It’s taken me 49 years to get here, but here I am–a published author!

I remember sitting in my first grade class-the moment the puzzle of words clicked and I could read! From that moment on, I read anything and everything. My favorite books were the Laura Ingalls Wilder series and everything by Judy Blume.

It took until 5th grade, however, for me to take the gigantic leap from reading stories to writing them. We had a creative writing assignment and I found myself so wrapped up in writing that I was unable to break away from my fictional world and come back to reality. That, to me, is the fun and magic of writing–when everything else fades away and I become immersed in my own creation.

Like a lot of “artsy” teenagers, I transitioned from short stories to poetry full of angst, taking inspiration from long-haired boys, heavy metal lyrics and smoking stolen cigarettes on the side of the road.

In high school, I discovered the writers of the Beat Generation and ultimately fell in love with the writing of Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. I found my voice as a post-post-post-beatnik. Kerouac’s dynamic narrative style combined with Ginsberg’s philosophy of “first thought best thought” helped shape my poems into little truth bombs.

I was, and still am, most comfortable in the counterculture. Punks, hippies, beatniks, freaks, Juggalos, Goths–these are my people. Anyone open-minded enough to reject normal society and confident enough to forge their own way through style, music, art, or simply an alternative lifestyle.

These days, I have to tone it down a little. No one wants to see a middle-aged insurance analyst with purple hair and a lip ring. Don’t get me wrong-I still wear my Doc Martens, I still listen to the same music and I still feel seventeen years old, most of the time. But along with all the gray hairs, I’ve gained perspective and hopefully what I’m writing now demonstrates that.