It was never as much about my love for writing as it was my love for storytelling. Even before I could spell -- and I'm still not great at it -- I loved to spin a yarn. I don't mean that I would go around telling lies I just like to make up stories. Sometimes I would tell these stories to myself or my cousins and I would act them out.​

Writing opened up a venue for me to share my stories with others and to read stories from other great storytellers. I grew up learning to emulate the styles of London, Hemmingway, Thoreau and Dickens among others. I would imagine myself on great northern adventures like London, globetrotting and experiencing new cultures like Hemmingway, existential philosophy like Thoreau or Victorian high society like Dickens. I loved the worlds they painted with words and I painted many of my own along the way.

I spent 25 years in the Army living the experiences I dreamed about as a kid and collected many real life stories to be embellished and told, but I had little time to share. Now, with an Army career behind me along with more than half a life, I want to spend the rest of my days just working on telling the very best story.