tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5619504835690751412.post7825039749407364884..comments2022-02-26T16:42:09.823-05:00Comments on WCMarchese: Everything Happens For A ReasonWilliamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05886046721794322044noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5619504835690751412.post-88653424663816941052018-04-18T09:29:53.042-04:002018-04-18T09:29:53.042-04:00Going to give you a very long answer to your quest...Going to give you a very long answer to your question. Ready? <br /><br />There are so many things in my life that have made me who I am today, both good and bad, that I have to agree that most things happen for a reason. If not for some really bad relationship choices, I'd still have shit self-esteem. I wouldn't have learned to stand up for myself or to take chances. I'd definitely never have shared my writing. For a long time, writing was a private/secret thing I did just for me, because I never imagined I'd ever be "good enough" for someone else to even want to read it. I still wrestle with self-doubt sometimes, but not for long and it's easier to push it aside. ;)<br /><br />Life experience has also shaped <i>what</i> I write. Horror just seemed like a logical genre for me, because it examines those dark places we avoid. For example, growing up, we had very little money. We were still happy, for the most part, despite wearing second-hand clothes and eating things like mustard sandwiches because it wasn't payday and that's all that was left in the house. (Remember when bread was cheap? Sigh) My parents battled alcoholism and abuse for years, before they got to a point where they were both healthy and happy, and the shit from their pasts wasn't making them terrible to each other. I was sixteen before I saw what a stable home looked like (although I always knew I was loved). As dark as it seemed sometimes, that childhood struggle helped me understand that no situation is ever black and white or as simple as right or wrong. It definitely influenced how I develop the characters in my stories. In horror, the ability to see and explore those grey areas is important. And I know what it's like to have pretty much nothing, so a writer's income is something I can work with.<br /><br />I actually wrote a fictionalized memoir (had to put some killing that never happened in to make it more exciting) as a writing exercise. It won't be published, because it's depressing and no one wants to read that shit, but it made me realize how much of the good parts of who I am developed because of bad or negative experiences. So, as much as I didn't enjoy those parts of my life, they were worth it to be where I am now. Renee Millerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14142341397085289166noreply@blogger.com