My First Vision* – Thoughts about being a writer and what I see ahead (with and/or without my spiritual eyes).

1. Writing is hard. Duh. I need more time. And caffeine. And vitamin D or honestly I might just sleep myself into oblivion. Or my heart might explode. Clinical depression and anxiety’s such a bitch, y’all. But ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
2. What’s this dystopia I keep eluding to? I’m WORKING ON IT, GOSH! Patience, dear readers. Keep following and you’ll be rewarded with teasers and nibblers as I write. In the meantime, please enjoy these other posts.
3. I read mostly non-fiction. Writing fiction has forced me into a made-up world. Inventing characters and places that don’t exist has me feeling a little crazy. But I like it.
4. The greatest challenge of writing my dystopic novel is portraying the LDS church as a broader metaphor. I still need the authoritative top-down, patriarchal structure. I still need a white-and-delight-some Utah/Pleasantville-like culture. I still need splashes of church-history-inspired monstrosities that put the “DYS” in dystopia. But I’m not just writing for Mormondom, and I can’t have the general reader get lost in Mormon jargon. So it’s just a matter of naming and describing this future community that works for the story that’s not literally “The Mormon Church” but still get’s the point across. I also hope to highlight the good things about growing up in the Mormon Church. Sorry, ExMo’s no promises of complete demonization.
5. The second biggest challenge is a book title. The one’s I have are either boring as hell or they already exist. Not ready to crowd-source my titles yet, but dang, it is tempting.
6. I still would like to write about my story leaving the church. It’s not that exciting, but it’s part of why I’m here, so….ya. Got to do it. One of these day’s I’ll get my autobiography on.
7. I’m reading some books. I’m always reading some books. One of them is Impossible Saints by Clarissa Harwood. A suffragette teacher falls in love with a clergyman. Can their love survive???? (Bites fist in dramatic worry.) All sorts of nuance and a nod to my mixed-faith marriage. So far it’s been a fun read. Early 1900’s feminism and some adorable flirty banter that makes me think of Pride and Prejudice. Can’t wait to write a review.
8. Walden Pond-y personal writers retreat coming up in March. I’m locking myself in a room, and I’m not coming out until….who am I kidding. I’ll probably go hiking and check out my favorite restaurants in the area SANS KIDS. Thanks, Hubs, for the Free Weekend Christmas present. It’s bound to make for some good Instagram pics at least, and I’ll be damned if I don’t get some writing in too.
9. Thanks for the love! If you haven’t heard, I adapted some of my posts on here into an audio essay for the Infants on Thrones podcast. It was a blast, and it got me some exposure. Since I submitted it, I’ve had a number of people reach out to me with a lot of positive feedback. It really means a lot. Have a listen to the essay. Voting ends at the end of February. I hope to be featured on the podcast again sometime, which is totally awesome, since I’ve listened to the podcast since I left the church four years ago. The Infants made me laugh when I wanted to cry while I was going through that period of unpacking every square inch of Mormonism. It was an honor to be a voice on their stage.
10. Black Lives Matter. Call me a repentant white, ignorant citizen. I try to stay educated and I want to build bridges with the secular black community. We have got to learn to talk about race in this country. This is an issue that’s important to me, so you’ll see it come up in my writing. But I’m not going to do the obligatory Black History Month Post. Not gonna do it. Black history is American history. All. Year. Long.
11. Yes, I’m an ExMormon, but that’s just one part of me. Sometimes I can’t help dropping ExMormon inside jokes,  but my vision as a writer is to highlight the broader issues that face humanity. Racism, tribalism, political polarization, religious fundamentalism, universal morality, etc. Sometimes that’s through an ExMormon lens, but less and less so. I want to write to make people think. I want to give a voice to the younger generation who ain’t buying what tradition is selling. We need to question EVERYTHING. We need to have the skills to rationalize a truth that’s detached from authority, family pressure, and fear of the afterlife. Anytime you start repeating common memes from your tribe, red flags should go up. It doesn’t matter if your right, left, liberal, conservative, Christian, atheist, crunchy-granola earth-lover or corporate joe-shmo who loves golf and pink polos. It’s human nature to be tribal, but the hope for humanity rests in a generation of freethinkers and people who are willing to reach across tribal lines and work together.
12. Follow me on this blog. Or on your favorite real-time social experiment. Twitter, FaceBook, Instagram, or Google+. Let’s be a force for good.

*The term “First Vision” can be subject, but not guaranteed, to change. “First” can mean the beginning in sequence, or more generally, the first officially** recorded pronouncement of said vision. The following vision is not meant to be taken literally, unless the literal interpretation provides you a reason to devote your life to me and my writings, then by all means, adhere to it literally.  The following vision is what I see myself thinking and writing about in list form. Said vision does not have to include all my thoughts, and reversely, all my envisioned writings on this list may not come to fruition. The “vision” is basically a list of whatever I want. Unless it paints me in a negative light, then I have authority to change the way you interpret my goals as a writer.

**The word “official” is subject to change, as is what is deemed official.

Photo by Startup Stock Photos from Pexels https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-wearing-black-and-white-stripe-shirt-looking-at-white-printer-papers-on-the-wall-212286/