Most of my childhood was spent exploring the hiking trails of central Vermont calling home to Barre, Montpelier, Middlesex, and Williamstown until I was roughly eleven. When things became too unstable for my family I was forced to move around a lot and touched both coastlines in just a few years. I like to say living poor forced us to live like a gypsy. My roots remain in Vermont, and to this day, I consider myself a Vermonter.

The first thing I ever wrote with substance was an untitled love poem during my senior year in High School after I’d been rejected by a girl I asked out. The embarrassment and heartbreak were overwhelming to me. I attribute this single event to being the crack in the wall that opened the floodgates of an entire childhood of unheard trauma and muted words out into the world. I began writing down my pain, suffering, and love songs any way I could and continued my emotional writing path for years eventually shifting into songwriting. As I entered my young adult phase I learned to strum a few chords on my guitar and serenaded the dried-up hearts of the dead who were the only ones unable to escape as I played and sang out of tune. All jokes aside I officially began writing in the summer of 2017 after my brother-in-law asked me to write and shoot a short indie film with him. Being me of course, I dove head first into writing a massive script for that film titled “Haywire” then took everything to the next level never stopping for the next five years. I held many roles in the film and television industry, but over time realized I enjoyed writing and directing films more than technical camera and rigging positions. This realization has led me to now where I write everything Prose length from drabbles to novellas and even have a few novels planned for the near future. I have also gravitated back to poetry and developed a unique and distinct voice. Where will my next words take me, who knows? That’s the fun of it! No one likes a spoiler.  

It may seem bizarre for a writer to say, but up until a few years ago, I hadn't read much since High School and am attempting to play catch up at a snail's pace. Authors who have influenced me over the years are, Gary Paulsen, Jean Craighead-George, R.L. Stine, Edgar Allen Poe, and recently Charles Bukowski. I have been newly introduced to Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, and Friedrich Nietzsche. I intend to dive into their works as well.    

This is a complex question and one, I think many creatives will relate to. My inspiration comes to me from all different directions. Sometimes it sneaks up from behind kidnaps my mind and usually takes me away from whatever I was doing at the time—seriously, ask my wife how often I am unfocused. Other times it comes late at night in the form of a dream (or nightmare) when no one is watching. In these cases, I have a dream journal next to my bed to capture the idea before it is lost. I also grab ideas for stories or characters from the world around me, whether it be unique social concepts and special personalities, or just an interesting style of a person. Once in a while, an old idea is sparked back into a flame by a TV Show, or Movie, or Online media. Inspiration is all around us, it's just a matter of tapping in and being open to receiving it when it comes. The advice I'd give to anyone thinking they are not "Creative Enough" is to be a conduit for positive energy, and be open-minded and the inspiration will come. Creativity sometimes is a skill practiced often, so never give up.   

Like most creatives, I have dozens of unfinished projects and tons of stories scribbled down and scattered everywhere. Right now I'm stoked to be adapting a film script I wrote a couple of years ago into a novella originally inspired by Edgar Allen Poe's, A Tell Tale Heart. On the side, I plan to clean up my earlier short stories Gravel in Your Gut, Down on Beaver Pond, and my newest honorable mention piece entered into the 2023 Writing Battle, the Fear of Water. Once I am done with all these I have tons of new and exciting things coming in 2024, including writing for the 2024 Winter Writing Battle and much much more. Stay tuned! 

I just finished reading Mary Shelley's, Frankenstein, and Animal House by George Orwell and I loved them both! Frankenstein is my newest spirit book. Now I am moving onto 1984 by Orwell and flipping through the pages of Charles Bukowski's The Last Night of the End of the World Poems, but I have plans for many more in 2024. Books planned to Read in 2024 are Frankenstein (Done), Meditations, Animal Farm (Done), 1984, The Last Night of the Earth Poems, Tales of Ordinary Madness, Brian's Winter, and War of the Worlds, but I will update this list as I continue reading them.