I began writing my first novel when I was twelve, and it read much like you would expect, like something a twelve year old would write. Something like, “Fayde Buckskin went into the mountains in his customized Lamborghini, trailed by a sound like a thunderstorm, but it was his radio. He camped on the mountain in the rain and fog…” you get the idea. It was filled with a suitable amount of angst. After that I shifted focus to poetry and short fiction. By the time I was seventeen I was working on my second novel, with what I hoped was a better grasp on the craft of writing. In school, my primary interest was art, and I was fairly crafty at it, for an untrained hand. The only problem with all of this, of course, was that in my family, while it was perfectly acceptable to pursue an art as a hobby, it was practically sinful to pursue art as a vocation.
So: the Navy for me, working the flight deck of the USS America through Desert Shield and Storm in the Straits of Sinai and the Persian Gulf. Coming from small-town Alabama and mingling with the cultures of the world had a profound impact on me. Among the places I visited in my 4-year stint: Greece, Crete, Israel, Egypt, England, France, Italy, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Columbia, Puerto Rico…I also received electronics training in the Navy, without which I would not have the job I have today. So. I have a good job and little time to write. Maybe when I retire I’ll focus on writing as my second career.
My second novel I finished when I was 25, and it was better than the first, but still unpublishable (at least I presumed it was. I would never submit anything for publication until I was 35 years old). So I wrote another book, my first real story, at around 60k words, and I was very happy with it, but of course I knew I wouldn’t get it published without some publishing credits to my name. I’d written short stories all my life, most of it garbage, but it had given me a foundation to work on. I began dedicating myself to writing better shorts, and I think I put together a few good ones, and even got a few published. But longer-form stories remained my number one passion, and my style continued to improve.
And now I’ve worked as a Mobile Signal Analyst for over 15 years. I’ve been in electronics in general for 20 years. I turned 40 on April 2nd 2009. I have a wife (who was my high-school sweetheart), two sons–Luke and Liam, a deaf dog and a tailless cat and a house in the liberal arts capitol of Alabama, Montevallo.
As a writer, 2007 was a great year for me. I’ve got a some published stories now, and a publishable manuscript to float into the publishing world. I’ve been shifting focus toward POD and self publishing (we call it “indie writing” around here) because the world seems to be opening up more and more to that concept.
For specific interests this is Who I Am: Southerner, writer, technophile, conservative liberal (I adhere to no political party), naturalist.
Still alive so far.
Me, year by year:
1969 Born April 2
1970 Lived in a one-room, dirt floor shack
1971 Father was paralyzed from chest down by a doctor who’d convinced him to have surgery on his neck due to chronic pain. When the doctor sewed him back up he left a sponge in the spinal column. The doctor’s name was Carraway.
1972 Parents divorce. Learned to ride a bicycle.
1973 Year of my earliest memory–went with my mom to where she worked at K-Mart while she was stocking and got to play in big empty boxes. Around X-mas I got a Dr. Seuss book.
1974 My cousin’s father was killed in a bar fight by the same man that knocked his left eyeball out five years earlier.
1975 My favorite songs were Rhinestone Cowboy, Davey Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier and the Battle of 1814.
1976 Met my father for the first time. He’d won the largest medical lawsuit in the history of the state of Alabama (one million dollars) and bought me a pony named Cricket and a saddle. His mother showed up within a week and blew every dime of the money over the course of the next five years.
1977 Elvis died and I was suitably devastated. Played on Calera Metros baseball team, wore number 8.
1978 Alabama won the National Championship.
1979 Alabama won the National Championship.
1980 John Lennon died. I wasn’t that enamored with the Beatles anyway, so it wasn’t that big of a deal for me. I’ve always been more of an Elvis guy.
1981 My uncle bought me my first motorcycle. From now on I would have a motorcycle.
1982 Began writing my first book.
1983 Met Suzy, who would be my wife.
1984 Played high school football, wore number 88.
1985 Got my first car–a 1980 Buick Regal. Played high school football, wore number 88.
1986 Space Shuttle Challenger exploded while I was eating cereal. This was devastating to me. My best friend, Randall Summers, died in a car wreck. He was 17.
