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Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Welcome!

A warm welcome to everyone who finds this site. My name is Grant Hoeflinger, and I am a writer.

As the little bar off to the left says, I've wanted to be a writer since some time in the second grade. The form of writing has gone through changes and permutations over the years. First, I was going to go into journalism. Then I wanted to do screenwriting. For a while, I thought about trying my hand at writing for advertising. No matter what form my goal took at any one time however, I always had one clear goal that I was striving for:

I want people to read, and enjoy, my stories.

For a time I expressed this desire through roleplaying games, designing and running stories for my friends to play through. As much as I love the hobby, it never completely scratched the itch I felt. I wanted more. I wanted to write books. I would finish reading a book from one of my favorite authors and think, "That was great. I want to be able to do the same thing for others."

(OK, so maybe I didn't think those EXACT words, but I'm sure you get the sentiment.)

As often happens in life, the realities of the world seemed to always stand in the way of my writing. You need money to pay the bills, and between work, trying to socialize, and developing a family, there never seemed enough time to sit down and actually work on anything. I always said things like, "Once things are calmer, I'll be able to get started."

Folks, my family consists of myself, my wife (Lisa), three kids ranging from the tweens to the just-out-of-toddler, and three pets. Things are never "calmer." Never.

Then life provided me with an opportunity. You know that old saying, "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade?" My lemon ended with me staying at home watching our youngest child. The job market stank. I went to interviews, but couldn't seem to land anything. My brain kept pumping out scenes and ideas to grab my attention and think "wouldn't these make great stories?" Then I had a sudden realization.

Things weren't calmer, but I had time. Lots of it. I needed to take advantage of the time I had. I sat down and started writing...

... and writing...

... and writing...

... and -- you get the idea, right?

Now, after what seems like forever, all that writing has culminated in what will be both my first book and also my first attempt at self-publishing. There's only a few more things to do before Laeryk's Proving is ready to go out on the market, and I'd love for everyone to take that journey with me, one step at a time.

Next Time: My next post will discuss Laeryk's Proving a bit more, and the steps I still need to take before it will be available.

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