{"id":22,"date":"2025-02-02T21:06:58","date_gmt":"2025-02-02T21:06:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/derekrushlow.com\/?page_id=22"},"modified":"2025-08-17T05:57:31","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T05:57:31","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/derekrushlow.com\/","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Welcome to my website!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s funny because, despite being a published author, I still find writing about myself bizarrely tricky. So here goes nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The word processor I used as a kid was a little more modern (the keyword is “a little”).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I was nowhere near<\/em><\/strong> the industry standard, but I was determined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During college, I interned at the Stillwater Gazette<\/em>, 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
These are not issues of the Stillwater Gazette<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, I stuck with it and eventually graduated, earning a B.A. in Professional Writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I cringe at my laziness and naivete now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
This is the Minnesota State Capitol (a.k.a. the building I do NOT work in).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019t 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<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2020, I published my first novella, Who’s Charlie?<\/em> Four years later, I published my first novel, The Plague of Hollywood<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And guess what? I’m continuing to write fiction and am enjoying every minute of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope you enjoy my stories as much as I enjoy writing them!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
I can only wish that my writing desk ALWAYS has a full cup of coffee!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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…<\/p>\n

Continue readingAbout<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"iawp_total_views":139,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-22","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/derekrushlow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/22","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/derekrushlow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/derekrushlow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/derekrushlow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/derekrushlow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/derekrushlow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/22\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71,"href":"https:\/\/derekrushlow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/22\/revisions\/71"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/derekrushlow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}