I was born in Anchorage, Alaska and
grew up in Peter's Creek, which is part of the area called Chugiak.
During my formative years, I enjoyed playing saxophone, running
track, and reading. Some of the early reading influences I had were
J.R.R. Tolkien, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Robert E. Howard. Later, I
discovered David Eddings and Roger Zelazny who became my favorite
authors during my later teen years. But when I read TheHobbit
while in seventh grade, it fired up my imagination and made me want
to write stories just like that.
After high school, I attended Oregon
State University for a year before serving a two-year mission for the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. After that, I went to
Brigham Young University where I studied music. During that time, my
writing endeavors slowed down while I focused on school. I also met
my wonderful wife and started a family, so by the time I graduated
with my masters in music, I was in debt and needing to focus on
making a living.
After graduating, we moved back to
Alaska where I set up a successful saxophone and clarinet studio. I
also became involved with several performing groups such as the
Anchorage Symphony, The After Six Orchestra (a big band), La Conexion
Latina (a salsa band), and played in numerous small jazz groups.
During this time, I wanted to write and made a few attempts at short
stories but it was a low priority for me as my family grew.
Then I got very tired. I realized that
my teaching schedule was ideal for writing, since most of my mornings
were free. The problem was, after years of eating a junk food diet,
it caught up to me. So instead of writing, I wasted time by playing
computer games. As much as I wanted to write again, I couldn't seem
to get my mind to focus on that. Finally, I was challenged by my
doctor that if I didn't straighten myself out, I would have to live
on cholesterol drugs and insulin. I didn't want to do that, so I
began to radically rethink my diet and exercise.
In 2005, we moved our five kids back
down to Utah and settled in Orem. By now, my health and energy levels
had improved. Later that year, my oldest daughter, who wanted to
become a writer, decided to do NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing
Month, look it up, it's cool). This seemed like a good opportunity to
do something along with my daughter and, at the same time, reawaken
my desire to be a writer. From that experience, The Dragon War
Relic was born.
The
changes I'd made to my health were working to some degree. My health
is still not perfect, but at this time I found I could now write for
several hours and not grow mentally or physically tired. With my
teaching schedule leaving my mornings free again, I was able to turn
that time into productive writing.
To my
joy, The Dragon War Relic
was accepted by Cedar Fort and came out in November of 2009. I tried
to write several sequels but they failed miserably. This was my main
learning stage, which I didn't really have much of with The
Dragon War Relic because it was
the first time I'd ever written a novel all the way through to the
end. After submitting a sequel that was turned down, I decided to
turn my writing into another direction. That was when I wrote Time
Gangsters, with a release in
February of 2012.
I am currently
working on several projects, including a superhero sidekick story
with a working title of Memoir of a Teenage Sidekick and a
dystopian/fantasy/steampunk story currently called Slave of the
Sphere. I also have a sequel to The Dragon War Relic in
the works.
