vix

Author bio:

For as long as I can remember, I have been a writer. I can recall some of the stories that I wrote in 3rd grade -- though I no longer have copies of those. However, for a long period in my life I set aside this hobby, feeling that I was not really disciplined enough to write and that I did not have any original ideas.

My re-entry into writing came in the form of Anne McCaffrey PBEMs. From my first involvement in fandom writing I was hooked, spending hours each day replying to emails with my own creative efforts. Of course, that was another person's world and the ideas seemed to come easily.

Then in October 2002 one of my PBEM buddies stumbled across an idea for this strange project called "National Novel Writing Month." Several of us decided to try it, friends from around the globe, and for the next two weeks we set out to plan. I personally had no idea but decided to define a class of people and to go from there. I used the same name generators that had served me in my fandom writing and started jotting down ideas about a character, only to have him reveal that he had a blind twin sister. I decided that if my character could write himself, this NaNoWriMo thing must be possible. On November 1st I sat down with nothing more than these two characters and by November 30th I had over 50,000 words.

I had proven that I could be disciplined and that I did have ideas.

The next year I signed up to be a Municipal Liaison for "Pennsylvania Elsewhere," a region in the center of the state that encompassed Harrisburg, Williamsport, Lewisburg, State College, and various rural areas in between. For four years I traveled that area holding write-ins, all the while writing each November and "winning" NaNo. During that time I also worked full time and earned a Master's degree. In 2007 I moved to Maryland and my first move was to contact the current MLs for the Maryland region and sign on to continue my duties in that area.

Spring of 2011 marked another writing milestone for me: I managed to complete a first edit of one of my novels -- not my fantasy opus -- and submit it to CreateSpace for publication in proof copy. It still needs editing -- plenty of it -- but I'm now inspired to continue and maybe someday you'll actually be able to purchase and read my works>