Of Branches and Stories

The Tower by Rebeca Bashly at LEA6 (2012)

I was invited to write for the blog iRez and this is the first post, a brief bio of my still short path as writer.

Of Branches and Stories

Hope you enjoy the journey.

I'll have a lot of fun!

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Who is the new face at iRez, you may ask. Allow me a few words about myself. I promise these to be the first and last of the sort!

I’m Lizzie Gudkov, a former educator who became a writer. My world is made of words that branch out intertwined to grow into stories.

It was not always this easy to explain who I am, though. I spent many years secretly jotting down thoughts on scattered bits of paper I often called snapshots of life, created with the flow of sentences and the catchy sound of vowels and consonants. At the same time, I struggled with a dramatic lack of time to write, juggling an extremely demanding job as a teacher and major changes in my life.

I loved being a teacher. However, life does play a few tricks on us when we least expect it, and suddenly I had a lot of time on my hands.

One day, I stumbled upon Second Life, a virtual world with vast potential, daring places and fascinating people. What an amazing source of inspiration for my writing!

It was this virtual world that pushed me out of my safe cocoon as an anonymous writer. I started taking part in many writing events both inworld and off-world, some extraordinary, others somewhat bizarre, I must admit. Luckily enough all contributed to enrich my stories and I survived the first steps of an increasing complexity in my writing reality!

I decided to create a blog about a year ago that became my headquarters, where I push myself beyond my comfort zone. Do you have a style, you might ask, a genre? I enjoy writing about everything. I often, still today, consider myself a photographer using words instead of images. My short-fiction frequently captures a fraction of reality, a moment suspended in time, as does my poetry. I now tackle writing not as the product of a short-lived sparkle of inspiration, but as a demanding job, excruciating at times (but don’t tell anyone!), yet so much fun.

I must say I am thrilled to join the team at iRez (thank you to Vaneeesa for trusting me)! Throughout my online life of almost two decades, I have had several blogs, yet it is the first time I face the challenge of writing at a home where other writers live as well!

“What’s the plan?” a very special person in my life would ask.

Well, the plan is to embark with you on an expedition into virtual places where fictional stories will unfold. I’ll take you into the lives of many characters that populate my imagination. I must warn you, though. They are rough, belligerent, twisted and perverse, although they are human, funny and even generous at times, a few of them, at least!

The apparent solitude of the writer transforms itself progressively into a multitude of possibilities! So, I’ll sit here crafting the branches of stories that may surprise you, shock you, move you and make you drift into other realities. I hope you enjoy them.

And now it’s time, the journey begins!