Preface
I haven’t updated my blog website in a very long time because of my full-time work as an accountant and, to be honest, lack of motivation to write. It was only recently that I started thinking about posting entries and work on writing stories again.
I’m currently going through my notes and drafts I’ve written years ago to figure out where to (re)start. I’ll write more about where I am today and other thoughts and observations I’d like to share. I’ll also share blog entries I’ve written but never published here on my blog.
I would also like to note that, at the moment, some people will think the layout of my website is pretty bland and could use some work. I’d like to keep things simple, but eventually I’ll make significant improvements to the website. For now, I’m happy to post entries.
The following was going to be my first entry for the blog page back in 2015, but some reason I cannot recall, it never happened.
Entry date: March 30, 2015:
I wasn’t sure how to start my blog with my first entry – maybe an introduction or some lame “Hey, how are you doing?” entry. Then, I thought I should go with the flow of my mind.
I never had an interest in writing during my childhood, only when I was forced to write a story in school. English courses were never my best subject in school, but I got good grades most of the time.
My elementary school had an annual writing contest each year for the 4th and 5th-grade students, and the middle school also had this for the sixth graders. I don’t remember what I wrote in 4th and 5th grade, but I do remember writing “Blast to the Moon” in 6th grade. It was about me and a school friend going up in a rocket to the moon and eventually encountering troubles with our ship. I remember telling this story to my school friend, who probably had no interest in my telling it and quickly ditched me to play football. I was a weird kid. I didn’t win or place in the contest each year.
After high school, I began to take an interest in screenplay writing. I have always been fascinated with movie and television productions and the “behind-the-scenes” look at how the “magic” works. It started when the local television station filmed their show “KidsBits” at my elementary school on my eighth birthday in 1982. Steve Thomas hosted the show. He asked the kids in the audience if anyone had a birthday that day, and I got to be on camera, but I was wicked shy and didn’t say much. Unfortunately, when it was aired later in April of that year, my family was on vacation in California, and I never got to see the television show. This was before the VCR machine became popular. Trips to California and visits to Universal Studios and NBC Studios also influenced my interest in filmmaking.
I started writing screenplays as a hobby during the mid-1990s, studying screenplays of movies and shows. I wrote several screenplays based on my favorite television shows at the time. Eventually, I bought screenplay software and started writing movie scripts and drafting storylines for future screenplays. My focus was using deaf characters.
For a story idea, I wanted to pay homage to one of my favorite books from my youth, Lost on a Mountain In Maine. This storyline involving a deaf boy didn’t take long to write, and I finished the screenplay, Silence of the Wild, in two weeks. It was then suggested that I write this story into a novel. Life and other projects got in the way, and I didn’t write the book until many years later, which would eventually be self-published in February 2014 as Silence in the Wild: A Summer in Maine.
Today, when time allows, my writing consists mostly of novels and short stories. I have learned a lot since self-publishing my first novel. It’s a lot of hard work that requires patience, especially when you’re unable to secure a writer’s agent and a traditional publisher to ease the burden. But honestly, I’m glad I got turned down by agents (it’s a competitive environment for writers)—it allowed me to learn what it takes to publish a book. It’s difficult, I can tell you.
I write for many reasons. I want to share my experience growing up hearing impaired, send a positive message, and make a difference. Also, it can be relaxing to write what’s on your mind. Writing allows your creative mind to flow on paper.
Unfortunately, writing is not my full-time job. It doesn’t pay the bills, so I’ve resorted to only writing when I have time. Maybe someday I will be fortunate to earn a living writing and working on video projects. But, at the very least, I can be proud of the completed projects, published or not.
For this blog, I want to share some insights about life, observations, memories, quirks, and whatever is on my mind. This is a place where I can improve my writing, so please excuse any grammar errors.
So, welcome to Dale’s blog.
Dale C. Jellison authored Silence in the Wild: A Summer in Maine, a coming-of-age adventure set in 1986 about a deaf boy.