I used to work at a local university, and rode a commuter bus to and from work every day. I started writing Archaea on my phone (it had one of those little flip out keyboards) and at first, it was just something fun to do to waste time. A few weeks of this turned into months, and suddenly, I realized that I had a pretty decent start to a book, if I cleaned it up a bit, spelled a few more words correctly, and so on.
But the process was brutal. I had written short stories before, but I had never attempted something like this. I had no idea what sort of time and energy commitment would be needed from me to get it done... and it was really overwhelming! The motivation, was the story - it was just such a cool story, what I considered almost perfect sci-fi, immersive and visceral, I found I was having as much fun reading it as I was writing it.
After a while, my muse sort of took over. They say writing is a disease, an addiction, and they're absolutely right. It is hellaciously addictive. I found myself writing nearly every free moment I had. I'd write on road trips, write on breaks, I'd write almost every waking moment.
Publishing it on Amazon is pretty straightforward - there's some formatting needed, and some other hoops to jump though to get paid, but it's really not that hard. What has been hard, is trying to break into standard print publishing. It's one of those 'don't call us, we'll call you' sorts of industries. I still have hope that I'll be 'noticed' someday... but until then, I am not letting that stop me!
Writing is pretty all-encompassing. When I start writing, I crank up some music, the headphones go on, the feet go up, and I just tunnel-vision in to the screen and melt the letters off the keys. That is sort of hard for my wife and kids, but they've sort of adapted to it, and I usually try to write in the least anti-social way that I can, because it's really a very anti-social behavior.
One thing it's totally changed, is my self-confidence. I am not scared anymore to tell a story, to put a voice to my imagination, to share my crazy concepts and ideas with people. I'm not afraid of hundreds of thousands of words, and cranking out 500 pages of novel is not the terrifying 'never-gonna-make-it' experience it used to be - - now it's cathartic.
Space Engineers is awesome, really. I love the creativity, the challenge, the tricky engineering, explosions, the bugs, the features... but I really enjoy the community around the game. I love seeing what other people make, I love watching videos - - I probably spend more time on this subreddit than I should, to be honest!
If you're interested in starting my series - <pick up Archaea for free> right now on Smashwords Amazon. If you like it, and want to <read the rest of the series> through Amazon, they have a cloud reader (read.amazon.com) that works on any device you might have.
I've always loved sci-fi, since I was a pretty young lad in fact. I'm a huge fan of the greats, Robert Heinlein, Harry Harrison, Asimov, etc - if I had to pick my favorite, it'd have to be Heinlein. I loved the way he could effortlessly blend really believable tech into engaging and witty dialog - his characters are fantastic.
I've been compared to Heinlein a number of times in reviews of my books, though I sort of think people are just being very, very nice (while possibly smoking a wee bit of crack) I also super-appreciate the comparison, because he really is one of my all-time favorites, and definitely an inspiration.
In the real world, I am a senior-level application engineer, DBA, graphic designer, UI/UX developer, technical writer, editor, project manager and all-purpose quick-draw code-slinger - but I am also very interested in quantum physics (as a hobby), engineering, astronomy and so on.
If I had an opportunity, I'd pursue a degree in physics, and learn as much as I could about astrophysics and quantum physics. There's just a lot of stuff there I wish I understood.
Honestly, if you wanted to introduce someone to sci-fi, my favorite book (and I am biased) is Archaea, by this guy named Dain White. It's written in the classic radio-serial 'Rocket Tubes to Mars' style, but with a modern twist, with realistic tech, science, and memorable characters. Readers won't be overwhelmed with endless tech details or drown in jargon, it's told in a very accessible, easy to understand and follow manner.
I can't wait to hear what you think of them! Make sure you get Archaea for free on Smashwords, Amazon hasn't matched price yet
Update - Amazon matched price, woot!
My all-time #1 favorite ship is the Archaea, not only because it is the fastest, toughest, most utterly capable starship in the galaxy, but because I have literally spent thousands of hours thinking about it, and know every bolt, every pump, every pressure line, and every deck plate.
But that's not your question! All dads love their kids, that's not the question. My next favorite ship is the Millenium Falcon (naturally), then the USS Sulaco, the UNSC Pillar of Autumn, the Heart of Gold, the ISV Venture Star, Firefly (of course!) and the Nebuchadnezzar.
I really like well visualized ships that go beyond a 'glimpse' or 'exterior shot', but give me a feeling of interior layout, compartments, etc. I want to feel like I could walk around inside them and live in them.