Did you always want to be a writer?
The short answer: YES. I have always written. I still have my notebooks from when I was a teen/tween (back before they ever labeled you as a “tween�). Writing is what kept me sane. It still does (sort of).
The long answer: Well, yeah, though I also wanted to do a lot of other things. I grew up in a rather non-traditional house as both of my parents were artists of a sort and traveled around to art shows for a living (my mother painted and my father did woodwork). As a teen, I craved a bit more stability and normalcy so I had this idea that I wanted to grow up and have a “normal� job with a steady paycheck and things like that. It didn’t stop me from being an English major at University (and yes, I’ve heard that “Do you want fries with that?� joke many times) but once I graduated I held a series of normal, boring jobs (I worked for a lot of big companies like Ernst & Young, IBM, and AT&T Labs).
I kind of hated it.
When I got the chance to write full time, I jumped on it. So, in some ways, I feel a bit like I’ve come full circle.
