Believe in Yourself and Your Art

It is often difficult to believe in yourself. But you should.

The author’s first handwritten, illustrated novel, circa 1981.

I started writing when I was 9 years old.

The sci-fi story I wrote and illustrated — Wildfire — meant a lot to me. I believed in the work I did so much that I tried to get it published.

My dad helped me with this. To this day, I have both the original manuscript I handwrote and illustrated — as well as a bound, color-copied, and typed version dad got made for me.

In that bound copy is my first ever rejection from a publisher. But it’s not harsh nor negative — it’s encouraging.

I continued writing. At 13, I typed my first sci-fi novel — 36 single-spaced pages — The Secret Computer World. It was clearly inspired by Tron (and written in 1984 or so — which makes sense.) The story was all about a kid getting zapped into a secret computer world but coming out of it more confident and better for the experience.

Writing went on over the years in more fits and spurts. I have about four unfinished works from this period.

But then I started The Source Chronicles. It began as a scene, followed by another and another, before evolving into a multi-novel fantasy series.