Welcome to my website!
It’s funny because, despite being a published author, I still find writing about myself bizarrely tricky. So here goes nothing.
I started writing stories when I was a little boy. Initially, I wanted to be an actor. The desire quickly evolved into filmmaking when I began writing screenplays. These screenplays (if you want to call them that) were usually about 10 pages long.
I was nowhere near the industry standard, but I was determined.
Unfortunately, my friends didn’t share the same interest in filmmaking as I did. This meant we would make five movies together, yet there were plenty of scripts written.
By writing countless scripts, my interest in filmmaking began to diminish. It eventually evolved into fiction writing. Believing I couldn’t make a stable career in creative writing, I pursued journalism (specifically newspaper reporting) instead.
During college, I interned at the Stillwater Gazette, a daily newspaper in Stillwater, Minnesota. While there, I quickly realized that news reporting was not the right career for me. This was unfortunate because a majority of my classes involved something related to journalism, and it was far too late to change my major.
Maybe it was too late, maybe not. Either way, I was already stuck with thousands of dollars in student loans that I would have to pay off shortly after graduation. If I changed my major, that would mean even more money.
So, I stuck with it and eventually graduated, earning a B.A. in Professional Writing.
Now, the time came when I had to search for a full-time job in journalism. Yes, this was despite my realization that journalism was not for me.
The jobs I looked at either didn’t pay well or I wasn’t qualified enough. I did go on a few job interviews at newspapers around Minnesota, even one time driving to Iowa and another to North Dakota.
But I couldn’t find anything. In the meantime, my desire to write screenplays resurfaced, and I began working on them in 2008. I had a small belief in the back of my mind that I could become a professional screenwriter despite not knowing anyone in the business, not proofreading my screenplays once I was finished, and not even taking the time to read produced screenplays to learn the craft.
I cringe at my laziness and naivete now.
It got to the point where I gave up on finding a job in journalism, as it was taking far too long, plus the reasons I had already mentioned. I graduated from college in 2007, and it was 2013. I was still working as a part-time clerk at a grocery store while living at home.
Oh yeah, and I was 32-years-old. So, it was time to get my ass in gear and find a full-time career that paid well and had great benefits.
This meant applying for jobs with the State of Minnesota. Fast-forward to later in 2013: I was hired! A year later, I moved into a one-bedroom apartment.
This was also around the time I quit writing screenplays. But soon after moving into my apartment, I resumed writing fiction, only short stories. It wasn’t until 2016 that I not only published my first piece of fiction but also began working as a writer/editor for the YouTube channel Planet Dolan.
In 2020, I published my first novella, Who’s Charlie? Four years later, I published my first novel, The Plague of Hollywood.
And guess what? I’m continuing to write fiction and am enjoying every minute of it.
I hope you enjoy my stories as much as I enjoy writing them!
