As far back as I can remember, writing has been an important element of my life; however, while attending LP Brown Elementary in Olympia, Washington, my love and passion for the craft went into overdrive. This is because my 5th Grade teacher set aside an hour everyday for freewriting, and I absolutely loved it. That's because, as an awkward kid from an abusive home, it allowed an avenue of escape. There were no cares, no worries, and the world could be whatever I wanted.
Around that same period, my interest in the Horror genre deepened as well. I was enamored with books like Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, began reading works from the RL Stine Goosebumps series, and progressed to the novels of Stephen King. By the time I was in attending Jefferson Middle School, all I wanted to be was a horror writer. While in the eighth grade, I actually wrote my first attempt at a full length novel, a work known as Dead But Alive. While the manuscript has been lost to the ages, I still remember the overall plot of the work: a serial killer, who has been able to evade the police, cannot escape the returned ghosts of his victims. Of course, it was never published and only read by my tight knit group of friends, but it was an important milestone for me nonetheless.
At Capital High School, I was fortunate enough to enroll in a Creative Writing class taught by a professional writer. Not only did the class help me continue to develop my unique artistic voice, but also learn about the business side of writing. That year, I was introduced to The Writer's Market and was instructed on how to create inquires, cover letters, and the rest. At first, I received only rejection letters as a response from publishers, but there was a diamond in the rough. At the age of 17, I received my first byline for a short in a literary magazine. (Between then and now, over a dozen of my shorts have graced the pages of literary publications.)
The rest, as they say, is history...
Over the years, writing has given me so much, and as I'm just weeks away from stepping on the set of my first full length film adaptation, the passion remains as strong as ever.
Peace.