Journey

So, here I am. A new writer ready to blossom forth in a sea of possibility amongst many other great writers swimming in the same body of water. It hasn't been easy to get where I am and it won't be easy to go where I have my sights set, but I'm fine with that. Hard work is something I grew up with and it has served me well.

For many years I have been interested in storytelling. As a child, videogames captivated my interest. Playing out a story with a centralized character, my fingers at the helm of his/her actions was a revolutionary and enthralling thing. As a young adult, I wrote several small plays for my local church and even acted in many of them.

Then, after graduating high school in 2003, I entered the University of Kansas with plans to get my B.A. in Computer Science. After a few years of struggling to care enough about my classes to do well in them and after switching degrees a number of times, I gave up - yes, I gave up. To some degree I wish I had stayed the course, but I know that I wouldn't have been happy in those fields. I took a hiatus from education and eventually decided that games have always been a huge passion of mine, so I started online classes at Full Sail University. This program resonated with me so well that I graduated (and with a 3.23 GPA, which is really good!...for me, at least).

During my stint at Full Sail, I started a little pet project. It started with a simple drawing (you know the one if you've been to the website) of a skeleton reaching out and touching a tree with a cursed hand. After toying with different types of medium to present this story I had in mind, I settled on a novel. I joyfully picked at it here and there, and found it to be an enjoyable and even therapeutic activity.

Now, for anyone that doesn't know, finding a game design job in the Midwest isn't exactly...well...possible. Sure there's a couple of places I could've found a job using my degree, but to find a good game studio, I would've had to move. So, while waiting for the opportunity to move to a more game-central hotspot, I focused my time on something that didn't depend on my location for success.

That's when I truly started to focus on Ivory Chronicles. Because I was able to be a temporary stay-at-home dad, I could give the project the attention it needed. I studied writing, grammar, storytelling, and even joined a local writer's group for a time, gleaning as much as I possibly could to make Ivory Chronicles into a decent novel. With the release of my book and my continual work to give it the best chance of being a success (read "getting a few people to read it") I hope to settle into a field where I can make a living at something I truly enjoy.

I still have much to learn about writing, and as I write more, I hope that learning comes through and serves me well, earning me the attention of more readers. I'm not necessarily looking to strike it rich, as I wouldn't have started this if I was, but I hope to simply bring a great story to an audience that can appreciate this type of genre, and share my work with others.

(Note: While game design is still a passion, I do hope to one day enter the games industry whether it be as a designer or in a storytelling role. We'll see!)