Writing is in my blood.
A long career as a journalist makes it an obvious fact. This may come as a surprise to some of you who are familiar with me, but reporting on sports and business is not the only writing road I want to travel. Don’t get me wrong. I love watching football and basketball and getting to craft fun and informative features from what I see and hear.
Still, I have reached a crossroads where I want to also make time to pursue long-delayed dreams. One such dream is to be a successful fiction author and poet.
Writing fiction is something I’ve dabbled in since middle school. I typed up my first stories at 12 years old. Back then, I wrote a series of stories centered on the adventures of several kittens. The characters were based on pet cats we owned at that point in time. From there, my passion for writing only grew. During the summer following my high school graduation, I wrote a complete 400 page science fiction novel. I continued to churn out short stories and, soon, poems while attending college. I even eventually minored in creative writing.
I accumulated quite the portfolio of stories and poetry. Those things got put on the back burner for several years while I pursued my day job as a journalist. I made an effort to pick back up my fiction writing over the years, but I always let myself get sidetracked in the end.
This year, I finally decided to not let obstacles get in my way. I carved out what little spare time I could scrape together while covering the Utah Utes, BYU and the Utah Jazz over the past few months. My dedication paid off with the publication of my first novel, Pandora Reborn. It is the finished product of an idea I had kicking around in my head for more than 20 years and I’m finally excited to share these characters and this story with the rest of the world.
My journey into the creative writing realm is just getting started. I am already working on other novels and short stories. This includes a pair of possible sequels to Pandora Reborn. It also includes standalone stories and novels. Additionally, I have a planned six book science fiction series I intend to write and publish in the years ahead. As I’ve told a friend or two on occasion, I have enough plot and character ideas to last 20 to 30 years.
You’ll still see me putting in time as a journalist in the weeks and months ahead. But you’ll also see me wade deeper into the water when it comes to crafting stories, novels and poems. It is a little scary but also a lot of fun to undertake this journey.
Anyone wishing to join me on this journey is encouraged to come aboard. I have set up a Patreon page devoted to my fiction and poetry. Subscribers will get first access to my creative writing before it goes to the rest of the public. I’m excited to create and share with all of you in the weeks, months, and years ahead. Hopefully, what I write can entertain and inspire and stick with you long after you read it.
To purchase a copy of Pandora Reborn, you can obtain it in the following places:
Barnes and Noble: Paperback, Ebook