Wrestling with the Random

   Quite often, I find it difficult to put quill to parchment and come up with a suitable blog post. There have been times when my offerings have appeared to be quite random and make little to no sense, even to me.

   That much could also be said of my stories, as my ideas can also be quite random, coming to me in random places and at random times. It’s my job as a writer to wrestle them into order and weave them into a story that will hopefully captivate my readers and not confuse them. This sounds simple, but in reality, it’s just as far from simple as one can get.

    There have been times when my random scribblings have confused even me, and the process of wrestling them into some semblance of order has only added to the confusion.

    A lot of people out there think that being a writer is an easy job. I mean, how hard can it be to string a few words together and come up with a winning story? If it was as simple as they thought we’d all be doing it, in reality it’s much more complex, and if I’m honest, I never really understood how complex the craft is, but then that’s the nature of the beast, isn’t it?

   My journey as a writer has been an incredible adventure, and I’m happy to say that I’ve learned a great deal from my fellow authors. Long may it continue, and I mean that with all my heart. I’m looking forward to learning even more as I continue in this amazing journey.

    The question is, will I ever fully comprehend the complexities of the craft? I doubt it, but again, that's the nature of the beast, and in some ways, I don’t think that I’m supposed to.

Shaun McBride

Author of The Chronicles of Dreyfus

July 2026