1987 Graduated high school; bought my first new vehicle. Attended classes at junior college with intentions of attaining degree in art or literature.
1988 Found out I had no money to continue going to college; got a job bagging groceries at Food World. My best friend, Jeff “Willie” Giles, drowned. He was 18.
1989 Joined the Navy, attended boot camp at Great Lakes, Ill, company designation was 088.
1990 Turned 21. LEGAL! Attended electronics technician school, Aircrew school (NACCS) in Pensacola.
1991 Joined VS32 in Jax, FL. Went to war in the Persian Gulf aboard the USS America. Began six month cruise, visiting: Egypt, Italy, Greece, Creete, Spain, Israel (Haifa), Turkey, Abu Dabi, Dubai, Bahrain, England.
1992 Alabama won the National Championship. Transited Suez Canal for the fourth time. Spent six months in Cartagena, Columbia, two months in Key West, Florida.
1993 Got out of the Navy. Moved to Panama City Beach, used Navy swimmer skills to become a beach lifeguard.
1994 Began climbing towers for a living. Youngest sister died in a car wreck, she was 20.
1995 Atlanta won the World Series. Jumped out of my first perfectly good airplane.
1996 Got married for the first time.
1997 Quit climbing towers and got hired as an cellular site technician for Southern LINC Wireless.
1998 Wrote my first book-length story.
1999 Promoted to Engineering Analyst, plan to retire with Southern LINC.
2000 Y2K occurs, life continues as expected.
2001 Bought my first house. In Tuscaloosa, AL.
2002 Father died. He’d been a quadriplegic for 31+ years but was one of the happiest people I knew.
2003 Got divorced. Got married for the last time (Suzy).
2004 Bought my second house. In Birmingham, AL (sold first house). Lucas, my first son, was born
2006 My second (and last) son was born.
2007 Bought my third (and hopefully final) house in Montevallo, AL. Sold my first story, “A Man Sans Soul,” to the Mount Zion Speculative Fiction Review. UPDATE! Sold another story, “A Scent of Rain” to Southern Fried Weirdness, an anthology due out October 1st! UPDATE! Sold another story, “The Ghost of Tom Johns” to Down in the Cellar, an e-zine.
2008 Began conceptualizing what would eventually become a social network/outdoors game called [Re]Evolver.
2009 Met Kelly and Hampton who are AWESOME.
Bio
Matt Mitchell
Montevallo, Alabama
2006
So: the Navy for me, working the flight deck of the USS America through Desert Shield and Storm in the Straits of Sinai and the Persian Gulf. Coming from small-town Alabama and mingling with the cultures of the world had a profound impact on me. Among the places I visited in my 4-year stint: Greece, Crete, Israel, Egypt, England, France, Italy, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Columbia, Puerto Rico…I also received electronics training in the Navy, without which I would not have the job I have today. So. I have a good job and little time to write. Maybe when I retire I’ll focus on writing as my second career.
My second novel I finished when I was 25, and it was better than the first, but still unpublishable (at least I presumed it was. I would never submit anything for publication until I was 35 years old). So I wrote another book, my first real story, at around 60k words, and I was very happy with it, but of course I knew I wouldn’t get it published without some publishing credits to my name. I’d written short stories all my life, most of it garbage, but it had given me a foundation to work on. I began dedicating myself to writing better shorts, and I think I put together a few good ones, and even got a few published. But longer-form stories remained my number one passion, and my style continued to improve.
And now I’ve worked as a Mobile Signal Analyst for over 15 years. I’ve been in electronics in general for 20 years. I turned 40 on April 2nd 2009. I have a wife (who was my high-school sweetheart), two sons–Luke and Liam, a deaf dog and a tailless cat and a house in the liberal arts capitol of Alabama, Montevallo.
As a writer, 2007 was a great year for me. I’ve got a some published stories now, and a publishable manuscript to float into the publishing world. I’ve been shifting focus toward POD and self publishing (we call it “indie writing” around here) because the world seems to be opening up more and more to that concept.
For specific interests this is Who I Am: Southerner, writer, technophile, conservative liberal (I adhere to no political party), naturalist.
