Hiya and welcome. I’ll give you a little background on me if you feel the need to know what makes me tick…I haven’t even figured that out yet. Everyone has their writing journey though, and below is mine.
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 began hanging out with a new group of friends who were into RPG’s and cutting edge books. 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. 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 what exactly, but my friend and I had more than a couple 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 prodded and pushed us to write and learn and explore. Thank you–you don’t know how much of a difference it made.
In college, I tackled the grammatical and stylistic side of writing, trying to improve my craft. It gave me a few more tools and I kept going.
I got my first taste of publication in 1994. Playing an RPG called Rifts by Palladium Books Inc., I assembled an index of all of their source materials. It was for our use, but another buddy of mine (thanks Joe!), looked at me and told me to send it to them. I actually listened to him and they ended up publishing it.
I was contracted to do another one for them and these became my first two publishing credits even though it was non-fiction 😊
It got me excited though and I kept writing and looking for ways to publish fiction. 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 (eternal thanks Catherine and May!). If I 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.
A good book that 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 most likely haven’t heard of half of the stuff, but good it is). Read. Period. Anything. 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 about horror not slaughter. We’ll get into that more later.
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. Just like an excellent book…if I get caught up with the characters and the story, I’m 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, you know how to find me.
Thanks for checking in.
–Craig