An Introduction
First time meetings usually require introductions. So, as I’ve just landed here on Medium, I figure I should say “hiya”.
Hiya.
They call me Steve, or Steve-O, and sometimes other names that aren’t all that polite. I prefer plain ‘ole Steve, but also answer to ‘hey you’.
I’ve been writing in one way or another since high school, maybe as early as middle school, but became semi-sorta-kinda serious about it within the last ten years or so, since writing my first fan-fiction piece, I guess you could call it. ’Twas based on characters I created in an online video game called Star Wars: The Old Republic. Yeah, go ahead, laugh. Don’t bother me none. I’m something of a Star Wars nerd; I wear that badge unashamedly and, at times, fully immerse myself in that universe. Like all of my fellow Star Wars nerds, I dig the flicks, games, and books. But unlike most, I take it a step or three further, and truly love creating my own characters and their little stories as well, even if they are simply short vignettes, as I call them. Or often times it’s just one or two-line quotes. Oh, and I’ve hammered out a few longer pieces on my keyboard, too. Each a work in progress: each a single thread that may someday be woven together with the rest to form a literary tapestry that one might label a short story.
Something else I have done, though with greater frequency and often in much longer form than most of my Star Wars schtuff, is non-fiction writing based on historical research. I won’t delve into that too much here, except to say that I’ve been a nut for things with wings for longer than I’ve been a writer, and that I have a keen interest in military aviation history. Especially that of the Buffalo and Western New York area, which is my neck of the woods.
Perhaps I’ll write something more about these particular passions of mine here in the future.
In addition to those subjects, I’m steadily developing a leaning toward writing other things: fiction of a more general nature, though sometimes with an aviation connection, and both fiction and non-fiction based on my own personal views of life, the world, the cosmos, and even some of my real life experiences. It is stuff along these lines that I hope to create and share here.
Speaking of ‘here’, I suppose I should maybe explain exactly why I‘ve landed here on Medium.
Last year, 2023, in November, I suffered the loss of my left leg below the knee. The why of it is not truly important at this point. I will simply say that I was in a dark place. A frighteningly dark place. And I was hoping, quite literally hoping, intending, and actively attempting to ensure that neglect of my health would result in my soul’s departure from this Earthbound existence.
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Long story short, I failed to kill myself through such passive but deliberate means. I lost half a leg. I lost roughly half a year of my life, such as it was and still is. I lost my job. My boss says that I am welcome to return any time, but I am now and for the foreseeable future unable to perform that job. It is too physical and fast-paced.
My short-term disability benefits have run out. There’s more to this part of the story, but I shall not go there in this moment because I have a capacity for rambling, and this bit is getting to be too long already. I will simply say that the gears of bureaucracy turn excruciatingly slowly, as well as frustratingly and maddeningly inefficiently. (I don’t think I’ve ever used such a string of words ending in ‘ly’ all in one shot before. Cool.)
So, with no significant source of income, and just one last month of rent left in the bank, I had no choice but to start job-hunting, even though I am not yet again ready for an in-person nine-to-five gig.
Second part of a long story short: nobody wants to hire me.
However, during the course of job-seeking in various places online, I received a response to one post in a Facebook group that started me to thinking. This response was from a gal who is a professor at a local college, and who writes and reads others’ writing for a living. I won’t repeat any of them here, but will say that her words were highly encouraging, and suggested that I might think about pursuing employment as a writer. Some of the possibilities mentioned were journalism, web content creation, and copy-writing.
Now, I’ve been writing my little Star Wars stories (and others) for maybe ten to fifteen years, and have been writing for my historical websites and blogs, as well as writing countless posts along a similar vein on various special interest forums and social media for more than twenty. Journeying back in time another decade, I am reminded of many contributions made to some small local publications (read: newsletters). Rapidly flipping forward again through the pages to the present chapter in my life, I cannot help but marvel at how I’ve matured as a writer. I’ve joked to my friends about penning the next great Star Wars novel, and even half-entertained that thought, or thoughts of freelancing; writing magazine articles, or even a book pertaining to my other great interest of aviation history. But it’s only ever been a somewhat less than semi-serious notion. More wishful thinking than anything else.
Yet here was someone whose professional schtick involved writing, telling me essentially the same thing that my friends have been telling me for years. “You have a talent. Use it.”
So, that’s what I’m going to do, or at least try. And that’s one of the reasons that I am here now, writing this on Medium. To test the waters, to see what I can make of my penchant for words, and, most importantly, to do sumthin’ that I have come to enjoy immensely. To write.
Fade to Black…
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© Steve Donacik 2024
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