I’ve always written stories. When I was a kid I wrote stories and drew pictures for them and stapled them together to make books. My mother recently showed me one of these little books apparently based on my older brother’s Dungeons & Dragons gaming. When I was 14 I wrote a sci fi novel. When I was 15 I wrote a fantasy novel. I set them aside and never looked at them again. Then I grew up and had some adventures and became disillusioned about most everything except my dream of being a novelist. In 1997 at the age of 25 I started writing again. Now it’s 2012 and I am working on my eighth novel. No publisher was ever interested in me. I stopped beating my head on that door in 2004. But rejection from people who would never care about my dream only emboldened me. I began self publishing my fantasy fiction in 2005. That was before being an indie author was cool. Despite relentless obscurity and general disrespect, I was always encouraged by a steady trickle of sales and the occasional kind comment from a reader. To be honest, being a novelist is always a struggle. I get criticized in public and don’t get called by any movie producers, but also every day someone somewhere buys my novels and that amazes me. I’m humbled by my readers. I will always do my best to craft stories worthy of them. I love the stories I write, and sometimes other people like them too. I’m having a good dream.