The Accidental writer…

The accidental writer came into being in October 2011 when I decided to document my training regime for my upcoming trip to Papua New Guinea.

I suppose the trip to Papua took on extra meaning when I decided to raise money for cancer research after the passing of my dad in February of that year.

To be fair, Craig was the catalyst when he called me late one afternoon while I was at the hospital with dad.  The conversation went something like this “mate, there’s a trip to New Guinea later in the year to hike Kokoda, are you in?”.

To be honest my initial response was somewhat tepid “great, ah I don’t know”…

He was quick to follow up “no time to think, if we don’t book now, we won’t get in”.

On my end of the phone there was silence while I turned it over in my mind…

This spur of the moment decision started something that changed my life.

Over the ensuing months, once the medical was complete, the results sent in to the tour operator and the deposit paid I needed to begin training given the grueling and exhausting hike ahead of me.

It dawned on my one day that perhaps raising money in his memory on my hike could do some good, albeit in a very small way.

In all, I was able to raise just over $17,000 which is amazing unto itself because my goal was $5,000 which I hit within 24 hours then it just went from there.

With my amazingly generous friends and acquaintances from all over the world contributing.

To give them a glimpse of my hike I thought I would bring them along during my training to give them a sense of what I needed to do to be able to tackle such a challenging hike.

Three full months of daily training including gym work, boxing training, running, daily 5 km hikes, and long hikes with a heavy pack for 4+ hours each Sunday soon got me in shape.

Over the three months I lost 10Ibs and felt like a million bucks going into the hike.

As an accidental writer I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into by beginning to document and publish my training as I prepared for Kokoda.

As I look back on these early posts I cringe… just a little bit.

I guess the reason is that up until that time I’d never actually written anything, nor shared it since my university days.

Some might have baulked at the idea of documenting anything slightly personal and publishing it for anyone to see.

However, I felt compelled to share my experience with my donors.

This initial foray into writing was a very positive experience in terms of the encouragement and support I received from everyone who read my initial stories.

What I found most interesting and somewhat therapeutic was the act of writing and expressing myself.

I sort of became this accidental writer overnight.

All I knew is that I looked forward to writing with anticipation and joy, which as you all know is something to celebrate and enjoy.

When I completed my training and flew to Papua New Guinea to begin my hike, I had picked up a little note book that I stuffed in my backpack before we set out.

Over the course of each day, I would observe my experience and all that was going on around me and jot down a few notes each night before bed.

My emotions ran rampant during the hike as a few things began surfacing during the hike.

Including coming to terms with the loss of my dad even after nine months I was still grieving deep down.

In addition, I was also grieving the impending loss of my marriage…

A real potpourri of emotions coursing through my veins in the 8-day hike to be sure.

Perhaps these emotions coloured everything about my Papuan experience as they seemed to be accentuated in some way.

From a writing perspective I feel some of my stories that I wrote and published after the hike (post November 22nd) were some of my best.

Yep, even to this day they resonate with me and bring back a flood of thoughts and memories from those far away and rugged mountains of Papua.

Now don’t get me wrong, even though I’ve published a weekly essay since those heady days of 2011 and written and published two books I realize that I don’t have the natural gift of writing.

Nor I do have any illusions about my actual writing talent.

However, like with anything in life if you’re passionate about something and you show up everyday then in many ways you can create your own destiny.

This is exactly how I feel!

I believe that to be a writer you have to write without the expectations of recognition or acclaim, but purely for the joy that it brings you.

My writing rituals feel warm and cozy and the perfect place to be.

The best part is that I write just for me!

So, until next week

Ciao!

Prologue:  If you wanted to opportunity to read some of my early essays and stories from 2012 until 2017 – check out these streams if you want to read more:

Indelible Adventures – Series 1 (Jan 2012 – Feb 2014)

Disheveled musings  (March 2014 – August 2014)

Indelible Adventures – Series 2 (August 2014 – December 2016)

All of my writing since January 2017 is on my website – https://indelibleadventures.com/essay/