Allow me to introduce myself

Call me JEL.

That might be funny.  Or a cliche' that squeezed your eyes shut.  And if it made you navigate back to the What Disney Character is My Uncle? quiz, or whatever weird
crap you're into... Well who cares, you're gone.

I'm a math teacher.  And a writer.  For a long time I've dreamed of publishing my fiction.  In 2012, I made it my goal.  Since then, I've written more than 300,000 words, most of them in drafts of my first novel.  I've had this story rattling around in my brain for at least 15 years (not exactly sure how long, the rattling has caused damage).  It was a novel.  Then a short story.  It's back to a novel.

Last summer I wrote the first draft, which I now call draft zero because it was a skeleton wearing spandex shorts, a vest and sunglasses. Not very fleshy.  As I type this, I am writing Chapter 54 of draft one.  There will be between 90 and 100 chapters when it is finished.

I don't write often enough.  I write every day (that I sit in front of this laptop).  Sometimes I come home from school and take a nap.  Most of the time I play video games.  Neither of those things, nor emptying a sleeve of cookies, pushes me any closer to my goal (if you don't know what my goal is, go back and read the second paragraph of this post, ya dope).

I have no idea how good of a writer I am, but I am better than I was six months ago, which was better than I was a year ago, which was better than I was two years ago.  I do know that I love writing.  Creating this blog, and attaching my name to it, makes my goal feel more attainable.  Unzipping my prose for the world to read makes me feel like throwing up.

I'm going to practice here.  Free write.  Discover characters.  Create settings.  Describe tastes.  Confess to crimes (that little chuckle was for you, just for hanging around this long.  For the record, I've committed no crimes).

Please comment, compliment, encourage, or criticize.  But easy with the criticism, I bruise like a peach (stole that from a former student, always made me laugh).  I'm not a grammarian, I'm not well-read (but I'm making up for lost time), I simply like telling stories.

I hope you participate in this blog.  And if you do, feel free to call me JEL.