While I excelled at creative writing in elementary and high school, I didn't adopt it as a hobby until my senior year in college. Indeed, I originally explored writing in a non-academic setting as a way to express my sexual feelings. Shortly before I finally came out to myself, I began to write short stories expressing sexual desires and fantasies. These were things that I never showed anyone, though my roommate and friends did find at least one of these stories. Also, after coming out to myself, I started a fictional story witch characters based loosely on myself, a theoretical lover, my sister, and my brother-in-law. This story was a way for me to explore my feelings about my sexuality and my concerns about how my family might react. The story was very short-lived and never got past the first few pages.
While I was dating my first boyfriend, Zech, I started on a larger project. This time, I turned my attention to writing two fictional works. The first work was a novel, while the second one was a collection of short stories telling the backstories of the characters in the novel. At this time, I also stepped out in daring and shared these stories with Zech and his sister, who was my best friend at the time. I gained a great deal of confidence in my writing during this time, and I found the courage to share my work with others.
Sadly, I quit writing for over two years when Zech and I parted ways and my friendship with his sister dissolved at the same time. As a result, the Keylar project (named after the main character in the novel) sits on my computer, unfinished. I tried to pick it up another time, but was unable to get back into the mindset.
I returned to writing in the form of journaling. This was sparked by two events. One event was when an online friend, Duke, introduced me to the concept of online diaries and blogs. I started an online diary (one that has since been deleted) to express my thoughts, particularly on Paganism. The other event was working with a potential teacher in a witchcraft tradition, who encouraged me to start journaling about my magical experiences and spiritual thoughts. I found that following his advice enabled me to make great advances in my spiritual journey. Also, these events gave way to the creation of One Pagan's Heart. At the time, I hosted the site at Geocities.
My online diary began to become more and more about my personal life, though I never quit expressing my opinion completely. Eventually, I created a new diary at Bloop, where I still keep a number of diaries. Eventually, I also decided to start my own standalone blog and get my own webspacing. And thus Northern Grove was born.
Originally, the main site was left blank, with a simple "under construction" note. However, I also created a The Musings of a Confused Man and moved One Pagan's Heart to a subdomain here. Back in 2006, I also added a second blog to the site, Dear Lover. This diary was created from a project I started after breaking up with my second boyfriend, Mike. This diary gave me the opportunity to explore what exactly I was looking for in a lover and a romantic relationship by telling it to my as yet unknown lover.
I also joined a site for writers, Writers on the Loose. I again used this at first for expressing personal opinions. In the Fall of 2006, I also started posting my own musings on and interpretations of tarot cards.
Eventually, I decided it was time to start another fiction project. I began telling the story of Harald Erikson, a thief in pre-modern Northern Europe who found himself plagued by restless spirits at Writers on the Loose. It was met with great enthusiasm, and I eventually decided to also create a separate diary just for this story over on Bloop.
To me, my writing has been about many things. It has given me an opportunity to explore my feelings and gain greater insight into my own mind. It has given me the chance to learn to express myself and share much of my life and my perspectives with the greater world. It's my hope that by sharing, I will inspire, encourage, and even help people. There has been much in my life that makes me feel I have wisdom to share with those who have similar experiences and struggles, and my writing gives me a chance to do exactly that.