My Story

There was nothing special about me. In school I was average at best and even failed History and English. No one ever imagined I’d be a writer, let alone a historian. Especially me. Such jobs were for the chosen, those magical people gifted with talent who started training when they were children. Writers were born, not made.

Me? I was in a teen punk band that was paid in beer and was going nowhere slowly.

But punk taught me that you can’t wait for someone to pick you to be special. Don’t give that power to anyone else. Don’t wait to be chosen. Choose yourself. So when the band broke up and my dreams had died I took that attitude and drove it through my desire to write history and fiction, and worked until my eyes bled until that choice became fact. It was a long weird route to become a punk rock civilian at a military college who spent deep mornings and tired weekends writing short stories and novels. But it never would have happened at all if I hadn’t decided to choose myself. Me, the guy who failed English and History!

So when I became a teacher my goal was simple - be the teacher for those who choose themselves. Help them find their strengths and manage their limitations. My class has no rote learning, and no student is taught to be a version of me. I have crafted methods and exercises to help others discover and develop their own voice as a writer and to write the stories only they can tell. Our motto is Your voice. Your story.

My classroom focuses on the positives, then builds on the challenges. This is a space to take chances, to fail, to run wild and try things without fear of ridicule or punishment. There are a million writing classes that are too gentle or too brutal. And none of them can teach you to love the ups and downs of writing and learning in a supportive and constructive atmosphere that refuses to be boring. We learn best when we cannot look away from our subject matter - and that can’t happen if you’re eating tedious lectures and snoring through exercises.

You’re here because you feel a need to try something creative, to start a project you dreamed of, to overcome obstacles and excel in subjects important to your life. You’ve chosen yourself. Together we’ll make that choice shine.