I am a writer and science / technology enthusiast. I can almost always be found in front of a computer screen, either creating stories or contributing to the AI apocalypse. As a writer, I focus on books for young adults. I like to combine fantasy, adventure, and mythological elements with a cast of unusual characters.
On the tech side, I took an extreme interest in computers when I was a kid. My first computer was an Apple IIc Plus. I disassembled it. I was a geek before it was chic! As such, I’ve done a little bit of everything in the computer world; repair, networking, data analytics, software engineering, machine learning, etc.
I got started as a writer by daydreaming my way through school and telling myself stories at night to battle insomnia. I was always good at memorizing information for tests, so I rarely needed to pay attention in class. Instead, I was off in my own little world most days, and I always thought it would be fun to write down some of the adventures I dreamed up. Someday. Maybe.
Luckily, I sat down one day and started typing on my laptop. Why? I couldn’t really say. I felt like it, I guess. That was 2008, while I was finishing my Bachelor’s in Chemistry. Yes, I actually completed a degree of that difficulty with little effort, and no, I am not a good chemist.
In fact, I only worked as a paid chemist for a few months in the labs at school during my last semester. I was born with a connective tissue disorder that makes all of my joints hypermobile. Meaning, they can partially dislocate with ease. One of the many consequences of this is that I fall down, a lot. After nearly falling while carrying a large glass jar of highly concentrated acid across the lab, I decided perhaps chemistry wasn’t my greatest life choice.
So, I chose to go back to my roots and formalize my education in the technology field that I had spent so much of my life in anyway, by working on a Masters degree. All the while I kept writing.
I never planned on publishing any of my stories. I knew they weren’t long enough to be considered commercially viable for a mainstream publisher to take any interest. That didn’t matter to me, I wrote them for fun, but when I heard about Amazon’s KDP platform for self-publishing, I figured why not give it a try? Maybe a few people will read my books. All these years later, I still have trouble grasping how more than a hundred thousand people have. I’m very grateful to everyone who has spent their time and their hard-earned money in my made up worlds.
On the personal side, I am a lifelong resident of Iowa. My condition necessitates low-impact activities, so I like to hike, take bike rides, and go bowling. I occasionally teach college courses in the areas of math and science, and I have been known to enjoy sci-fi TV and video games.