen who read it.

I had a girlfriend who was worried about my “spirituality” after she read a murder-mystery story I wrote.

I have people close to me who give me incredulous looks when I tell them that I write stories about elves.

Now, granted, not everything I write is Pulitzer-Prize-winning material. But all of the stories mentioned above all have one thing in common: writing them made me happy.

Over the holidays, I was reminded of just how much writing makes me happy as I’ve been in the process of compiling something special. Earlier in 2022, I said I was working on a book, and I still am. But from working on that book, something else came about: lots and lots of short stories. Stories about sword-wielding elves, bloodthirsty vampires, and dark assassins in the night. They’re stories that I’m enjoying writing, and that can’t be taken for granted, because it’s a huge motivation. For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been writing like a mad hurricane.

So, I’ve been happy. I’ve worked on various projects over the past couple of years, but something about these particular stories have made me more engaged with writing than I have been for a long time. I’m so excited about these tales that I get up in the middle of the night to work on the stories till 2 a.m., because I just can’t stop. The stories are dancing around in my head, begging to be let out, and I can’t deny the Muse when she comes knocking. I have to put the stories down on paper. I have to bring them to life.

I think one reason I’m so motivated is because I plan to self-publish these stories. I don’t want to throw my children to the vicious dragons that are traditional publishers. And because I’m going to self-publish, I’m working for myself. I’m doing what I want to do, and that’s such a huge reward in itself. As Bill Watterson, the creator of Calvin and Hobbes, once said, “It’s surprising how hard we’ll work when the work is done just for ourselves.”

Truly, it is. As long as you’re happy with what you create, who cares about what other people say?

If you’d like to learn more about David, visit his website at cordersbookcorner.blogspot.com. There you can read short stories and other articles as well as sign up for his monthly newsletter in which you will receive writing updates, exclusive snippets of current projects, and more! You can also email him at dbcorderwriter@gmail.com.