Still alive so far.
Me, year by year:
1969 Born April 2
1970 Lived in a one-room, dirt floor shack
1971 Father was paralyzed from chest down by a doctor who’d convinced him to have surgery on his neck due to chronic pain. When the doctor sewed him back up he left a sponge in the spinal column. The doctor’s name was Carraway.
1972 Parents divorce. Learned to ride a bicycle.
1973 Year of my earliest memory–went with my mom to where she worked at K-Mart while she was stocking and got to play in big empty boxes. Around X-mas I got a Dr. Seuss book.
1974 My cousin’s father was killed in a bar fight by the same man that knocked his left eyeball out five years earlier.
1975 My favorite songs were Rhinestone Cowboy, Davey Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier and the Battle of 1814.
1976 Met my father for the first time. He’d won the largest medical lawsuit in the history of the state of Alabama (one million dollars) and bought me a pony named Cricket and a saddle. His mother showed up within a week and blew every dime of the money over the course of the next five years.
1977 Elvis died and I was suitably devastated. Played on Calera Metros baseball team, wore number 8.
1978 Alabama won the National Championship.
1979 Alabama won the National Championship.
1980 John Lennon died. I wasn’t that enamored with the Beatles anyway, so it wasn’t that big of a deal for me. I’ve always been more of an Elvis guy.
1981 My uncle bought me my first motorcycle. From now on I would have a motorcycle.
1982 Began writing my first book.
1983 Met Suzy, who would be my wife.
1984 Played high school football, wore number 88.
1985 Got my first car–a 1980 Buick Regal. Played high school football, wore number 88.
1986 Space Shuttle Challenger exploded while I was eating cereal. This was devastating to me. My best friend, Randall Summers, died in a car wreck. He was 17.
1987 Graduated high school; bought my first new vehicle. Attended classes at junior college with intentions of attaining degree in art or literature.
1988 Found out I had no money to continue going to college; got a job bagging groceries at Food World. My best friend, Jeff “Willie” Giles, drowned. He was 18.
1989 Joined the Navy, attended boot camp at Great Lakes, Ill, company designation was 088.
1990 Turned 21. LEGAL! Attended electronics technician school, Aircrew school (NACCS) in Pensacola.
1991 Joined VS32 in Jax, FL. Went to war in the Persian Gulf aboard the USS America. Began six month cruise, visiting: Egypt, Italy, Greece, Creete, Spain, Israel (Haifa), Turkey, Abu Dabi, Dubai, Bahrain, England.
1992 Alabama won the National Championship. Transited Suez Canal for the fourth time. Spent six months in Cartagena, Columbia, two months in Key West, Florida.
1993 Got out of the Navy. Moved to Panama City Beach, used Navy swimmer skills to become a beach lifeguard.
1994 Began climbing towers for a living. Youngest sister died in a car wreck, she was 20.
1995 Atlanta won the World Series. Jumped out of my first perfectly good airplane.
1996 Got married for the first time.
1997 Quit climbing towers and got hired as an cellular site technician for Southern LINC Wireless.
1998 Wrote my first book-length story.
1999 Promoted to Engineering Analyst, plan to retire with Southern LINC.
2000 Y2K occurs, life continues as expected.
2001 Bought my first house. In Tuscaloosa, AL.
2002 Father died. He’d been a quadriplegic for 31+ years but was one of the happiest people I knew.
2003 Got divorced. Got married for the last time (Suzy).
2004 Bought my second house. In Birmingham, AL (sold first house). Lucas, my first son, was born
2006 My second (and last) son was born.
2007 Bought my third (and hopefully final) house in Montevallo, AL. Sold my first story, “A Man Sans Soul,” to the Mount Zion Speculative Fiction Review. UPDATE! Sold another story, “A Scent of Rain” to Southern Fried Weirdness, an anthology due out October 1st! UPDATE! Sold another story, “The Ghost of Tom Johns” to Down in the Cellar, an e-zine.
2008 Began conceptualizing what would eventually become a social network/outdoors game called [Re]Evolver.
2009 Met Kelly and Hampton who are AWESOME.