Who am I?

The answer to that question is constantly developing as we move through our lives, and depends on the entity that is asking. Within this snippet, I aim to answer that question for the masses on the platform we all know as “The Internet”. I am an author, software engineer, graphic designer and human. These are just labels, and only give a sliver of context about me. If you have already read one of my books, and are on this site, you have experienced the culmination from my professional journey, so far. But how did I get here? Why should you care?

I started life growing up in the colorful state known as Colorado and had the privilege of spending my childhood roaming the mountains known as Coal Creek Canyon outside of Boulder. I still live in Colorado and currently call Loveland my home. As you know, there are no oceans anywhere close to Colorado, but the water has always seemed to call to me, and I have had an endless fascination with the animals that live within the depths. I also had a fascination with technology and computers specifically. It started with computer and Nintendo games with friends, but grew into a vast skill set that I utilize in my career.

During high school, I started creating graphics in Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, and these skills ended up materializing into a career in GRAPHIC DESIGN (actually I was working pre-press, but they let me keep the fancy title). After a few years of working within the print industry, my computer skills lead me to a job opportunity building websites for local businesses. I became a WEB DEVELOPER. This transition into web development gave additional ecommerce and programming skills, and I could still design how the sites looked and functioned. Along this path, I ended up working for a publishing company in Loveland, called Interweave Press, building and managing websites that supported the crafting community. I was still doing design and development, but was interacting with editors and creative talent that were writing to their daily audience or creating projects for their next crafting book. It felt good being a part of platforms that brought joy into people’s lives through publishing. At this point, I did not think of myself as a writer, but working with such creative people often leads to more creative endeavors. After a time, I started working for the Suzuki Association of the Americas. There, I was the only developer, web designer, network specialist, online marker, and newsletter creator and writer, running an international non-profit organization with less than ten other staff members. I loved supporting children's music education, and felt positive about contributing to this world. It was an exhilarating job with tons of responsibility and a place where I worked hard to forge respectful relationships with people from many countries. I thought I would work there for the rest of my career, but change is inevitable in life and the pandemic was a wheel of chaos.

During one sleepless night in 2020, where I typically worry about the state of the world, I found myself thinking about writing a science fiction book. This was not the first time that had happened, but the deeper into the night my mind ventured, the more the story came to life. The concept fascinated me, and I wanted to escape into that world. So I did, and I started writing every night for hours at a time. I needed a place beyond the chaos that was occurring on Earth during a pandemic, and so I created my own world. Characters worked towards a common goal, and would treat each other with respect as humanity. They could go places, see things, and have adventures, while I was trapped inside. There was a plan behind the writing, yes, but what surprised me more was the spontaneous way key story events would occur. I would envision all the possible branches that could occur from a point, and suddenly, it would be clear, and I would write it down. During the process, I found a part of myself that I had never expected. The deeper within the story I went, the more I realized the journey was changing me. I wanted to be a writer. This was not to supplant my previous skills (I still work in software engineering with Zing Studios), but another pivotal expansion of things that make me who I am. My life experience has led me to this moment, and all the graphics, technology, and writing that you see before you.

Now Sea Rift is a real novel, and this science fiction universe has just began. So I hope that you stick around to find out how it all will end. It’s going to be exciting!