David King, What Would YOU Burn?

Today I am so pleased to welcome a friend and cohort, David King. I met David at my kids' Kung Fu studio (he is one of their instructors), and soon learned that he is a writer, as well as a black belt. We have been meeting every month or so since, sharing works-in-progress, encouragements, and advice. David recently finished his BA in Creative Writing at CSULB, graduating Magna Cum Laude(Huzzah!), and is hard at work on what I know to be a really wonderful nautical novel.

Here is what David has to share: 

When asked a question like this, there’s a lot to consider on my part. Had I been asked this a few years ago, I probably would have produced a laundry list of things, small insecurities and petty ideas scrawled all over it. It’s only recently that I think I’ve narrowed it down to two things, and ultimately those things connect in a ankle-high roadblock that seems to be constantly set in front of me.

I’d burn my hesitation and procrastination.

Hesitation is not always a bad thing, I know. There’s a point where its better to reconsider, reevaluate and otherwise not throw caution to the wind. On the other hand, I’m of the habit of hesitating too much. I look at my looming adulthood and the numerous responsibilities,  challenges, and things expected of me – jobs, taxes, insurance, the daily grind – and I just want to curl back up in my childhood where I’m safe. I won’t deny that the future genuinely frightens me, and that I’m only making it worse by stopping myself; my brain somehow goes to that worst-case-scenario thought and I hit the brakes. I don’t want this Peter Pan complex, yet I still struggle to look at the future with major optimism.

First one into the fire, then. Boom. Look at it sizzle!

I’m also a serial procrastinator – I’m sure it happens to the best of us, but I’ve gotten quite good at it, much to my dismay. It frustrates me, this apathetic stance on things. If this blog is any evidence, I’ve started so many things with the best of intentions, only to lose sight of my goals midway through. I keep putting things off, shoving them to the side as I let distractions take over. It should not take the exertion it does for me to keep focused on one task until its done, and coupled with the hesitation and fear, serves only to keep me from getting what I want.

In that goes too. I imagine it erupts and bursts as it heats up, like popcorn: pop, pop, pop!

If only it were that easy, for me and for everyone else, to take their troubles and ills and incinerate them, watch them go up in smoke. But even the act of looking for things to burnburns in its own way. I recognize the things that hinder me, and I can take steps to fight them. I can let them go, put them to the metaphorical torch and let their ashes get carried away.

Eloquence aside, my thanks to Elana for presenting a prompt that not only got me dwelling on these things, but got me off my lazy butt to look at this blog again. Expect more from me more often by this point, as I start getting the circus back in gear.

Goodbye for now, and remember: don’t play with fire, use it to your advantage!

David has had a short story anthologized! Check it out here, and visit his blog here.