All About Eric

I can think of no better way to begin my blog, than telling you the (brief) story of me.

I grew up in Vermont and there discovered my love of storytelling.

My first experience with storytelling was in the 5th grade. I wrote a play telling a story involving Santa Claus and children who visited him at the North Pole. Yes, it was derivative. I portrayed it in front of my fellow students and it hooked me on telling stories.

As I grew up, I flirted with writing stories. I had fits and stops of writing. Being a shy young man, the opposite of me today, I was reluctant to show anyone my stories. I made poor choices when I showed the stories to people. I remember one woman I showed my writing told me I had to "experience life" before I could write stories. Thirty years later I realize the ridiculous nature of the advice. Still it took the winds out of my sails and discouraged me from showing anyone my work.

After high school I joined the United States Navy, stationed on submarines. I continued to write stories. Now it was in green log books. I filled the pages with scribbles as I sat in the small room where I worked. I showed my work to selected people, still I got either negative or no feedback. In recent days I looked for those log books and discovered I have lost them to time. The books contained so many stories and story ideas. It is a regrettable loss.

After my honorable discharge from the Navy, I continued to write stories and became very active in Freemasonry. If you aren't familiar with Freemasonry, it's the oldest fraternal organization in the World. If you are familiar with Freemasonry, you have heard the conspiracy theories, don't believe them.

Despite having the internet and its resources, I remained adrift on a sea of self doubt. I met a kindred spirit who told me how she had self-published books. I had met someone with writing experience and understood my struggles. It gave me hope and I redoubled my efforts and for the first time in my life I completed a full novel.

This led to me meeting more people in the writing community. This led me to Twitter and this website.

On this site, I will give detailed information of positive events, missteps on my part and short stories.