CONFESSION:

(Re-work)*

So, a little background since we’ve gotten a face-lift. “Rough Drafts of Life” has been a public (though low-key) blog since April 14, 2017 when the first post, “Thank You Mister Truck Driver” was published. That post was a poem written for a creative writing class during the final semester of my senior year of college which led to the concept of “equal parts fiction and non-fiction” that is the backbone of this blog. 

Shortly after graduation I found myself in that post-college “what now” rut which led to me wanting to explore my writing. I had an interest but no sense of direction. I was younger and my thoughts were all over the place and I was still trying to establish my sense of identity. I cranked out a bunch of various drafts that included a menagerie of pieces including: short stories, poems, funny encounters and sad memories. It was a mess. I settled on the “Confession” post and decided to go from there. 

For those that missed seeing the original post the important take-away is this excerpt:

“Recently, I've been recalling a conversation I had with a psychology professor my freshman year of college. He pulled me into his office after I applied to join his research team. He said the position was mine but I had to do one thing. I had to declare psychology as my major. Literally, that was it. No letters of recommendation, no GPA requirement, I just had to declare my major and I could not do it. He said,

‘In life there are three types of people. The 'ready, aim, fire' type, the 'ready, fire' type and the 'ready, aim, aim, aim, aim' type. Don't be the last one. You cannot be afraid of making choices life is full of choices. Pick a favorite color, choose a liquor, find a mate, buy a house, live your life. It doesn't matter how perfect your aim is if you never fire. So. Fire.’"

I think about this conversation still to this day and since writing that post back in 2017, I have decided that I am going to be the fourth type of person. Yes, the fourth person, not mentioned by my professor because I am making it up right now. I am going to be the straight-up “fire” person. There will be no aiming whatsoever! The part about being “ready” well let’s face it, are we ever really “ready” for what life throws at us? No. Am I really ready to share some of these thoughts, stories and drafts of life with people who actually know me or people who just met me? Not really, but it all circles back to the truck driver. For whatever reason, I was supposed to stay and so here I am firing. Firing off these “Rough Drafts of Life,” trying to find my purpose as everyone else in this world is and maybe learning how to aim along the way.