Varg always enjoyed reading and writing. From a young age, he poured through childrens books and later, novels. He quickly embraced reading for its ability to take him to other places and meet new people, all within the space his own mind. He passed his time as a child by following characters and their journeys in the books he read in his room.
“I started with the simplest of children’s books. The Story of Ping, the funny papers, those Disney books you listened to with a record player. The best part was filling in the blanks, stuff the writers left out. The character’s backstories, their motivations, and as the text increased and the books employed less and less illustrations, I really started to embrace wondering what the characters looked like, creating images of them in my head out of nowhere. It was very stimulating. I went from young adult novels by Judy Blume in middle school to Stephen King by high school.”
In high school, Varg began creatively writing for the first time, both academically and as a hobby. In his senior year, he placed second in his school in a portfolio contest and second in the county in a descriptive essay contest. He was also the managing editor for his high school newspaper and wrote an advice column on the high school experience.
“I wrote what would now be known as ‘flash fiction,’ serial stories about a kid named “Howie The Great” which was sort of an idealized depiction of what I thought high school should be like. Howie and his friends were cool artsy kids bullied by jocks and it culminated in a huge fight at the end. The stories aren’t great but they functioned as true narrative tales at least. I learned to take the story from start to finish. The award-winning stuff was very dark and that was a consequence of a trauma I endured at the time. I feel to this day they both would have won first if the subject matter wasn’t so morose. But, that’s who I was and that’s who I remain.”
The years right after high school, Varg continued to read but rarely wrote. Some college was completed but real world responsibilities and trouble with the law interfered with his process, as did pressure from the status quo. Writing was not a realistic career choice in his hometown.
“I was writing a little poetry and papers in school but mostly I was all about getting fucked up and trying to have sex a lot. I was getting fired from jobs, smashing up cars, trying to avoid violating my probation, getting my heart broken, seeing a lot of music, arguing about the purpose of life with my friends… it was the ’90s. That’s what we did. Creativity and its value to our culture was on the rise, but it was often very dark, like me. I recognized this and quit my service industry job and moved to California to ‘become a writer.'”
Varg’s journey to become a writer coincided with the rise of the Internet and the World Wide Web. He first utilized features of his Internet provider to post the articles, poetry and short stories he was writing at the time. He became disciplined and wrote every day possible. He went back to college in pursuit of an English degree and made contacts with instructors and professors there. He did well in his classes and on his essays. He was also writing more avant garde literature for a poetry and writing troupe he started.
“I vowed to everyone who knew me to ‘become a writer’ and I learned later that many folks thought it was a very dumb decision. I left a good job and there were doubts I could achieve my goals. So when I got out to California I knew I had to throw everything I had into it. What helped more that anything was I didn’t know anybody, so nobody had to witness the various times I failed. Writing as a hobby helped. It was a salve as I pursued more respectable gigs. And it made me feel real and legit. College helped too. I got another second place award in a writing contest.”
Varg began freelancing for various periodicals and eventually was hired at a weekly paper, first as a staff writer and later as the arts editor. His duties included writing several feature articles or reviews each week, overseeing a small group of freelancers, copyediting the entire paper and designing the arts and society pages.
“I loved working at La Jolla Light. It was a 9 – 5 job but I had good editors and a lot of freedom as to what I could write or assign others to write. I attended a lot of art shows, saw a lot of plays, went to a lot of concerts. I interacted with very successful and creative people at the highest levels of their careers. What helped most was I was considered their peer. I also learned a lot from them. About the creative process, about critical thought, about overcoming self doubt. And I got paid for all this. It was a beautiful time. I finally got first place in a writing contest.”
After moving back to New Orleans and freelancing for a short time, Varg’s life was upended by Hurricane Katrina and visual art began to exceed writing among his creative endeavors. He stoked the fire writing non-fiction in 2007 for a blog in the aftermath of the storm. Years would pass before he was inspired to write a short story or any fiction again. Fortunately, his skills as writer improved even though they were on hiatus and he was so happy with his first short story in a decade, he wrote four more. The end result was “Chaos, Lunacy, And Bad Taste,” a collection of short stories and a novella he wrote between 2014 and 2021.
“The Chicory kept the fire lit for many years but I always had my reservations as to whether I could truly write decent fiction. It’s very easy to feel confident with your concept but it’s something else entirely to get it written, edited, designed and published…and then… for it to be good. I am very happy with the collection. It brings me joy every day. The characters are their own damn selves now. And they run free in the minds and imaginations of those that read the stories. Just like the characters in those children’s books ran free in my head way back in the 1900s.”