Hello, nice to meet you and welcome to my blog!
I’ve dreamt of being a writer since my early days in grade school when I wrote my very first book. Even though this was all the way back in third grade, I still remember the feeling like it was yesterday. It was a janky book written and illustrated in crayon, but I was so proud of it. 🙂 Unfortunately, it was lost to time. My mother used to keep stuff from my childhood in one of those big filing cabinets that weighs two tons but somewhere along the way, the little gem from my childhood was lost in the shuffle (we moved a lot)
Regardless, I’ll always remember how good it felt to create and share my first book. It’s a memory that has sustained my passion for creativity throughout my life. You might be wondering about the title of the book and what it was about. That’s a good question. I remember the story, the pictures and the feeling of joy in creating it, but I can’t quite remember the title. I wish I could hold it in my hands again and flip through the pages, but alas… I think it was something generic like: Fishing Trip. As for what it was about, I’d be a little worried if you didn’t have at least an inkling, based on the title.
My title game may not have been strong at the time, but there were some pretty creative ideas for a seemingly mundane story. Along with a few clever quips, if I do say so myself. The real appeal of the story for me, is that it marked one of the proudest moments in my young life. To be honest, I couldn’t really fish at the time. Come to think of it, I still can’t. In contrast, my dad was a pro. But in true underdog fashion, I still managed to wrestle the biggest catch of the day! It was comical to see my dad so disappointed with his standard catch, while I reeled in a monster trophy fish that would be remembered for years to come… good times.
I did a little bit of writing here and there throughout the years leading into adulthood, but I took to heart the tired concept that art is for fun and anyone serious about life eventually has to get a real job. I spent a long time working real jobs. Some of them were pretty cool, and some weren’t so great… I’ll leave you to wonder which ones I liked and which I didn’t.
I worked as a receptionist, security guard, pharmacy technician, installation technician, slime sweeper and I.T. support among others. And in all that time, I always yearned to experience the satisfaction of creating compelling stories and sharing them with passionate readers.
Approximately ten years ago, I decided to take my first real shot at writing a novel. It took about a year’s worth of writing before I realized that the complexity and scope of my original vision was overwhelming. Ultimately, I had to accept that more experience was required in order to achieve the quality I intended. I’ve always been overly ambitious and have a tendency to bite off more than I can chew…
I’d heard so many authors say it took years to write a novel and I used to wonder what on earth would cause it to take so long… silly me!
I studied the art of writing whenever I could manage and quickly learned there was a lot more to being a novelist than just the writing itself, which was even more overwhelming. There were many times when I wondered if it was worth it and if I should just give up.
Along the way, I hit many more amazing milestones. Like getting married, buying a house, and having a beautiful family. All that, plus the other jobs I mentioned, led to placing my writing career on the back burner.
And honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way. My family is the most important thing in my life. But luckily for me they have always been supportive. Which means there’s still room for my dreams. There were many roadblocks and hiatuses, stops and starts, but no matter how many times the dream was pushed aside, the spark simply refused to be snuffed out.
So, here I am many years later, finally gearing up for the release of my debut. I’m so excited to finally see the end of this very long road and I look forward to a new beginning.
Thank you for taking the time to get to know me. I’m so glad you’re here to experience it with me!