My Dossier
Hiya. Welcome to my site and if you feel the need to know what makes me tick . . . well even I haven’t figured that out yet. However, if you really feel the need to know more about me, below are the essentials (sheesh, you must be bored). I certainly haven’t mastered the writing secrets of the universe, but this is the path I took to get here.
I was born and raised in Iowa. I started reading science fiction and fantasy when I hit 8th grade, and my descent into writing started about a year later. I started hanging out with a new group of friends who were into RPG’s and books and they sucked me in. My best friend lured me into the world of writing and I haven’t quit. I constantly give him thanks because it’s one of the greatest things that ever came into my life. Whether he knows it or not, writing has helped me keep my sanity on more occasions than not. Thanks man. Again. And again.
As for my formal education, I was blessed with really good teachers. Whether they saw that passion to write inside of us or not, I don’t know, but my friend and I had more than a few English teachers who let us loose in class and encouraged us to run with our stories. Dan Gogerty, Betty Rosse, Peg Graham, Linda Bettendorf, to name a few, but they gave us carte blanche to write and learn and explore. Thank you–you don’t know how much of a difference it made.
In college, I tackled more of the grammatical and stylistic end of things, trying to improve my craft. It gave me a few more tools and I kept going. Not that I didn’t learn a lot, but it wasn’t as hands on learning as I would have liked. It’s okay. I kept on writing and slugging out the stories.
However, it was in 2008 I met up with a group called the Wolf-Pirate Project. They took one of my novels, paired me with an editor and blew my mind on the writing front. We hammered away and they really re-taught me how to use the skills I did have to get the most out of my writing. I’m still thankful for everything they’ve taught me and if I can make them proud as my writing goes on, that will be my thanks. I’ve never had such a good (but intense) experience in my life, and I’m so much the better for it.
Which brings me to the present. While I do love writing, it’s reading that slingshot me into this sport. It was the stories I read as a kid which made me think–I wish I could do that. These days I split between writing and reading. When I finish a story, I launch into a book. It’s usually enough to get my mind going again when I think–a good book you can really get lost in beats the hell out of a lot of things. Check out my favorite authors to see what you’ve read (I’m probably older than you so you probably haven’t heard of half of the stuff, but good it is). Read. Period. I don’t care what, but read. If you want to be an author, you’ve got to read as well as write. They go hand in hand.
I love movies too. Movies are just two hour vignettes of a novel, really, and it doesn’t get any better than when you sit in a dark theater and shovel in handfuls of popcorn as the lights go down and the big screen fills your field of vision. Yeah. I like a good horror movie, though I’m talking horror not slaughter. We’ll get into that more later. And with the onslaught of decent superhero flicks lately, they’re another good bet for your money.
Yes, I look forward to movies for entertainment: something to take me out of the world I live in and to let me see through someone else’s eyes for a while. It doesn’t have to be prophetic, though I don’t mind that either if it gets me going. Like my counterpart, I don’t need anything more than characters I can sync with and a good backdrop to draw me in.
I could talk about all kinds of things . . . and I will in my blog, but for now that should give you an idea of where I came from and what I’m about. If not, well, heck, you know how to find me. Thanks for checking in.
–Craig