Aly Jester

Author bio

I have had a love-hate relationship with writing for years. I have loved the freedom of creating and exploring new worlds. I have loved finding new characters in my mind, creating their pasts, piecing together how the experiences from their history combined with their present motivations will impact their thoughts, words, and decisions. I have loved choosing how each character will shape their futures through their actions. Writing is a form of magic, and those who write are wizards. Writers take words in handfuls, arrange them in just the right way, and from those words, entire worlds, entire lives are born. Writing is beautiful. And writing is hard. I have hated feeling like all I do is rush toward road blocks. I have hated the captivity of doubt, the concern that the words I've used to express my thoughts could never translate properly to a reader. I would strive to give readers the chance to immerse themselves into a world I created and come out on the other side with memories of a gainful experience. But doubt is a shadow that engulfs everything it touches. Many times, when the blocks and doubts swooped in, I would quit writing altogether. I would run and hide from writing like a timid child, leaving my creativity stuck, staring at the roadblock. It would not move for days, weeks, months. By the time I was ready to make another attempt to move past the obstacles, the battery in my creative vehicle was dead. I would spend more time trying to jump start it than I did actually making progress before a new block stood in my way. It was a vicious cycle resulting in rarely finishing anything I started. More recently, I have found that continuing writing, simply for the sake of writing, doesn't leave my creativity dead on the side of the road. Rather, it provides the fuel needed to move beyond the obstacles. These are not road blocks, they are merely speed bumps. One needs only to slow down to pass over them, or find a new direction to get around them. And that's why I found my way to Reedsy. Here, I intend to use the prompts provided, not only as a dreamy escape when a speed bump looks like a mountain, but also as a place to experiment. Here, I plan to test out various styles and new "voices" in writing. Here, I plan to write in ways I might not consider for my own personal works. Here, I will escape the pages that pin me down so I might return to them with fresh eyes, new ideas, and newfound freedom as a writer. And maybe, I will find that some of these styles, some of these voices, some of these concepts which I would not have found within myself before experimenting, maybe some of them will suit me. Maybe they will serve me well. If not, at least I will have tried them. At least I will have spent my time creating and enjoying myself instead of running and hiding, staring at a roadblock, hating something I love.