Writing

It will come as no surprise that one of my greatest passions is storytelling. Before I even knew how to write, I was making booklets of my drawings and giving them to my family as gifts. This hobby was given new life in grade 6, when my teacher gave us an assignment to write a story. We were to have three pages done every week for about a month. Instead, I ended up pulling some of my first all-nighters in order to hand in a story called “The Dragon Sword,” which was over 60 pages. With that, my passion for writing was born.

My first project was to write a sequel to the story I had written in school titled “The Dragon Legion.” It was twice the size of the first, and only cemented my new-found love of creative writing. Soon after, I began to work on a full length novel called “Assassin.” Its inception came on the heels of my first exposure to philosophy, something I had also taken a great interest in. In the novel, the protagonist would come to struggle with the differences between right and wrong, between justice and vengeance, and between the good of the one versus the good of the many. It’s been a piece of writing that has evolved as much as I have over the years, and continues to be an on-going project that encourages me to remain self-reflective.

Apart from working on my novel, I have also written a number of short stories. My favourite of which is called “A Coward or a Fool,” which I have included here. It follows a conversation between two men, one of which is struggling with a personal dilemma. Like many of my works, it asks questions of the reader and presents them with a thought-provoking philosophy that they can relate to their own lives. I strongly believe that stories are some of the best tools for growth and personal reflection, and it’s those ideas that inspire me to write the most.

As I continued my educational and professional career in writing, I was exposed to more and more of its many forms. I wrote blogs, essays, social media posts, instruction manuals, proposals, and marketing material, just to name a few. I quickly found that they each had their own unique styles and quirks. However, they all had one thing in common: they were each optimized to communicate as efficiently and effectively as possible, a skill that’s invaluable in every line of work. Thanks to my ever-growing experience in various forms of communication, I found that I had also become a more confident speaker and a better leader, in addition to improving my skills as a writer.

Nowadays, my writing takes the form of short stories, while slowly making progress on my novel. I have also developed a love of the role-playing game “Dungeons and Dragons,” which has allowed me to regularly engage in interactive storytelling. I have even taken it upon myself to create and maintain an online encyclopedia of our character’s adventures so far, which can be found at the-foreign-threat.aboutalexi.com. These projects keep me occupied, while satisfying my love of writing and creative storytelling. They also motivate me to expand my horizons when it comes to my career, not only in writing, but in communications as well. In my previous position, I saw the value of communication in my leadership role, and I am eager to see where my experience in these areas will take me moving forward.