I love telling stories. Some of those stories are songs, some are novels, and most recently, some are short stories. I hope you like stories too (or you are probably in the wrong place). Some of these ideas have been floating around my frontal lobe for decades.

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I read once that the problem with writing is that you do not want to be a writer, you discover you are one.

That is certainly true for me. In my final year of university, studying marketing, I was sitting folding laundry while my wife was still at school and it dawned on me. I didn't want all of the daydreams of being a writer throughout my life to just be daydreams.

I really wanted to try; I wanted to be a writer.

After a quarter of a century thinking about it, I was going to actually do it!

Since then I've joined a writing group, self-published a short creative non-fiction book, submitted my first novel ever to a publisher, and my first rejection (ha) and have signed a contract for my 3rd book--not to mention my children’s book that launches this coming month!

If you're reading this, I hope you enjoy getting to know a little more about my journey to become a writer, and where I plan to go from here!

As far back as I remember I watched the people and the world around me and asked questions about why things are the way they are and why things happened the way they did.

I was a dreamer, a thinker, and an over-sharer of my thoughts and experiences... I'm the same today, but I've managed to control at least some of the 'over' part of the sharing.

I remember wondering if I would ever be able to read; staring at the symbols opposite the pictures in my "Hop on Pop" book, or reciting memorized lines from other stories. Words were a magic that I couldn't understand at first, but that I would grow to love over my early years.

I don't remember when reading became easy, but I do know when reading changed from a pleasant pass-time to a near-compulsion.

My mother would sign up my siblings and I in the summer reading program at the Waterdown Public Library. The basic goal was to read 12 age-appropriate books throughout the summer and submit book reports. At each book milestone you won prizes to motivate you to keep There were times when I was younger that I didn't read all 12, but the prizes eventually won me over, and I started to do it every year.

The summer before grade 6 [or 6th grade, in American ;)] I was well on my way to reading the full amount by the end of summer... but then I lost the 7th book.

I didn't want to borrow another one until I could find the one I had lost. So days, then weeks passed without me making any progress on my reading goal. Finally, the last week before school started, I found the book where it had fallen behind the couch. I had so little time left, could I finish my goal? Yes, and I did; I tore through the second half of that book and another five before the library closed the last day!

Long story short (and thankfully they were relatively short books at that age) I was able to do it! What's neat about that experience is that the volume of reading did not make me sick of books; on the contrary, that made me want to read more.

My 6th-grade teacher eventually stopped giving me stars for each book I read (I was off the chart, doubled up, and starting on my third row when she decided that rewarding me for reading wasn't necessary--I was a little bummed not to get more stickers, but I understood). And these weren't small books anymore. I read all of the Hobbit and LOTR that year as well as the 8th-grade books my sister was reading in her school work.

I truly became an avid reader, and like a juice box you blow into, the words filling my mind would eventually start rushing back out of their own accord.

I got busier and busier with highschool and I began to read a little less, but words were still important to me. I started writing songs at 16 years old, though I didn't have any I really wanted to share with anyone until I was 18.

Over those years I tried to write books, but after planning out the plot and imagining an enormous world I would get discouraged and I never finished a draft. Songs helped me fill that need I had to write, but in a way that produced something shareable in a day or two instead of years.

Well, that changed accidentally one day after receiving a mediocre grade on a paper in my 12th grade English class.

I would always get nearly perfect marks on my essays for creativity, but I would zero out the rubik's grammar section on grammar because I would leave the paper to the last minute.

That paper was no different, and so I grumbled to myself that 'I [was going] to write an essay that broke every rule on purpose. Just because I [could].'

I know, I was incredibly rebellious.

So I began writing a tongue and cheek 'essay' that was really a story. I didn't plan anything; I just let the words flow out of me. It was fun!

I wrote and wrote and wrote and the scales tipped from "will I ever finish a book" to "when will I finish this book." That was a huge change for me. I had always doubted my ability to stick with a project until it was finished.

So I made a goal. I looked forward to my near future and thought of when I could commit myself to finishing my first *almost completed* manuscript (that point ended up being the middle of the story).

I was going to serve a mission for 2 full years, for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so I wouldn't be writing then; then I would be going to University so it would be hard to fit it in; I was also hoping to find a young lady who'd be interested in spending an eternity with me, and I thought that might take some time; so I decided that I wanted to be published by my 27th birthday.

It seemed reasonable to give myself 6 years since I had never done it before. That would give 5 years to finish the novel and a year to figure out publishing it. I was open to any kind of publishing (whether a blog, or the big 5, or anything in between).

Well after my mission, working a year, starting school, re-meeting the woman I hoped would be my wife, doing another year of school, convincing her I was the right choice for her, transferring to a new major in a new University in a new country, getting married, and doing 2 more years at the new school, I saw the deadline approaching.

Just like with my papers in high school (and college, unfortunately) I had left a lot to do near the end.

I decided that I would massage the goal slightly to "while I was 27 instead of when I turned 27" and that helped me accomplish it.

That summer I finally finished my first-ever, first draft!

With 3 months until my 28th birthday (February 2018), I knew I could simply post my novel online somewhere to accomplish the now 10-year goal, but I liked where my novel was headed... and it felt a shame to kick it out of the editing test without its flight feathers. So I thought of what I could do to still accomplish the goal and “Looking for Luck” was born.

Since I was 11 I've had an unusual talent, that I had developed a method for teaching people to do as well: finding four-leaf clovers! I decided with my remaining time and with the help of my fledgling writing group (the Pensive Scribblers) to write a short, creative non-fiction book I could self-publish on "CreateSpace" (now Kindle Direct Publishing) AKA on Amazon.com.

The long story short is that I got that short book finished and posted a week after my birthday, just barely in time for St. Patrick's Day.

Then I had to start editing my novel down from the 132,000 words to a more manageable 85,000... which I did (those 3 words represent a lot of time and effort) and I was able to submit it to a major publication on the 15th of September 2019.

I have since received my first rejection :P.

I now work at a regional publisher and have a children’s book launching next month and a  Regency Romance novel scheduled to drop in March 2022!

There is so much more I have to learn, but I am incredibly excited to be building my dreams and living such a wonderful life.

Thanks for sticking in here with me!