I'm a writer. It took me over thirty years to finally figure that out, despite the fact that I had written simple poems and things here and there for years prior to that discovery. Whether you write fiction, poetry, or essays, writing is a personal thing which in the end will always expose at least part of your inner self, sometimes even more so than you realize. I think it took me all those years to finally feel comfortable expressing myself that openly, and once I did, writing was the avenue which sort of fell into my lap.

I was born in 1965 with Osteogenesis Imperfecta, or "Brittle Bone Disease". I guess it's been difficult in a sense to deal with, but because I've always had it, it just seems likw a natural part of who I am. Also, I've always had faith in God, along with strong support from family and friends. I've only really felt like O.I. was a hindrance or a burden when others have treated me differently because of it. Took me a long time to finally realize that the negative reaction of others wasn't because I was some kind of freak, but because those poor, misguided individuals were, in fact, idiots. :)

I've always been creative. As a child I loved to draw landscapes and cartoons, and later graduated to building cars and spaceships out of Legos®. Yes, I admit it. I am a Lego-maniac, and even if there is a support group for such things, this is one addiction I am proud of. Well, that, and my most recent obsession, which is TechTV, where I learn so, so much about computers on a daily basis.

I first discovered computers in the early 80's after spending a weekend fiddling with a borrowed TRS-80, and was instantly hooked. Computers proved to be the perfect medium for me to explore all my interests, and utilize all my skills. Over the years I've studied programming in various forms of BASIC, concentrating on game simulation, natural language processing, animation, and web design. I even designed a game once which played Connect 4® on the Atari ST computer platform. The program was later distributed as freeware.

I am always striving to learn more, and am currently studying things like PHP, MySQL, and anything else that comes my way. I get to practice these skills regularly as a Site Administrator (and resident tech guy), at Scrawl: The Writer's Asylum, a writer's workshop with a varied and spirited group of people who are not only good friends to me, but have become part of my extended family. I am also webmaster for Scrawl's sister site, the Writer and Market Literary Search Engine, as well as of a Christian giftware, apparel, and stationery company called the "I AM" company.

I've been an avid reader all of my life, particularly of science fiction and fantasy. The Lord of the Rings is my all time favorite book, with the entire Miles Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold running a somewhat-close second. Authors like Tolkien (J.R.R.), Heinlein (Robert A.), and Bradbury (Ray) have stimulated my imagination throughout the years, and helped to shape my vision of what constitutes great fiction. At the time I never knew that one day I'd be trying to follow in their footsteps, but that just goes to show that you never know what God has in store for you.

The Internet is very much responsible for the current path I am on now. After logging on in December of 1994, I started making friends soon after, and through my interaction with them and their continued support and encouragement, I think I grew as a person until I was finally ready to become a writer. It seems that the more I write, the more I want to write. I've been blessed with a few publishing credits, and am persistently circulating my work in hopes of finding homes for more of my literary babies. All in all, with the various things continously blossoming in my life, things just seem to be getting better and better as I grow older.

Now if I can just make the New York Times best sellers list....