The Story of How I Came to Writing and Why My Wife and I are Starting the Harbor House Writing Center

Scoops Ice Cream and Espresso in Aberdeen, Wash. 2016, really.

Harbor House really is the result of our own journeys as writers. For me it went something like this:

As far back as I can remember I’ve been a storyteller. In grade school I would put on shows that I wrote, or make films I scripted to amuse friends and family. People seemed to like my work and that gave me a great sense of satisfaction.

In time I discovered that I was a decent storyteller, but not a very good master of written English. I lacked grammar and spelling skills and so I received a lot of red ink and little encourage from my teachers in those days. Unfortunately, red ink often earns a lower grade, not to mention parental ire. I felt like a failure and my interests shifted to music and theater.

It wasn’t until I went to university in my thirties that my passion for writing was recognized and encouraged. It was there that I began to actually care about parsing a sentence and communicating well. I graduated from WSU in 1999 with a humanities BA and a Professional Writing Certificate. Then, while pursuing a career in multimedia, I wrote my first book and self-published it in 2005. That felt really good and the book opened many doors for me. Suddenly, I was speaking at conferences across the nation! I wasn’t a failure at writing after all.

One of the things that I learned in college, besides the mechanics of writing, was that it wasn’t those mechanics that made you a valuable writer—it was the ability to engage an audience. Sure, form was important, but no one is ever recognized for having good form. You get recognized for crafting compelling, moving and memorable stories.

Well, after awhile my multimedia career fizzled out and, in 2007, I decided to return to school where I studied more about writing. In 2009, I earned a second BA and then tried to find time to write. There were false starts, episodes of self-doubt and a string of rejections as I labored over three disparate projects, trying to find my niche and voice. I used the time to hone my craft by working in journalism and commercial writing (as well as other odd jobs that my heart was never in).

What I really wanted to do was write my own stuff!

Besides, having Asperger’s—a form of high-performance autism—I was taxed greatly by the social environments that were part of what was expected in the work world. At the end of the day I was mentally spent and found it hard to tackle my own projects.

Finally, in 2012, I set everything aside to boldly pursue writing full-time. I self-published my second book while trying to attract a publisher to other works. The rejections and self-doubt continued, but I didn’t let them tear me down. I found encouragers and supporters—other writers and authors—to cheer me on. And I cheered them on, too!

Four years and ten more books later...

I’ve learned a few things and I am more passionate about writing than ever. And now I want to share the journey and the joy, the encouragement and the experience, the insight and the inspiration with other writers struggling to hone their own skills and find their own voice.

A year ago my wife, who has her Masters of Fine Arts Degree in Creative Writing, approached me with the idea that we could open a writing center. The idea stuck. How we ended up in Aberdeen, Washington to do that? Well, that's another story.