I’m going to let you in on a secret. When I was in high school, I really really wanted to play Dungeons & Dragons, but I didn’t think I was cool enough. I’m not kidding. I genuinely thought this game, with its complex rules and cool dice and performative creativity, was something only the most clever, inventive, and confident people could play. Those were the real Cool Kids, in my opinion.
Ever since I was little, I’ve been enamored by the act of creation. People who could write or draw or make music or perform on stage or anything like that were gods to me. This fascination fed my own creativity. I tried my hand at all types of art over the years, but writing was the only thing I was passably good at. Fast forward a couple decades, and I was finally good enough to carve out a decent career with my writing. It was only after I had two books out on shelves that I started to wonder if maybe, just maybe, I was cool enough to play Dungeons & Dragons now.