A Small Change of Direction

Since I last posted on Cat-E-Whompus, I’ve had several readers gently mention my lack of posting activity here and they have let me know that they wish I write and post more often.

One reason I’ve been neglecting Cat-E-Whompus is the quandary that I’ve felt about what kind of material I want to work on to post here. I started off posting politically oriented pieces, fairly right wing oriented if I am truthful, that focused on what I at the time felt were premature efforts to end the Iraq war. Later, I jumped the fence politically, and began to post more and more pieces written from more a left-leaning perspective. In no small measure, this came about because of a book that I read: "Conscience of a Liberal" by Nobel winner Paul Krugman, which I cannot recommend highly enough.

However, in the more immediate personal side of my life, and inspired in no small measure by my lovely bride, I learned that right here in far-northern California we have all kinds of wonderfully talented artists: painters, photographers, sculptors, ceramicists, videographers, actors, theatrical directors, and yes—writers.

Writing is my first love as an artistic outlet. I love visual images and I very much enjoy creating them, but the truth is that I feel my real talent is more as a writer than as a visual artist.

Since I was a boy, I’ve had the dream—mostly a very back burner sort of dream—of being a writer for pretty much my entire life. Not writing as a journalist, nor writing news stories, nor as political columnist or blogger, but rather as a teller of stories. If I ever do actually grow up, I want to write plays, screenplays, novels, short stories, and perhaps as non-fiction book.
Recently, in a flash of insight into the obvious (love how those happen) I’ve come to realize that a writer is not something a person is, writing is something a person does.

I’m not entirely sure where this is going to take me, or where it will take my posts on Cat-E-Whompus, but it’s definitely leading somewhere. I've started work on an adaptation of a classic story short story as a radio play. That work is currently in its third draft, and I've got ideas for both a play and a novel that I've done a little work on. As this progresses, I intend to let my Cat-E-Whompus readers and followers know about it. Meantime, I will make a concerted effort to post here more often.

And I won't completely forsake writing about politics here either.