Writing.Com General Discussion

Hi everyone. I have always been a bit of a very casual writer. Mostly I scribble things down and then after a few days throw it away. Not because I don't like what I write but because I get bored with the style or genre. I am a sci-fi fan so I've always assumed I need to write sci-fi. I grew up in the early 90s with Star Trek TNG and DS9 and reading fan novels. I realize now that I love reading sci-fi because of the wonderment and the fantasy and it is a thrill to me to read about things that do not or probably could not exist.
I was laying in a hotel room the other night thinking about how badly I want to write something when it hit me like a truck. I can't write sci-fi because it would ruin the genre for me. Sci-fi is my mistress. Nothing more. Then I thought about how much I love history. I thought about some of my favorite books (besides sci-fi) such as Where the Red Fern Grows and Old Yeller and White Fang and many more. I also love researching and learning about history. The first books I ever bought with my own money were civil war novels by Jeff Shaara.
I live in NE Pennsylvania and there is a deep coal mining history here. I've always been fascinated with local Native American tribes and felt that is something I would like to research also. There are a few writings about something that happened where I live a long time ago called The Wyoming Massacre. Also a young girl named Frances Slocum was captured by Native Americans and raised as their own. Or I have always wanted to look into a legend about Queen Esther’s Bloody Rock. There is so much history where I live that I can draw inspiration from. I still want to develop my own characters and plot and all so I think historical fiction is for me. It still needs to be very accurate but I can create. I don't want to write non-fiction. That wouldn't be fun for me.
Anyhow I am rambling. I was excited about this revelation and wanted to share. Finding something to spark my interest has been torture for me and when I thought about researching for a historical type fiction it just clicked. How could I have been so stupid for so long. I look forward to researching and learning and sharing.